Chapter 3

"No."

"No? Why?"

"You've done your part, Sophie. Please, go back home to your children, they miss you. Don't forget that you have a family."

"So do you, Cassandra! Mother and Father have been worried sick. This is my duty, not yours."

"No! It's mine now! I've taken up this responsibility. I have to follow through with it…"

"Cassandra, I can't let you do this…"

"Well then, stop me! I won't go without a fight!"

"I won't fight you...I can see that your determined. But I won't let you do this alone…"

XOOOOOX

After spending a day in the inn and having dinner in a local restaurant the next night, the two sisters left town. They treaded down the same road that Siegfried had just traveled. The whole time they stayed silent, both afraid to say something to the other. Cassandra remained stubborn in her decision to go on, and Sophitia didn't want to be to demanding over her little sister. She did not want to seem that she was trying to control her life.

After a long silence, Cassandra gathered up enough courage to talk to her sister, "Sis, where are we heading?"

Sophitia stopped in her tracks, surprised, "What? I thought you knew where you were going. I'm only following you. You are the one who insists on going on."

"Well, I don't know where to start. You're the one who knows about Soul Edge. Where do you think we should head?"

Sophitia, keeping her true opinion to herself, answered reluctantly, "…The Azure Knight…"

"Huh? The Azure Knight? Sophitia, wha…"

"We'll follow the rumors of the Azure Knight..." She paused, rubbing her arm as shivers traveled down her body, "Wherever he is, Soul Edge is."

Cassandra looked back at the town which was now lit up. It looked so inviting now, "Rumors…do you think anyone back…"

"No," Sophitia interrupted, "I've already asked. We should head north. He's more likely to have impacted Northern Europe, not down here."

"Oh man…" Cassandra quietly complained to herself as she began to walk back up the road. Sophitia followed behind.

The wind was chilly and the night was oddly silent when the sisters happened upon some sort of obstruction in the middle of the road. Cassandra squinted to make out a better image.

What lay before them was a body lying in a puddle of blood. He was heaped over in a fetal position, arms wrapped around his stomach. Cassandra walked up closer. His face was turned away from her, and she didn't have the heart to turn him over, "Oh my…Sophitia! Come quick! Look!"

Sophitia took a look at the man's body. He was still barely breathing, barely alive. Then she looked and the pool of blood he was lying in and gasped, "How could he still be alive?" The man was obviously unconscious, but he looked as if he could still feel the pain. "Cassandra, come help me carry him. We need to get him some help before he dies."

Cassandra's heart leapt into her throat as she heard this, "Die…?" She helped Sophitia pick up the body despite her uneasiness. As they picked him up more blood began to drip from his side, making small ripples in the blood puddle. He didn't react to any of what was going on. It was as if he was already dead. "Sis, should we take him back to the town?"

Sophitia struggled to secure his limp arm around her neck and shoulders, "I doubt he'll make it that far. We'll have to take care of him ourselves."

Cassandra nodded and took a strong grip of the body. From the corner of her eye she could see the man's pale face. She couldn't help but take a look. What she saw shocked her. No…it's him! Her eyes began to burn and water as she now desperately heaved the body off the road and into the surrounding woods. She was trying to move so fast that her sister almost stumbled and fell herself trying to keep up.

XOOOOOX

Siegfried winced as he began to wake up. Grimacing, he forced his eyes to open. Along with his consciousness came pain. Terrible pain. He groaned and rolled onto his side, wrapping his arms around his wound, trying to somehow ease the pain. He drew in a breath through gritted teeth and closed his eyes again. He just wanted to go back to sleep. As he felt his side he realized that it was bandaged. He opened his eyes and looked down at his body. He was covered with his cloak. He noticed that his shirt was missing, as well as his armor. He remembered that where he was now was not where he had fainted. He forced himself to sit up. He groaned in pain, but as soon as he was sitting, the pain subsided. He brushed away his hair and looked around. To his dismay, whoever had saved him had brought him back into the forest. No one was around. Deciding no one would mind if he just left now, he struggled to get to his feet. He picked up his cloak and found his shirt laid out on a large stone. Apparently someone had washed it because the caked blood was almost all cleaned off. It still had the hole in it, but it would serve him fine the way it was. When he was about to dress himself, he found that he was filthy. Dirt was all over his limbs and caked blood was as well. "Perhaps I should bathe before I go." Before he left, he still needed one last thing, "My sword..." He found it propped up against a tree beside a pair of short swords and shields. Wait…could it have been her? But who is she with…?

He followed the sounds of splashing water to the lake. The same lake he had bathed in before he fought Zasalamel. They've carried me all the way back here? A bit irritated, Siegfried began to rip branches out of his path as he walked. He walked out into the clearing and dropped his belongings on the ground. He began to undress when he heard voices in the lake. There he swore he saw two angels bathing in the lake, both unaware of his presence. He admired their bare bodies. Two beautiful angels were there before him, and here he was half naked. He felt ashamed so he quickly pulled back on his pants and his shirt. I should hurry elsewhere…

Sophitia noticed something moving from the corner of her eye. She turned to look and saw a man dressed in green pants and shirt hurryingly picking up his armor and sword. "Cassandra, is that him?"

Cassandra, who had her back turned to that side of the lake, turned around and yelped to see a man looking back at her naked body. "Ah!" She quickly pushed herself deeper into the water to hide her body when she realized that he Siegfried was awake and walking.

Siegfried saw a full frontal view of the wonderfully looking girl and quickly turned around to hide his shame.

Still hiding in the water, Cassandra began to swim slowly to the lakeside, "Umm…how are you feeling?"

Siegfried turned around and looked the blushing Cassandra in the eye. He quickly looked away and nodded, "Yes, thank you." He paused for a second and then continued, eyes still glued to the ground, "You're the girl I met back in town, aren't you?"

Cassandra nodded, "Mm hm, thank you for the money, by the way."

"I suppose we're even now," he finally looked back at her adorable face and smiled, "Thank you again." He finished picking up his things and began to walk away. The voice of the other woman stopped him, "Wait, could you tell us what happened?"

Siegfried looked back at another beautiful woman. This one seemed more mature than the other but she still had an easy and relaxed air to her, like the younger one.

"It's a miracle you're still alive, you know. You must have been really determined to live; otherwise, you would've died, like anyone else. Please tell me what happened." She kindly passed a smile which warmed Siegfried when he looked at her.

He looked at his reflection in the Requiem, These women, they make me feel comfortable, welcomed. He sighed and sat down, dropping his things to the side, "I met a man one night. I forgot how long it was ago, but it must have been recently."

Cassandra nodded and a worried look came over her face, "Just two days ago. You slept the whole time."

"I see. Well then, two nights ago a man wielding a scythe confronted me. He said that he wanted something of mine. I didn't know what it was, but I wasn't going to let him try to take it what ever it was, so I fought."

"And that's how you ended up so badly hurt," Cassandra pointed out.

"Did he manage to take what he wanted?"

"No, I don't think so. I don't carry around much, and what I do carry around is still in my possession right now."

Sophitia picked up her towel laid out on a smooth rock and got out of the water, wrapping herself in the towel as she did. I was hoping he encountered Nightmare… Wait, what am I saying? Why would I hope for such a thing? "This is a bit off subject, but would you happen to know anything about the Azure Knight?"

"What? Why…why do you want to know about him?"

"So you have heard of him. We're trying to find him. I…have unfinished business with him."

"Did someone close to you…" Siegfried's heart began to beat faster. Sweat began to drip down his brow. He did not want to have to fight these two. If they were after Nightmare, then sooner or later they would somehow discover that he and Nightmare were one and the same, just like the others had.

"No," his vision shot back to Cassandra, who had gotten out of the lake and was wrapped up herself, "We're after his sword, Soul Edge." She walked over to a small pouch lying on top of her folded clothes and pulled out a metallic fragment.

A fragment of Soul Edge…

"For too long Soul Edge has plagued my family," Sophitia looked into the clouds, a far-off look in her eyes, "I will destroy that sword once and for all. I was so close all those years ago…"

'So close'? Has she dealt with Soul Edge before? Then it struck him. He finally remembered. He had met this woman before. More than once actually. The first time they met he remembered he knocked her unconscious in a temple in her home town. That was about seven years ago. The second time they met was less clear to him. He remembered speaking with her; he remembered her taking his hand…

"I must request that you give that fragment to me," Siegfried stood up and looked at the women with piercing eyes, "It's going to cause you more trouble than you expect."

"What?" Both sisters were surprised. They didn't expect him to want the fragment.

Siegfried's eyes were unwavering, "Give it to me and go back to where you came from. You said you have a family…well, go back to them. You're doing something extremely foolish."

Sophitia didn't expect him to be so hostile. She motioned for her sister to move away from him, "We know what Soul Edge does to people. We know how men desire the sword for themselves…"

Siegfried picked up his sword, "Nightmare is gone. You won't find Soul Edge by following rumors. His time in this world is gone. Soul Edge is gone as well. The last thing to do is to get rid of that fragment before it can do any harm."

"Nightmare is gone? What do you mean?"

"Nightmare's dead. I killed him."

A look of both shock and amazement came across Sophitia's and Cassandra's faces, "How did you do that?"

"Forget how I did it."

Cassandra whispered into her sister's ear while Siegfried waited impatiently for them to give up the fragment, "Sis, do you really believe that?"

Sophitia shook her head uncertainly, but Cassandra thought back to Siegfried's generosity back in town and decided to trust his word. She approached Siegfried with the fragment in her hands and held it out to Siegfried.

"Cassandra, wait," Sophitia was too late. Siegfried had already taken the fragment.

Siegfried looked into Cassandra's round eyes, and they seemed to be pleading to him. They looked full of the hope that Siegfried was honest, that he really was a good person. He looked down into his right hand that held the fragment. He closed his right fist and clenched it tight. This hand once belonged to Nightmare. It took so many lives and carried out evil. Now I will do good with the same hand. He clenched his fist even tighter. When he opened his hand, what looked like dust poured out.

"Whoa, how did you do that?"

"I learned I could do this after I defeated Nightmare. I suppose it's my special talent."

Cassandra smiled big and wide, "I knew we could trust you. Sophitia, he ground the fragment into dust!"

Sophitia smiled in relief, "I saw."