Disclaimer: Credit goes to Namco for creating the Soul Calibur universe, and all its varied characters.

Credit also goes to The Who for the song, Behind Blue Eyes

The swords clashed together, locking their razored edges against each other as the wielders glared

at each other from six inches of distance. Countess Valentine stared at her opponent, wondering if she

would be forced to kill him. Staring at her, smiling tightly, was the rather handsome countenance of Raphael

Sorel, a Frenchman renowned throughout Europe for his ability to fight with the rapier. Isabella blinked

twice, letting her persona of Ivy take hold.

No one knows what it's like

To be the bad man

To be the sad man

Behind blue eyes

Raphael looked at Countess Valentine, wondering if he could defeat her. However, when she

blinked and her sky-blue eyes glimmered madly, he knew he was in for the fight for his life. The person

known only as Ivy had taken the Countess, making her a bloodthirsty killing machine. Hey eyes had chilled

to an icy glare, then she moved, wrapping her sword around his rapier and pulling.

No one knows what it's like

To be hated

To be fated

To telling only lies

Ivy controlled her body, but Isabella had control of the mind. She knew what the survivors of the

bloody rampages called her, what Ivy made her say, and just how horrified the innocents were from the

reign of blood and darkness that followed her. Detached, she watched as the rapier's razor-sharp point

pierced her arm just above the gold-plated steel that guarded her elbow, followed by a bright squirt of

arterial blood. Ivy smiled and slammed the point of her sword home into the heavy buff jacket Raphael

wore, knocking him flat, and cracking the metal plates that saved his life.

But my dreams

They aren't as empty

As my conscience seems to be

Raphael picked himself up off of the ground, wincing as a cracked rib made itself felt. The Countess

had shifted stances, wrapping her sword around herself in a defensive posture. As he watched, she seemed

to have an internal conflict, pausing long enough for him to close the distance and tackle her, knocking her

sword away, and flattening her into the ground. Ivy looked up at Raphael, her arms pinned between his

legs, and smiled, seemingly at peace with her current defeat.

I have hours, only lonely

My love is vengeance

That's never free

Isabella felt the weight of Raphael pressing the air out of her lungs, and realized that she was losing

the fight. Ivy herself had already retreated, letting Isabella deal with the humiliation of the defeat. Instead,

she felt something that had last appeared when her mother died. Tears formed and trickled down her

cheeks as she realized the truth of what she had become. She had become a personification of what she

sought to utterly destroy. Her vow to retain her humanity had merged with her vow of vengeance, becoming

something chained inside her as Ivy.

No one knows what it's like

To feel these feelings

Like I do

And I blame you

Raphael looked at the Countess, and suddenly felt a chill as he noticed her eyes. The Countess'

eyes, normally a shade of blue rivalled only by the depths of the English Channel, had changed to a murky

greyish shade, revealing the truth. Despite the stories of her being the deadliest woman in the continent, she

was tortured by her decisions more than some of her victims were. Raphael tried to figure out why as the

Countess seemed to avoid struggling too much, but he failed to figure it out.

No one bites back as hard

On their anger

None of my pain and woe

Can show through

Isabella felt a tear trickle form one eye and forcefully closed them, blotting out the sight of her

defeat looming over her. Visions of the Soul Edge continuing its swath of death, destruction, and eventually

the summoning of its demonic manifestation Inferno filled her mind as she felt Raphael's slow breathing

above her. She remembered four years ago at Ostrheinburg, when Inferno was summoned and

subsequently defeated by the Soul Calibur and Kali-Yuga. She remembered her own part in assisting the

summoning of the powerful demon, mainly through the control and murder of hundreds of innocents. Finally,

she remembered what the ninja Taki told her. 'Your father was the original wielder of Soul Edge. His

cursed blood runs in your veins.'

But my dreams

They aren't as empty

As my conscience seems to be

Raphael was totally unprepared for the Countess' motion, as she suddenly writhed backwards,

planting her right knee into his crotch with enough force to knock him flat on his back five feet away.

Through eyes half-blinded by tears, he watched as the Countess stood up, extending her hand for her

sword, which leapt to her like a snake falling off of a tree branch. Then before he could stand, she extended

her sword and let the razored tip slam into his right shoulder, pinning him to the marble floor.

I have hours, only lonely

My love is vengeance

That's never free

Isabella watched from a distance again as Ivy worked her magic over Raphael's now-forcibly

prone body, lashing his chest and sides with the edges of her blade, opening bloody welts as quickly as a

school of piranha could. She noticed with detached interest as the edge of one of the sword's segments laid

open the right side of Raphael's chest down to the bone, exposing the neat rows of yellowish ribs and

severed veins, blood quickly soaking through his jacket, and spreading into a puddle underneath him as he

twitched and jumped under each impact.

When my fist clenches, crack it open

Before I use it and lose my cool

When I smile, tell me some bad news

Before I laugh and act like a fool

Raphael reached over to the piece of sword embedded in his shoulder, and ignoring the fact that

his life was dripping away in ever-increasing amounts, yanked the blade out of his arm, allowing him to

stand up. He rolled to the side to avoid a particularly vicious slash from the Countess' snake sword,

retrieving his blood-covered rapier from where it lay nearby. Viciously, he brought the weapon into play,

knocking the dangerous tip of the snake sword away from him as he charged his opponent, ready to kill

her outright.

If I swallow anything evil

Put your finger down my throat

If I shiver, please give me a blanket

Keep me warm, let me wear your coat

Isabella noticed the mad fervor in Raphael's eyes, and tried to move, but Ivy was still gleefully

slicing away at him until he was too close for her to bring the sword's whip-like attributes into play. Instead

of playing around, Ivy simply brought the sword around, letting the segments close up into a cohesive edge,

then thrust forwards, catching Raphael at the point of his breastbone just as he thrust with his own sword,

hitting just to the left of Isabella's own breastbone. Both swords sunk in to the hilts, coating themselves in

blood

No one knows what it's like

To be the bad man

To be the sad man

Behind blue eyes

Looking at each other, the light dimming from their eyes, Isabella Valentine and Raphael Sorel tried

to say something, but their breaths had left them too long ago. Their eyes locked, Ocean Blue meeting Sky

Blue. Meeting and being cancelled out. Raphael collapsed facedown, his hand dropping from his rapier as

his weight pulled Isabella's sword from her hand. Wavering, Isabella looked up at the windows high

overhead, and, sighing, fell backwards as her life flooded through her lungs and ended her torment.