Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Calibur.
Prologue: Sanity Lost
The Bird of Passage
Affiliated with no one, forming contracts with the powerful and sending out assassins to eliminate the opposition. It's existence was secret, but their influence of Europe from behind the scenes of Europe was undeniable. This was simply supposed to be another mission.
"Ohhhhh. I want to kill so badly! What's taking so long?" a young girl whined from behind the bushes. She was talking to her teammate who was crouching beside her.
"Will you stop whining, Tira. Control yourself," the other girl demanded. She turned around and put a finger to her lips to reinforce her earlier statement. The girl, Tira, folded her arms with a puff. The girl was clad in a green suit that covered her petite form. Her green hair was cut short. The one thing that couldn't be mistaken about her was her bright purple eyes and the mole below the right one. Around her frame was a giant ring blade. An odd weapon to be sure.
"As long as I get to kill someone soon. I can hardly wait. How about you, Cleon?" Tira's voice ringed with excitement as she talked to the older teen. The girl Tira named, Cleon, was a couple of years older than she. She had red hair in a ponytail. She wore a black shirt and pants with a sash around her waist that held the two black fans on each of her sides. There was one thing that could not be mistaken with her as well. Her eyes. Cleon had one dark green eye and one bright green eye.
"Hnn," Cleon muttered. She looked at Tira. "Remember, we are supposed to kill the leader of this castle and take some sword inside."
"Yes, yes, I know. I just want to go."
Cleon sighed as she looked at the castle in front of her. It's imposing size probably held multiple guards. As they stared at the castle again, they noticed a light shine from the north side of the castle.
"The signal!" the girls yelled as they stormed the castle. As they ran, they noticed the northern drawbridge let down for them. As they ran in, they saw a man clad in black stare at them.
"Tira, Cleon!" he called.
They stopped immediately and stared at the man. "You two are to head to the northern tower. It's where the weapons vault is held. Reinforcements will not be sent until an hour later to make sure that place is secure. It's very important that every guard you see is taken out.
"Does that mean there are a lot of people to kill?" Tira was bouncing of the soles of her shoes waiting to hear the answer.
"There are," the man stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Tira cheered with glee.
"Go," the black-clad man instructed. "Cleon, here is the map."
"Why does she get the map?" Tira whined.
"Because she's more responsible," the man snapped back.
"Maybe, I should just kill her in the crossfire," Tira's voice deepened with sudden hatred as Cleon took the map, ignoring Tira's sudden change in personality.
"Let's go," Cleon told her as she began running east. Tira growled as she followed after her.
They climbed a group of stairs and opened a large black door with a red 'x' in the center. As they opened the door, they saw four soldiers standing in the way. They were each covered in black armor and chain mail, two with spears, two with swords. The corridor was small, not leaving much room left in between the soldiers and the nearby walls.
"Assassins!" one of the sword wielders yelled as he charged at the two girls.
"Tira, I'll leave this to you," Cleon stated, moving to the far left corner of the room. Tira let a sadistic grin cross her face as she turned to the red head.
"Thank you, Cleon," Tira uttered before she blocked the initial strike of the sword wielder. The man held a surprised look on his face as he swing at Tira's mid-section. Tira performed a lithe back flip and grabbed the ring blade with her foot. She kicked at the sword, throwing the man's arm in the air. Tira landed on her feet gracefully, grabbing the ring blade in her hand. She moved in close and slashed at the man's torso, splitting him in half. His upper body fell to the ground as blood covered the green clad girl and her odd weapon.
Tira looked up to the ceiling in ecstacy. "It's been... so long, since I've killed." She kicked the man's lower body out the way and charged at the three others.
"What is she?" the other sword wielder exclaimed. A spear wielder jumped in the way and blocked the girls strike. He moved forward, pushing her back. Tira gritted her teeth as she charged at the spear wielder again. Tira's ring blade hit the ground as the man side-stepped her attack. The man's face formed a smirk as the shaft hit her in the face, followed by a strike to the ribs. Tira was thrown backwards and landed on the ground, her weapon still in her hands. She sat up, the happy expression no longer gone, but anger radiated off her form.
The spear wielder charged at Tira. "You have no place here," he said as he raised his spear high. Tira's eyes widened as she failed to command her body to move.
"What?" the man yelled as his weapon made contact with Cleon's closed fans. She held one in each hand as the man jumped backwards and reformed his stance. Cleon opened the fans. Each fan held a design. In her left hand the fan was black with a giant blue dot. In her right, the fan was white with a giant red dot. She closed the fan again, showing only the black iron base.
"A fan... used as a weapon?" the spear wielder exclaimed as he formed his stance again.
"Correct. Styles that use fans are from the Eastern Continent," Cleon explained as she charged at the man.
"He blocked the girls attack at his head with the blade of his spear. Cleon kicked at his side then jumped to the wall and reformed her stance. The man laughed at her attack.
"I have armor on little girl," the man explained. "Your fan is only for blunt force trauma. All I have to do is guard my head."
"So arrogant," Cleon retorted as she charged again. The man attempted a horizontal slash at her head. The assassin ducked the attack, letting the mans's momentum carry him. Cleon then slammed her fan into the man's groin. He yelped in pain, dropping his spear.
"Big mistake!" she yelled as she slammed her fan into the man's windpipe. Cleon then grabbed the man's shoulders and heaved herself up, kneeing him in the jaw. She watched him fall to the ground, gasping for air. "You'll die of suffocation," she explained, crouching down to his level and giving him a fake smile. Before she could turn around, she felt a sharp pain in her back. Cleon let out a scream before she fell on the ground in pain. Her breath came in gasps as she reached for one of her fans to defend herself.
"Now, you die!" the other spear wielder yelled as he held his spear in the air, ready to stab the girl.
Cleon looked ahead as she heard a whirling noise through the air. She stared at the man again. His mouth was agape as his head fell off his shoulders and landed beside her. Cleon pushed the head away from her as she struggled to get up. She stared at Tira, who was now standing as well. Her right arm was outstretched. Cleon looked at one of the windows on the left side. Tira's ring blade was illuminated in the moonlight.
"Thanks," Cleon mumbled as she stared at the last man blocking their path. He stepped backwards and fell. His whole body was shaking as pools of sweat fell down his face. Cleon opened the black and blue fan in her left hand.
Waving her fan twice, a giant gust of wind flew towards the cowering man. He flew out against the wall and slumped downwards.
Cleon walked over to Tira's blade and grabbed the inside, making sure not to cut herself.
"Here," Cleon said tossing her the blade. Tira grabbed the blade, a frown still on her face. She walked past Cleon towards the unconscious man.
"Die!" She decapitated him and turned back to Cleon. She now held rolls of bandages in her hand holding them up to her.
"What are these for?" Tira asked in an obviously annoyed tone.
"I got cut in the back, she explained lifting her shirt up. The cut wasn't too deep, but it made a long gash on her back. The bandages that she already had on her back were cut where the blade hit.
Tira groaned in frustration as she began applying the bandaging to her comrade, who was waving her fan, trying to get rid of the sweat on her face.
"I'm finished," Tira announced a few minutes later, patting her back. Cleon pulled her shirt back down and stood up, closing her fans and placing them on her sides in the fan catch she wore as she put the extra bandages in her pants pockets.
They began running down the narrow hallway. Moonlight illuminated their way through the windows. Tira looked outside and gazed at the harvest moon. As she gazed, she began laughing.
"What's so funny?" Cleon asked looking at her comrade.
"The moon is so pretty isn't it?" Tira explained.
Cleon looked outside as well. "Yeah." They stared at the moon as they ran ahead. As they stared, they saw a bright light that seemed to swallow the sky, steadily approaching the castle. The assassins stopped staring as the light enveloped the castle. Then, it passed.
"What was that?" Tira asked.
"Who knows. Let's just keep going," Cleon replied, running down the corridor again. Tira shrugged her shoulders and followed after her.
They continued running down the corridor until they reached a fleet of stairs. It was easy to tell that they were old. It went in circles all the way to another door several hundred steps above them.
"C'mon," Tira began running up the stairs. "The faster we run, the faster we can kill." Cleon rubbed her red hair before following the manic girl. Cleon sped up enough to that both of them stood side by side as the ran up the stairs.
As they climbed, an inner sense took over. Both girls stopped in their tracks and fell over.
"Cleon, I don't feel so well. My head... it hurts," Tira stated as she held her head. Cleon only grunted in response, holding her head as well.
They both let out a scream as that last string of sanity snapped. The two girls took a few steps back. Slowly, a dark aura encompassed their bodies as each pulled out her own weapon as they stared into each other's eyes.
Battle cries scoured the air as the girl's weapons clashed. Tira leapt forwards pushing Cleon on the stairs. She began pushing her ring blade to her neck. Cleon blocked the blade with the fan in her left hand. She leaned over and spat in Tira's eye. Tira simply covered the eye and kept pushing the blade closer, a sadistic grin appeared on her face as the blade got closer. Cleon opened the fan in her right hand and waved it, causing wind to slam Tira into the railing of the stairs. Cleon got up quickly and tried to slam her fan onto Tira's skull.
Tira blocked Cleon's barbaric strike and kicked her in the stomach. Cleon recoiled backwards as Tira stood and ran up a few stairs. Cleon waved her fan again, causing wind to follow after Tira. The gren haired girl threw her body against the wall and attempted to slam her ring blade into Cleon's neck. Cleon blocked the attack with her right fan and moved in close with the other raised high. Tira leaned backwards, avoiding the strike. Tira then leaned forward and head butted Cleon. Cleon took a couple of stairs back, holding her head as she glared at the green clad girl charge at her, blade held high. Cleon dodged the attack and kicked Tira in the ribs. Tira grimaced from the kick, but struck Cleon in the face with the flat of her blade, sending Cleon upwards. The red head picked herself off the ground as Tira kicked her into the black door behind her.
The door opened, revealing another door in the far back of the room. Cleon picked herself up quickly as Tira ran at her, ring blade spinning on her right arm.
Cleon ran at Tira holding her weapons in front of her. The weapons collided with each other. Cleon lowered her right leg and placed one of her fans on the inside of the ring blade and pulled, knocking all the weapons out of the two girls's hands. Cleon then tackled Tira to the ground. Tira punched her in the face. Cleon leaned back and straddled the petite girl's hips. Cleon leaned down and bit Tira's arm, tasting the red liquid as Tira punched her in the face again.
Tira rolled over, throwing herself on top of Cleon and straddling her. Tira received another punch to the chest. The green haired girl grabbed her chest before she head butted Cleon again. She leaned up and bit on her collarbone, drawing blood. Cleon sank her nails deep into Tira's upper back and the base of her neck, trying to draw as much blood as she could.
They were deadlocked.
A group of men opened the door and saw the two girl's locked in mortal combat. They stepped backwards. They had not seen the light apparently as they still had their sanity.
"Are, are these girls mad?!" a soldier exclaimed.
"It doesn't matter. They're in front of the weapon vault. They need to be dealt with.
Tira and Cleon stared at the men, never letting go of their grip. The girls slowly uncoiled their bodies and stood up. They grabbed their respective weapons and walked towards the soldiers.
"That look of bloodlust. It's unmistakable. She girls have truly lost their sanity! Men we have to..." He never finished the sentence. Tira decapitated him before he could. His head dropped to the ground as the two assassins began beating and cutting the headless body. Happy with the result of the soldier's demise and being covered in his blood, the girls stepped forward. The soldiers brandished their weapons as the girls proceeded to kill them one by one.
Screams and blades clashing was all that was heard.
Tira yawned as she stretched her arms upwards. She leaned over and awoke the red head girl beside her. "Cleon, wake up!"
As Cleon awoke, her hand touches something... sticky. She looked down and stared at the intestine that she held in her hand. She let out a gasp as she dropped the organ and looked around. The girls were surrounded by mutilated men. Organs were scattered all over the corridor. Cleon finally looked at the girl in front of her. They both were covered in blood that was mostly not their own.
"What happened?" Cleon finally managed to utter out.
"Who knows? We probably killed all those these guys though," Tira's face held a grin as she lifted the head of one of the soldiers.
Cleon sighed. "I don't remember doing any of this."
"Neither do I," Tira groaned. "I killed, and I don't even remember doing it." She watched as Cleon stood up and opened the door behind her. Inside was an incredibly large amount of weapons of various shapes and sizes. Spears, staffs, swords, shields and everything in between.
"Well, we secured the area as told," Cleon said as she opened a fan outside the window, signaling below. She basked in the morning sun as she searched for confirmation from the squad.
Nothing.
"Odd," Cleon leaned back inside and stared at Tira.
"What?"
"No confirmation," Cleon explained.
"Now what?"
"I guess we head outside." The girls began to backtrack the way they came. As they walked, blood and dead bodies littered the area. Some were comrades; most were soldiers. Cleon pondered what could have happened.
"Maybe it had something to do with that light?" Tira suggested.
"Maybe."
They walked out to see meet what remained of their group. The man clad in black earlier had arrived as well as a few others. However, over half of their squad was not present.
"Where's Leader?" Tira asked, referring to the current leader of 'Bird of Passage'.
"He lost his sanity and was taken back to the base of operations where he is currently resting," the man answered as he dropped his head. The girls stared at him agape. "The mission was a success, however. The sword was collected. We will be heading back now."
The road back was quiet. The Bird of Passage had several base of operations, at least one in each major country and is now expanding to even the Eastern Continent. This time, they headed to the major base in Germany. With mission complete and the sword given to the client, the Bird of Passage slipped into the shadows once more, amassing the damage of that strange light that later became known as the Evil Seed.
However, the leader never recovered. The chain of command was broken and was beyond being fixed. The only option left was simple: disbandment.
Thus, the Bird of Passage was erase from the shadows it adored and forced into the light.
A/N: Well, this is my first attempt at Soul Calibur fanfiction. I hope it was a decent read. Next chapter takes place seven years after this one. Well, let me know your thoughts. If you have any questions or comments let me know so I can improve. Until, next time.