Here's the newest chapter, and most of its in third person this time, and now is where the story starts kicking up. Enjoy!
Chapter 27: Death and Rebirth
No one could believe what they saw or heard, but they had to face facts: Thanatos was Mark's dark half and he just killed his good half, the Mark that everyone started to like (and in Talim's case, love) and send him into the lake. Talim screamed Mark's name and cried heavily, as the others just stood there, stunned by what they saw.
Thanatos finished licking the blood off and soon teleported to where the others were.
"Heh, surprised? Shocked?" Thanatos asked with a smirk.
"No...PISSED!" Joseph said as he, Zach, Sosuke, and mostly everyone attacked him. Thanatos just weaved through the group, slashing them each as he went past, and then ran at Frankie, chuckling like a maniac. Frankie prepared himself for a spell but Thanatos rammed his hand on Frankie's face and pushed him into the wall, hand still on his face.
"Heh, I wonder how hard your skull is? Let's crack it open and see what's inside!" Thanatos said. The sound of Frankie's head being crushed by Thanatos echoed in the air as the now headless Frankie fell to the floor and Thanatos cleaned off the blood on his hand.
"Man, this is just a slaughter," he grinned. He turned to the others, who were getting up despite the injuries.
"Man, if I had time to play right now I would, but sadly I must go, oh and Sophitia, down the hall, a few doors on your left is where you'll find your brat," Thanatos said and disappeared. Sophitia ran into the castle to look for her child, with Cassandra following her.
"Wait, where'd Talim go?" Joseph realized. No one had even noticed Talim jumping into the lake to go after Mark, and was now going to land at that moment.
Talim panted as she set Mark down on the ground, they both were drenched in water, and Mark's glasses were gone, not to mention he still had the large scar where Thanatos stabbed him. Talim managed to heal the scar, but Mark still wasn't breathing. Talim desperately tried to revive him using CPR, but it still didn't work.
"No…you can't die now…not like this…" she whimpered. She soon started to cry heavily onto Mark, "Bring him back…please…don't take him from me…" she sobbed.
Mark's POV
I felt nothing before me, only the empty void of oblivion…so this is what it was like to die…and here I was supposed to go to Heaven…is this part of it? Or…was this the fate that awaited me? An empty void of darkness with no light in sight…man…this sucked. I soon saw something blurry come into my vision, wait was I alive? Or did something happen? I soon saw that it was Talim crying over my body, having fished it out of the lake. I felt my heart tear in two from that….yet…I turned behind me and saw the school with my friends in the cafeteria.
They were ok! But…I looked at Talim, then the guys…which to choose…I soon began to hear something…it was Talim's voice.
"…please…don't take him from me…don't take my love away from me…" Talim sobbed. I looked at the image…she called me 'her love'. I smiled softly and turned to the others.
"Sorry guys…I won't be coming back for a while…" I said and went towards the hazy vision of Talim and me.
Talim cried some more until she heard a gurgling sound; she looked up and saw Mark coughing up blood and water mixed in to it and panted heavily. Talim watched as her soft, tear stricken brown eyes met the dark brown eyes of Mark, who gave a soft, yet warm smile.
"Hey…" was the first word he said. Talim didn't know where to beat him up or hug and kiss him, but her arms were around his chest when she made a decision and she bawled like a baby. Mark rubbed her back and held her in his arms to comfort her.
"Hey, I'm back aren't I?" He asked her. Talim sniffled and smiled and hugged again. Mark heard someone coming and cracked open an eye to see Joseph and the others coming towards them.
"Hey…can I get some alone time here?" Mark asked them once they came by.
"You're…alive?" Mina asked with surprise.
"Duh…but later…I want a nap…" Mark said softly before closing his eyes and slept with Talim in his arms.
Cassandra went to Talim and nudged her lightly, "Hey, maybe you should…let…go?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow when Talim didn't answer. The soft breathing they heard soon made them realize, with some of the girls (except Ivy, who just smiled a bit) that Talim fell asleep hugging Mark. After a bit of a debate as to who would carry them, it was decided that Mark would be carried by Kilik and Talim by Mina. As for transportation, they were suddenly engulfed by a bright light and were soon in the middle garden of the temple, Elder E having casted a teleport spell to save them time.
"Normally I'd ask what happened, but I'll ask tomorrow, for now rest, you've all had a rough day," E told them. They didn't argue and after dropping off Mark and Talim, went to their rooms to sleep.
Meanwhile…
Thanatos flicked off the blood droplets as he stood before Malgreed.
"I take it that they got the message?" Malgreed asked.
"Yeah they did, even got to kill Frankie too," Thanatos said with a grin.
"Good…now then…for phase two of the plan…you have a fix on Nightmare?" Malgreed asked the man behind them. Sitting on a large throne, white hair swept back in braids with white eyes, sat Algol.
"Yes…he is coming here for Siegfried…" Algol said.
"Good…get ready Thanatos; soon, we'll be one step to the power of God in our hands…" Malgreed said as he clenched his fist.
So it looks like Mark (me) isn't dead after all, but with his return, frankie's life was taken. What shall happen now to the group as they recover? and What sinister plans do Malgreed and Thanatos have in mind for Soul Edge and Soul Calibur? Stay tuned...R&R plz!
