Roses are red Violets are blue I don't own so please don't sue!
Thank you mastersam for giving me my first review! However, the Naomi/Nightmare situation is going to make more sense in later chapters. Probably around 15/20ish things will come together…I hope. And you have brought it to my attention that this story is indeed quite choppy. I apologize for that because…umm…I haven't edited this since May…oops! So I will be revising my first few chapters. Here's chapter four, hoping it's a little less choppy, enjoy all!
Day 4
End POV
Sunlight begins to stream in through the windows of the hotel room. The storm passed halfway through the night. Lilith is the first to wake up, feeling remarkably better, and immediately puts her now dried clothing on. Today she will take her mind off of Naomi's death; today she will go into town, today she will partake in one of her favorite activities, shopping. What's even better is that she is using Raphael's money and not her own, not that she has any. While she's freshening up in the bathroom, Raphael wakes up. As soon as she gets out of the bathroom he goes in there.
When they are ready Raphael hands her some money to purchase clothing.
"Thank you," Lilith says as they exit the inn and head into town.
"I take it you're feeling better," Raphael says, noticing Lilith moving without any signs of pain or discomfort.
"I'm still a bit sore but it's not as bad," Lilith says, strolling to the nearest shop, "I don't want to bore you with shopping considering you're a man and all so I'll just go in by myself."
"But you're still recovering…" Raphael murmurs but it was too late she was already in the shop.
Raphael sighs to himself and ends up going into various other shops to seek out supplies for the upcoming journey. Now he had to worry about an extra person and had to buy extra supplies. The man sighs inwardly. This woman is a lot more trouble than she's worth.
Meanwhile Lilith spends much of her time perusing various clothing shops until she finds clothing that is flattering to her figure. Her days of being an assassin over now, she doesn't have to purchase such form-fitting clothing. She can dress a bit more…modestly.
Eventually Lilith buys a few tops, some loose pants and a few shoes and boots. Once she finishes she decides to check out different streets in the town.
In the middle of the town square a small arena is set up with many people gathering around. The signs around it read: "Become rich! You earn money for each win you make! See if you can defeat all five of the Vante Brothers!"
The prospect of earning money demands Lilith's attention. Casually walking over to the man running the tournament, Lilith stands in front of the entrance to the small arena. The man looks her up and down and simply laughs.
"And why are you here, little girl?" He chuckles, thinking she may have come here by mistake.
"I am here," Lilith says, "To accept your challenge."
Simply laughing her while shaking his head, the man says, "You are way too young for this competition. Besides you are a female! Not even a man has completed this challenge successfully. Come back when you're older or you suddenly start sprouting other body organs."
Lilith's eyebrow twitched in irritation as she unsheathes her katana, pointing it at the man's throat.
"You think I'm weak?" She questions through gritted teeth. "Would you like me to show you just how wrong you are?"
The man slowly backs away, waving his hands in front of him, laughing nervously and coughs.
"Umm…right this way, ma'am," he says holding the gate open for her.
Lilith enters the arena, the crowd growing oddly silent. A man steps out into the arena, muscles bulging from about anywhere and everywhere possible on his body, growling at her in an attempt to intimidate her. Rolling her eyes nonchalantly, Lilith sighs and waits for the round to start.
"Do you really think you can beat him little girl? With your skinny arms and little legs?" The director of the tournament taunts her.
Lilith says nothing, scoffing in detest and the round starts.
Three seconds into the match, the man is on his knees, begging for mercy. The crowd watching the fight erupts in cheers. During those three seconds, Lilith moved so fast it was hard to even keep track of her. Even though she only inflicted two wounds those wounds were enough to bring that man to tears.
The judge declares Lilith the winner for that round and for the next, as well as the remaining three. The men were not as tough as they appeared but most inhabitants of the town are not trained warriors. During all five rounds Lilith barely breaks a sweat. She collects her prize money, nonchalantly walking off to find Raphael.
She spots him a few streets down from where her brief battles took place and waves him over.
"I can pay you back now," she states simply, placing the amount of money he lent her in his hand plus a bit more, "with interest," she casually adds.
Not only does she have that but Lilith also has plenty more where that came from. Raphael eyes her oddly, suspicious of where that money came from.
"Where did you get that money?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I earned it," she says, shrugging her shoulders while cracking her neck.
"How? You didn't…" He looks over to where a few women in rather revealing clothing stand, whistling to passersby, "…do…that? Did you?"
Resisting the urge to slap him across the face or even worse actually rip his face off, Lilith just places her hands on her hips, faking a pout.
"Of course not! What do you take me for…a whore…a cur…a concubine?!" Lilith exclaims throwing her hands up in the air, "Did you see the arena in town square?"
"Yes…no…you didn't! You're recovering! You could have reopened your wounds!" He scolds her.
Once again shrugging while stretching her arms in the air, Lilith sighs in exasperation, "But I didn't. I didn't even break a sweat. Those men were quite overrated. Besides I got us enough money to last well into our trip!"
Raphael sighs inwardly, thinking her quite a handful. Maybe I should have just let her die…no! Don't think that way! Disgusted by those momentary thoughts, the Frenchman curses himself silently.
"I have to have some way to vent my anger too…How else am I suppose to cope with Naomi's death?" Lilith states, growing silent as the last two words leave her perfectly shaped lips. She turns away from him, sorrow filling her hazel eyes.
"Just don't do anything too strenuous? Alright?" He asks, silent pondering if she really is worth helping, the difficult woman that she is.
"Yeah. Ok." The young woman said dismissively, "I'm feeling fine, great, rejuvenated! I say we leave that crummy inn tomorrow!"
"And just how exactly do you plan on doing that when we don't have any leads on Nightmare. Do you expect us to just follow some blind path, hoping that we'll run into him?" Raphael states scathingly.
"Sooooooooooo what?! Why don't we just move towards the direction we last saw that damned Azure Knight headed towards?" Lilith questions, blind rage towards Nightmare turning her normal level-headed thought process into slightly reckless ideas.
"If no other leads present themselves tomorrow…I suppose we can but let me inform you that you are making quite a reckless decision…" Raphael says in defeat.
Raphael begins to feel annoyed, angry at the fact that he was letting this girl run the show, never letting anyone have this much control before. Fighting the urges within that tell him to argue with her and say something insulting, he heads back to the inn, following closely behind the troublesome little woman.
Perhaps he kept his patience with her because she gave him something he thought he wouldn't feel for a while, hope. Raphael just might be able to redeem himself a bit if he could help her by allowing her to join him on his journey to stop Nightmare.
They enter the inn and to Lilith's surprise the Vante brothers were in the lobby. Upon seeing Lilith they look to one another sheepishly, crimson filling their cheeks. The younger one slowly approaches her, head bowed down.
"You were amazing in the arena. Do you have any pointers you could give us?" He asks, nervously scuffing his foot on the polished lobby floor.
Lilith ponders his question for a moment, reflecting on her fight with them before responding, "Your strength is good the few hits you landed on me left me sore. You just need to become more agile."
"Thanks…" He says seeming to stare at her in awe, "How did you become that strong?"
"Army training," she replies simply as heads up to her room at the inn, Raphael following her.
For some reason he couldn't picture her as a soldier. Maybe it was how youthful and small she appeared.
"Lilith?"
"Yes?"
"You were in the army?"
"Yes I joined my hometown's defense troops when I was fourteen," she states simply, "But of course I knew how to fight well before then. I was self-trained though…"
"Lilith, how old are you? You seem very young…"
"I'm eighteen."
"So Naomi was a fellow soldier then?" Raphael asks, just wanting to find out a bit more information about the woman that would be traveling with him.
Lilith's quiet chuckle caught him off guard. He gave her a quizzical look.
"No…of course not, do you really think our attire is that of a soldier's? When I was fifteen, the troop I belonged to was attacked by the most unearthly creatures out there. We could not hold our own and most of us were massacred. The remaining soldiers of the troop were too ashamed to go home and committed suicide. I didn't. I knew we wouldn't have a chance against those…monsters… So I left. I had nowhere to go and had nothing but a little bit of money on me. There weren't many jobs out there for me so I began to work illegally. Assassins were in high demand in the areas I was residing in so I became a free lance assassin. Don't think of me as an awful person though. I only killed those who endangered others; murderers, rapists, abusers; they were the only ones on my list. A little while after I started my career I met Naomi, another assassin, we worked together ever since…"
"That's quite a history…" Raphael says casually.
"Yes it is. I've been so kind as to tell you a bit about myself. Now how about you return the favor?" She asks sitting down on her bed, Indian style.
"I have a foster daughter named Amy. She hid me from the people of my town. They were out to kill me for the murder of an insane noble. That noble was a friend of my family's. They even aided my pursuers with the hopes of my death. She was the first person to show me kindness. I feel I owe her my life. I just…took it too far…I wanted to make the world safe for her so I set out to acquire Soul Edge so no nobles would obtain it. I failed and was nearly killed. I became infected by the evil sword and Amy tried to treat me and became infected as well. We were no longer human… The world would not accept Amy so I began to formulate plans to give her her own world. I nearly lost myself in the process. We moved to Walachia and soon soldiers began attacking us because I had spread the "plague". I defeated most of the soldiers and set out to destroy the Holy Stones that could cure the plague. I failed at that too…Upon coming home I found Amy back to her normal self. A man named Kilik was with her. Before I could do anything he whipped out a stone and held it up to me. Within minutes the infection was lifted from me. That's when I decided that I was not a suitable parent for Amy for the time being. I needed to redeem myself for all those I killed during my madness. Once I feel redeemed…I will return to her…Until then she is in the care of Kilik."
Lilith listens to his story intently. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him, unable to fully blame him for what he did. Then Lilith did something that she thought she couldn't do since Naomi died, she smiled, a small smile but a smile nonetheless.
"You seem to have quite a history yourself. But…you are a good person, you just went down the wrong path. And I think you're on the road to redemption," with that being said Lilith rose from sitting on her bed and headed out to the balcony.
Raphael just sat there for a moment. She thought he was a good person…well maybe she should…he did save her life after all. Raphael took out a notebook and pen and began to write an account of what happened during the day. He began keeping one so that when he is finally reunited with Amy, he can tell her of his journeys.
Lilith's POV
I went out to the balcony, breathing the cool night air into my lungs. I always feel refreshed at this time of the day. Everything seems so peaceful, not many people out here when the sun goes down. That makes it quiet, the way I like things, giving me more time to think to myself. Sitting on the edge of the balcony, I dangle my legs over the side, pondering about everything that has taken place in my life so far. My thoughts mainly consisting of Naomi and how I miss her but also, strangely enough, how I do not feel in love with her anymore.
It scares me to think how easily I fell in and out of love. Something was not quite right a few days ago. Perhaps it was just a passing infatuation. Then I wonder if Naomi really did love me. We were only together for one night, nothing sexual occurred, just kissing and caressing. I couldn't tell if the look in her eyes was true love or just lust and it worries me that I doubt myself. How could I just stop loving her?
I also think about that piece of Soul Edge the ninja pulled from my back. How had it got in there? Surely I would have noticed if someone put that in me. Then again when, would they get the chance? The only person I was with before my eyes started to shine red was…Naomi. There is no way she would ever do something like that…I hope.
Deciding to call it a night, I head back into our room. Raphael is sitting on his bed writing in what I think is a journal. I think it's best not to disturb him so I go straight to bed.
But I cannot sleep. My mind is wandering here and there, crossing over many different thoughts that plague me. I keep my eyes shut, hoping that in a few hours, I will be able to get some much needed rest.
Raphael's POV
I finish writing my journal entry and tuck the journal and pen away. I am still in a bit of shock over the last thing Lilith said to me…I'm…a good person? I simply can't believe that. I've killed so many innocent people it astounds me. If I wasn't cured when I was I could have became the next Nightmare. But Lilith's words…they make me feel like I am on the road to redemption and I intend to stay on it.
I miss Amy. She means the world to me, my beloved foster daughter. No not my foster daughter…I want her to just be my…daughter. I just want her to call me, "Father". I want to have a family again, one that will love me. I just hope that Amy can love me when I return to her. If she can forgive me for my actions, that is.
I look over to Lilith who is now sound asleep. She gives me hope. Part of my redemption lies within helping this young woman. I am lucky to have this opportunity. Shutting of my lamp and lying down on my bed I will try and get some sleep tonight although I have a feeling I will not. I never sleep. There's just too much on my mind.
Two more days until I come home for Thanksgiving! Review if you want!
