Chapter 8 - Revival

Author's notes : Hi ! I'm back ! Seems like I left our warriors in quite a bad position last time. Sorry for those who didn't like cliffhangers ~_^. I finally took the time to sit down a little and wri- well, type. You have to know I'm like that (if you don't know it yet): even if it takes time, I'll always continue my fan fiction until the end ! Never stop hoping ! Well, there are more and more good SC fanfics out there, so the wait shouldn't be too hard to bear ^_^ This chapter should have been up before, but Fanfiction.net had some trouble (servers down, site closed, stuff like that) so that didn't really help. Thank you again for your wonderful reviews. I really hope you'll like this chapter.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Xianghua opened weakly her eyes. What had happened ?

It took her some time to rearrange things in her mind, recompose the latest events, and realize.

"I'm... still alive ?" She was lying on the ground, and all she saw, at that moment, was the ground of what used to be the village's main place.

Slowly, she stood up and looked at her hands, which were the only parts of her body that were hurt. Her clothes were intact. Strange state, for someone who thought she would die, she thought.

Xianghua looked around her and realized Kilik was near her, still unconscious. Hwang and Mina weren't very far. It seemed like Mina was also awake, in the same state of amazement. A strange silence reigned. The sky wasn't very clear, but some rays of light could find their way through the clouds.

Xianghua kneeled near Kilik. He was fine. She woke him up.

"Kilik... Hey, Kilik !" She said softly.

He woke up in a start. "Huh.. Eh ?! But..." Xianghua put a finger on his mouth, smiling. Despite the questions in his mind, he stopped.

"I don't know why we're alive, but we are. And, I don't know about this either.", she said pointing at the statue, at the center of this place, unchanged. Just like nothing had happened.

Kilik stood up, and looked at Xianghua, who was silent, looking at the sky. Was there anything more to say ?

"Xianghua..." Kilik began. "I really thought we would die."

She just smiled, and turned to him.

It had to be now or never. Kilik looked off in the distance and started playing unintentionnally with the top of his stick. "Xianghua... That's hard to say but, when I realized that I would probably die... I understood that I couldn't accept to die until... well, I think it would be great if we could always stay... together."

Xianghua looked at him curiously, and finally smiled. Her best friend sure wasn't good when it came to express his feelings. But she knew him too much, and he couldn't make such effort for something which wasn't worth it.

"Kilik," she said still smiling, and he finally turned to her.

She approched him, and to his own surprise, kissed him softly.

"Whoo-hoo !!!" they heard from behind after a while. They had to stop, and turned around to see Hwang standing there with Seung Mina who was laughing and applauding. Xianghua smiled again while Kilik couldn't help blushing.

"Hey, what about you two huh ? " Kilik asked, embarassed.

Hwang smiled just a little but didn't say anything.

"Hey, don't try to change the subject !" Mina protested.

"But that's what you just did, Mina-chan !" Kilik said laughing.

"Don't call me that !"

Xianghua looked silently at the two arguing with a smile, then she looked at Hwang who was standing behind, looking at the statue, or maybe he noticed something...

She felt like something was wrong, that something was lacking...But...The Krita-Yuga* ! Xianghua thought in shock, when she looked at her belt. Where was it ? It had vanished ! But the others had their weapons... Where the hell was the sword, the sword she had inherited from her mother...?

At that same moment, Hwang noticed something on the ground, below the statue. Slowly, he walked to it, and discovered something he had been searching for since Mina disappeared from the Seungs' house. He didn't know exactly what it was yet, though.

Xianghua, who was looking at him, seeing the look on his face, approached too. The two others understood there was something to see, and walked to them as well.

Near the statue, Hwang kneeled and took in his right hand something beautiful, which looked like a sword. Xianghua was watching, and recognized it immediately, but she stayed silent. The others were looking at the scene as well as he stood up. This sword wasn't a regular sword. It was too well made, too precious. He could see to the signs engraved in the metal that it was somewhat mysterious. It might have some power in it, that only a chosen one could use. It was just too obvious. What was obvious too, was that only one person seemed to be the owner of that sword.

Finally stopping examining the precious object, he turned to Xianghua and handed it to her. "Here you are. This, is yours." Xianghua stood there for a moment, but finally she took the sword. "I thought it could he heavier," she thought. She made some moves in the air to test it, obviously satisfied.

"Xianghua, are you sure this is your sword ?" Kilik asked, puzzled.

Xianghua looked quickly in Hwang and Mina's directions, then turned back to Kilik, smiling. "Who else's could it be ? It's obvious that this wonderful piece of metal was made for me, isn't it ?"

Kilik seemed to take the things very seriously for once."-I'm serious. And where's your usual sword ?" By saying those words, he understood himself. "Could it be..." Xianghua nodded.

"-There are some things, you just can't deny them." She showed him the tiny pink decoration**, attached to the new sword, and that used to be attached on her regular one.

"-Amazing..." Kilik couldn't believe is eyes. So, what Xianghua had said to him, a while ago, was true... Was this really the one and only, Soul Calibur ? He turned around, and saw that Mina and Hwang didn't hear their conversation. He sighed, relieved.

Seung Mina was alone, pondering. How come had Xianghua's sword changed ? She didn't know much about her companions' weapons, but she didn't think Xianghua's sword could change its form like that. And the new one was so mysterious. "I feel like she had tricked us since the beginning," she muttered to helself. Not that she really thought that but...

The warm feeling of a hand on her bare shoulder interrupted her thoughts. Turning her head slightly, she realized Hwang was behind her. "This is none of our concern, Mina..." he began. "Please don't worry."

Mina turned around surprised. Hwang looked at her directly, his usual stern look on his face. "Why did you say that to me ?" she asked.

Hwang continued, so softly she almost couldn't hear his voice and approached him a little, "That new sword... may be Soul Calibur."

Mina's eyes widened. She had thought of it but she didn't want it to be true somehow. "Are you sure ?"

"Not really but... "

"-Hey, just a sec, what happened to your hand ? Let me see..."

She took his right hand in hers, and saw it was severely burnt where it had touched the sword. She looked up a him with a questionning look, eyes wide.

Hwang sighed. "That's what I wanted to say. That damn sword rejected me..."

"-So it must have a great power in it !"

Hwang stared at her, smiling slightly. "Stop interrupting me, or I'll get angry."

She realized they were holding each others' hands and incredibly close, and now that he was smiling at her, she felt her heart going crazy, and she couldn't help blushing, although it was the *last* thing she wanted.

Hwang noticed this though, and smiled even more, but he stayed silent and released her hands in order not to make her feel more embarassed.

"Well, I suppose we should catch up with the others." He began to walk away.

Mina stood there for a moment, before following him to where Xianghua and Kilik were busy studying the sword.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

*Xianghua's sword.

**Well it's pink, blue or something depending on the outfit you choose in SC. I hope you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, it's not that important.^^

To be continued...