I'm-a not stopping now!

PinkPanther123 – Oh yes, there is a dark side to Clover, and it WILL be interesting, I promise you. :D Thanks for the rev! ^^

Disclaimer: I WANT YOU...to know that I own nothing here. So far, that is.

There For You

"Where am I..."

Tira lifted her head...moonlight had bathed her. She lay upon a hard surface, and didn't know what it was, but knew that it was at least above ground. She held her forehead. It was as though she had been taken to another realm. Where exactly was she? A grassy area for miles, it seemed, with a few isolated trees. Didn't look too extraordinary...

She tried to recall what exactly that flash of light was, for she knew it had happened after she jumped...she thought she had heard somebody yelling afterward, too, but what it was had passed beyond recall.

Then she saw a young woman run out from under where she was standing. Tira quickly dropped down to hide herself. That must have been who was yelling before, she thought. Peering over the edge of the platform, Tira gazed at the person. She was very pretty. Her medium-length hair spread out in a fan shape and seemed to be made of almost pure gold. A fringe hid one of her eyes somewhat, though at that distance and angle it was near on impossible to really see into the woman's eyes anyway, and she had a proud yet elegant face; it was as though she was of royal lineage. The outfit the woman bore was ever-so-slightly similar to that of the Fu-Ma ninja, Taki, that Tira had encountered at Osthreinsburg not long ago, and neither had overcome the other at that meeting. It was a red full body suit, a darker red stripe going down the middle, and it appeared to have been held in place by a silver belt with a heart clasp. Very pretty indeed...but as far as she could see, the woman held no visible weapon...Tira's mind began to race, as did her heart, the adrenaline coursing through her veins like liquid flame. What a perfect gift to her master! Surely this woman's soul must be powerful...Nightmare would not think so lowly of her anymore if she presented him with such a feast!

The blonde-haired woman had pulled out something. Tira stared. The woman appeared to be speaking into it. She had a slightly strange voice, seemingly overemphasizing and accented. It was almost...silly. Then she heard another voice...it seemed to be speaking OUT of the thing...how was that possible? It must be magic, somehow...Tira longed to find out who the other person was...but no...one kill would do for now. Tira's mouth curved into a wicked grin. As the woman stopped speaking, Tira made her move. She dived...

"Tira?"

She sat, lost in thoughts of minutes previously. It seemed years ago since she had first looked upon the woman, but Tira was confident that, finally, she had found the one who was like her. She couldn't let this chance pass her by.

"Tira?" repeated the woman. "That's your name, huh?"

"Ooh, yes!" said Tira, coming out of her reverie. "That's me. That's...all I can remember," she added lamely.

"All you can remember...?" grunted the blonde woman. "Who exactly are you? What do you have to do with me?"

Tira racked her brain, trying to think...Nightmare had stationed her at Osthreinsburg to kill Siegfried, find new hosts for Soul Edge after that and, any time in-between, harvest powerful souls that Nightmare would collect. But Nightmare was by-the-by now...it was the woman who concerned her most.

Those eyes...those beautiful sapphire eyes...as she had glowered up at the woman the first time, there was a flash of brightest blue, and Tira had recoiled. The eyes were haunting her still, the sapphire pupils, and the blackened look of the whites...the same blackened look in her own eyes...even Nightmare did not share such a trait, there was only fire, and the very malice which made her quail. It had to be...there could be no coincidence.

"Someone...sent me to collect souls for him," Tira mumbled at last. "And I found you...I'm so sorry..."

The woman was nonplussed. "Is this...the Nightmare you were talking about?"

"Yes," said Tira shamefacedly. "You see, I'm his...his..."

"His what?" said the woman sharply.

"Slave."

A slave...Clover couldn't believe it. This girl was a slave to someone? No one Clover knew would ever, EVER do such a thing to somebody else. Even Tara was more like an assistant than a...Clover nearly snickered, and mentally kicked herself to almost doing so. There was nothing humourous about the situation, and the fact that Clover hadn't been killed yet told her that this was no trick, but it was still quite disconcerting. Was this Tira really a...?

"You're a slave?" said Clover blankly.

Tira nodded. "Nearly all my life."

Clover tried to sit further up, and regretted doing so at once with a yell; the crevasses in her stomach and thigh were still dripping blood and nearly paralyzed her with pain. She fell back with a tortured face, and more tears leaked from her eyes. At this, Tira cupped her hands to her mouth in a mixture of pity and horror.

"Here - !" Tira attempted to hoist Clover by the upper arms over to the oak tree nearby. Clover shrieked and would have fought her off, provided she had the power to do so, but pain and exhaustion swamped her and she allowed the girl to drag her back to the tree. Managing to get Clover into a sitting position, Tira rested the Spy's head against the tree and took her place beside her.

"Is that...a little better?" asked Tira timidly. She got a cough in response as Clover spat blood onto the ground beside her and groaned.

"Get me...that thing...please," she wheezed, pointing at the X-Powder. Tira got up at once and retrieved it for her. Opening it, she tried getting a hold of her friends. "Sam...Sam, come in..." she grunted.

"What's that thing?" asked Tira curiously.

"None of your business," retorted Clover. "Sam... Alex... Jerry... anybody... goddamnit, answer!"

Static.

"Shit..." she threw the X-Powder as hard as her squandered strength could supply, and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the hurts given to her, failing rather extravagantly. There was a long silence...Tira broke it.

"What's your name? You know mine, but...I want to know yours."

Clover opened an eye. "Clover," she muttered, closing the eye again.

"Clover...that's a pretty name," remarked Tira softly.

Clover did not reply to this, but tried to sit further up against the tree, gritting her teeth against the pain.

"Is...is there anything I can do to help?" said Tira. She looked very scared, as though Clover would suddenly turn on her and attack, and the worst of it was that Tira would have deserved it.

"If you know a good surgeon, that's a start," Clover moaned.

"What?"

"I said, if you know a good surgeon, that's a start."

"But what's that?"

"Huh?" Clover stared at Tira. "You...don't know what a surgeon is?"

"No...what is it?"

"Well... err... it's someone who can fix your body up, I guess," said Clover weakly.

"I've never heard of anybody who can do that," said Tira in awe. "I mean, there are people who pray for healing to injuries and sickness, and there are - "

"PRAY for healing?" Clover managed to snort in despite. "What, are you from Medieval Times or something?"

"That was at least four hundred years ago, wasn't it?" said Tira.

Clover turned to stare at her again. Hardly daring to believe herself, she asked, "What year is it...?"

"Umm...I think it's 1591."

"You..." Clover's jaw nearly detached from her head. This girl is from... the 16th century? Well that explains one hell of a lot; the weaponry, the tacky outfit, asking about the X-Powder, not knowing what a surgeon is... but...

"But... but how did you get here?" Clover uttered, at length.

"What do you mean?" Tira cried. "Aren't I still in that year?"

"No! It's... it's 2007 right now!"

To say Tira was scared right now would have been a severe understatement. She felt like she could tear herself apart. Everything was gone. Osthreinsburg was gone, Nightmare was gone... Nightmare... how would she get back to him? Or did she even want to, now? Now she was stuck with...the one who she was destined to find, or so it seemed.

And the black man with the scythe...HE did this...though, admittedly, he seemed to have no control over what he had done. And then Tira had entered the portal through her own curiosity, so she at least had some blame. And she had forewarned herself...she had foreseen it... she would be changed forever if she crossed the boundary. Tira could not see how the change would happen...perhaps it involved Clover? Wait...was this meant to occur? To free her from Soul Edge?

But no, the evil sword still existed. And it would find her, nail down exactly where she was, no matter where she fled to. She could tell. She had two choices right now; one... to pass up what she had seen in Clover's eyes, kill her, and return to being the sword's servant. But there was no love there, no kinship. Only a purpose, and once that purpose was fulfilled, Tira would be devoured just like any other wretch in the sword's way. Tira could see it all too clearly now. The other choice was to stay here with Clover, and risk being found and killed by Nightmare, when he came. It would only be dying at a later time, and as an enemy, and Clover would be killed too. But then Clover would be killed either way.

Or would she? Questions still raged in Tira's head. Was I brought here so that Clover could protect me from Soul Edge? Wait! Could she be the one to fight it, if it comes? If there's a way back, do I take her back to fight it? Tira trembled. No! It's too powerful! I can't let her die! Only the waning strength of the spirit sword could combat Soul Edge, and that was left behind with Siegfried. Only too hopeless now did Tira find the situation. No one could aid the spirit sword, at least, no one she knew or had known, and no one could stop the cursed sword. It would devour Soul Calibur at this point... but she would not let it take Clover first, when it came.

"Tira?"

Tira shook her head. Clover was calling her, and for the first time she looked concerned, as Tira gazed at her, fuzzy thoughts dispelled for now. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it. She didn't know where to begin, but even as she struggled to find words to express what she felt, Clover took matters out of her hands.

"How did you get here?"

The question came to her without really thinking. It would, at least, be a good start to know exactly how Tira got here, even if she didn't know Tira's full story yet. She winced, and Tira about to speak again paused.

"But you're hurt..." Tira whined. "Because of... me... isn't there anything I can do to make up for it?"

"Maybe later," grunted Clover, "but I'll survive for now. So yeah... how did you get here?"

Tira glanced uneasily at Clover, then burst out, "Some doorway."

"A doorway? What, you mean like a portal?" said Clover. Typical, she thought.

"I guess so... but I was at the castle at Osthreinsburg when it - "

"Ost-what?"

"Oh, Osthreinsburg, it's this big watery land with many islands in it and a big castle in the middle, it's where Nightmare dwelt for a time, and... near where I became his servant," Tira muttered.

"You became - ?"

"His servant, yes," sniffed Tira. "Well... I suppose I have to tell you everything now, yes?"

"Better sooner than later," answered Clover. "It would clear a hell of a lot of things up."

Tira trembled. "You'll think really badly of me if I do," she said anxiously. "Really, really badly."

"If I could, I'd kick your ass for what you've done to me already," said Clover angrily. "Now tell me."

With a bit of a whimper, Tira began: "Okay... it's as far as I can remember... I was employed by a cult called the Bird of Passage, they were known for assassinating people of high rank. All I know is that I was very young when they assigned me... I might have even been raised as a killer from birth..."

"Killer..." Clover trembled as Tira looked at her out of the corner of her eyes, suddenly stricken by the piercing gaze. "You mean..."

"I killed lots and lots of people," said Tira. "Maybe even hundreds after I became enslaved by the sword."

She watched, grieved, as Clover's face slowly drained of what colour remained in it.

I'm... I'm sitting face to face with a mass murderer... Clover's hands shook."Go on," she croaked.

"Well, something happened which caused the Bird of Passage to break up and that freed me from their command. I think people called it the Evil Seed...but after that I couldn't stop killing...there was one family who took me in, but I murdered them..." Tira whispered, hands grasping at her own face. It was as though the appearance of Clover had finally shown her the true line between right and wrong, and guilt came to her in a sickening wave.

"But... but... but... why are you remorseful NOW?" said Clover, horrified. Never had she wanted to run so badly...

"I'll get to that... I was trying to find someone who was like me. I mean," Tira cut across Clover, who was about to open her mouth again, "someone who was like me in regards to my... well, soul. Not in the terrible habit that the Bird of Passage had taught me... but I thought it was like that at first. I couldn't... stop..."

In other words, killing is a drug she can't get off of... Clover thought. And she was fucking high...

"...then I heard about mass murders somewhere, so I tracked them all down and met Nightmare."

"Who is this Nightmare guy?" said Clover.

"He's..." Looking fevered, Tira ran her fingers through her hair, "...pure evil, really. He was responsible for all the mass murders I had heard about after being released from the Bird of Passage. I tracked him down because I thought my emotions were like his, because he was a murderer too... I thought he felt like I did..."

"You thought - ?"

"I was wrong! I was wrong!" wailed Tira suddenly, pounding the ground with her fists. "He didn't show me anything that we were to be! He used me! Used me like a tool!" Then Tira's voice became harsh again; anger flamed in her eyes, her face demented; Clover shrank away from her in fright. "No further purpose, dropped and broken when needed no longer! That's all it ever was, wasn't it? Taking advantage of me, my... my situation... my... my..."

Her voice faltered, her eyes upon the blonde Spy, and she became quite quiet, gazing at her. The look upon her face was no longer demented; it was tearful, almost as terrified as Clover's.

"I...I'm sorry," squeaked Tira. "I didn't mean to go so far..."

"It's okay," said Clover, intensely relieved, and for the first time managing a nervous smile. "K-keep going."

"Well I became... his servant..." Tira scowled a bit, "and then I went on huge killing sprees, looking to destroy the man with the spirit sword."

"The what?"

"Oh yeah! Um... Nightmare is actually the will of an evil sword called Soul Edge, and he wields something that looks like it. The sword is legendary, and it's killed thousands of people - "

"I d-don't know how much more death I can take," Clover gulped. "And I'm just an innocent Valley girl..."

Tira frowned at her slightly, then continued. "Nightmare told me to kill the one who holds a sword that can combat Soul Edge. I've heard it being called Soul Calibur, the Holy Sword, the Spirit Sword, and other names in rumours...though they're only rumours," she added lamely. "I don't know if it's powerful enough."

"And how'd you get here? Exactly?" asked Clover.

"A man with a scythe made the doorway to here...wherever here is. He was at Osthreinsburg for some reason. Nightmare assigned me there when he found that I couldn't find the one with the spirit sword. He told me the one would be drawn there somehow, so I waited..." Tira paused for a second. "It was at that time I was starting to realize he didn't show me any affection... he went away all by himself gathering souls."

"Well why didn't you stop him, when you knew that?" cried Clover.

"Are you crazy?" cried Tira; fear showed in her face. "He's too powerful! There's no way I would have stood against him, even at that time when he was less powerful! To him I'm just... just... weak." She hung her head.

Words did not occur immediately to Clover here. At last, she grunted, "Well you were strong enough to lay me down like this, although I'll have to pay you back for these." She indicated her abdominal and thigh wounds, scowling.

"You don't understand," cried Tira. "Nightmare's levels of power are enough to destroy towns within minutes, no one is that powerful, no one except... maybe..."

"That holy sword you were talking about?" supplied Clover.

"Yes, that. I don't know if I can believe it or not, or if I even should, if there isn't another power out there..."

"Okay that's fine and all," said Clover, "but you haven't told me how this scythe guy got you here."

Dimly, Tira recalled Zasalamel's harvesting of souls, and its backfire, and explained this to Clover.

"But that would mean it'd still be here!" she cried. "That doorway thingy or whatever."

"What do YOU mean?" said Tira. Then she looked scared. "No! You can't possibly be thinking of going there?"

"Why not?" said Clover. "If there's evil there, then I'm gonna teach it a lesson, it's what I do...well, me, Sam and Alex anyway. That's right," she added. "We fight criminals a lot, and I MEAN a lot. Normally, if it's somewhere else, I wouldn't give a damn, but if what you say is true then this guy is really powerful, and he could do a lot of damage. If you could get through here, he sure as hell can and I'm not gonna let him kill any people here."

Tira didn't seem to have heard any of the latter part of that. "You can't go, Clover, please don't think of going!" she pleaded. "He'll kill you, and I don't want to lose you! Please!"

Clover registered how very strange it was that Tira was reminding her of Alex in this regard. Now she knew how Tira got here, but still could honestly not see why Tira thought they were alike. She chanced this topic again.

"You don't want to lo - ...you say we're alike because of our eyes?" she gasped. "How do you figure that one?"

"Like I said, no one shares this trait with me, no one...except you now," said Tira, suddenly and alarmingly awed.

"But like I said, I don't have dark eyes," snapped Clover. "I'll prove it; get me my X-Powder."

"Your - ?"

"The thing I threw earlier."

Tira got up again to retrieve the X-Powder, and handed it to Clover. The Spy kept noticing Tira gazing at her, as though she couldn't believe her eyes; Clover averted her own eyes and turned them to the mirror in the X-Powder.

"Clover, what's wrong?" asked Tira worriedly, but Clover didn't answer. She was staring, dumbstruck at the reflection of her own face, as though about a hundred warts had suddenly sprouted on it. The smooth skin, the luscious lips, the fine eyelashes, they were as normal as could be for Clover, but... what on earth had happened to her eyes?

The pupils were as sapphire blue as ever, but... the whites were no longer white as they had been in the morning, when she last checked. It was as though a black smoke had been billowing inside her and had clouded her eyes, and they now seemed grey, dead, and cold, like a thick winter fog. Was... was she turning into something again?

"What...what's wrong? asked Tira again, even more timidly.

"My... m-my eyes..." Tears started in the said eyes as Clover sat, horror-struck, looking back into them. "What... what happened to them... my... my beautiful eyes..."

"What do you mean?" said Tira. "Weren't they always like that?"

"NO!" screamed the Spy, hurling the X-Powder away again. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY EYYYYYYES?"

She began to cry heavily into her hands, and Tira had no idea why, but let her. It was a little while before Clover regained control of herself, but tears still clung to her cheeks, and her eyes looked a little puffy now. She looked at Tira.

"What did you do to my eyes?" she whispered.

"Huh? Hey, I didn't do anything!" said Tira. "I just said that I thought they were always dark like that!"

"But...but they were white this morning, I checked...!" gasped Clover. "And no one said anything abnormal about me the entire time today! How is that possible?" Clover was always touchy about her looks, but this one took the cake.

"Well I don't know, I couldn't have done anything to them, I'm... not magic!" spluttered Tira.

"But... how come... how come..."

Clover fell silent, something occurring to her. She thought back about before the Spies had last split up. True, Alex had looked at her curiously, but Alex wasn't one to hold things in; she usually said her mind, like Clover did. It was Sam who nearly always kept things held in. Alex surely would have told Clover that there was something wrong with her eyes, like before when Clover had been turned into a cat-girl? Or maybe Alex thought she was seeing things? Yeah, that would be like Alex, all right... thought Clover hopelessly.

"What is it?" ventured Tira.

"One... one of my friends gave me a weird look when we last split up," uttered Clover. "Maybe... then..."

She turned to look at Tira again. "Do you know how to get rid of this?" she asked, pointing at her eyes.

"What? No, no! I've had the darkness in my eyes since I can remember seeing them reflected back at me in a stream," said Tira earnestly. "Clover, this has to mean something for us, I can tell!"

"Huh? What do you mean, 'you can tell'?"

"Isn't it obvious? We're meant to be together!"

Clover managed a snicker. "Sorry, but I have enough friends," she said. "Especially after what's just happened..."

"I want to make that up to you!" said Tira desperately. "Please, give me a chance!"

"You really want to make up for that, huh?" Clover's now tainted eyes narrowed.

"Of course I do!"

"All right, I'll give you a chance."

At that, Tira practically soared up with a loud "YAY!" and started prancing about like an animal. Clover stared at her in disbelief and slight amusement, then cleared her throat. Tira stopped in mid-leap and looked straight at her.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked excitedly.

Clover's mind raced; it went back to the talk of slavery. For a second she considered it, but realized if she did that even to the lowest degree she'd be no better than this Nightmare that Tira spoke of. Then it hit her. Nightmare...

"If you really want to make up for nearly killing me, you'll come with me, Sam, and Alex to your world, as it seems, to help fight off this Nightmare guy you were a slave of," said Clover flatly.

Tira's face fell instantly. Clover might have insulted her and done no more. "What?" asked Clover.

"N-no... you can't go..." squeaked Tira, stricken. "He... he's evil incarnate."

"He may have... killed, a lot of people, according to you, but so have many jerks and creeps that we've run into," said Clover. "He's nothing less and nothing more than they are. And," she added, struck by another sudden thought... the darkness in her eyes... was it related to this? "maybe this is the thing you say we're meant to do."

"B-but I can't lose you! Not now! Not after all this!" wailed Tira, clutching at Clover's shoulders.

"Hey! Let go of me!" cried Clover indignantly, and tried to struggle. With another yelp she stopped; the wounds from earlier were reminding her of her current condition. Tira let go immediately and looked scared. She looked around, and spotted the wreck nearby; the door was still wide open. Clover followed Tira's gaze.

"Maybe... maybe there's something in there... whatever it is," said Tira uncertainly.

"There's a makeshift bed in there, that's it. I checked," Clover groaned.

"Well it might help you relax," said Tira firmly. "Come on, I'll help you, okay?"

There were no protests from Clover, but she looked slightly resentful. Nonetheless, like she allowed Tira to rest her against the tree, so she now allowed Tira to drag her into the train car wreck. Tira was, again, a lot stronger than she looked. She was smaller than Clover, but only slightly.

"Will this do for now?" said Tira, laying Clover down on the mattresses.

"It's not queen-size," replied Clover, "but yeah it'll do for now." Panting slightly, she rolled over a bit, grabbed the pillow and took off the pillowcase, and then stared around as though looking for something.

"Here, I can do that," said Tira, realizing what the Spy was about to do, and walked around the wreck. She found a random plank, grabbed the pillowcase, and tied the plank about Clover's thigh wound with it.

"Unnnngh... my poor body," grunted Clover. "You really did a fucking number on it..."

"I know, I already said I was sorry," replied Tira mournfully. "What about your - ?"

"None of the gadgets I got help with wounds, only for catching bad guys," said Clover weakly.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." moaned Tira. She wiped her face with her arm.

"Why do you wear that thing, anyway?" asked Clover, looking at Tira's top. "It's, like, totally demeaning."

"Oh?" Tira looked down at herself, then at Clover. "Well... it's not like I haven't been hurt before either, and this looked nicer before I met Nightmare, but it does kinda look silly. I don't have any other clothes though..."

"Well I'll accept it for now," said Clover, flicking a hand through her hair imperiously, as she usually did. Now that the situation between her and Tira was swiftly becoming less and less dangerous, she seemed to be gaining her personality back again. "Listen," she said at length, "you caused me some major hurt here - "

"I said I was sorry!" Tira wailed.

"Let me finish, all right?" Clover said tersely. "You cause me some major hurt here, but you stopped, and I'm pretty sure if you wanted to kill me after that I'd be dead. And," she added with a bit of a curious frown, "there's something about you now that seems... well... more believable than before. I don't know what it is but you don't seem to want to do anything, well, bad to me anymore." She took a deep breath. "I forgive you for attacking me and nearly killing me and all that, and I'm not usually one to forgive like that. Something must be wrong with me," she muttered.

"If there is, I approve of it," said Tira, looking very happy again. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"No," grunted the Spy, lying back onto the mattress, "but things always come through in the end. Somehow."

There was another long silence. Clover's wounds seemed to have stopped bleeding, but her face was still very pale and the expression slightly laboured. It looked up into Tira's face, and the two stared at each other for a moment.

"Your friends will kill me, I know it," moaned Tira. "Any friend of yours would, after what - "

"Don't... don't worry about it," said Clover heavily. "I'll be able to convince them otherwise." Well, Alex anyway.

Silence again.

"Are you cold?" asked Tira.

"Errr... kinda," replied Clover. "Why - ?"

But there was no need for Clover to finish the question, for Tira had gently placed her upper body on top of Clover's and embraced her. She heard Clover making unintelligible sounds, and raised her head to look at her again. Clover seemed wholly shocked and terrified by that act, and the jargon ushered from her lips seemed to confirm it.

"Wh – why – why did you – what – why - " she spluttered.

"Silly! I'm sharing my warmth with you," replied Tira. "That way no one gets cold, even in the dead of night."

"You... you could have j-just taken out the other m-mattress from under me and put it on top," mumbled Clover.

"Come on now, that wouldn't keep you warm, and it certainly wouldn't be very cozy either," said Tira. "I think this is much better, don't you agree?"

She grinned at Clover, who was once again at a loss for words. If Clover was completely honest with herself... yes, having someone wrapped around you in a warm hug was a better idea for keeping warm than sandwiching yourself between two thick mattresses, but she very much wished that it was a cute guy who was hugging her, or at the very least Alex, who loved to give hugs every so often, instead of this wacked girl, as she thought her. Sweet, but wacked.

"Er, well... yeah, um, thanks," mumbled Clover, as Tira sat up again and let go.

"Oh it's nothing," beamed Tira. "You know," she added forlornly, her face falling again, "I don't know if anybody showed me true kindness before. My master in the Bird of Passage treated me, well, what I would call 'fairly', but... I just don't know. I don't think I've ever known, in fact..."

"You...never knew any compassion? Even once?" said Clover, trying to sit up herself, and managing it.

"Well I only saw such feelings as an outsider," said Tira. "Mind you, I saw them a lot, so I do know what to do."

Clover gave a low whistle. Never experienced a single drop of humanity in her entire life, just living with pure hatred...huh, what a sad life Tira must have led. She was suddenly filled with an intense feeling of pity, something she rarely felt. Just as suddenly, Tira did not seem so strange anymore. All she was was a lost girl with no real positive emotions, or ones that ended in disaster... or death.

"You're the first one to even show me any affection," sniffed Tira, barely audible, "and that was after I caused you so much pain... you forgave me for everything. Even the family that took me in briefly gave me nothing to feel."

The pity Clover felt now heightened to almost agonizing levels; it almost hurt more than her wounds.

"Aw, come here." Very cautiously, Clover leant forward and gave Tira a hug this time.

Tira gasped. She had not been expecting it. Clover's arms were around Tira now, and her head on Tira's shoulder. The one Tira now cared, actually cared about, like nobody else, seemed to have finally given in. Emotions blazed through her mind like a sun flare; there was naught negative through her, for once in her life... only happiness.

"Th-thank you," was the only reply Tira could give. She put her own arms around Clover's body and held them there, nestling her own head on Clover's shoulder. Before she knew it, she was crying. But there were no bitter tears here; no ill will borne to the one before her, safely entwined in her embrace. There was just pure overwhelming joy, and it emanated from Tira as it had never done before, too vast to be contained. No one had ever taken her in their arms like this before. It was the greatest and kindest gesture she had ever felt... the feeling that you were safe in arms. It ran through Tira and made her cry even more. Her life of slaughter, still so near to her, was starting to fall away...

Clover was amazed. Tira was clearly bawling her heart out, and didn't seem like she would ever stop. It's like she still has the mind of a kid... well I'd so have one too if my last several years were made of only death. And it was this, more than anything, that convinced Clover that Tira was truly what she said she was. She had been pretty sure already, but this sealed it. And her injuries... as far as she was concerned, someone else carved them into her.

She gripped Tira a bit more tightly, and held her for a few more seconds. She could feel Tira's hands trembling.

"What's up?" said Clover, a little confused.

"Can... can we stay like this? Even for just a little longer? Please?" said Tira hoarsely.

"Uh, sure..." muttered Clover. "But can I lie down after?"

"I'll lie here with you, if you'll let me," said Tira. "I don't want to be on my own right now..."

"Y-yeah, that's cool," said Clover nervously. Still interlocked in their embrace, they both eased their bodies back onto the large padding and were still. She had never had a stranger night than this, but Clover was at least glad that it had turned out for the good. Well, bring on tomorrow... she thought sleepily.

A/N: Well, the longest chapter thus far, and yet it took not even nearly as long as the other chapters. And I really do encourage you, if you haven't already, to read up on Tira's story so that a lot of parts on her end make sense to you Totally Spies fans. The Soul Calibur wiki should help. Anyway, next chapter, next time! Later folks! :D