Hi, it's me again. I decided to continue this story. Please read and review.


That November day was cool and the breeze was chilly. Clouds covered the sun, so even at noontime there were several people walking about in the plazas and alleys of the town, newly built a few years ago. One could smell the freshly harvested grain wafting from the marketplace even from houses away. On such a day, Eva and Sparda were walking out of the town into the nearby forest, to find the glade where she would often practice her witchcraft. Their shoes crunched on fallen autumn leaves fallen from the trees. Sparda himself was wearing a black jacket with two columns of buttons in front, a purple overcoat, trousers, and leather shoes. He had gotten strange looks from other men in the town, as trousers were viewed as barbaric back in those days. He stuck out like a sore thumb, especially with his white slicked-back hair and monocle, and the sword on his back. A would-be thief had tried to steal it, but before he could even touch the sword, Sparda turned around and glared at him. The thief ran away, screaming and foaming at the mouth. He paid it no heed and continued walking with light steps.

"Is that the dress you wear downstairs?" Eva asked as they walked. She carried a basket filled with sweet, crunchy apples and other fruits. Earlier, Sparda had offered to carry it for her but she insisted on doing it herself.

"It is my preferred attire," he replied. "I was once a well-to-do man, but I have since been disgraced and stripped of my rank." He sighed. "I hope you are confident that you have summoned me to be your contract."

"I know what I did, and I have my reasons for doing so," Eva said. "It is rare to see a demon that does not boast of their own power – I think you are the first."

"I was a very humble person," Sparda said. "I am sorry," he said, pausing in his step. Eva turned to look at him. His eyes were cast upon the ground, and he was breathing as if he were trying to draw the words he wanted from the air. "I would really rather not talk about it," he finally said.

"I don't mind," Eva said. "As long as your past does not hold you back from your future, then I think we'll get along just fine."

"You are fine with not knowing who you have made a contract with?" Sparda replied, his eyebrows raising momentarily.

"Well, for starters," Eva said, "the reason that I put such a vague contract in the first place was to call upon the demon most compatible with me, and one that was willing to fight others to be with me." She stared off at something in the distance, perhaps a bird, flying away. "You wanted to be with me and I saw that you were willing to fight for it, covered as you were in demon blood. I can entrust myself to you." She smiled at him, sending butterflies into his stomach.

"I see," Sparda replied. For a while, there was no sound but the two of them breathing the cool autumn air softly, as if the two of them were frozen in time. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes – that was silly, he thought. Devils never cry.

"Hey!" Eva suddenly said, jerking Sparda out of his reverie. "The sun isn't going to stay up forever. We have to go."

The two of them walked on, the sound of crunching leaves marking their every step. Neither of them noticed that where Sparda stood a while ago was a black feather.

"Well, here we are!" Eva said. The clearing was marked by more orange leaves littering the ground. Birds were singing in beautiful, light tones. The cold air was even colder here as there were no buildings blocking its path. The trees were all so orange it looked like they were on fire as they gently swayed in the wind. Eva started setting down a white cloth on the ground so that the two of them could sit without getting their clothes dirty. When it was done, the two of them sat down and opened the basket to eat some apples.

Sparda had finished his first apple when Eva asked him a question. "I feel that this is important, Sparda," she said. "Why do you not dematerialize and go back to Inferno, like the other contracted beings?"

"Must I really answer this question?" he said, pleading that he wouldn't have to.

"I think so, yes. It's hard to keep you inconspicuous if you insist on wearing those clothes." Eva saw Sparda's face fall slightly and she hastily added, "Not that I don't like them! They suit you very much. It's just that other people don't like what is strange and what sticks out."

"Is that why they were also looking at you?" Sparda said.

"What do you mean?"

"Your bright red clothes attracted just as much attention as mine, Eva," he said with a teasing smile.

"That's true! But they are used to me already. You just stand out a lot more. So answer my question - why do you insist on staying by my side?"

"Inferno holds nothing of value to me. Everything I have and own is with me now," he said. "All I have left down there are a few weapons."

"Well, don't you want to bring those here?" Eva asked.

Sparda closed his eyes, and a sword with a broken blade appeared in his hands. In his other hand he held the other part of the blade. The weapon disappeared. Another weapon appeared in his hands; a long lance, far too long to be held with one hand. This too disappeared.

"As you can see, I can call my weapons to me at any time," he said. "I just prefer to have this one with me at all times." He patted the hilt of his sword.

A glint from Eva's clothing caught Sparda's eye. The silver amulet that she wore on her chest drew Sparda's attention.

"What is that?" Sparda said.

"Oh, this? It's nothing," Eva said. "Just a girl's jewelry."

"Where did you get it?"

"From my parents. It's the last thing I have of them."

"May I borrow it?"

"Okay, but be careful," Eva said. "A lady's heart should not be toyed with!" She said it teasingly, but behind the light words was a grave warning.

Sparda knew that an Umbran Watch contained the magic that would halt the natural aging of a witch. What he didn't expect was to see what the watch was made of. Sparda took a while to examine the watch and to choose his next words carefully. "Do you know how your parents came by this?"

"No idea. But it had another form before it was a watch."

Sparda nodded and handed the watch back to Eva. Some things were better off unstated, but now he knew that it wasn't her soul that resonated with him and drew him to her, but the watch – or what the watch had been before.

"Truly, our fates are tied together now. Your soul is my blood, and my sword is your life."

"Are you going to tell me why you're being so cryptic?" Eva said.

Sparda drew a breath, and then spoke. "As I said before, I would really rather not talk about the failings of my past. Suffice to say, I lost something of mine, and now when I've found it, it belongs to someone else – you."

"You could have it back if you want it," Eva said.

Sparda gave a small smile. This girl was far too innocent, she was almost naive, he thought. If she gave her Umbran Watch to someone else it would mean forfeiting her life, and she should know that already. Why did this girl trust him so much?

"No, I think not," he said. Sparda stood up. "It is yours now. Now, what shall we do?"

"Well, I brought you here to have a little fun," she said. "To train."

"Train?"

Eva rolled her eyes and reached for the long stiletto knife in her pocket. "Now that I am a witch, I am given more power, and I intend to know what I can do with it before going into any sort of battle. I don't want to just find out that I have a special move that could have been useful when it's too late already."

Sparda chuckled. "You sound like me when I was younger." He brought out his sword, a plain, grey thing much like a Roman gladius, but with a more ornate guard concave to the blade. "Tell me, do you know how to use a sword?"

"I have the general idea down."

Sparda used his magic to create an ethereal blue replica of his own sword. "Take this. I need to see how well you do." He handed the new sword to Eva, hilt-first.

"Now, let's set some ground rules," Sparda said. "One, don't hold back. That sword I made can't hurt me. I need to see how you fight to your fullest extent." Sparda held his sword in his right hand and pointed it at Eva from his hip, ready to lash out at any point, like a coiled snake. He set his left foot back and got into his stance. "Two. I trust that you know how to use Witch Time?"

"I do," Eva said, and pointed the sword in her hand at him.

"I won't be going all out, but if you feel threatened, you are to use all of your skill to defend yourself. Understand?"

"Yes," Eva replied.

"Good. Any questions?" Sparda said.

"When do we stop?" Eva asked.

"We stop when I say so. I need to see your limits. And we start when I say go."

Eva turned to her left and extended the sword towards Sparda, much like a gun. "I am ready."

Sparda raised an eyebrow. "If that's what you know, let us commence." He fed an attack, telegraphing the motion beforehand just to see if Eva's response time. He felt his sword deflected as it reached her range and saw that she had stepped out of the way of his strike. An imperceptible moment later, he felt a strike hit him from behind. He turned around to strike her, much faster than he did before, and was surprised when he felt the flat of his blade strike flesh.

"Ow!" Eva gripped her upper right arm.

"That's going to leave a bruise," Sparda said. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Eva replied. "We've all gone through worse in training." Suddenly, she struck him in the chest – or tried to, because she found that he had sidestepped the attack and parried it with his own sword. He was now gripping her right forearm in his left hand, and she couldn't move it at all.

"Good! I don't remember telling you to stop after all. But are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'll be fine," she said, with a twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her lips.

They went at it for as long as Eva was still able. The hours went by with the sound of leaves, the chirping of birds, and the clashing of steel ringing through the glade. When the sun had begun to set, Eva was covered in bruises all over her body, drinking of the air deeply, and moaning in pain and satisfaction as she lay on top of a pile of leaves.

Sparda knelt beside her. "We're done for the day. Would you like me to carry you back?" he said.

"That would be nice; thank you, but I want to just rest here for a while. Why don't you lie here?" she said, patting the ground to her right. "Ow."

Sparda sat beside her and looked at her supine form, splayed out on the ground. Her long blonde hair and pale skin stood in stark contrast to her dark brown eyes and red lips. She truly reminded him of days long gone, back when he was an angel and had great authority over other angels. Most of the angels in his memories were fair-haired youths, always smiling for the littlest things in Paradise – the sound of a bubbling brook flowing with clear, clean water; the sight of verdant gardens with beautiful flowers of all colors; the smell of fresh, cool air with just a tinge of fragrant incense – he had almost forgotten all of it, sealed away in a small part of his mind that he would never have visited again if it were not for her.

The sun had gone and the moon and stars had come to dance in the night. Eva let Sparda carry her back to her house on his shoulders. Since his sword was in the way, he consented to let her hold the weapon instead of putting it on his back. She was admiring the way the sword reflected the moonlight, just a few steps away from becoming a mirror.

"What's this sword called?" Eva asked.

"It had a more formal name in a tongue long gone," Sparda replied. The day he had received the sword was another one of those old memories from so long ago. His eyes glazed over as he recalled the lady who had given it to him. Come to think of it, Eva looked quite a bit like her. He couldn't recall the woman's name, and tried to picture the scene in his mind. He remembered how her gloves looked like as she handed him the sword, still in its sheath. They were white, lined with gold where they ended on her upper arms. He cursed his inability to remember – had being a demon truly erased who he was?

"Sparda?" Eva asked. He had been silent for a few minutes now.

"Ah yes, my apologies," he said. "In any case, you may call the sword the Force Edge."

"Force Edge?" she said. "What an appropriate name for a sword."

"How so?" Sparda asked.

"All blades exert a great amount of force at their edges and points, correct? That is what allows a sword to cut and not merely bludgeon, as sticks do."

"You are correct in that regard." Sparda sighed. "Edges are made to exert enough force to break the bonds between things. The Force Edge is named such because it is the very first and best sword in all the realms."

"You're joking," Eva said.

"No, I am not," Sparda replied, and even though Eva couldn't see his face, she could hear the smile in his voice.

"Let's put that to the test!" she said, and immediately slashed at the nearest tree. She furrowed her eyebrows as the sword seemingly passed through the tree without any damage.

"That's always a fun trick," Sparda said. "Watch this." He gave the tree a slight push with his finger above where Eva hacked it. It fell over, crashing into the ground. The trunk below where Eva sliced the tree remained rooted to the ground. "Touch the stump," Sparda said. Eva did so, and quickly retracted her hand.

"That's hot!" she said. She blew on her gloved hand and shook it to cool it down.

"A lot of energy goes into any cut," Sparda said. "But the Force Edge can cut through anything reliably, with the strange exception of other swords."

"If it can cut a tree down as easily as that," Eva said, "why can't it cut through other swords?"

"I have no idea," Sparda said. "I've tried to figure it out myself. The Force Edge can cut through armor, steel, anything, you name it. But it can't cut through swords and other weapons."

"Hm."

The rest of their walk back was uneventful, save for that one time that Eva wanted to cut down a sparrow in mid-flight with the sword ("That requires years and years of relentless training to execute," Sparda said). When they reached Eva's home, Sparda put Eva down, took his sword, put it on his back, carried her in his arms, and then jumped up to her window. He landed inside her room.

Eva yawned. "I'm going to be sore all over tomorrow."

"Indeed you will," Sparda replied. He put her on her bed gently and put a blanket on her. "Good night, Eva." She was already asleep.

He resumed his post at her side, looking at her sleeping form as he had a while ago. He would not fail her as he had failed his duties before.


I know it isn't as long as the next chapter. You'll see why in the next one. If there is a next one.

Please read and review. It's quite the motivation to continue. Thank you very much!