It's real, ladies and gents. Soul Edge is real. Not that I have the
proof. I've been given permission to come from the other side to tell you.
The last year has been incredibly---'strange' doesn't begin to describe
it.
~One year ago
One minute I'm driving down the highway near my house, the next, there's an injured guy in my car. He is a large man, Japanese, with dark brown eyes and jet black hair, maybe six foot one. Large muscles, katana, he works out a lot. . . He's dressed in some weird ancient Japanese get-up complete with dorky looking sandals. He had been wandering around on the interstate in a total daze. He was waving this sword around at the cars, and me being the dumb-ass that I am, I just had to pull over and help him before he got himself killed or in jail.
I lived in Japan for about six years, due to my parents being in the military, and I speak enough of the language to carry on a decent conversation.
"Tomare, kudasai." [Stop, please.] I know I used the wrong form of the word, but hey, he stopped, so. . . yeah. "Daijoubu, desuka?" [Are you okay?]
He had charged me; lucky I had that can of Mace on me, huh?
So now he's sitting in the passenger's seat in my car, handcuffed because I really didn't trust him and his sword is in the back seat. Holy shit, he looks familiar. He's cursing me out, calling me a whore, making ill remarks about my blatantly obvious European heritage.
I'm little, blonde and geeky looking. I have, on some. . . ahem -drunken occasions. . . been mistaken for Britney Spears or Madonna. Hell, it's better than Shirley Temple, right? Not yet 21. . . not a child, but not an adult.
I look over at him. "Nama-e, desuka?" [Name?]
He grunts; still pissed about the Macing I gave him. Not that I blame him; Mace hurts! "Gomen-nasai." [I'm sorry] I explain in my rudimentary Japanese that the police really aren't too keen on men with swords wandering the highways lately.
He looks at me. He is VERY uncomfortable. I drive a Kia Rio---the perfect short person's car-I'm barely five foot. He's just over six foot, the seat's pushed back all the way and he is belted because I have a tendency to blatantly disobey the speed limit; he is also very obviously over 21, so I would get ticketed and that would suck for my already high insurance.
After a few minutes of tense driving, I pull up to my apartment complex. I help the guy out of my car, because he's still hand-cuffed, and pull him to the door. Rudy's having a hissy-fit with his wife when I pull up.
"You little slut! If I even THINK you're sleeping with Robby, I'll open your throat! Oh hey, Jade, who's that? I see he has hand cuffs on. . ." The dirty old man winks at me. "Celebrating New Year's a little early, huh? Wanna do a threesome?"
Mildred looks at me with those creepy puppy eyes that seem to scream 'help me'. "Quite a catch there. Is he a P.O.W.?" She winks too, before Rudy punches her.
"Shut the hell up, bitch!"
"Both y'all shut the hell up; he just needs a place to stay for a bit." I roll my eyes and push the guy up the steps. I'm holding his sword because I don't trust him, even though I can see him.
It's got one bedroom with a futon on the floor because I can't afford a bed yet. Hell, I can barely afford the rent plus a car payment plus all the utilities I don't even use. Mooshie, pet cat, comes up to greet me. "Mrrrt?" she purrs questioningly at the guy, then loops herself lovingly around his ankles, like he belongs here. The guy smiles: cat lover.
"Here kitty, here Mooshie, who wants a treat?" Mooshie leaves the man at the door and sits expectantly at the door where I keep her treats. I sit the guy on the futon and take off the handcuffs as a sign of trust, then turn my back on him. I've got three knives and a 9mm with in reach, so, yeah. . . I give Mooshie her treat; she's so spoiled.
It's only 8:30, so I'm gonna stay up and spam some on the Soul Calibur sites I go to---wait a minute, the guy.
He's just staring at me with this weird face; why do I know what he's thinking? "Ie." [No] I say, smiling. I might have 'no' or I might have said 'house'; either way he relaxed. He's got a nasty cut on his right arm; no doubt from the sword he was waving around.
Just then it hits me. Random facts hit me at random times. It's HIM---in the flesh! Holy shit. Shishi-O and all. Including the bad hair. But it can't be; if it was, he'd have to have been transported from the past. And even I, the college dropout, know that time travel is impossible.
"Nama-e." I said, demanding this time.
"Boku-wa Mitsurugi Heishiro desu." [I am Mitsurugi Heishiro.] Like I hadn't figured it out.
"Watashi wa Jade desu." [My name is Jade] It's not my real name. I told him my real name, but I'm not telling you, the reader. If I did, my family would be in serious shit.
I grab the Bacitracin and some bandages from the cabinet in the bathroom and start to dress the wound. It looks worse than it is; I asked him how he got it.
["Tree."] Makes sense. You'd get a nasty cut like that if you fell into a tree, too.
He looks around and asks where he is.
"Koko-wa Virginia Beach." [You're in Virginia Beach] I think I said that right. . .
He blinks. "Doko--?" [Where?]
Duh, Jade; Virginia didn't exist in his time frame. . . I pull out my history book and log onto a Japanese website. How to explain technology to someone who's never even seen any more than a shitty firearm?
After a few hours of futile history lessons (he's still just as confused), I sigh. It's almost midnight. ["Bedtime. . . I think I have to work tomorrow. If I do, you're going to have to come with me to work tomorrow; I have no other place to put you."]
He scoffs. ["You? Work? Women are only good for making bread and babies!"]
["It takes a man to help make the baby. . . "] I retort. My eyelid twitches. I lock the door to my bedroom.
~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, I wake up at the crack of dawn to a lot of noise. All of my appliances are on-alarm clock, television, mixer, microwave, not to mention all my lights. The place goes dark. "Damn it!" Fuse. . . I go to the dining room to try and fix it.
There's a guy sitting at my table; he's messing with the sword that I inherited from my father. Discreetly, I grab the 9mm that's in my drawer. It's full of blanks, but the intruder doesn't know that. I also grab a flashlight; the windows don't allow a lot of light in.
"Put the sword down and put your hands on your head." I point the 9mm at his back.
The guy stands up and turns rapidly, calling my bluff. I shine the flashlight in his face, then remember last night as he charges me. At the last second, he stops. He's still holding my sword, although he has the point uncomfortably close to my jugular.
["Put it away; that's not a toy!"] I say, seriously about to wet myself.
We stand there, locked in that position until the glassiness in his eyes goes away. ["What the hell. . . ?"]
["Put it down."] I repeat.
He blinks and sits down. ["What's going on? One minute I was looking at all the things and pressing the colored things and they all started making noises and then the place goes dark and quiet!"]
That's electricity for you. . . Good thing I DID have the day off, but I'm not too keen on spending my day off teaching some medieval punk on how stuff works.
I log on to a Japanese website, explaining that the Internet was like a large river---alll the little ponds start little streams that flow into bigger streams and eventually out into the ocean. He sort of gets it. It takes a while.
~~~~~~~
Three months go by. I find a better job that pays all of my bills. Mitsurugi has been learning English and I have been learning Japanese. He's also come to an understanding about the woman's right thing--- a very painful one. Another about the guns that I own-no touchie. Touchie BAAAAAD juju. Don't touch my swords either.
He's explained to me that Soul Edge is the Ultimate Weapon. I humor him. I know it's evil; I play along. When I find it, I'm going to destroy it.
We've been paying attention to the news. Last week, an entire high school was massacred in Richmond. Bodies were found shriveled and broken. Hei- san says it's from Nightmare's sword. Hell, I'll believe anything these day; you will when one of the characters from a video game falls into your lap.
The week before, a prominent general in Fort Lee was found raped and murdered. Her body was in the same shape as the students' bodies.
"I'm sensing a pattern here." I say to him after reading a story about a local family that had died in a house fire. Their bodies were like all the others.
"You think police catching on?" Hei-san asks. His English is still basic, but he is an eager. . . I can't call a man of nearly 30 a 'student'.
All my friends know.
(Two months prior)
Joey's reaction: "Holy shit."
Marisol's: "He's so hot! Jade, you lucky little bitch."
Sean's: "Can you bring Ivy here?"
Tone's: "What the fuck, man?! I want a sword!"
None really believe me. Such is a teen/ young adult's life: you see it and you still won't believe it. Mom doesn't believe me either. She's making an appointment so I can see a shrink.
Hei-san's been teaching me to sword fight. I'm pretty decent; I can kill a straw dummy. I use a katana and a wakizashi simultaneously; he says I'm getting better.
"I don't think so." I sighed. "These attacks are totally randomized throughout the state. Do you think he's here?"
Hei-san nodded grimly. Before he appeared here, he had been fighting Nightmare. Somehow they had opened a time warp; don't ask me how.
"Stealing more souls---maybe find a way house?"
"'Home', Hei-san; 'house' is what one lives in." I think. "You may be right."
I pulled out my map. There was a red line---the Bloodpath I called it--- from just outside of Richmond down to Suffolk. "I think the Beach is next. . ."
"I will fight him. . .I take Soul Edge and go home---" he glances at me; I smile, letting him know he used the right word.
Then I frown. "Soul Edge is evil, hon. It has to be destroyed. . ."
He is silent, glaring at me stonily. He won't do it; I know him that well.
~~~~~~~~~
For the last six months, I have been training. I have actually beaten Hei- chan several times; he still wins more often then not.
We've discovered that the only way for Hei-chan to go home is to recreate the battle that he had come here from. Namely: him, Nightmare, wooded area. Pungo would be perfect; it is a rural area in the southern part of Virginia Beach.
Now all we have to do is give Nightmare a wont to be there. His current path takes him south east; if he continued it, it would take him right to. . .
"Hei-chan---my PARENTS!"
Without a word, both of us jump into my car. I speed down the Boulevard to my parents' house.
Along the way, I explain a plan. "We both know he will kill one of us outright if only one of us takes him. So we hurt him enough and let him follow us to Pungo. There, since he's hurt bad, you and he will fight and both of you go home!"
Hei-chan nods his agreement to the plan.
After about five minutes of blatant speeding, I run to the front door. It was locked and no one is home, thankfully and the house is still intact--- must have taken a weekend trip.
I go outside and sit on the steps and sigh with relief. We're alone and it's VERY tempting. . . Hei-chan puts a hand on my shoulder, sensing my total and complete relief.
I hear screams from the next block. I look over at Hei-chan and he nods grimly. We run to the next block.
The demon is torturing this kid.
"Let the kid go!" I shout. I'm pissed; nobody tortures kid on my block.
I am frozen to the ground. He is a truly fearsome sight. I hear three swords being drawn, both of mine and Hei-chan's but it doesn't register. Fear just takes me. I can't move, can't breathe, all I can do is watch him.
The grotesque sword is coming at me and I can't move. My eyes widen.
["Jade-chan, MOVE!"] Hei-chan's voice snaps me out of my reverie. I duck at the last possible second and roll forward. I have an advantage against Nightmare, being smaller and faster, but he has an advantage on me in that he has more experience.
As I roll forward, I jab the wakizashi into the demon's gut. It doesn't phase him. He picks me up and throws me.
I land, dropping the katana, and roll about 20 feet. Very painful landing. . . Nightmare appears outside. He says something in German, which I don't speak, and advances on me, smiling lewdly.
My sword is about halfway between him and me. Lucky for me, there is a big ronin here to distract Nighty from me. . . as well as the wakizashi in the stomach.
The aforementioned ronin jumps onto Nightmare's back and pins his arms so that the demon can't move. He screams something in German, while Hei-chan yells for me to grab my other sword, which I do. The demon doubles over, launching Hei-chan at me. Dropping the sword, I catch him and we tumble across the back yard. My vision turns white and my right side screams out-- -fractured rib.
He gets up off of me just as the enraged demon charges. Surprising him, Hei-chan trips the demon, sending him sprawling towards me. He drops the grotesque sword.
"The plan's not working! There's a wood near hear; he'll follow us!" I grab my swords, sheath them and pick up the larger one. It transforms into a katana. . . "Hey, ugly! Want this?" I shout at Nightmare. He reaches from the ground for the sword.
"You want it? Come get it!" I take off for the woods near my house. Nightmare follows, and is followed in turn by Hei-chan.
"Jade-chan, what are you doing?!"
My ribs scream. The forest is only a half mile away, but it seems like millions. I run deep inside it, followed closely by Nightmare, who is screaming German curses at me. He is slowing down; a gaping hole in the stomach will do that to you.
My side begs for me to stop and I do so. Nightmare and Hei-chan are nowhere in sight. I am still gripping the Soul Edge.
The Ultimate Weapon, the ultimate curse. I put it on the ground and grab a rock, so I can smash it to pieces.
A grotesque hand grabs my wrist and yanks; I drop the rock. Next thing I know, I'm eating bark as he slams me in a tree. I taste blood. I'm turned around and I see pure, malevolent evil. He whispers: "Now you die, too. . ."
My right side screams in pain and I gasp. I see red, then black, then white.
Then nothing at all.
~~~~~~~
I wake up to silence. Something heavy is on my chest; Hei-chan's head. He is barely breathing and there is a bloody gash on his chest, crossing it horizontally. It is deep.
I can't move and it's very difficult to breathe. There's a hole in my right chest---a large hole. Most likely fatal. Hei-chan's hand is on it in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.
Hei-chan coughs weakly and opens his eyes. "Jade-chan. . . daijoubu desuka. . . ?
". . . hai. . ." I lie. I lean my head back on the grass and watch the moon overhead. So beautiful. . . ". . .Nightmare. . . ?"
". . . dead. . ." The ronin coughs again, this time blood comes up.
". . . Soul Edge. . . ?"
". . .destroyed. . ." He squeezes my hand and smiles.
I smile back the best I can. ". . .at least we'll die together. . ."
His head falls back onto my chest and he closes his eyes and stops breathing with a small smile on his face.
He made the world is right again, even though he died in a strange one. I wait for my time.
It isn't long.
~One year ago
One minute I'm driving down the highway near my house, the next, there's an injured guy in my car. He is a large man, Japanese, with dark brown eyes and jet black hair, maybe six foot one. Large muscles, katana, he works out a lot. . . He's dressed in some weird ancient Japanese get-up complete with dorky looking sandals. He had been wandering around on the interstate in a total daze. He was waving this sword around at the cars, and me being the dumb-ass that I am, I just had to pull over and help him before he got himself killed or in jail.
I lived in Japan for about six years, due to my parents being in the military, and I speak enough of the language to carry on a decent conversation.
"Tomare, kudasai." [Stop, please.] I know I used the wrong form of the word, but hey, he stopped, so. . . yeah. "Daijoubu, desuka?" [Are you okay?]
He had charged me; lucky I had that can of Mace on me, huh?
So now he's sitting in the passenger's seat in my car, handcuffed because I really didn't trust him and his sword is in the back seat. Holy shit, he looks familiar. He's cursing me out, calling me a whore, making ill remarks about my blatantly obvious European heritage.
I'm little, blonde and geeky looking. I have, on some. . . ahem -drunken occasions. . . been mistaken for Britney Spears or Madonna. Hell, it's better than Shirley Temple, right? Not yet 21. . . not a child, but not an adult.
I look over at him. "Nama-e, desuka?" [Name?]
He grunts; still pissed about the Macing I gave him. Not that I blame him; Mace hurts! "Gomen-nasai." [I'm sorry] I explain in my rudimentary Japanese that the police really aren't too keen on men with swords wandering the highways lately.
He looks at me. He is VERY uncomfortable. I drive a Kia Rio---the perfect short person's car-I'm barely five foot. He's just over six foot, the seat's pushed back all the way and he is belted because I have a tendency to blatantly disobey the speed limit; he is also very obviously over 21, so I would get ticketed and that would suck for my already high insurance.
After a few minutes of tense driving, I pull up to my apartment complex. I help the guy out of my car, because he's still hand-cuffed, and pull him to the door. Rudy's having a hissy-fit with his wife when I pull up.
"You little slut! If I even THINK you're sleeping with Robby, I'll open your throat! Oh hey, Jade, who's that? I see he has hand cuffs on. . ." The dirty old man winks at me. "Celebrating New Year's a little early, huh? Wanna do a threesome?"
Mildred looks at me with those creepy puppy eyes that seem to scream 'help me'. "Quite a catch there. Is he a P.O.W.?" She winks too, before Rudy punches her.
"Shut the hell up, bitch!"
"Both y'all shut the hell up; he just needs a place to stay for a bit." I roll my eyes and push the guy up the steps. I'm holding his sword because I don't trust him, even though I can see him.
It's got one bedroom with a futon on the floor because I can't afford a bed yet. Hell, I can barely afford the rent plus a car payment plus all the utilities I don't even use. Mooshie, pet cat, comes up to greet me. "Mrrrt?" she purrs questioningly at the guy, then loops herself lovingly around his ankles, like he belongs here. The guy smiles: cat lover.
"Here kitty, here Mooshie, who wants a treat?" Mooshie leaves the man at the door and sits expectantly at the door where I keep her treats. I sit the guy on the futon and take off the handcuffs as a sign of trust, then turn my back on him. I've got three knives and a 9mm with in reach, so, yeah. . . I give Mooshie her treat; she's so spoiled.
It's only 8:30, so I'm gonna stay up and spam some on the Soul Calibur sites I go to---wait a minute, the guy.
He's just staring at me with this weird face; why do I know what he's thinking? "Ie." [No] I say, smiling. I might have 'no' or I might have said 'house'; either way he relaxed. He's got a nasty cut on his right arm; no doubt from the sword he was waving around.
Just then it hits me. Random facts hit me at random times. It's HIM---in the flesh! Holy shit. Shishi-O and all. Including the bad hair. But it can't be; if it was, he'd have to have been transported from the past. And even I, the college dropout, know that time travel is impossible.
"Nama-e." I said, demanding this time.
"Boku-wa Mitsurugi Heishiro desu." [I am Mitsurugi Heishiro.] Like I hadn't figured it out.
"Watashi wa Jade desu." [My name is Jade] It's not my real name. I told him my real name, but I'm not telling you, the reader. If I did, my family would be in serious shit.
I grab the Bacitracin and some bandages from the cabinet in the bathroom and start to dress the wound. It looks worse than it is; I asked him how he got it.
["Tree."] Makes sense. You'd get a nasty cut like that if you fell into a tree, too.
He looks around and asks where he is.
"Koko-wa Virginia Beach." [You're in Virginia Beach] I think I said that right. . .
He blinks. "Doko--?" [Where?]
Duh, Jade; Virginia didn't exist in his time frame. . . I pull out my history book and log onto a Japanese website. How to explain technology to someone who's never even seen any more than a shitty firearm?
After a few hours of futile history lessons (he's still just as confused), I sigh. It's almost midnight. ["Bedtime. . . I think I have to work tomorrow. If I do, you're going to have to come with me to work tomorrow; I have no other place to put you."]
He scoffs. ["You? Work? Women are only good for making bread and babies!"]
["It takes a man to help make the baby. . . "] I retort. My eyelid twitches. I lock the door to my bedroom.
~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, I wake up at the crack of dawn to a lot of noise. All of my appliances are on-alarm clock, television, mixer, microwave, not to mention all my lights. The place goes dark. "Damn it!" Fuse. . . I go to the dining room to try and fix it.
There's a guy sitting at my table; he's messing with the sword that I inherited from my father. Discreetly, I grab the 9mm that's in my drawer. It's full of blanks, but the intruder doesn't know that. I also grab a flashlight; the windows don't allow a lot of light in.
"Put the sword down and put your hands on your head." I point the 9mm at his back.
The guy stands up and turns rapidly, calling my bluff. I shine the flashlight in his face, then remember last night as he charges me. At the last second, he stops. He's still holding my sword, although he has the point uncomfortably close to my jugular.
["Put it away; that's not a toy!"] I say, seriously about to wet myself.
We stand there, locked in that position until the glassiness in his eyes goes away. ["What the hell. . . ?"]
["Put it down."] I repeat.
He blinks and sits down. ["What's going on? One minute I was looking at all the things and pressing the colored things and they all started making noises and then the place goes dark and quiet!"]
That's electricity for you. . . Good thing I DID have the day off, but I'm not too keen on spending my day off teaching some medieval punk on how stuff works.
I log on to a Japanese website, explaining that the Internet was like a large river---alll the little ponds start little streams that flow into bigger streams and eventually out into the ocean. He sort of gets it. It takes a while.
~~~~~~~
Three months go by. I find a better job that pays all of my bills. Mitsurugi has been learning English and I have been learning Japanese. He's also come to an understanding about the woman's right thing--- a very painful one. Another about the guns that I own-no touchie. Touchie BAAAAAD juju. Don't touch my swords either.
He's explained to me that Soul Edge is the Ultimate Weapon. I humor him. I know it's evil; I play along. When I find it, I'm going to destroy it.
We've been paying attention to the news. Last week, an entire high school was massacred in Richmond. Bodies were found shriveled and broken. Hei- san says it's from Nightmare's sword. Hell, I'll believe anything these day; you will when one of the characters from a video game falls into your lap.
The week before, a prominent general in Fort Lee was found raped and murdered. Her body was in the same shape as the students' bodies.
"I'm sensing a pattern here." I say to him after reading a story about a local family that had died in a house fire. Their bodies were like all the others.
"You think police catching on?" Hei-san asks. His English is still basic, but he is an eager. . . I can't call a man of nearly 30 a 'student'.
All my friends know.
(Two months prior)
Joey's reaction: "Holy shit."
Marisol's: "He's so hot! Jade, you lucky little bitch."
Sean's: "Can you bring Ivy here?"
Tone's: "What the fuck, man?! I want a sword!"
None really believe me. Such is a teen/ young adult's life: you see it and you still won't believe it. Mom doesn't believe me either. She's making an appointment so I can see a shrink.
Hei-san's been teaching me to sword fight. I'm pretty decent; I can kill a straw dummy. I use a katana and a wakizashi simultaneously; he says I'm getting better.
"I don't think so." I sighed. "These attacks are totally randomized throughout the state. Do you think he's here?"
Hei-san nodded grimly. Before he appeared here, he had been fighting Nightmare. Somehow they had opened a time warp; don't ask me how.
"Stealing more souls---maybe find a way house?"
"'Home', Hei-san; 'house' is what one lives in." I think. "You may be right."
I pulled out my map. There was a red line---the Bloodpath I called it--- from just outside of Richmond down to Suffolk. "I think the Beach is next. . ."
"I will fight him. . .I take Soul Edge and go home---" he glances at me; I smile, letting him know he used the right word.
Then I frown. "Soul Edge is evil, hon. It has to be destroyed. . ."
He is silent, glaring at me stonily. He won't do it; I know him that well.
~~~~~~~~~
For the last six months, I have been training. I have actually beaten Hei- chan several times; he still wins more often then not.
We've discovered that the only way for Hei-chan to go home is to recreate the battle that he had come here from. Namely: him, Nightmare, wooded area. Pungo would be perfect; it is a rural area in the southern part of Virginia Beach.
Now all we have to do is give Nightmare a wont to be there. His current path takes him south east; if he continued it, it would take him right to. . .
"Hei-chan---my PARENTS!"
Without a word, both of us jump into my car. I speed down the Boulevard to my parents' house.
Along the way, I explain a plan. "We both know he will kill one of us outright if only one of us takes him. So we hurt him enough and let him follow us to Pungo. There, since he's hurt bad, you and he will fight and both of you go home!"
Hei-chan nods his agreement to the plan.
After about five minutes of blatant speeding, I run to the front door. It was locked and no one is home, thankfully and the house is still intact--- must have taken a weekend trip.
I go outside and sit on the steps and sigh with relief. We're alone and it's VERY tempting. . . Hei-chan puts a hand on my shoulder, sensing my total and complete relief.
I hear screams from the next block. I look over at Hei-chan and he nods grimly. We run to the next block.
The demon is torturing this kid.
"Let the kid go!" I shout. I'm pissed; nobody tortures kid on my block.
I am frozen to the ground. He is a truly fearsome sight. I hear three swords being drawn, both of mine and Hei-chan's but it doesn't register. Fear just takes me. I can't move, can't breathe, all I can do is watch him.
The grotesque sword is coming at me and I can't move. My eyes widen.
["Jade-chan, MOVE!"] Hei-chan's voice snaps me out of my reverie. I duck at the last possible second and roll forward. I have an advantage against Nightmare, being smaller and faster, but he has an advantage on me in that he has more experience.
As I roll forward, I jab the wakizashi into the demon's gut. It doesn't phase him. He picks me up and throws me.
I land, dropping the katana, and roll about 20 feet. Very painful landing. . . Nightmare appears outside. He says something in German, which I don't speak, and advances on me, smiling lewdly.
My sword is about halfway between him and me. Lucky for me, there is a big ronin here to distract Nighty from me. . . as well as the wakizashi in the stomach.
The aforementioned ronin jumps onto Nightmare's back and pins his arms so that the demon can't move. He screams something in German, while Hei-chan yells for me to grab my other sword, which I do. The demon doubles over, launching Hei-chan at me. Dropping the sword, I catch him and we tumble across the back yard. My vision turns white and my right side screams out-- -fractured rib.
He gets up off of me just as the enraged demon charges. Surprising him, Hei-chan trips the demon, sending him sprawling towards me. He drops the grotesque sword.
"The plan's not working! There's a wood near hear; he'll follow us!" I grab my swords, sheath them and pick up the larger one. It transforms into a katana. . . "Hey, ugly! Want this?" I shout at Nightmare. He reaches from the ground for the sword.
"You want it? Come get it!" I take off for the woods near my house. Nightmare follows, and is followed in turn by Hei-chan.
"Jade-chan, what are you doing?!"
My ribs scream. The forest is only a half mile away, but it seems like millions. I run deep inside it, followed closely by Nightmare, who is screaming German curses at me. He is slowing down; a gaping hole in the stomach will do that to you.
My side begs for me to stop and I do so. Nightmare and Hei-chan are nowhere in sight. I am still gripping the Soul Edge.
The Ultimate Weapon, the ultimate curse. I put it on the ground and grab a rock, so I can smash it to pieces.
A grotesque hand grabs my wrist and yanks; I drop the rock. Next thing I know, I'm eating bark as he slams me in a tree. I taste blood. I'm turned around and I see pure, malevolent evil. He whispers: "Now you die, too. . ."
My right side screams in pain and I gasp. I see red, then black, then white.
Then nothing at all.
~~~~~~~
I wake up to silence. Something heavy is on my chest; Hei-chan's head. He is barely breathing and there is a bloody gash on his chest, crossing it horizontally. It is deep.
I can't move and it's very difficult to breathe. There's a hole in my right chest---a large hole. Most likely fatal. Hei-chan's hand is on it in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.
Hei-chan coughs weakly and opens his eyes. "Jade-chan. . . daijoubu desuka. . . ?
". . . hai. . ." I lie. I lean my head back on the grass and watch the moon overhead. So beautiful. . . ". . .Nightmare. . . ?"
". . . dead. . ." The ronin coughs again, this time blood comes up.
". . . Soul Edge. . . ?"
". . .destroyed. . ." He squeezes my hand and smiles.
I smile back the best I can. ". . .at least we'll die together. . ."
His head falls back onto my chest and he closes his eyes and stops breathing with a small smile on his face.
He made the world is right again, even though he died in a strange one. I wait for my time.
It isn't long.