Talim put a hand to her mouth and turned her head away, her chocolate eyes sorrowful and her heart heavy. When he finished drinking, he tossed the body aside and wiped his mouth of the blood before walking back over to her. In the darkness of the alley, his red eyes glowed, the only thing to light up the expression on her face. Quietly, he said, "It doesn't get better for you, no matter how much you've seen it, do you?" He let out a dry chuckle. "It disgusts you, doesn't it? If not for the desire to heal those I bite, you wouldn't be with me in the first place."
Talim slowly lifted her head to meet his eyes and murmured, "Does it get better for you?" She shook her head and took her hand in his. "I see the look in your eyes, the moment before you attack. You only get better at hiding and denying how you feel over time, Raphael."
His eyes widened slightly at her words. Memories of his earlier times as a malfested surfaced and he could not keep his expression emotionless. What she said was true. He hated this. Few people could understand him, they all just looked at the act and run away. They don't understand the feeling of thirst, that gnaws at your stomach and mind every single day. It never goes away, a short drink only quiets the noise. He was human, he was also repulsed at being forced to feed like some animal. If not for the taste, he would have hated the entire ordeal. She was right, the only thing he could to protect his pride and sanity, was to force himself to hide and deny how he really felt.
Slowly, she let go of his hand and went over to the fallen woman to begin purifying her wounds, her pink ribbons gently dancing behind her. With a soft smile, she said, "You're human, Raphael. The thirst does not define who you are."
He scoffed at her and looked away, his eyes cold. "What defines me then? You know nothing, little one."
His words hurt her but she knew they were just as painful to him. They held so much doubt and weariness. Finished with her purification, Talim said, "I see your humanity in the way you care for your daughter, the hurt in your heart when you're reminded of your family's betrayal, and your fears in your future." Putting a hand on her heart, she stared at him solemnly. He was afraid of the world for what happened, and he didn't trust it because of the things he experienced. Darkness was the only thing he's known and now, it has him trapped. Despite so, she could still see the truth. He was as human as anyone she's ever met, with his own pain, sorrows and fears.
Raphael lowered his face, letting the shadows from the walls hide his expression. When she timidly made her way over to him, he swallowed thickly and asked, "How can someone so young, see so far?"
"If you take the time to give someone a chance and try to understand, it's not difficult." Talim said sadly, "Your life is hard, Raphael. I will not deny that some of things you've done was wrong, but is there anyone in the world who is perfect? To be human is to make mistakes and to learn from them."
He couldn't find the words to speak. Slowly, he reached out for her and when she readily hugged him, he felt his throat tighten. "You don't deserve this. Following me around brings you hate and mistrust and I know it's hard on your body to wake during the night, ma petite."
Talim closed her eyes at the sound of the pet name he had given her in affection. "The moon isn't an object of darkness. With the light of the sun, it grows until it just as round and bright. I'm staying with you so that one day, you can accept the human side of you once more. The darkness that is brought out by your malfestation, will never heal you or ease your pain."
His lips curved up into a handsome smile as he kissed her on the head.
"They are human!" Talim shouted, her eyes full of tears at the fallen bodies around her. "They have family and friends, the same way you do! How can you people be so cruel?" More than fifty malfested laid dead at her feet, at the site of execution. The snow around her feet was dyed a bloody red and the mob circling the centre of the snowy city eyed the sharp weapons strapped to her belt warily, their face and heart full of hate. Who was this woman? To call the out and reprimand them?
"They're monsters! They attack and killed many of our people!"
"They're a bunch of parasites! Why are you defending them!?"
Over and over, they repeated the same words and she bite down so hard on her lips, she tasted blood. Ignoring them, she bent down and tried not to cry at the loss of life. These malfested didn't stand a chance. They weren't altered for combat. The only thing malfestation had done to them, was disfigured them. At the roots, it was the way they looked that led to their deaths. On the outside, they may have looked ugly and appear like monsters to some, with their oversized arms or legs, discolored skin or extra eye, but in truth they were helpless. If these were combat type malfested, the mob would have drowned in their own blood.
"Oh look," tooted a lady behind her fan. "She's crying for a bunch of monsters. How pathetic." The rich girl seemed to have joined since her betrothed had joined the 'hunt' for sport. Beside her, the dark hair and elegantly dressed man snickered and held up his bloodied long sword.
She was too overwhelmed with sorrow to be even speak, but she knew she had to. Slowly standing up, she looked at them and said, "No one in this city has died from a malfested for the past three years. Your accusations are false."
"How-"
"The wind doesn't lie!" shouted Talim, her voice almost cracking. "It has seen everything and told me everything! You people shunned the malfested for years! Hiding them away in the slums because they were an eyesore! At the best, you ignore their existence, at worst, you ridicule and beat them!" Talim's hand curled and her breath hitched. "They were sick... instead of showing understanding or compassion, you made their lives even harder." Pointing a finger to the bodies behind her, tears fell down her cheeks. "This happened, because this bastard-" she glared at the man standing beside his fiance, "thinks it would fun to kill them out of sport! They don't look human he said. They're ruining our city, he said. I can impress my fiance, he said. No one cares, they're malfested. Besides, my father is rich and important, nothing can happen to me." When he tried to speak, she spat, "Don't lie, I already told you. Everything the wind hears and sees, it will tell me if I ask."
"Shut up!" The man stepped forward and pointed his sword at her throat. "You may be a pretty wench but if you embarrass me any further, I'll have my father-"
Talim swung her double crescent blade and broke his sword in half. Her eyes burned as she grabbed onto his hand and with the other, she punched upward at his elbow and snapped it in half. "Someone like you, shouldn't be allowed to use a sword." With that, she kicked the screaming man away and ignored the pair as his fiance ran over to him in a panic.
The snow fell even harder as she stood there and felt the years pull at her bones. They were all now openly shouting at her and calling her a witch, with her nonsense about the wind and green hair. In a heartbroken voice, she said, "The only monsters I see here, are you people. Wind." The wind howled as it pushed them away and hit them with blankets of snow. Calmly walking past them as they staggered back from her, she restrapped her double crescent elbow blades that were shaped like moons, a gift from Raphael, and tried not to cry as the night felt even darker than before. She looked up at the night sky. No matter how long it took, she would find him. He was the only person beside her friends and family, that seemed human these days.
Dumas rested his head against the cool glass window, watching the snow fell as he sat on his windowsill that was layered with cushions and pillows. His hands curled over the moon and sun medallion and he stayed silent, lost in his own thoughts. After some time, someone knocked on his door and he said, "Come in."
One of his favorite general, clabbed in ebony black armor bowed low as he approached his lord. His horned helmet in his arm, taken off in respect. "My lord, you called for me?"
Dumas said in a low tone of voice, "You've heard of the massacre at Gengenbach, no?"
"Our brethren were slain in cold blood. It is most sorrowful news."
His hands tightened even more over the medallion. "It is time to purge those monsters and regain what we've lost. They call themselves human, when they're in fact the monsters."
"The purge?"
"Yes." Dumas stood up and thought about his daughter and Talim. "It's time we purge this world in fire and blood, in the name of unity and purity. Those humans want to kill us? They can be the one to dig their own graves. They see us as monsters? I'll show them what a real monster looks like." His eyes glowed as he cackled. In her eyes, he was human. But in the eyes of the world, they can see him as Nightmare soon enough.
"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Darkwings13: Abit about not only the world of Soul Calibur and something about the malfested, but about Talim's and Raphael's perspective of not only himself, but of his reaction to the world. The more the world fears and shuns the malfested, the more likely the malfested will truly become monsters and retaliates. The constant exposure of people telling them they're horrible and terrible, eventually does drive them to accept the darkness in them and become exactly like that. Talim sees from the beginning, when she treats the boy at the watermill village, how terrifying it can be to be malfested. The boy she treated was dying while she herself caught abit of the taint and couldn't hear the wind. She completely understands their fears and can sympathize with them. They didn't choose this life, they're innocent.
But she also understands that hurting others, whether for revenge or what not, was wrong and so she would encourage Raphael and others to stop hating, knowing it would hurt them in the end. As to further add to why she sees Raphael as a human, the way he turned out, full of mistrust, hate and coldness, was due to the way people treated him and as a way to protect himself. He's learned to be a survivor, no matter the cost. She sees the mob as monsters, since they killed all those malfested for almost no reason, except for blind hate and disgust.
While Raphael, with his terrible experiences and discrimination heaped on him, turns exactly into a monster, though he is not entirely at fault for it. This was an interesting concept and topic to write for this chapter, and I hope I did a fair enough job of it. Something serious to consider, as it does relate alot to real life as well .
（人´∀`*）Thanks for reading! *Goes back to playing mkx*