Chapter 6
Little did Siegfried know that his two foes were back amongst the living, which is why he spent the night camping out relaxingly with the two women he had just met. For dinner he spent nearly two hours hand catching fish for him and his companions. As he did, Cassandra watched rather amused by the riverside. Sophitia smiled to see that Cassandra hadn't let their burden weigh down her spirits.
Siegfried watched over Cassandra and Sophitia as they slept. Sophitia slept very peacefully, sleeping on her back with her face turned to one side and her small blanket pulled up to her chest. Cassandra, however, was curled up into a ball and was struggling to find herself a comfortable position on the cold, hard ground. She pulled her blanket up to her chin, uncovering her feet in the process.
Siegfried smiled just a bit when he looked at the restless angel. He himself sat up against a tree with his cloak covering up his body. He tried to go to sleep, but the night kept him wary. He decided that he wasn't going to be able to get much sleep, so he took his cloak and walked over to Cassandra's body. Slowly, he pulled off her small blanket and covered her with his cloak. Then with her blanket, he folded it neatly into a rectangle and he slipped it under her head after he gently lifted it up. The young woman grumbled just a bit but returned to her slumber, this time more quietly.
He decided to go for a walk down to the river. He splashed a handful of cold river water on his face. He sat down on the riverside and stared into the dark sky. Thin clouds blocked out the dimmer stars that dotted the night sky. A chill breeze blew on his hair.
"Siegfried," Sophitia walked over and sat beside Siegfried.
"Sophitia, why are you up?"
"I just barely had a dream, Siegfried. I finally remembered why you seem so familiar to me."
"So you remember, too?"
Sophitia nodded, "We met on more than one occasion, didn't we?"
"I can only remember the first time…H…How'd your head heal up?"
"It healed fine. Nothing a little rest and ice couldn't fix."
"I'm sorry for being so barbaric. I have no excuses for my actions back then."
"No no, no worries…You know, I can remember the second time we met…" Her voice quieted and trailed off for a bit. She paused for a few seconds and looked at Siegfried, "You seemed so depressed. You looked like you had lost hope. I still remember your eyes. But you also seemed so angry. You were so protective and withdrawn. And now I know exactly why."
"Soul Edge fooled me…it made me believe that it had resurrected my father, but when the illusion asked me to pierce him with my sword, I knew I had been tricked. But I wasn't without fault. Back then I could willingly change into Nightmare…"
"And when you transformed into Nightmare you feared nothing, you weren't even afraid of committing murder…"
"Not to mention against innocent children…" Siegfried gritted his teeth and looked away from Sophitia in disgust of himself."
Sophitia felt guilty for bringing up his past. "Did you really overcome Soul Edge's control?"
Siegfried nodded, still upset, "I did."
Siegfried saw Sophitia's hand move, and for a second he thought that she was going to take his hand, but instead she placed it reassuringly on his shoulder, "You're very strong. I doubt many people could do what you did. I doubt you'll ever have to deal with it again."
"But there's still one last thing I must do before I can rest," he brushed his hair out of his face, "Soul Edge still needs to be destroyed."
"I thought you said that Soul Edge was gone?"
"I lied. But since you know who I am I see no point in hiding it any longer. I had found a way to seal away Soul Edge's power, and I was planning on finding a way to put it away forever, but one night it seems that someone had stolen it from me."
"What do you plan to do?"
"I'm going to find it and whoever stole it. If I must, I will end one more life to get it back. It should not have fallen into anyone else's hands. What if they manage to reawaken its power…I'll have to start all over again."
Back at the campsite, Cassandra began to stir again. "Uggh…" She sat up and rubbed her eyes. She blinked twice to clear her vision and looked around for the others, "Hey, where'd they go?" Almost immediately a thought came to her head, Is Sis with Siegfried…? No…she wouldn't do that!"
A bush rustled over by the other side of the camp. Cassandra listened and heard twigs snap. "Hey...is that you Sis? Siegfried?"
The rustling stopped.
Cassandra grabbed her sword and stood up. She stared into the bush and easily made out a gray coat sewn together with red string. She bent down and scooped up a rock. She waited for a second, and then let it fly. A small click was followed by a quiet cuss.
"Goddammit…"
"I see you, idiot!"
Before she could do anything else, Cassandra felt a big hairy arm wrap itself around her face. Whoever it was was probably trying to choke her, but the size of his arm was too large for her neck.
Cassandra gasped for air every time her struggling would force the arm aside for just a second. Though muffled, she managed to spit out an insult, "You…smell really bad!"
"Feisty!" The one hiding behind the bushes popped his head up. Cassandra nearly broke out laughing despite her being choked. This man was not to mention ugly, but very funny looking. He had ruffled, dusty colored hair and thinning eyebrows. He had a very round nose, and he had two large buckteeth. His face was covered in freckles, and Cassandra could've sworn he was cross-eyed.
"Hey, Ralph! Do something, will ya! She's starting to wiggle free here! I can't hold on forever!" Upon hearing that, Cassandra began to struggle even harder, kicking and elbowing and even biting, though she only tried that once after getting a taste of the big man's sweaty arm.
"Yeah, hold on!" The other man began digging through the three campers' belongings, "I think there are more of 'em with her!" He started to dig through Cassandra's pack, pulling out her unmentionables and other items. He seemed to be enjoying it, like how he enjoyed Sophitia's when he searched through hers just before.
Cassandra's muffled cries could even be heard through her captor's arm. "Stop it! You pervert!" She finally managed to force her face out just long enough to scream at the top of her lungs, "Sophitia! Siegfried! Help!"
"Did you here that?" Sophitia jumped up and turned around.
"Yes. It's Cassandra. Let's go." Siegfried ran on ahead as Sophitia followed behind.
Another man appeared into view as the funny looking one and the big one continued what they were doing. "Have you found it yet?"
"No, not yet."
The new man looked over to the squirming Cassandra and calmly addressed the big man, "Alfonzo, be careful."
"Wha…?" The big man looked down at Cassandra's hands and saw that she had flipped her sword around, and was now pointing it at his side. "Whoa!" He quickly pushed her to the ground and shoved her face into the ground. "Thanks, Vincent!"
The man named Vincent calmly strolled over to Cassandra and kicked aside her sword. "Be gentle, Alfonzo. She has a good face. You wouldn't want to bruise her before any we have any fun. Not much of a turn on, you know?"
"What do you want…?" Cassandra panted as she tried to speak.
Vincent kneeled down and stroked her face, "As if you don't know. It's what every man wants."
"What? Sex?"
Vincent briefly thought about her guess, figuring that she was partially right, "Well, the second thing men want most. Can you guess?"
Cassandra only looked up at him furiously.
"Soul Edge."
"Soul Edge? We don't have Soul Edge!"
"That's not what we were told. We're getting paid a small fortune to deliver it."
"What makes you think I have it?"
"Well, we know you don't have it, but we heard that the one who does is with you."
Wait…Siegfried? Cassandra wondered.
"Vincent! I don't see it anywhere!" Ralph called out from behind a tree.
"Too bad."
"D'ya think we've been duped?"
"Whatever…But at least let's have some fun. This girl looks…energetic." He began to slowly drag his finger up Cassandra's leg and slowly up her dress. Cassandra began to struggle even harder, screaming and yelling.
"Get your hands off her!"
Vincent stopped at the command. He looked up only to be blindsided by a collision from another man. He flew a few feet before landing in a nearby bush, cussing as the branches poked him.
"Siegfried!" Cassandra just wanted to jump up and hug him until he fainted, but Alfonzo was still holding her down.
"You too!" Siegfried forcefully kicked the big man in the face. Cassandra could hear the sound of cracking bone as Siegfried's foot came in contact with his face. Alfonzo toppled over backwards, holding his face and rolling around on the ground in pain.
Siegfried quickly picked up Cassandra and moved her behind him. Vincent stumbled out of the bush with a straight sword drawn. "Cassandra, stay behind me."
Cassandra nodded. "Good, now follow." Siegfried slowly sidestepped towards his zweihander. He passed an unconscious Ralph, who Sophitia had knocked out with her shield after sneaking up on him during Siegfried's commotion. Laid up against a tree was his Requiem. As he picked up his blade, he gave orders to the two Greeks, "I want you two to stay back, okay?"
Sophitia agreed, "No problem."
But Cassandra was less willing to stay back, "No way, Siegfried! Let me get him! He tried to play with my body!"
"Relax, Cassandra. I'll take care of him. Those other two are just thieves. This one, well I'm not sure how skilled he may be, but we should be on the safe side."
Vincent held his sword upright in front of him with his other hand poised next to it. He began to circle Siegfried, but Siegfried did not let him circle around towards the women. Vincent attacked first. He took quick steps toward Siegfried and spun his sword in his hand in an upward motion towards Siegfried's face. Siegfried cautiously leapt back to avoid being sliced. That moment of vulnerability gave Vincent an opening. He lunged forward with a thrust aimed directly at Siegfried's gut. Siegfried quickly parried the thrust with his sword.
The impact of the bigger sword clashing on the smaller one completely threw Vincent off balance. He fell to his hands and knees and tried to get back into his stance, but Siegfried batted at his chest with the broadside of Requiem, launching Vincent a few feet back. Vincent had the wind knocked out of him. He was on his knees, gasping for breath when he saw something from the corner of his eye. He turned to look, but all he saw was a flash of white and a brief feeling of pain before everything went black.
Cassandra satisfyingly brushed off her shield. Sophitia was too close for comfort in that situation. Her ears were still ringing from the clash of skull and metal. "That's that."
Siegfried couldn't believe what he had seen. Not since his days in the Schwarzwind had he seen such a brutal and intolerant girl.
"Cassandra! Did you kill him?" Sophitia yelled at her younger sister.
"No. I can still see him breathing." Cassandra answered rather nonchalantly as she pointed at his body.
Siegfried was still speechless. He would never have tried to bash in someone's head like that. Too brutal.
Cassandra looked at Siegfried, who felt his heart speed up at the look, "Siegfried…they said they were looking for Soul Edge…"
"They were?" He was curious. He walked over to Alfonzo, who was still crying in agony. Siegfried gripped his shirt collar and looked at his face. It was rather swollen and his nose was apparently broken. "You! Did you come looking for Soul Edge?"
Alfonzo nodded.
"Why?"
"We were hired to do so."
"By whom?"
"A pirate. He promised to pay us. A lot. We took up the offer."
"Who directed you to us?"
"A man who looked to be Egyptian. He carried a scythe."
"Him…One last thing. Where is this pirate?"
"We met him in Spain. I forget what city."
Spain? Could it be him again?
Sophitia heard it too. Her blood ran cold thinking about that day seven years ago. The day that ruined her life.
"Thank you. That's all I needed to know." At that, Siegfried grabbed Alfonzo's shoulders and forcefully pulled him forward as he headbutted him. Cassandra cringed at the sound of skull on skull. Alfonzo's body went limp and Siegfried dropped him. "You should leave before they wake up."
Cassandra raised an eyebrow, "What about you?"
"I'm heading out my own way."
"Wait! What about Soul Edge? I heard them say something about Soul Edge."
Sophitia interrupted before Siegfried could explain, "Are you going after it yourself?"
"Yes. It's my fault that I lost it. It's my responsibility to get it back and destroy it."
"Wait, what? Destroy it? I thought you said it was gone?"
Siegfried and Sophitia both looked stressfully at Cassandra, "Cassandra, Siegfried should tell you what really happened."
"I did not destroy Soul Edge. I put it to sleep. I have been searching for a way to destroy it, but I lost it." Siegfried looked at her almost apologetically.
"So now someone else has it?" Cassandra gulped.
"Yes, unfortunately. Forgive me."
"Well, so what should we do?"
Siegfried looked at her quizzically, "We?"
