Sorry that it took me quite a while to update this fic! Writer's blocks... blah! ^.~ Well, here's chapter 13! The second to last chapter... dun, dun, duuuun!
Disclaimer: I still do not own any of the Soul Calibur II characters.
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Fate & Destiny*~* Chapter 13 – The Final Shards *~*
Yun Sung drew White Storm and prepared to counter Talim's attack, "I'm going to give you one last chance to hand over the shards, Talim..."
Talim shook her head, "I'll have to decline it. There's too much at stake here!" she stepped to the side and slashed at Yun Sung with Loka Luha. He knocked her blade of the way with White Storm and aimed to slice Talim, but she easily blocked it with Syi Salika.
"It doesn't seem fair that you have two weapons," Yun Sung commented as he continued trying to strike Talim without success.
Talim smiled, "Everything's fair when it comes to Soul Edge!" she switched attacks from one blade to the other. Yun Sung was continuously blocking her assault; she was very quick. Talim abruptly ceased her attack... Syi Salika seemed to shimmer in an unusual blue tone. Yun Sung tightened his grip on White Storm; he knew that something was coming, and he wanted to be prepared. Syi Salika's shimmer became a solid blue light, and Talim jabbed her blade forward. Yun Sung knocked the blade off of Talim's arm with his sword. Talim looked over to where Syi Salika now lay; it was too far for her to retrieve without being hit by Yun Sung.
"Now we're even," Yun Sung smirked. Talim frowned. Having two weapons was her advantage, though she did not want to admit it. Nevertheless, Talim was too determined to just give up. She unlatched Loka Luha from her arm and held it in her right hand. "Are you giving up?" Yun Sung asked. He was rather certain that she was not, but still... he found this an odd thing to do.
"Not yet," Talim replied. "I only have one shot at this..." she tossed her blade directly at Yun Sung. He reacted quickly and kicked Loka Luha back at Talim. She swiftly stepped out of the way, however she was unable to fight anymore since both of her weapons were out of reach. Talim looked at Yun Sung who was simply standing still, without any intention of continuing the battle in his expression. "Aren't you going to finish me off?" Talim asked, a hint of fear in her voice.
Yun Sung held White Storm by his side, "No. You showed me mercy in our last duel, so I'm just returning it."
"Thank you," Talim said gratefully.
"I should be thanking you, Talim." Talim looked at Yun Sung in confusion. "If you hadn't defeated me last time, then I probably wouldn't have even made it this far. Whether I want to admit it or not... the stuff that you told me was helpful."
"Yes..." Talim handed her fragments of Soul Edge to Yun Sung, "But you're still going to try to obtain the sword, correct?"
Yun Sung nodded, "Nothing's going to stop me from gaining the power that I seek... but I'll confess that you've grown on me. Persistent or not... you're fighting for the right reasons... however, there are more right reasons than you understand." Talim listened attentively to everything that Yun Sung said, "I'm fighting for those reasons, too... and that's why I can't stop," he looked toward Ostrheinsburg, "I won't let harm come to this world... I swear."
As strange as it seemed, Yun Sung and Talim almost seemed to have become friends. After this battle, their rivalry ended – Yun Sung continued forward and Talim returned to her home. "Surely father is worried about me..." she thought to herself as she turned back, "But I have a feeling... that everything will work out..."
~[---{-----|~-~|-----}---]~
Takharu had finally arrived in Ostrheinsburg. She had not met up with any more challenges along the way, "I suppose that the majority of Soul Edge's seekers have been either killed or simply lost their shards," she guessed. Takharu looked around at the villagers. There were not that many people around; those who remained all seemed frightened of something. Fear filled their eyes and words – it was very apparent to Takharu. "I'd be nervous, too after whatever happened to this place when Soul Edge first arrived..." she noticed a large hill across the town and the demolished building atop it. Takharu figured that that must be the castle Mina spoke of. She wasted no time in crossing the town to meet her final trial.
~[---{-----|~-~|-----}---]~
Yun Sung walked along the pathway toward the top of the hill. The ruins of Ostrheinsburg Castle were around a mile away. "I know that I don't have all of the pieces yet..." Yun Sung thought, "So I'll just hang out around the ruins until someone else arrives..." As he approached the top of the hill, he noticed a woman walking ahead of him; twirling her lean sword smugly. Yun Sung could recognize her anywhere, "Xianghua!"
~[---{-----|~-~|-----}---]~
"This is place is so deserted..." Takharu thought to herself as she continued through Ostrheinsburg. This area was eerie; it was as thought civilization just stopped after she reached a certain point. "Is that..." she began to ask aloud when she spotted a knight standing about ten feet from her, "...Nightmare?" Takharu cautiously stepped toward the man. It was Nightmare... no. It was not him anymore... he had a different spirit. Takharu could see it. His appearance had changed quite a bit. He looked much more human... his blonde hair flowed in the breeze, and his blue eyes shimmered with a human mind. The only thing that Takharu could see that remained of 'Nightmare' was his mutated arm. She stood behind him, "Um... hello?"
Nightmare turned around, "Who are you? What do you want?" he asked nervously.
"You... don't remember me at all?" Takharu asked. The knight stared at Takharu blankly. "He doesn't remember... he must think that I'm just some freak..." Takharu looked at the man, "Siegfried."
His confused expression became a shocked one, "How do you know my name?"
Takharu smiled, "So you do remember something about yourself. Well... you were my rival, but something has changed you..."
"Your rival? But I've never met you in my life..."
"You haven't... but Soul Edge has," Takharu explained.
"Soul Edge..." Siegfried's eyes widened. It was obvious that he recalled the sword, "That's impossible... you cannot meet a sword!"
"I met a sword in your body, Siegfried. It took control of you... didn't you wonder why you didn't remember what had happened for the past years?" Takharu took a guess at how long Siegfried had actually been under the spell of Soul Edge.
Siegfried did not seem to be swallowing what Takharu was saying, "I don't believe you. I would remember it."
"Apparently not..."
"You're a liar. I don't believe you," he repeated, "You're not trustworthy. No one knows what happened to me..."
"Not exactly," Takharu agreed slightly, "But some people have an idea of what happened. Why don't you trust me?"
Siegfried did not reply immediately. He was very wary of people, "Because nothing in this world is true."
"Now that's a lie," Takharu snapped, "You need to learn to believe what people are telling you!"
"Why should I believe people!? What have they ever done for me!?" Siegfried shouted. He turned and walked off to another part of the town. Takharu sighed to herself. It was a shame that Soul Edge drove this man into a solitary life... she could not allow it to happen to anyone else. She tried to forget about Siegfried and continued toward the ruins.
~[---{-----|~-~|-----}---]~
"You!! How could you have just left us fight Cervantes?!" Xianghua screamed at the top of her lungs, "I mean... we easily defeated him but you just ran away!?" Yun Sung drained out Xianghua's voice as she continued complaining.
"I'll never get to Soul Edge if she doesn't shut up," he thought to himself, rather than processing Xianghua's words.
"Are you even listening to me!?" Xianghua broke into Yun Sung's thoughts, "Kilik, Sophitia and I could have been killed! How would you feel about that!?"
Yun Sung smirked, "It wouldn't really bother me that much."
"That's it!!" Xianghua gripped her sword, "You're irritating me and you have some shards of Soul Edge – those are the ingredients of a battle!"
Yun Sung clenched White Storm, "All right. A battle it is!" they both chose to go on the offensive and their sword clashed. Xianghua pulled back and twirled her blade in a taunting matter.
"Is that all the power you've got?" she asked.
"No way! I'm just getting started!" Yun Sung sliced at Xianghua, but she dodged each attack swiftly. Xianghua crouched down and slashed the back of Yun Sung's legs, causing him to trip as well as inflicting a wound. She did not delay in raising her sword and jabbing it downward at Yun Sung. He held White Storm in front of him so it got hit instead, chipping a piece of metal from his blade. "Master Myong won't like that..." Yun Sung commented. He got to his feet and attacked Xianghua, slicing the tassel off of the end of her sword.
Xianghua gasped, "Way to ruin the appearance of my sword!"
Yun Sung laughed to himself, "You're so pathetic... what would you have done if it was you that my sword hit?"
"Well... I shouldn't even have to answer that, since it'll never happen!" she said confidently. Xianghua grabbed Yun Sung's arm and twisted it behind his back, then slashed it with her sword. Yun Sung clutched his bleeding wound.
"Ow! Was that necessary?" he questioned, holding back the pain.
Xianghua shook her head, "Of course not! None of this is necessary! Like this..." she kneed him in the gut, "Or this!" Xianghua pushed him to the ground. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, "I guess you're done."
Yun Sung thrust his blade into the ground and used it to help him get up, a confident grin on his face, "Is this how you beat Nightmare? By knocking him out while he was weak?"
"What!?" Xianghua's voice filled with rage, "Are you implying that I'm a cheap fighter!?"
"Basically," he answered calmly, "You seem much cheaper than last time we fought. Don't you remember? I won that time... didn't I?" Xianghua growled under her breath. "This time isn't going to be any different, Xianghua. I want this more than you!" Completely ignoring the fact that he was injured, Yun Sung lifted White Storm and swung at Xianghua. Xianghua was caught off-guard by this attack. Yun Sung sliced a deep gash into Xianghua's side. She fell to her knees from the searing pain.
"Dammit..." she muttered.
"I guess you're done," Yun Sung mocked Xianghua. She glared up at him and threw her Soul Edge fragments at him.
"There! Take them! But if anything bad happens, I swear I'll find you and kill you!" Xianghua threatened.
Yun Sung was not afraid of her threat at all. He simply turned back and continued toward the ruins of Ostrheinsburg Castle. "Only a few more shards to go... and they will come to me..."
~[---{-----|~-~|-----}---]~
It was around sunset as Takharu approached the ruins of Ostrheinsburg Castle. The orange-red sky was slowly being covered by dark storm clouds. "It sets a mood..." Takharu sighed as she looked at the sky. She knew that her journey was coming to a close – and now it was a matter of fate and choice... winning and losing... life and death...
*~* End of Chapter 13 *~*
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Wow... Fate & Destiny is almost over... What did you think of that chapter? I think that it ended up pretty kick-ass! Anyway... that's just me. As always, please review! I've already completed the next – and last – chapter. I will probably post it in a week or so.
