A/N: Wow! Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm glad everyone was commenting they thought the conflict between them was believable...maybe I won't need to redo it after all...

In any event, I forgot to add an author's note in the last chapter. In Romania, nodding your head actually means "no" and shaking your head means "yes." It still holds true today, if I researched it correctly. Sorry for any confusion in that regard.

As promised, here is the next chapter. As a side note, even if/when I redo the prior chapter in the future, it will affect very little of this and following chapters. Enjoy!

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This is a sentence. - Narration. No character speaking or thinking.

"This is a sentence." - Character speaking out loud.

'This is a sentence.' - Character speaking in his/her head.

"(This is a sentence.)" - Character speaking out loud but in a language unfamiliar to the characters (and I was too lazy to research the correct wording).

This is a sentence. - Emphasis placed on the italic word in the normal course of the narration or the character speaking or thinking.

This IS a sentence. - Same as with the single italic, just a variation of expressing the emphasis.

This is a sentence. - All italics means the event is happening in a dream or flashback of which I would give a quick note prior saying a dream or flashback is occurring.

This is a sentence. - During a dream or flashback, emphasis placed in the normal text word in the normal course of the narration or the character speaking or thinking.

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I do not own The Legend of Zelda or Soul Calibur.

Chapter 23 - Evil in the Air II

Link wasn't quite sure what he was getting himself into as he found himself nervously accompanying the man and who appeared to be his wife. He was dressed in a tunic set made for him by the Royal Family of Hyrule as part of their thanks in stopping the wizard with the shard of Soul Edge. It was in the design of his Kokiri Tunic but was white/light lavendar in color with a gray metal vest over it with gold trimmings. He had dark gray leggings and wore a shirt underneath with similar gray sleeves that extended all the way to his wrists. Finally, he had gray fingerless gloves similar to those he wore as an adult with a red stripe running around the wrists (A/N: Think his Fierce Deity outfit but a bit less warrior looking and more formal looking).

While he was fortunate to meet someone who knew a common language, he felt out of place and out of his element as he was escorted to the castle gates, which were actually on the rear side as that was the only side accessible to the castle, via a long spiral path leading to the top. The passing glances and comments people made in their native tongue did little to quell his nervousness. Then came the castle guards, who talked with the man and his wife in their native tongue and gave a questioning look to Link as they did. Whatever the man said did not appear to convince them, but the money provided by the man appeared to be all that mattered as they were let in without further issue.

They walked inside the castle, which Link saw looked not too unlike that of Hyrule Castle. Fancy carpeting and tapestries, large paintings decorated on the wall of various figures or landmarks and whatnot, other fine décor, guards, and various servants going about their business. They were then led to a large room that looked reserved specifically for gatherings as dozens of people packed the place wearing various fine clothing. Some had drinks in hand while others were smoking something (which made Link cringe at the smell and wondered how people tolerated it, let alone smoked it). If he remembered the structure of the castle right, he was now in the front part that resembled a church-like structure.

The room had two floors with a staircase at each end leading upward to the second level, which seemed to serve merely as a walkway to other parts of the castle as opposed to a place to socialize or mingle. Some chandeliers hung from the ceiling as well as other candelabras hanging on different parts of the walls. Overall, it was a very pleasing and fancy look.

'If only the presence of Soul Edge wasn't amongst the people,' Link thought sardonically to himself. There was no mistaking the feel of it all over the place. The trouble was it saturated the room so much he wasn't entirely sure who was influenced by it or not...even the man and woman he came with. 'Or maybe all of them are? That's a scary thought.'

So now here he was, in a type of party inside a castle, packed full of people one way or another affected by Soul Edge and unable to determine who was and who wasn't infected, who primarily spoke an entirely different language, and all on his own with no backup.

'No pressure,' he thought sarcastically to himself as he looked around for anything he could find on where the shard could be.

Several seconds upon entering, the wife apparently met a familiar face and excused herself to converse with another woman, leaving Link alone with the man who was shortly served a drink of wine from one of the many servers going to and from the place (Link being too young to drink, did not offer any to him). Link could see several people making glances at him, apparently aware he was a visitor in general. He could hear them speaking clearly despite their whispering, but thanks to the language barrier, was unable to make out what they were saying. Instinctively, he adjusted his cap to make sure it still covered his ears and to try to calm his nervousness. Oblivious of how nervous he was, the man guided him on through the room. He made small talk with various people but appeared to be looking for someone in particular and was having difficulty finding whomever it was he was looking for.

As he took another drink of his wine, he finally made a small cry of satisfaction and moved to another part of the room and guided Link forward again. Although, it was more like he was pushing him forward to the point of almost stumbling as the man seemed particularly anxious in seeing someone that he had started moving ahead of Link while still urging him to follow. They were moving through a particularly large crowd as it soon became more difficult to move their way around everyone. At one point, he stumbled a bit trying to maneuver around the people, but when he regained his balance, he saw he lost his escort.

'Ah, horse dung. I lost him!'

He frantically looked around trying to find him, but his shorter height made it difficult to track him. He pushed forward, politely saying "excuse me" and "pardon me" as he weaved his way through the crowd. He soon saw where the crowd thinned out and headed that way to hopefully find where the man went.

Just as he reached the end of the crowd, one of them accidentally bumped into him with a decent amount of force, knocking him off course and causing him to greatly lose his balance. He stumbled a few steps on one foot, spinning a little bit as he did while trying not to fall and make a fool of himself (or at least more than he already looked). Thankfully, he managed to regain his footing without falling, but just as he was about to move himself upright, he froze.

Apparently when he regained his footing, he had ended up standing right in front of someone and found himself looking right into the eyes of another...only a couple inches apart from his face. The person in question was a young girl around his age, maybe slightly younger. She had long red hair that was tied up in two long pigtails that hung to the sides of her face and were heavily curled from top to bottom, the tips of them reaching past her shoulders. She wore a strapless dress that was dark blue and purple in color with an extra layer underneath that was a slightly lighter blue, a decorative stripe running across it at the knees. The dress was open at the front, revealing long leggings with matching colors with her dress.

She wore equally dark blue and purple shoes with a dark green gem on the top of the straps. The upper front resembled a corset design with the bottom part somewhat resembling a skirt that left only her very upper thighs bare. Finally, she wore two matching sleeves that were separate from the dress that extended from her wrists to her upper elbows with a flower petal wrapped just above her elbow in the same color as the gem on her feet, and she also had a type of neckware with two tassels that appeared to have skulls, of all things, at the ends that hung down to her upper chest (A/N: Her primary SC III outfit but slightly different per a concept art I saw). What Link was currently looking at, though, were her bright red eyes that, despite the close encounter, merely seemed to regard him in but idle curiosity.

They stayed like that for several seconds, neither one moving, although a bright red blush the color of the girl's hair rapidly began appearing across Link's face. Link finally realized the situation and suddenly jumped back with a quick "AH!" before trying to compose himself.

"Um...(ahem) hi," Link commented shyly with an equally shy wave, still embarrassed from what just happened.

The girl merely blinked and tilted her head slightly at him, as if unphased by Link's actions or how close he was in her face. "Bonsoir," she finally replied.

While only somewhat familiar with the French language, he learned from Taki that was the common French greeting for "good evening." An uncomfortable silence (for Link) hung between them, Link still a bit embarrassed from earlier. "Uh, bonsoir," Link replied back. Not sure what else to say, he stuck with introductions. "So, um...I'm Link," he said nervously while slowly extending a hand.

The girl looked at the hand for several seconds, then at Link, her expression unchanging, which did little to help Link's nervousness. She repeated the motions before finally, and slowly, extending her hand back. "Amy," she replied. She then blinked in confusion as she extended her hand as if to let Link kiss the back of it as was custom, but he shook her hand instead, catching her off guard a little and made her blink again at his actions, something that did not go unnoticed by others around them.

'Uh, oh...did I do something wrong?' Link thought to himself as he let go, only to suddenly hear some of the people around him gasp slightly, and their tone indicated surprise and disapproval when he shook her hand. 'Goddesses, this isn't good. What do I do now?'

He started to sweat a little at that, wondering if he might get yelled at in front of everyone or kicked out for that. Or both. He turned back to Amy for help, while also hoping she too wasn't offended at him and possible berate him for shaking her hand.

Said girl continued looking at him with the same blank, though somewhat curious expression, though Link wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad thing. She had to admit, this boy was unlike any other she had met previously. On more than one occasion, she was introduced to various boys and young men by her Papa and some other noblemen, including tonight. They apparently were also trying to impress her in some way, but none of them really grabbed her attention and was confused as to why she was being introduced to them to begin with, or why they were trying to impress her.

But this boy was...different. It was clear he was not from around here, if his actions were any indication, as well as his rather unusual clothing as she had never seen an outfit like that before. Although despite the rather...exotic look, for lack of a better term, it seemed to suit him well and actually looked...well, not bad. He also had a very deep shade of blue eyes and had to admit she had never seen eyes of that color before. The odd thing was that, for some reason, looking into said eyes briefly gave her a very unusual feeling inside her when she looked at them up close.

It wasn't unpleasant by any means, and it could have been her imagination, but she thought she could feel something very light in her cheeks when that happened, but it faded just as quickly as it came when he jumped back, so she had dismissed it. But whatever it was, she had to admit overall he actually seemed...rather interesting, if only a little.

She then noticed the nearby people watching them with unusual interest that made her somewhat uncomfortable. Why were they looking at them so curiously? She also noticed the boy looked similarly uncomfortable at the crowd as well as from his little misstep, perhaps unaware of local custom, and she had to admit she wasn't quite sure how to react either, even if she didn't show it. But despite his mistake, it actually just made her a little more curious about him.

Part of the trouble was her Papa said to wait for him to return, but at the same time, he also said he wanted her to try to interact and talk with people at this gathering, even though she wasn't sure why (or why he insisted on having her here to begin with).

After thinking it over, she finally came to a decision and gently gestured her hand outward, as if gesturing him to join her, much to his surprise as well as the surprise of the guests around them as several of them lightly gasped and commented to themselves about it. A few of the other boys around their ages or so seemed to give a dirty look as well, though she wasn't sure why.

The two servants on either side of Amy, who were earlier keeping a close eye on Link at being so close to her, also looked equally surprised, sharing a look between each other. She ignored them as Link happily accepted her offer, grateful she was not offended in any way. He watched her say something to the surprised servants, who then both stayed put while he followed her to a more private part of the room, a grateful/nervous smile on his face.

Amy led them behind one of the large pillars supporting the structure on the inside. It was near a corner of the room that was not far from an entrance to the outside and was out of sight from most of the people if they were to look for them.

Although Link wasn't sure how to proceed from here, still feeling a bit nervous from earlier. Thankfully, while not entirely sure what to do either, Amy made the move to start the conversation.

"So...Link was it?" she asked, this time in English, which made him feel relieved at that and nodded in reply, though noted she did not appear to have an accent like he expected. "I can tell you are not from around here. Where are you from?"

"Um, well, not from around here if you couldn't tell," he said in joking nervousness, only to mentally smack himself at that.

"I...just said that," she replied slowly, blinking in confusion.

"Uh, right! Well, um," he stammered, tugging his collar in nervousness. 'Well, this is getting really awkward really quick,' he thought to himself. Slowly, he took a couple deep breaths to help calm himself, as well as think of how he wanted to reply before continuing. "(Ahem) Well...to be honest, I grew up in a village in the forest. My parents died when I was just a baby and was raised by a guardian, who had also taken in other orphans with him before me...Sadly, he passed away a few years ago, and I've been on my own ever since," he said softly.

That actually got Amy to shift her head up slightly in slight surprise, slowly blinking at that. "No parents at all? Even now?"

Link shook his head as he replied. "None."

"I...see," she commented, ignoring the shaking of his head while saying no (and mentally waving it as another lack of local custom). But while she didn't show it, inside she was very surprised at what she learned about the boy. Living in a forest sounded very unusual, as opposed to like a farm or city of some kind, especially given his outfit as it didn't look like something from the woods. But the part that really caught her attention was how he was an orphan, and the way he said it indicated he wasn't lying. That's when the realization slowly dawned on her.

'He's like me...He is an orphan too.'

But what surprised her even more was she suddenly had a very strange feeling inside her upon that realization. The fact she felt anything at all was in and of itself surprising as she very rarely felt anything in her life after her birth parents died and was forced to live in the streets, her heart becoming as cold and empty as those damp streets she lived in. Even after her life changed for the better after being found by a man she now called Papa, she was almost numb to feeling anything.

And yet despite the fact she had just met him, for some reason...it almost felt as if she knew him a lot longer. Was it because of how similar they were in that regard? Social skills were not exactly her strong suit despite her now noble lifestyle and the lessons in manners she received from Papa, and she usually never moved to talk to anyone anyway unless absolutely necessary other than to Papa. But for some reason...she actually felt like talking to him.

They stayed in silent reflection for a minute before Amy continued. "What...brings you here, then?"

Link took a moment to gather his thoughts before replying, though Amy noticed another slight frown on his face. "Well...my home was attacked not too long ago. Many people were killed as a result, and the person responsible is somewhere in Europe. I'm trying to find where he went and stop him before he attacks again or attacks anyone else."

"By yourself?" she asked with another curious tilt of her head. Once again, Amy was rather surprised at his response. Not just how his home had been attacked, but also at how one as young as he was willing to take it upon himself to go that far in stopping this person.

"Well, at first. I met some others along the way who have also been affected by him and want to stop him as well, but, well...they decided not to come to this...uh, gathering," Link replied, trying to find the words.

"Why is that?" she asked curiously.

"Well, I helped a man being attacked by bandits earlier. He...rather insisted I accompany him here, but my friends, uh...did not feel comfortable attending such social gatherings." That was more true for Taki than Talim or Seong Mi-Na. If given the option, he figured the latter two would happily come with him, but recent events made them choose otherwise. Seong Mi-Na in particular, for some reason that he couldn't figure out. He shook his head at that, not wanting to think about it. "That reminds me...I think I lost the man I came with before almost running into you. Sorry about that, by the way," he added with a slight chuckle.

"It...is alright," she said slowly, not used to talking in such a way...or in general for that matter. She also noticed the way he rubbed the back of his head as he spoke. She wasn't sure why he did that, but for some reason she was...slightly amused by it? That was odd. Is that what amusement felt like? She was so confused. And yet for some reason...perhaps since he shared about himself something she could relate to, she decided to do the same, like her Papa once instructed her. "I too lost my parents when I was young. I lived on the streets for awhile until Papa found me several years ago. I have lived with him ever since."

That surprised Link. "You were orphaned too?" he asked softly.

"Oui," she replied, which Link recognized as "Yes."

"I see..." Link trailed off.

They stayed silent a minute and shared a look only orphaned children knew before reflecting on what they've learned.

From what Amy could gather, he wasn't from around here, was after someone who killed some of his people, and met some apparent allies in finding whomever this person was that killed his people. She had to admit, it was very unusual to hear how one so young as he was not only willing to leave his home on his own, but also to pursue someone who attacked his people. She wasn't sure if he was very brave or very foolish. Did he know how to fight? She would have to ask about that.

But while this did catch her attention, another key detail caught her attention most, when this "guardian" who raised him also passed away while he was young. THAT part brought her slight pause. It would have been like if she lost Papa, and she wouldn't know what she would do if she ever lost him too. That thought also brought yet another unfamiliar feeling, and a very uncomfortable one. It almost made her feel...scared.

She couldn't imagine what that must have felt like, losing his guardian after already losing his parents, and that was enough to make her actually feel...scared again briefly, a feeling she had not felt since living on the streets just after her parents died. But then she felt another feeling regarding the boy. It felt like she was feeling rather...sorry for him? Is that what she was feeling here? Unaccustomed to feelings in general, she found it hard to describe what she felt, but that was the feeling she felt here.

Link, meanwhile, felt considerably more relaxed as he talked to her. He was glad to find someone here he could understand but was surprised in how similar she was to him. Now that he thought about, he seemed to have a knack for running into someone who was orphaned like him, as this was the third person he met like that. Although, he was a little confused by the way she talked. Not the fact she was speaking English well, but the fact she spoke with an almost...blank tone.

He never saw her smile once since talking to her, but he also hasn't seen her frown, either. Just...blank. At times, she looked confused on what to say or how to respond in general. Did she not talk very much? Granted, he was like that too for the longest time, but he still communicated with others, even if not spoken. Even when she mentioned how she was orphaned, she said it with almost...casual indifference. She did not sound necessarily sad, nor did she sound happy. It was...he wasn't quite sure how to describe it.

Their thoughts were interrupted when they heard a band started playing a song. Well, it was Amy that initially turned her head that way, and Link followed to see what she was looking at. That was when he realized, to his horror, that people started dancing in the center of the room. That was one thing he hadn't counted on when agreeing to come with that man (which he again wondered where he went off to since losing him).

'Was she looking to (*gulp*) dance?' he thought worriedly, hoping that wouldn't be the case. Now, he was wondering/hoping the man would show up and save him from this.

He nervously turned back towards Amy's direction, who still had a blank look on her face. She slowly blinked as she looked between the crowd and Link. Her Papa taught her dancing as it was a favorite activity of his, and a small part of her found it...rather enjoyable, but only when dancing with Papa. Often, though, she was encouraged to dance with others besides Papa, especially with other boys he and other noblemen introduced her to. She would reluctantly do so, if only to please her Papa, but each time she found it...very uncomfortable, especially when they kept trying to talk to her as they danced, which just made her want to be anywhere but there.

But for some reason...this time she was actually willing to dance with someone other than Papa. Or rather...actually wanting to dance with him. She thought it over for awhile before finally raising her arm up to Link in offering to dance with him.

'Oh, goddesses...She wants me to dance with her. Not good! Not good!' he exclaimed in his head, becoming increasingly nervous with each second. 'I don't want to get embarrassed in front of everyone. And I'm supposed to be finding something on where the shard of Soul Edge is here, not dancing with the locals! Goddesses, what do I do!?'

It seemed he was taking longer than he thought to decide, though, as Amy gave a tilt of her head when she saw he wasn't taking it, her arm dipping slightly. And it also looked like...she was starting to frown a little too.

'Ho, boy. That's not good,' he thought, and felt like he was starting to sweat as well.

"Something...wrong?" she said very slowly, but Link could still detect the slightly...saddened tone in her voice. It always pained him seeing a girl saddened like that, but while he didn't want to upset her in any way, there was one tiny little problem he had when it came to dancing, one he was ashamed to admit. But not sure what else to say or how else to say it, he finally took a deep breath.

"Well, I...don't...know how to dance," he finally muttered, an ashamed look on his face and found it difficult to look at her as a result. And that incident in Termina with the Kamaro's Mask didn't count as it was the mask that made him dance, not himself.

A blink and another curious tilt of her head was the initial response he got as Link swallowed a lump in his throat, feeling like she was going to make him feel ashamed of that response/excuse, which would probably result in an embarrassed and ashamed exit in front of everyone. It was already bad with what was happening with his friends, and that was the last thing he needed on top of it. But then to his surprise, she instead offered her arm up again.

"I'll show you," she said softly. And as she spoke, she did something that she hadn't done since they started talking.

She smiled.

It was very small, almost unnoticeable. But at the same time, it was very...captivating. And when he looked into her eyes, for the first time he actually saw her look a little...happy. With that simple gesture, it finally give him the confidence to slowly shake off his worries, take a deep breath, and gently take her hand. Another brief smile appeared at his acceptance, her eyes appearing to light up slightly as well as she guided him on how to dance. He started blushing as soon as she put one of his hands on her waist while they were holding hands with the other.

"Just step to the rhythm, and turn slowly. I will follow your lead," she explained.

'Easier said than done...' Link thought to himself, but for some reason he thought her lips twitched upward ever so briefly after thinking that. So brief was it, he almost didn't catch it. 'Oh, goddesses...did I say that out loud?' he thought nervously.

In fact he had, but otherwise, she did not reply further. As they danced, Link looked to the side to observe others dancing to at least try to get a better idea on how to dance. He stumbled slightly a couple times and turned a little too quickly at first as well, but finally he settled down into a nice slow but flowing pace, moving to the rhythm. And he found it...not as bad as he thought it would be. Granted, he was still plenty nervous, especially holding a girl up close like he was.

And he had to admit, she was very pretty. The curled hair he thought was also very cute and was a look he had never seen before—very exotic, he thought—and it had a pretty red color like Malon's. The eyes were also a matching red, which he thought looked very lovely as well. So much so, just looking at them seemed to help ease his worries and calm his nerves as they danced.

And despite the fact he was in a town—and a castle—full of people affected by Soul Edge's influence, and despite how out of place he felt with the rest of the crowd or the fact he was dancing in general, he felt at peace.

(Earlier)

A man was conversing with many of the noblemen and noblewomen. Many of them offered their congratulations at stopping the attack earlier and asking them how he was faring as he suffered a number of injuries in the process, although one wound appeared more recent than others, strangely enough. While he was not fully healed, it was not enough to deter him in any way. Some of the noblewomen expressed more...personal interest in him, flirting with him any chance they could get as he was a single and very handsome fellow. The man took it in stride, offering equally flirtatious replies in return, causing many of them to laugh and blush behind the paper fans they had to cover their faces, though nothing more came out of it, much to the ladies' disappointment.

The man was rather tall, standing at 5' 10" and wore a type of metal armor covered by a green garment with gold trimmings. The top of the garment coned up and outward past the neck but left the front open for the man's face to view. A cape flowed down from the back with large, jagged tendrils at the bottom that extended to the knees. He wore brown leggings with gold decorative designs running along the sides all the way down to his burgundy shoes, and his armor extended to his arms underneath the sleeves as he wore metal gloves as well. Finally, a rapier was attached at his waist with the top of the gold hilt resembling a flame (A/N: His primary outfit in SC III).

This was Raphael Sorel. Originally a French nobleman, he was forced to kill another nobleman in self-defense, who had suddenly and unexpectedly become under the influence of the Evil Seed seven years ago. However, those who witnessed the incident did not see it that way, and it didn't help that the man he killed was a known friend and ally of his family. He was then exiled and forced to flee for his life, hunted down by soldiers who relentlessly chased him down.

Weakened and exhausted, he tried to hide in a poverty-stricken town, moving through the alleyways to avoid detection. The soldiers were closing in on him, and he was forced to hide in an abandoned building in one alley in particular to hide. He could hear them shouting orders just outside and to make matters worse, a little girl that was in the alley saw where he went to hide. He thought he was doomed and so prepared to make his last stand, feeble as it would have been; but to his surprise, and relief, the girl pointed the soldiers in another direction—AWAY from where the man was hiding.

This forever changed the man, and in more ways than one. This was the first time he owed his life to someone else and felt emotions he had never experienced before. The girl only knew her name, Amy, and her parents died of the Black Death when she was very young (A/N: An event also known as the Black Plague or simply the Plague), leaving her orphaned and living in the streets. While she did not owe Raphael anything when she first saw him, she owed the soldiers less, as they practically ran her impoverished home and treated her and many others badly, with no care for their wellbeing whatsoever and so was why she chose to lead them astray. Saddened at the girl's state of living and grateful for her saving his life, he took the girl with her and raised her as her own. From then on, she became an irreplaceable part of his life.

Unfortunately, she was apparently so traumatized with how she lived and how she was treated that she was unable to open her heart to the world. She very rarely smiled or expressed joy of any kind, even with the later luxuries Raphael was able to provide her with. A castle with servants, fancy dresses, lovely décor, even the simple things such as better food, water, and sleeping conditions were not enough to help her open up like he hoped. The closest thing she seemed to find joy in was being taught swordplay as well as the various dances he would teach her, but only when dancing with Papa, as she called him, never with anyone else.

Raphael had organized this little social gathering primarily for a couple reasons: One was to help receive support in repairing the damages from the recent attack; and the second was a more sinister reason—to infect more people under his influence as he had done with many of the town.

A few months ago, he pursued the legendary sword known as Soul Edge and its wielder, Nightmare. Unlike the rest, though, he actually succeeded in finding him and fought him to a duel for the sword. He lost that duel, but an unexpected hesitation from Nightmare as he was about to finish him off gave him time to strike the eye of the sword. He lost consciousness right after that, but for some reason, Nightmare disappeared without killing him. The wounds from Soul Edge, however, affected his body to the point he radiated the energy himself. Not only that, he discovered he could also infect others with this same energy, and to further his surprise, slowly bend those he infected to his will.

The idea of changing the world for his design started to consume him, and so he began to put his plans into motion. He started by taking control of this castle with some..."persuasion" to the right people, and then used it as a base to infect the town below. Events such as this were a cover to infect the powerful and elite. As of now, some of the noblemen and noblewomen he had already infected beforehand and was looking to target more of the them tonight.

Two weeks ago, there was an attack at the castle from a nearby province. They had correctly deduced what he had been doing, but with the help of his guards, he fended them off so only a few survived and retreated, killing roughly half of them himself out of the well over a hundred or so that attacked.

But while that was his main goal, he had another reason for organizing this little gathering—to try to get his daughter to open up herself to the world, even if just a little. While he gave the impression of paying attention to the men and women he was talking to, he made several glances to his daughter, hoping she would find at least something enjoyable through it all. The people, the music, the dancing. None of it seemed to affect her in anyway.

Suddenly, he raised his head in surprise when he sensed something, a presence he had not felt since...

'Soul Edge! I can definitely feel it...Yes, there's no doubt about it. Someone here has a shard of the legendary blade! But what's this?' he thought in surprise as something else caught his attention. 'There's something else. A different feeling from Soul Edge entirely. More...heavenly?' he thought in confusion as he looked around the crowd trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. It reminded him of that girl he fought not long ago who had a shard of Soul Edge on her. Although he took a good slash from her (which was the recent wound he received), he successfully retrieved the shard from her before escaping, but he couldn't help but notice how her sword seemed to give off a...seemingly holy vibe.

And that upset him. It felt as if it was a great threat to him when he first felt it, and the slash he received from it only strengthened that feeling. It felt particularly more painful compared to other blades he felt, as if it directly opposed the energy of Soul Edge he felt within him, a side effect of receiving wounds from said blade against Nightmare. And now, it appeared she had returned, likely to get the shard back.

'So, you think you can sneak in here in my own home and take back what you lost, my dear? Very brave of you, but also very foolish. This time, you will not leave here alive. Now, where are you?' He asked himself, looking around a bit before turning to his daughter beside him.

"Amy," he started, getting her attention.

"Yes, Papa?"

"I believe a certain guest has arrived. Wait here until I return."

"Yes, Papa," she replied with a nod as she watched him leave.

He then proceeded to look for a familiar tuft of blonde hair while carefully weaving his way through the crowd as quickly as he could. It didn't help how many recognized him and so looked to talk to him, which delayed his progress. He then saw a woman that had the color hair that had his back towards him.

'Hmm, would that be you my dear?' he thought in dark glee as he then proceeded to slowly towards her. But then she finally turned a little so he could see her face, and it turned out to not be the woman he was looking for. 'Guess not. So where are you, then?'

With his tall height, he easily towered over the rest of the crowd and so made it easier to look over everyone. But despite this advantage, he was unable to spot the woman in question after a couple minutes. Finally, he decided to take a different approach and concentrate on the energy he felt rather than her hair. Over the past several months since being exposed to Soul Edge in his fight with Nightmare, he found he could sense its energy to an extent if it was close enough to him.

He concentrated slightly, and it wasn't long before he sensed the shard and this...other feeling. It looked to be coming from the other side of the room from where he was at, but he couldn't initially see who had it. He moved to get closer while being careful not to get in someone's way, or make it look like he was subtly hunting someone.

"Oh, Lord Raphael!" a loud voice went next to him, interrupting his thoughts. He turned his head to see a familiar nobleman who looked rather anxious, to his slight confusion, but he was nonetheless not in the mood to talk to him.

"Greetings, Alexandru. I'm afraid I am a little busy right now."

"Yes, I am sure," he said quickly. "I was actually looking for you earlier, but I lost a guest I brought with me along the way and cannot seem to find him. I was so anxious to introduce him to you, your daughter especially, but we somehow got separated going through the crowd, and I was wondering if you could help me find him?"

An annoyed look flashed across his face while he wasn't facing Alexandru, not wanting to deal with him at this time. Raphael kept him around more for his money than his name; he acted as if he was strong and intelligent but was actually very cowardly and with about as much brains as a sack of potatoes. He took note of him mentioning introducing someone to his daughter, but would worry about that later. "I see. And just who is it you are looking for?" he asked politely but with annoyance in his tone as he continued looking for his own person of interest.

"He is but a boy, around your daughter's age which is why I wanted to introduce him to her. He is in a light lavender tunic with a black and gold vest, golden blonde hair, where's a floppy bonnet," Alexandru replied while trying to keep up with Raphael.

Raphael briefly rose an eyebrow at the boy's description and wondered how he was related to Alexandru, but he remained focused on his search. Although now he saw his game when it came to his daughter, which only annoyed him even further. "I see," he replied but not looking in his direction. He continued looking around briefly before finally turning to Alexandru. "Tell you what. You look in that direction, and I will head this way. If you see anything, alert one of my servants."

"Oh, certainly, my lord! And thank you so much," Alexandru replied with a grateful bow before doing as instructed. Although for Raphael, that was more of getting the man away from him than actually helping him. He'll focus on the boy later as he continued his search for the young woman. Seeing a song was about to play, he decided to move outside the crowd to get a better look while using a servant to accompany him as an excuse to not dance with anyone, pretending to talk and give her instructions. It was a common tactic he used when he wanted to avoid a crowd and prevent anyone from dancing with him, but despite this, he still had no luck finding the blonde woman.

'Hmm, just where are you?' he thought in confusion as, though he felt he was getting a little closer, he could not find the woman he was expecting anywhere. The shard's energy DID, however, appear to be coming from the back corner of the room. 'Perfect. With the crowd much smaller there, I should be able to spot her easily from over here. Hmm, it seems she is over there behind that column.'

He then moved to get a better view and was about fifty feet away from the column, but as soon as he rounded to see the other side of the column and the crowd thinned away enough, he saw not the woman he had expected, but what looked to be the boy Alexandru had described earlier.

'Hmph. Well, that solves his problem at least,' he thought in annoyance. Until something else caught his attention. 'Wait...the boy? HE is holding the shard!?'

There was no doubt about it, this boy had the shard on him. And...that holy energy as well!? Yes, he was sure of it. It was coming from the boy.

This was an unexpected turn of events. He expected to see a blonde woman with a holy blade, and instead found a blonde boy with no apparent holy sword on him. Then another thought came to him. 'Perhaps...a holy shard? Is that possible?'

He knew how the shards of Soul Edge were but broken pieces of the blade itself. But did that mean...the boy had a shard of a similar blade, but of holy energy? That was a disturbing thought, one he had never considered before now. That would seriously threaten his plans with what he had in store regarding Soul Edge. Then he noticed it looked like the boy was talking with someone, though from his position he could not see who that was. He moved a little to see this other person, and as soon as said person was in view, he froze.

The person the boy was talking to...was his daughter, Amy.

That in and of itself was surprising as, one, he had left his daughter in the front part of the room after asking her to wait for him and never once disobeyed him, and now, she was in the back corner of the room. And two, she was in the back corner of the room with someone else. And then to add to his surprise, she was actually...talking back to him. She almost never talked to anyone besides himself—no matter how hard others have tried—and even then, she did not talk very much, with very short responses here and there and did not really engage in conversation. But his surprise did not end there. The music finally started, and his eyes widened in surprise again when he watched his daughter actually raise her hand to the boy to dance with her. He let that thought sink in.

Amy, his quiet little girl who had closed her heart to the world and had never shown any interest in anyone else she had ever met...was offering to dance with the boy.

This made him completely forget his original mission as a feeling of elation started building inside of him at that. He turned to the boy in question, expecting him to accept her offer, but elated surprise turned to a mix of confusion and frustration as the boy, for some reason, was not accepting her offer.

'What in the world? Why is he not taking her hand? What is wrong with the boy!?'

It was beyond frustrating. His little girl was finally reaching out—AND to someone besides himself—and this boy was not accepting it. If there was one thing that he hated more than anything in the world, it was seeing someone upset his daughter in any way, shape or form. He watched as the boy said something to her, which made his daughter give him a confused look of some kind, but he was still not accepting her offer.

But just as he was about to mentally berate the boy even more, he was surprised once again as whatever he said got his daughter to offer her hand again, and then he saw something that was so astonishing, he couldn't help but let out a small gasp in surprise.

His daughter...had smiled.

It was small, like many of her smiles were in the rare times she actually did smile, but this one was...different. Someone ELSE made her smile. Someone ELSE was making her happy.

And it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life.

His eyes widened in delight when, this time, the boy DID accept her offer, and they slowly moved to dance. Despite the fact this boy seemed to have a shard of opposing energy to Soul Edge, he couldn't help but let out a smile at what he had seen and decided to let them be and see how this played out. After all, it wasn't often he got a chance to see his little girl look genuinely happy—and with another.

He made sure to keep his distance to give them some privacy but still keep an eye on them, while also hastily dismissing his servant before she could witness the spectacle to prevent gossip from spreading...at least for now. Now that he had a minute, he took the time to truly look at the boy.

It was definitely an unusual attire, but it definitely looked to be of high quality, indicating significant social status of some kind. He then raised an eyebrow at some early missteps while dancing, and wasn't sure if it was just nerves, the dance itself, or overall inexperience the boy had in dancing. Just what was this boy's relation to Alexandru? And where was he from? Again, it was unusual attire and not common in these lands; though oddly enough, it seemed to suit him well, he thought.

And then the shards. Just where did he obtain them from? And what was the other shard? Where did that come from?

Most importantly, was he ultimately a threat?

Or was he even aware of just what he had on him?

Given his age, it was likely he wasn't really aware of just what those shards were. If so, that could make it easier to obtain them from him without the use of force. He would keep all that in mind when he talked to him, but for now, he wanted to let them enjoy their dance, just as much as he wanted to enjoy seeing his daughter dance with another—and of her own choosing.

He couldn't keep the smile from his face at seeing his daughter dancing with another. It brought a joy to his heart that he hadn't felt in years, and he was starting to hope this would not be a one time thing. As the song ended, he raised another eyebrow at the boy as he was slow in bowing to his partner, as if he wasn't sure what to do, and seemed to only do so when he saw others doing it. Despite this, Amy did not look offended, and instead looked slightly...amused? Her lips actually twitched upward at that, surprising him once again but in a good way. This boy was definitely interesting, no doubt about it, and he decided it was now time to make his presence known.

Link and Amy had just finished their dance, with a late, awkward bow from Link at the end to match Amy's curtsy as he was unaware of the expected gesture with the dance but quickly saw it by others off the corner of his eye. He gave a nervous laugh at that, which made Amy's lips twitch ever so slightly upward. Despite the awkwardness, he was happy he made her smile again.

"(There you are, Amy,)" a man suddenly stated, getting their attention. Amy and the man proceeded to continue speaking; the trouble was they were speaking a language Link couldn't understand. It didn't sound Romanian, but he heard Amy say "bonsoir," which he knew was French. That's odd. Did they speak French in Romania? Whatever they said, it did not appear to upset the man; in fact, quite the opposite. Before they could continue, they were again interrupted when another man appeared, one Link recognized as the man who brought him here to begin with.

"(My apologies my lord, I was unable to get away from my wife to dance and so I have not been able to find)...Link! There you are! And-oh my! Miss Amy, too!" Alexandru exclaimed upon seeing Amy there as well. The first part, Link could not understand what he said, but second part he could as he started speaking English upon seeing Link.

An annoyed look briefly appeared on the man's face before calmly turning to reply with a light smile. "I believe I found the boy in question, and it seems he has already been introduced to my daughter," he jested lightly, this time in English.

'Wait...Amy is Raphael's daughter!?' Link thought in slight concern as this was news to him. And now that he was acquainted with her, he would likely face further scrutiny from him from now on. 'This...complicates things,' he thought nervously.

"Ho, ho! It seems I was worried over nothing like my wife said," Alexandru laughed. His wife had found him in time to dance with him, reluctantly halting his search for Link, and she had said the same thing to him while they were dancing when she asked him where the boy was. "If I may my lord, allow me to properly introduce the boy to you. (ahem) Master Sorel, this is Link, the boy who saved me from several bandits while I was on my way here. Link, this is Master Raphael Sorel, lord of this castle and hero to the people."

Link gave a polite bow to Raphael, who nodded in reply. Well, that answered one question, Raphael thought. There was no familial connection with Alexandru, just someone who helped the right person at the right time. He was actually rather glad it wasn't the former—one Alexandru was enough, he mused to himself. The boy also seemed to have good manners, if somewhat lacking knowledge of local customs. Now was the time to learn more about him.

"I see...well, Link. It seems you are making a name for yourself already," he lightly jested before turning to the other nobleman. "Alexandru, I would like to have a word with the boy. Could you excuse us? I will speak with you later."

Alexandru looked slightly disappointed for a moment, hoping to be involved in the conversation, but knowing it was not wise to question the lord, he bowed. The fact that the boy seemed to be getting along well with the master's daughter was enough to satisfy him, as he hoped he could gain favor from the master if his daughter found the boy interesting, which was why he brought Link with him to begin with. "Very well, my lord. I shall leave you be."

They watched him leave before Raphael turned to Link. "Now, then. Let us talk somewhere more private. Could you come with me, please?" he asked while gesturing for Link to follow. He turned to his daughter to let her know he would be back later, but was stopped by Amy.

"May I come with, Papa?" she asked softly.

Raphael was caught off guard by Amy's request. He wanted to talk to the boy one on one and learn what he could about the boy, as well as the shard/shards he had, but the look his daughter gave was something he had never seen in her before. While it looked like she carried a somewhat blank look on her face, the way she asked him almost made it look like she was...pleading with him?

He debated a moment on what to do at this unusual request from his daughter. A part of him was still worried about the holy energy the boy carried with him, but at the same time, he had never seen his daughter express so much interest in something—or rather, someone—outside of himself. If there was one thing he wanted more than anything in the world, it was to make his daughter happy, and this was, and has been, a very rare opportunity to see her truly happy—and so far, this boy was the reason for it all.

After thinking it over, he decided he could first learn about the boy himself with his daughter present, who was also interested in the boy, and then he could look for an opportunity to discuss the shards later. Maybe invite him to stay for a while?

'Yes, I think that would work,' he thought.

"Very well. Come along then," he replied, and he felt a slight joy at the way her eyes softened in what he thought was delight and moved to walk next to the boy, which he took note of. He then led them to the empty courtyard just outside from where they were. "Now then, Link," he started, getting their attention. "I understand you are not related to Alexandru. Of which family do you come from, Link?"

A somewhat hesitant look appeared on Link's face as he struggled to answer. "Um, well..."

Raphael gave another curious look to the boy and took note how he was slow to respond, not yet sure what to make of it. Fortunately for Link, Amy saw his hesitation and offered to answer for him.

"He is an orphan, Papa."

Raphael gave a surprised look to Amy, partially at the fact she answered for him, and partially at the orphan response before turning to Link. "Oh? Is this true, young Link?" he replied, and the boy gave a solemn nod. "I see...my apologies. How long ago did this occur?" he asked in a slightly softer tone.

"...Since I was a baby, Lord Raphael," Link replied before explaining what he told to Amy earlier. When asked who his parents were, he was surprised to learn even Link did not know. He had no memory of either one, and he didn't even know their names. All he knew was his mother was a casualty of war and nothing was known about his father, though the boy stated he wouldn't have been surprised if he too died in the same war. Raphael couldn't help but pause in surprise at what he learned. He felt himself a good judgment of character, and this boy gave no indication he was lying in any way.

Now he could see why his daughter seemed to show interest in the boy; they had similar tragic pasts—the boy, even more so, it seemed. When the boy mentioned how this "guardian" who raised him had also died a few years ago, he briefly glanced at and shared a look with Amy, who was thinking the same thing and even stiffened slightly. It would have been like if he died and left Amy orphaned yet again. It was a rather disturbing thought, to say the least.

"I see...a most tragic tale to say the least," he commented. He was about to ask another question when a servant interrupted him. Link saw a rather displeased look on Raphael's face and tried to listen in, but they were speaking what he believed was Romanian, and so he couldn't make out what was said. Whatever was said caused his displeased look to turn into something akin to slight concern. He looked at Link for several seconds, but what he was thinking, Link could not tell. Finally, Raphael spoke to the two of them in English.

"I'm afraid there's been a development that requires my immediate attention," he stated while straightening himself upright.

Link and Amy shared a look, but while Amy merely looked curious, Link had slight concern on his face. Did Taki find the shard? Or...perhaps she was discovered? He hoped not. Then it make things much more difficult than they were already. "Is everything alright, Papa?" Amy asked.

"Nothing to concern yourself with, my daughter," he replied before turning to Link. "My apologies for the interruption, young Link. I would, however, like to continue this conversation later. Would you be so kind as to remain on the castle grounds until I return?"

"Mm, well..." Link trailed off, rubbing the back of his head in nervousness. Just how did he explain this one? He couldn't stay long as his friends were expecting him, and he wasn't sure how well Taki was doing or if she needed help. He then blushed slightly as he felt Amy gently wrap her arms around his, much to his (and Raphael's) surprise.

"Please?" she asked him in an almost...pleading manner.

"Uh..." was all he could reply with. He knew he should say no, but once again a pretty girl's pleading look made it difficult to do so.

Raphael, meanwhile, was once again taken aback by Amy's actions, though not necessarily in an unpleasant way, especially with how Amy was basically "charming" Link into agreeing with her. He idly wondered if she might be doing that more often as a result, mentally smiling in amusement. Regardless, he saw an opportunity present itself, and so decided to take advantage of it.

"Then it's settled!" he replied rather cheerfully.

"What?" Link replied in confusion.

"I will let the two of you be and will look for you back here. This should not take too long to resolve, and so I won't be long. And Link," he said while bending down to eye level and placing his hands on Link's shoulders, who briefly looked at them before looking back up, "Do look after my daughter," he finished before giving a hug to Amy. He said something to her but in a different language, so he couldn't understand.

Raphael then took his leave with the servant right behind him. Link was still confused at what just happened before slowly realizing what Raphael had done. 'Why that little...I didn't agree to anything!' he thought angrily and how he was tricked into forcing him to stay. 'But then what did he mean by 'look after his daughter'? What was that about?' he thought in confusion.

Link was then reminded of said daughter as she once again wrapped her arms around his and blushed again. "Come. Let me...show you around," Amy said softly. His blushing intensified as she started leading him around the outer part of the castle, still holding closely onto his arm.

'Just what did I get myself into?' he asked himself while trying to fight the blush on his face.

Seong Mi-Na and Talim had taken considerable time to head back down the cliffside and then search for this other Soul Edge presence. By now, at least half an hour had passed as they continued looking. The trouble was she still had difficulty precisely narrowing down where this Soul Edge presence was at due to how spread out its influence was over the town. Also, there was something else bothering her.

"Hey, Seung Mi-Na," she started, getting her attention.

"Did you find it?" Seung Mi-Na replied a little anxiously as she was getting frustrated at not finding whatever it was they were looking for.

"Um, not yet."

"Then what is it?" she replied somewhat impatiently.

"Um...is everything alright?" she asked timidly.

"What are you talking about?" she said somewhat suspiciously

"With...Taki, I mean. It sounded like the two of you were...arguing earlier."

Seeing what she was getting at, Seong Mi-Na's face softened a little before taking a deep breath to calm herself. "(sigh) Well, at first I thought it was because she was still upset with Link's...uh, 'tag.' But it was apparently not what she was upset about at all."

Well that was rather surprising, Talim thought. "Huh...well, I'm glad that's not what she was upset about. But then...what WAS she upset about?" Talim asked as she guided them around a corner.

"Well, you saw Link's ears, right?"

"Yes, they were very...pointy," she trailed off, lightly blushing in embarrassment at how she touched them. "Taki mentioned it was because he was a victim of the Evil Seed. Why?"

"Well, apparently he was going to tell us more about it, but for some reason, Taki did not want him too."

"What? Why?" Talim asked in confusion.

"Apparently, she doesn't trust us as she didn't want him to tell us about it, but he did," she replied with a huff. "I don't understand why she wouldn't trust us. I thought we settled our differences regarding our heritages? Why would she not want us to know more about Link's ears? What is so special about them that she doesn't want us to know? Just what is she hiding and WHY is she wanting to hide it from us? Ugh! It's so upsetting that she would do something like that after what we've been through! And I let her know she had no right to keep him from telling us something about himself if he wanted to, and so that's what I was upset about."

She took a few moments to catch her breath from that, allowing Talim to reflect on that before replying. "I see...But, do you really think she would do it just to spite us?"

"I don't know! I mean, we've known each other for like a week...which, isn't that long, actually," she said slowly at the end, letting that sink a bit before continuing, "and we're only talking about how his ears and he was affected by the Evil Seed...which, maybe made him do something he was not very proud of...and maybe involved something that could make us think differently about him if we knew, which...actually makes more sense, now that I think about," she trailed off, her look softening again as she continued speaking before the angry look returned, "but HE was the one going to tell us, so if HE wanted to share it with us, I still don't think Taki was in any position to say no!" she finished angrily.

Talim stopped a moment to reflect on what Seong Mi-Na shared, who had then taken the lead after Talim stopped. She had to admit, it was strange for Taki to act like that. Why would she not trust them? It wasn't in Talim to flat out distrust someone initially, as she usually would "give the benefit of the doubt," as Link put it, and not rush to judgment on something.

"Well...I agree it is not like her to do that. But...maybe we just need to let her explain? Give her a chance to explain her actions?"

Seong Mi-Na scoffed at that before taking a deep breath. "Hmph…well, perhaps...But she better have a good explanation!" she declared, looking back at Talim as she advanced but was not really paying attention to where she was going. "If she doesn't, then... I don't know. Maybe we would be better off NOT traveling with her-"

"LOOK OUT!"

SMACK!

Seong Mi-Na barely had time to turn around behind her to see what Talim was looking at before her world suddenly went dark after something smacked her hard in the face and launched her hard and far off her feet.

"Seong Mi-Na!" Talim cried to her now downed friend, who shortly went limp. She then looked over to who hit her, only to freeze as the...figure appeared before her.

Although, beast would a more accurate description. The creature was massive, standing well over 6' tall with dark red eyes and no irises. It was also green all over, like it had reptilian skin with spikes on different parts of its body. It had some kind of bony protrusion on the back of its left arm, which it had used to backhand Seong Mi-Na with. This arm also had three long, sharp claws instead of the five smaller claws like those on its right hand. It appeared to have armored leggings with wrapped bandages of some kind, but its most noticeable feature was it wore a harness with a very large, glowing circle on its chest.

"You...YOU'RE the one I've been sensing," she said before standing up in between her friend and this...thing. "Who are you? What do you want from us?" Talim demanded.

A series of grunts and snarls was all she got before it started walking over to her with anything but friendly intentions. Seeing she was not going to get anything more, Talim then got in a fighting stance as she prepared to face this creature.

"Wind, guide me!"

A/N: Ho, man it's been a long time. Because of the long delay since my last post, I felt a double whammy was necessary. I have the next chapter of this Romania Arc in the works, and I'm hoping to have it ready before the end of July.

I have no clue what type of dances they had back in the early 1590s in either France or Romania, so I just stuck with a generic type of ballroom, waltz-like dancing.

This chapter was easier because of the lack of drama like the last chapter, and I think it showed. The next chapter will likely be going back and forth between the group members instead of being primarily Link-centric.

So, something has happened in the castle for Raphael to investigate while Link finds his hands full with his daughter, Amy. Meanwhile, Talim is face to face with a beast covered with Soul Edge's influence, which had knocked Seong Mi-Na out (can you guess who it is?). But what about Taki? Was she discovered looking for the shard of Soul Edge in the castle?

Stay tuned!

For now, this is Agent Ghost-Writer 000 signing off.