Hey there. Hehe, Yeah I've been bad into not updating all this time. Been busy with 3D modeling and stuff. Its hard stuff I have to learn. Anyway, here's another chapter.
Torn Apart yet Stuck to You
Chapter Six: The Dead Village
"What's wrong, Mother?!" Lara shouted as she tried to take out the knife from her body. "Why are you doing this?"
"You little demon!" Lara's mother howled as she fell on Lara and applied more pressure on the knife. "Give me that shard!"
"What are you talking about?! I don't have anything!"
"Liar! You were born a monster now you will die a monster."
Tears started to roll down from her eyes as she began to see her life flash before her eyes. She began to see everything from the time she was a little girl until that night when Nightmare attacked her village. However, even though she remembered most of what happened that night, more scenes Lara didn't remember began to come into play. She saw herself outside of her house. She was covered in mud but more importantly in blood. She looked down at her bloodstained hands and trembled. In her right hand was the same dagger she was using to fight but it was covered in blood. What have I done? She thought as tears fell down from her face.
"Lara!" a voice shouted in the real world.
Lara snapped out from her flashback as she saw another shadow come into play. Lara's mother looked up at the intruder and let out a hiss. Suddenly, she was knocked off from the teenaged girl and on her back. Lara looked up to see the friendly face of Cassandra. Cassandra extended her arm to help Lara get up from the floor. Lara took it with much happiness and got up on her two feet.
"Mother!" Lara shouted. "Please...we can try to settle this. I know you're mad at me for running away..."
"Mad...at you? For running away?" The elderly woman got up on her knees as she eyed both girls. "The day you ran away was the day I rejoiced for your father. Give me your shard!"
"Lara, move!" Cassandra yelled as she pushed Lara out of the way and faced the mother. "This woman is not your mother. Can't you see the dark aura rising from her? She's no longer sane...nor is she longer living."
"What?! What happened to my mother?!" Lara shouted as she grabbed onto Cassandra's leg.
"Lara let go!"
Lara's mother got up from the floor and rushed at Cassandra. The force and weight of her body, knocked the blond off from her two feet and down to the floor. Cassandra and Lara's mother struggled to get their weapons into their opponents and the other's weapon away from their own body. Lara's mother began to inch her way towards Cassandra's neck. Cassandra tried her best to pry away the older woman but the inhuman strength she had was getting to her.
Just then Lara jumped her mother and tried to get the knife away from her mother's hand. The elderly woman let out a snarl as she tried to knock her daughter off. Cassandra took the opportunity to knock Lara's mother off and get up on her knees. She then took her short sword and stabbed the woman in the chest. Lara's mother let out a death groan before her eyes rolled back. Lara let out a yell as she knocked Cassandra off from her mother.
"Why did you do that for?!" She shouted at the blond.
"I helped you! Don't you see? This woman isn't your mother anymore. Take a good look at her." Cassandra moved Lara's mother a bit to show both the gaping wound she gave her as well as another one. It was then that Lara noticed that her mother's wound didn't look fresh. No blood came out of her as if she had bled all if it a long time ago.
"Wha? How could this have happened?"
"Someone must have killed her. I've seen this before. Someone with a dark power must have killed her and revived her not as a human but as some sort of a mind slave."
"Mother..." Tears began to well up in Lara's eyes as she eyed her dead mother. "She...she didn't act like this when she was alive...but...what did she mean when she said I was a monster and that father would have wanted this?"
"It was probably nothing. Just something she would have said something under the influence of this dark power."
"What is this dark power?" Lara asked.
"There can only be one thing that could have caused this…the power of Soul Edge. I've seen it before from my sister…and her children. It wasn't as severe as what happened to your mother but I can tell what it was. There is nothing you can do to reverse the effects on the dead or so Sophitia said so. We should go now. Everyone is worried about you."
"Even Siegfried."
Cassandra didn't want to answer that one. She just nudged Lara to follow her out of the house and back to Ivy's house. Lara frowned as she followed Cassandra out from her house. She took one last look at her dead mother before she left towards the village's main road. As the two young women headed down the road, they noticed that they weren't alone. All around them many villagers came out from their houses and head towards them. Everyone of them were chanting something about a Soul Edge shard.
"Cassandra," Lara whispered as she nudged her friend. "We're not alone. The villagers are coming."
"I know," Cassandra replied as she placed a hand on the handle of her sword. "If anything happens we cut through the villagers. Ready your weapon because we can't show them any signs of weakness."
"Cassandra…I'm scared."
"Don't be. I'm here so don't worry. I'm an experience warrior."
"…thank you."
As Cassandra and Lara walked towards the exit of the village, an arrow flew passed their heads and landed in at their feet. Cassandra slowly took her sword out as Lara took out her dagger from her small sheath. Soon the villagers rushed at them and jumped the two girls. Cassandra and Lara fought fiercely as they tried to cut their way through. Lara kicked an old man who was coming at her with a pitchfork. The old man fell on top of two other villagers.
Cassandra sliced through a villager and stabbed another as one got close to her. Using her shield, the blond warrior smacked a woman villager right in the face. Cassandra pushed her way through as dozens of hands began to hold her down. Lara began to bite and scratch the hands that were holding Cassandra until a couple of hands grabbed the younger girl by the waist and hoisted her up above her head. Lara shouted and struggled as the villagers began to take her away.
"Lara!" Cassandra shouted as she was being pushed by a couple of villagers.
"Cassandra!" Lara shouted as she extended her arms in hopes to reach her friend. "Put me down your bastards!"
Lara continued to bite, scratch, and stab the villagers. One of them dropped her legs down to the ground. Lara tried to run but her feet were still tangling an inch from the ground. Another villager took the place of the fallen comrade and began to carry Lara away. Just then Lara fell down to the ground. All the villagers that were holding her were cut down.
"You can't take care of yourself, can you?" A voice behind Lara spoke to her.
"Huh?" Lara turned around to see Siegfried above her. "Siegfried! You came back!!" Lara quickly got up from the ground and embraced the older man.
"Yeah… I came back."
"Come on, you guys," Cassandra shouted. "We have an opening! We have to go before more arrive."
"But…what will happen if they go to the other villages?" Lara asked. "Won't they kill those people too?"
"Soul Edge…" hissed one of the villagers. "Its here…"
"It seems like their attracted to my sword," Siegfried said as he placed a hand on the composite Soul Edge and Soul Calibur. "Cassandra, take Lara out of this village and head back to Ivy's place."
"But what about you?" Cassandra asked as she felt very worried for Siegfried. "You can't take them all by yourself, you can get killed."
"As long as their distracted from you two, that's all I need for reassurance. Cassandra, you're the only one who I can confined with to carry this out. Leave me and don't let Lara come back here. Go and stay at Ivy's. If I don't come back before sundown then I have died."
"Siegfried…"
"No! I'm not leaving you!" Lara shouted. "You may be strong but even you are mortal."
"Lara I'm not going to argue with you, just go! Now!"
Without another word, Cassandra took a hold of Lara's hand and ran out from the village, leaving Siegfried to deal with the possessed corpses. Siegfried growled a bit as he took out the composite Soul Edge and Soul Calibur.
"This is what you want, right?" He asked the corpses.
"Give it to us…" the villagers bellowed.
"If you want it…then you have to pry it off from my dead fingers."
Siegfried placed the composite sword behind his back and took out the Reqium. The villagers howled and hissed as they charged right into the German warrior. Siegfried swung his sword and took out villagers by the dozens. An arrow flew right into his left shoulder. He let out a yell as he ran towards the rogue archer. With one swing he managed to take out the archer.
Just as Siegfried was about to attack the oncoming villagers, something grabbed a hold of his legs. He looked down to see little children holding him down. All of them had white pupils that were covered in purple aura, much like the adults. Their faces were expressionless as they tighten their grip. Siegfried tried to shake them off but it was as if the children were made out of stone.
As he continued to look at the children, his mind was set into a race into the past. Siegfried began to remember what happened when he was Nightmare. He couldn't move his body, but he could see what was going on. He remembered the millions of screams that were emitted by children as his clawed hand would take a hold of them and back them apart.
Siegfried's eyes dilated as guilt began to rise once more. Even if these children were no longer part of the living he couldn't bring himself to take care of them. A punch to the face broke his chain of thoughts. The adults were no surrounding him. Each one of them began to take parts of his body and hold them together. One of the villagers began to beat on Siegfried while another one tried to take the composite Soul Edge sword.
One of Siegfried's eyes began to swell up from the beating. Blood began to trickle down from his mouth and forehead as the punches continued to rain upon him. I can't do it, he thought. I can't attack anymore. Why is my guilt returning now? If I die…it is my own fault. I suppose I do deserve it. I really wouldn't mind of this is the end.
Outside of the village, Cassandra and Lara were running back to Ivy's town. As the women were running, Lara began to slow down until she was stopped completely. Cassandra soon noticed that she wasn't running with anyone. She turned to see Lara looking back at the village. Cassandra shook her head as she took a hold of Lara's arm and tried to pull her away.
"Come on," Cassandra said as she yanked on the raven haired girl's arm.
"I'm worried about Siegfried," Lara said as she tried to pull away from Cassandra. "He could be in danger and might need our help."
"But he told us specifically not to go back. He risked his life for us."
"When have you followed anyone's rules? Didn't you tell me a couple of days ago that the sword you're carrying is your sister's sword?"
"Y-yes," Cassandra said as she patted Sophitia's sword.
"Then we should go and help him! I'm not leaving him behind!"
Cassandra looked at Lara. Tears were threatening to fall from Lara's sapphire colored eyes. Cassandra let out a sigh before she placed a hand on Lara's shoulder and nodded. Lara wiped away her tears and smiled at her. Both girls soon rushed back to the village to go save their friend.
A female villager took a hold of one of the pitchforks and threatened Siegfried with it. Siegfried didn't seem to notice it as he closed his eyes and looked at the sky. Slowly, he shifted his eyes to the woman before him as she pulled the pitchfork back and lunged it towards Siegfried. The woman soon stopped as blood fell from her mouth. Two blades were sticking from her body put soon disappeared as the woman fell down to her knees. Lara and Cassandra stood in front of Siegfried.
"Lara? Cassandra?" Siegfried asked.
"You can't take care of yourself, can you?" Lara chided as she smiled at Siegfried.
Lara and Cassandra continued to fight off the villagers while Siegfried recuperated from his guilt. He was soon able to knock the children off from his legs and attack them. He couldn't be able to save them so the best he could do is let them rest in peace. Lara and Cassandra continued to fight off the other villagers. The battle continued. It was almost evening when the three companions had managed to give peace to the entire village.
By that time, Siegfried felt a huge surge of power rise up. He felt his right hand begin to tremble. He looked over at it. He let out a snarl as one of his eyes began to glow bright yellow. He felt like the urge to kill. Siegfried…a voice whispered in his head. Siegfried…kill…kill.
"Kill…" Siegfried hissed between clenched teeth.
Just then a pair of smooth arms wrapped around his neck. Lara trembled as she held Siegfried close to her.
"Siegfried, I'm sorry," Lara cried as she looked at the blond warrior. "I'm sorry for disobeying you, but I had to come back for you. I'm sorry that you had to get hurt. My village…they weren't like this and I'm sorry for running away. I'm sorry…I'm sorry."
Lara let out a squeal before she began to cry uncontrollably. Siegfried's surge soon died down. His eyes turned back to their original blue color and his hand stopped trembling. He slowed turned his head to see the tiny teenager hugging him while crying. His eyes soon moved over to Cassandra who gave Siegfried a small smile. Siegfried slowly looked back at Lara. He slowly moved his right hand and placed it on Lara's head. Lara gave off a small shiver before she relaxed.
Cassandra gave Siegfried another look hoping he'd get the message. Siegfried soon moved both of his arms and wrapped them around Lara, reassuring her that he was okay and that he wasn't angry at her. Cassandra walked beside them and placed her hand on Siegfried's shoulder. She smiled at him. Siegfried felt a blush come over him due to the embarrassment of holding a girl while having another girl smile at him.
"Alright…let's go back to Ivy's for the night," Siegfried said.
"Um, there is one problem," Cassandra replied as she pointed at Lara. Siegfried looked down at the teenager only to find her asleep in his arms. Lara had exhausted herself due to the fighting and then the crying. Siegfried let out a moan as he rolled his eyes. "Help me hoist her up on my back."
Cassandra helped Siegfried hoist Lara up his back. Once she was in position, Siegfried placed his arms underneath her legs. Lara's arms were tangling from Siegfried's shoulders. Her head rested on his right shoulder. She lightly snored as Siegfried and Cassandra walked out of the village and down the road. The sun was setting quite quickly so both warriors had to hurry before it got dark since they didn't have any light with them.
"You know," Cassandra giggled, "its kinda cute to see this."
"See what?" Siegfried asked as he quickened his pace.
"You holding her like that. Its like seeing a father holding his daughter."
"Feh…she's far from what I'd want in a daughter."
"Heh, maybe she's what you want in a girlfriend."
"What?! What did you say?"
"Heh heh, nothing."
"No, you said something," Siegfried retorted. "What did you say? If you think I'd want a foolish girl like her as my beloved you're crazy."
"Oh? Then what kind of beloved are you looking for?" Cassandra joked with a sly look in her face.
"Wh-why do you want to know?!" Siegfried looked away from Cassandra. "Stop making fun of me!"
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to know if you were open with your feelings or not."
"Whatever."
Night soon came. Luckily, Siegfried and Cassandra had reached Ivy's mansion in time before it got too dark. Ivy was surprised to see them return and injured, but she welcomed them into her home. Siegfried had placed the passed out Lara on one of Ivy's guest beds. He sat at the edge of the bed as he waited for Cassandra and Ivy to come back with medicines and bandages.
Ivy and Cassandra began to look for the medicines all over the mansion when they found them, Ivy ordered Cassandra to bandage herself first before they get to the others. Cassandra dragged a bit before she agreed and allowed the older woman to heal her. Taking up strange looking liquids, Ivy placed some special ointments on Cassandra's torn skin. Cassandra let out a howl of pain before she withstood it and placed ointment on her other wounds. Once she was done, both women headed over to the room where Siegfried and Lara were.
"Hey," Cassandra said as she walked inside of the room.
"You're finally back," Siegfried replied.
"We had to search all over for the medicine," Ivy responded as she placed a couple of bottles of weird potions on the wooden table near the bed. "Now, you're going to have to take off your shirt. It looks like you bled there as well."
Without any complaints, Siegfried did as he was told. Once he was shirtless, both Ivy and Cassandra tended to his wounds. The ointment stung yet gave off a cool refreshing feeling for Siegfried. Yet as they continued to patch him up, he couldn't help but think of things. He still recalled the attack that happened at the village. Those people, he thought, they were under the spell of Soul Edge. They were dead and anyone should have been able to smell the putrid stench of rotting flesh. Who did that? Only someone with a strong sense of Soul Edge could be able to do that. But who is the question.
"Um, Siegfried," Cassandra said.
"Hmm?" He replied as he looked up at her.
"Listen, this might not be the best time to bring this up, but there is something you should now." Cassandra took a bit of cloth and wrapped it around the German warrior's arm.
"What is it?"
"When I arrived to get Lara back, her mother, well her dead mother, said something about a shard of Soul Edge and that Lara had it."
"A shard of Soul Edge?" Siegfried looked down at the sleeping Lara. He closed his eyes to sense something but he couldn't sense anything. "That can't be. If she did have a shard of Soul Edge, my sword as well as myself could have been able to sense any energy. I can't sense anything at all from her."
"No…then I suppose they must have been babbling out nonsense. Why would Lara have a shard?"
"How do you feel now, Siegfried?" Ivy asked as she finished mending him.
"Like crap," the blond man replied.
"Heh, I knew you'd say that." Ivy picked up two small vials from the table. "You'll need to drink this. It will restore your health. Give the other one to Lara when she wakes up. Now, if you excuse us, you should go to your room. Cassandra and I have to mend the girl."
"Alright, thank you again, Ivy and Cassandra," Siegfried said as he took a small bow and excused himself out of the room.
Ivy let out a small smile as the man left. Cassandra closed the door right after him. Both women began to undress Lara and tend to her wounds. She had a few around her arm, a couple around her stomach, but a rather large gash around her left leg. Ivy's eyes narrowed as she knew that in order to close the wound she'd have to sew it up. Looking through her healing objects, she found a needle and thread.
"Hold her down," Ivy said. "She may be asleep, but that doesn't assure us that she will remain asleep. She'll probably start panicking once she comes to."
"Alright," Cassandra replied as she placed her soft hands on Lara's shoulders.
Once she was set, Ivy began to sew up Lara's leg. In her sleep, Lara winced. Her leg twitched a bit before she fell back into a relaxing pose. In a couple of minutes, Ivy had finished sewing up the wound. She bit right into the thread and tied it into a lose knot. Taking one of the potions, Ivy poured the liquid on the wound. At that moment, Lara let out a scream as she jumped up.
"Settle down," Ivy said as she tried to get Lara away from her leg. "Cassandra, I told you to hold on to her tightly."
"Sorry," Cassandra replied.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Lara whined as she tried to clutch her leg. "What's wrong with you?! That hurt!"
"You had a huge gash on your leg," Ivy replied. "If it wasn't for me, you might have bled to death or catch some disease which then a doctor would have to cut your leg off."
"Cut my leg off?!" Lara screamed as she tried to get out from the bed. "Don't cut it off!!"
"I'm not going to! Damn it!"
"Wait! Where's Mr. Squeakers?!" Lara asked as she looked around for her pet chipmunk. Laying on her shirt was Mr. Squeakers asleep. The tiny chipmunk was with Lara the entire time she and her friends fought the village, now it was tired. "Oh, there you are. Poor Mr. Squeakers. You must be tired."
"Say Lara," Ivy said as she tried to get the girl's attention again. "There is something I wanted to ask you. Where did you get that scar that's on your neck? You'd think a wound like that might have gotten someone killed."
"Scar?"
Lara brought her right hand up. She slowly placed it on her neck and began to look around for the scar. Once she felt it, her eyes widen. In a small amount of time, a lot of visions came to her. It seemed like her entire life flashed before her eyes. But soon began to slow down when it came close to the night her village was attack.
However, she saw someone she didn't remember from before. A girl who was about her age was standing next to her. Lara had been bleeding as the girl approached her. What captivated Lara the most about the girl was the fact that she had green hair, a strange color of hair she'd never seen on any girl before. Her purple eyes glowed like two jewels which were trapped by rocks. The green haired girl extended her hand before Lara.
The scene changed to the interior of Lara's home. Fire had been set to it as well as the entire village. Screams and yells echoed through the night. Sparks flew into the air as many swords were colliding together against one another. Lara whimpered as she sat on the wooden ground of her home. Chips from the ceiling fell down as the fire ate away the roof. Once again, in front of her was the same green haired girl.
"I told you that you shouldn't have messed with me," she said.
At that moment, Lara held her head. She trembled and shook as a surge of pain arose from her throat and ended up on her head. She let out a scream as strange purple veins began to pop out from her body. Her blood began to rush like a rapid river. One last scream had rendered her unconscious. Cassandra tried to wake up Lara, but she couldn't. Ivy looked over at Lara's throat to find a dark purple aura swirling around. It eventually disappeared.
"This isn't good…" Ivy said.
And so ends the chapter. I hope this chapter was quite a shock for you guys. Enjoy it, for next up will be even more battles, especially ones that involve Miss Ivy.