Chapter 10: The Priest and the Puppet
Sansaku: (is happily eating a HUGE bowl of ice cream, sitting on the couch next to Maxi, who's chomping on Doritos; notices the chapter is up and tries, unsuccessfully, to hide her snack) Oh, hi hi! Didn't see ya'll there. Maxi and I were just discussing the vast differences between the outfits in Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur II.
Maxi: Yeah, I liked my jacket better than the vest, but I like my black pants better than those green ones. (continues eating Doritos) But I'm glad I got to keep my pimpin' blonde hair. Still upset about losing the third costume, though.
Sansaku: At least they got rid of Kilik's HIDEOUS yellow pants. .
Maxi: Hahah, yeah, that was a good idea.
Sansaku: And Hwang. I don't mean to be a hater (well, maybe I do), but he wears the GAUDIEST things.
Maxi: Yeah, but, uh ... aren't we getting off track?
Sansaku: What? Oh, right! The chapter! Well, we're gonna kick it up a notch and get more into the Action/Adventure nature of things. And BillysLittleCowgirl is a bit embarrassed about what went on in the last chapter, so she's taking a break.
Maxi: (smiles mischievously, but says nothing)
Sansaku: Well, have fun reading. Oh, by the way, no lemony stuff this time – I'm just here for the food. There probably won't be much lemony stuff from now on – if you want that, check out BillysLittleCowgirl's other Soul Calibur fic "Wandering Sky," at Adultfanfiction.net. It's under the name Sansaku. (Shameless self-promotion ...) Oh, and she'll be back soon.
Maxi: Heheh.
Sansaku: What's up with you?
Maxi: You don't know the real reason the author's away, do you?
Sansaku: What? No ....
Maxi: HAHA! You're her alter-ego and you don't know? How pathetic.
Sansaku: Hey!
Maxi: See, she's hiding away in her room because she's been irreparably traumatized.
Sansaku: What? How?
Maxi: You know in Soul Calibur I, when Astaroth stands up from a crouch?
Sansaku: Yeah ...
Maxi: His ass jiggles.
Sansaku: EWWW!
Maxi: Yeah, a LOT, too.
Sansaku: (covers her cat ears with her hands and curls up in the fetal position) Gross ... gross ... gross...
Maxi: (laughs evilly and steals Sansaku's ice cream)
Maxi awoke early the next morning and, still half-asleep, reached out for Ilya's warm body. His eyes snapped open when he realized she wasn't there. He climbed out of bed and pulled his clothes on, looking around the room one more time before he finally decided she had to be elsewhere.
"Have you seen Ilya?" he asked Kilik, who was eating breakfast.
"Yeah. She went outside a while ago ..."
Worried about the girl's safety because of her horrid sense of direction, he headed immediately for the door to the inn and opened it. He was relieved to find her just outside, performing katas with her knife drawn.
Her movements were so elegant and fluid it looked more like a dance than a kata; he watched for a few moments, captivated, but quickly rushed to her side when her injured knee buckled. He caught her around the waist just before she hit the ground, and she looked up at him with surprise. Slowly a self-conscious sort of smile spread across her face and she said, "Well, I guess it's not completely healed yet, huh?" with an awkward chuckle. Maxi smiled back and helped her to her feet. Ilya put her dagger back in its sheath and looked up at him, blushing ever so slightly. "Good morning, by the way."
"Good morning." He embraced her tightly and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Did you sleep well?"
Ilya giggled. "Yeah. Oh, and sorry for leaving you there."
"Don't worry." He pulled away from her, his hands resting on her shoulders, and smiled widely. "Ready to start traveling again?"
"Of course!"
Maxi and Ilya gathered their things, including their traveling companions, and headed south along the Rhone even further. Xianghua seemed much more tolerant of Ilya and Maxi's affection toward her, and didn't even bat an eyelash when they kissed. This brought endless relief to the Russian, who didn't want any bad feelings between them. The sun was beginning to set when the four of them came across what looked like a ruin of a massive chateau; only the foundation and a few stone walls remained.
"Wow!" Ilya exclaimed as she gazed out toward the horizon beyond the ruins. "If you look at it from this angle, it's really pretty ..."
Xianghua stood next to Ilya and squinted at the orange-and-magenta clouds, then grinned and gave a nod of approval. "Yup, beautiful!" she agreed.
"Well I guess we'd better stay here for the night, since there's a bit of shelter," Kilik mused, pointing to two walls that intersected, with a patch of roof still intact.
The girls decided to bathe in the river while the men set up camp, and even though they couldn't see them, Maxi and Kilik could hear them giggling and talking excitedly. "I'm glad they're getting along now," Kilik said softly as he laid out a few blankets to serve as the girls' beds. "It was really tense for a while."
Maxi nodded in agreement. "It was, wasn't it?"
"You know ... even though you don't remember us, some things might be familiar to you."
That, however, struck a nerve. "Let's not get into that," the older of the two grumbled, and Kilik shrugged and went about his business.
The girls dressed quickly and ran back to the makeshift campsite. The four travelers sat down to eat their dinner, but something interrupted them.
First Ilya thought she heard something (Maxi trusted her hearing; after all, she was a wolf-girl), but dismissed it just as quickly as she had been alerted. Then Kilik thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. By now the four of them were very nervous, and took up their weapons.
One of the crumbling walls that surrounded them burst apart in a hail of dust and bricks. When the dust settled, before them stood a colossal figure wielding a massive axe. The creature carrying the axe was clad in black leather, wore a face mask, and had eyes that were not eyes at all, but white orbs that burned from within his bald skull.
"Astaroth ..." Maxi murmured, suddenly unable to move.
High-pitched laughter came from behind the enormous golem. A very thin old man with a pointed beard and strange symbols tattooed on his face walked up beside it and gave the four companions a crafty grin. "Quite right, my intrepid friend ... brought back from the abyss you tossed him into. You've been quite a thorn in my side, you know." He glanced at Kilik and Xianghua. "Ah, yes, and the two 'heroes' who managed to destroy Soul Edge. You sure did a shoddy job, though – it's still alive and well." His eyes finally fell upon Ilya, and widened ever so slightly. "Oh-ho, what's this? A Strucov, way out in these parts? One of only two left. Tell me, dear, are you the wolf or the falcon?"
"The wolf," she said in a timid voice she refused to recognize as her own.
"How interesting," he hissed, his lips curling into a half-snarl, half-smile. "I may have a use for you ... Astaroth, kill them – but bring me the little one alive AT ANY COST."
"Yes, Kunpaetku," the golem said in a gravelly voice. Kunpaetku turned and walked of to parts unknown, and Astaroth charged the four adventurers.
He brought his axe down between Xianghua and Kilik; before Kilik could bring Kali-Yuga to strike the golem, Astaroth hit him head-on with a headbutt in the chest. Kilik was knocked backward and crumpled to the ground, motionless.
Xianghua cried out for him and barely managed to parry Astaroth's next attack. As Maxi too was knocked away by a swing of the golem's arms, Xianghua shouted at Ilya to run. The Russian girl, terrified of what 'use' Kunpaetku would have for her, nodded and turned to run, but then felt Astaroth's huge hand wrap itself around her neck.
Ilya let out a scream as she was lifted off the ground and into the air and struggled greatly. She gripped Russkaya Pravda and blindly attacked him, managing to bury the blade in his arm. Roaring in pain, he tossed her aside, and she landed hard on her side as her dagger clattered to the stone floor beside her. A small pool of blood was forming around her temple, and Xianghua knew at once she'd hit her head hard enough to knock her out.
Maxi lunged for the golem, smacking him hard across the face with his nunchaku. As Astaroth stumbled backward, clutching his face, the pirate leapt forward again and punched him hard in the chest and again in the face. The monster regained its footing and began to retreat, and Maxi started after him in hot pursuit.
Xianghua threw herself at him and tried to drag him back by an arm. "What are you doing?!" he roared, trying to shake her off of him. "This is my chance! I need to kill that monster!"
"Maxi ..." she sobbed. "Kilik and Ilya are hurt! They need help!"
"You take care of them! I'm going after Astaroth." He shook his arm once more, this time hard enough to send Xianghua to the ground.
"What about Ilya?!" she shouted at him, still crying. "You said you wanted to protect her – so why are you so willing to abandon her now?"
Maxi stopped dead in his tracks and flinched. The only thing on his mind since he learned the beast still lived was revenge ... he owed it to his comrades. But now that he had his chance...
"You love her, don't you? What will I tell her when she wakes up and you're gone? That revenge is more important to you than love?!"
"It is," he said coldly. "Vengeance is the most important thing to me right now."
"You selfish bastard ..." Xianghua seethed. "I can't believe you. You'll have other chances to fight Astaroth – the priest wants us dead and Ilya captured. He's not going to give up so easily! So let it go for now and help me take care of them!"
Finally Maxi decided to let the golem go for the moment and help Xianghua tend to the wounds of their companions. Xianghua determined Kilik had broken a few ribs but other than that he was fine. Maxi gently picked Ilya up and put her on her makeshift bed. With water from the river he wiped the blood from the left side of her face; it had come from a cut she suffered when she hit her head. It was the only thing wrong with her that he could see. He grabbed her hand and put it against his cheek, enjoying the feel of her soft, silky skin against his. "I'm sorry, Ilya," he said softly, "but the only thing on my mind right now is revenge. Please understand."
Xianghua looked on sadly as Maxi left the campsite and headed toward the river. He sat on a rock and looked out over the water, where he remained until the moon rose.
Ilya began to stir soon after, and sat up next to the crackling fire. "What happened?" she asked, rubbing her head. "My head hurts ..."
To her surprise, Xianghua embraced her so tightly she feared she'd be snapped in two. "Ilya ... please don't be mad at Maxi," the Chinese girl pleaded. "He's a good person, and he really loves you, but ... he's still so angry about losing his crew. They were his family. He needs to have his revenge before he'll settle down. Once Astaroth is out of the way, the only thing in his world will be you. Please, don't hate him."
All at once Ilya knew what Xianghua meant, what Maxi had meant to do, and what she needed to do. "Don't worry," she said in her heavy accent. "I won't." She got to her feet, a bit shakily, and walked over to the rock where Maxi was still sitting. "Um ..."
"Feeling better?" Maxi asked. She couldn't see his expression, nor could she tell what he was feeling from the tone in his voice.
"Yes. May I ... sit down?"
"Go ahead."
She sat down next to him, so close their bodies were touching. "You didn't have to stay behind, you know. I would've understood if you'd gone after him."
"Xianghua begged me to stay. Said she didn't know what she'd tell you if you woke up and I was gone."
Ilya smiled. "It wouldn't matter, I wouldn't care." He was a bit stung by her words. "I know how you feel, having so many loved ones taken from you. We all have our pain." He turned his head slightly and noticed her eyes were shiny from tears. Her voice began to crack. "You could run off and I'd be fine, because I know, somehow, that if we got separated you'd come look for me. The only thing that scares me is ... if you got killed, that I'd waste away waiting for you, and you would never come back. That's the only thing."
Maxi put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Don't worry; I don't plan on dying anytime soon. You can trust me on that."
Ilya closed her eyes and leaned against him. "I hope so."
Maxi: Yeah, pretty short, but it's been awhile since the last update. Oh well. See ya next time. Seems things are gonna get interesting ... who knows, maybe we'll even get to Marseilles!
Sansaku: (is happily eating a HUGE bowl of ice cream, sitting on the couch next to Maxi, who's chomping on Doritos; notices the chapter is up and tries, unsuccessfully, to hide her snack) Oh, hi hi! Didn't see ya'll there. Maxi and I were just discussing the vast differences between the outfits in Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur II.
Maxi: Yeah, I liked my jacket better than the vest, but I like my black pants better than those green ones. (continues eating Doritos) But I'm glad I got to keep my pimpin' blonde hair. Still upset about losing the third costume, though.
Sansaku: At least they got rid of Kilik's HIDEOUS yellow pants. .
Maxi: Hahah, yeah, that was a good idea.
Sansaku: And Hwang. I don't mean to be a hater (well, maybe I do), but he wears the GAUDIEST things.
Maxi: Yeah, but, uh ... aren't we getting off track?
Sansaku: What? Oh, right! The chapter! Well, we're gonna kick it up a notch and get more into the Action/Adventure nature of things. And BillysLittleCowgirl is a bit embarrassed about what went on in the last chapter, so she's taking a break.
Maxi: (smiles mischievously, but says nothing)
Sansaku: Well, have fun reading. Oh, by the way, no lemony stuff this time – I'm just here for the food. There probably won't be much lemony stuff from now on – if you want that, check out BillysLittleCowgirl's other Soul Calibur fic "Wandering Sky," at Adultfanfiction.net. It's under the name Sansaku. (Shameless self-promotion ...) Oh, and she'll be back soon.
Maxi: Heheh.
Sansaku: What's up with you?
Maxi: You don't know the real reason the author's away, do you?
Sansaku: What? No ....
Maxi: HAHA! You're her alter-ego and you don't know? How pathetic.
Sansaku: Hey!
Maxi: See, she's hiding away in her room because she's been irreparably traumatized.
Sansaku: What? How?
Maxi: You know in Soul Calibur I, when Astaroth stands up from a crouch?
Sansaku: Yeah ...
Maxi: His ass jiggles.
Sansaku: EWWW!
Maxi: Yeah, a LOT, too.
Sansaku: (covers her cat ears with her hands and curls up in the fetal position) Gross ... gross ... gross...
Maxi: (laughs evilly and steals Sansaku's ice cream)
Maxi awoke early the next morning and, still half-asleep, reached out for Ilya's warm body. His eyes snapped open when he realized she wasn't there. He climbed out of bed and pulled his clothes on, looking around the room one more time before he finally decided she had to be elsewhere.
"Have you seen Ilya?" he asked Kilik, who was eating breakfast.
"Yeah. She went outside a while ago ..."
Worried about the girl's safety because of her horrid sense of direction, he headed immediately for the door to the inn and opened it. He was relieved to find her just outside, performing katas with her knife drawn.
Her movements were so elegant and fluid it looked more like a dance than a kata; he watched for a few moments, captivated, but quickly rushed to her side when her injured knee buckled. He caught her around the waist just before she hit the ground, and she looked up at him with surprise. Slowly a self-conscious sort of smile spread across her face and she said, "Well, I guess it's not completely healed yet, huh?" with an awkward chuckle. Maxi smiled back and helped her to her feet. Ilya put her dagger back in its sheath and looked up at him, blushing ever so slightly. "Good morning, by the way."
"Good morning." He embraced her tightly and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Did you sleep well?"
Ilya giggled. "Yeah. Oh, and sorry for leaving you there."
"Don't worry." He pulled away from her, his hands resting on her shoulders, and smiled widely. "Ready to start traveling again?"
"Of course!"
Maxi and Ilya gathered their things, including their traveling companions, and headed south along the Rhone even further. Xianghua seemed much more tolerant of Ilya and Maxi's affection toward her, and didn't even bat an eyelash when they kissed. This brought endless relief to the Russian, who didn't want any bad feelings between them. The sun was beginning to set when the four of them came across what looked like a ruin of a massive chateau; only the foundation and a few stone walls remained.
"Wow!" Ilya exclaimed as she gazed out toward the horizon beyond the ruins. "If you look at it from this angle, it's really pretty ..."
Xianghua stood next to Ilya and squinted at the orange-and-magenta clouds, then grinned and gave a nod of approval. "Yup, beautiful!" she agreed.
"Well I guess we'd better stay here for the night, since there's a bit of shelter," Kilik mused, pointing to two walls that intersected, with a patch of roof still intact.
The girls decided to bathe in the river while the men set up camp, and even though they couldn't see them, Maxi and Kilik could hear them giggling and talking excitedly. "I'm glad they're getting along now," Kilik said softly as he laid out a few blankets to serve as the girls' beds. "It was really tense for a while."
Maxi nodded in agreement. "It was, wasn't it?"
"You know ... even though you don't remember us, some things might be familiar to you."
That, however, struck a nerve. "Let's not get into that," the older of the two grumbled, and Kilik shrugged and went about his business.
The girls dressed quickly and ran back to the makeshift campsite. The four travelers sat down to eat their dinner, but something interrupted them.
First Ilya thought she heard something (Maxi trusted her hearing; after all, she was a wolf-girl), but dismissed it just as quickly as she had been alerted. Then Kilik thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. By now the four of them were very nervous, and took up their weapons.
One of the crumbling walls that surrounded them burst apart in a hail of dust and bricks. When the dust settled, before them stood a colossal figure wielding a massive axe. The creature carrying the axe was clad in black leather, wore a face mask, and had eyes that were not eyes at all, but white orbs that burned from within his bald skull.
"Astaroth ..." Maxi murmured, suddenly unable to move.
High-pitched laughter came from behind the enormous golem. A very thin old man with a pointed beard and strange symbols tattooed on his face walked up beside it and gave the four companions a crafty grin. "Quite right, my intrepid friend ... brought back from the abyss you tossed him into. You've been quite a thorn in my side, you know." He glanced at Kilik and Xianghua. "Ah, yes, and the two 'heroes' who managed to destroy Soul Edge. You sure did a shoddy job, though – it's still alive and well." His eyes finally fell upon Ilya, and widened ever so slightly. "Oh-ho, what's this? A Strucov, way out in these parts? One of only two left. Tell me, dear, are you the wolf or the falcon?"
"The wolf," she said in a timid voice she refused to recognize as her own.
"How interesting," he hissed, his lips curling into a half-snarl, half-smile. "I may have a use for you ... Astaroth, kill them – but bring me the little one alive AT ANY COST."
"Yes, Kunpaetku," the golem said in a gravelly voice. Kunpaetku turned and walked of to parts unknown, and Astaroth charged the four adventurers.
He brought his axe down between Xianghua and Kilik; before Kilik could bring Kali-Yuga to strike the golem, Astaroth hit him head-on with a headbutt in the chest. Kilik was knocked backward and crumpled to the ground, motionless.
Xianghua cried out for him and barely managed to parry Astaroth's next attack. As Maxi too was knocked away by a swing of the golem's arms, Xianghua shouted at Ilya to run. The Russian girl, terrified of what 'use' Kunpaetku would have for her, nodded and turned to run, but then felt Astaroth's huge hand wrap itself around her neck.
Ilya let out a scream as she was lifted off the ground and into the air and struggled greatly. She gripped Russkaya Pravda and blindly attacked him, managing to bury the blade in his arm. Roaring in pain, he tossed her aside, and she landed hard on her side as her dagger clattered to the stone floor beside her. A small pool of blood was forming around her temple, and Xianghua knew at once she'd hit her head hard enough to knock her out.
Maxi lunged for the golem, smacking him hard across the face with his nunchaku. As Astaroth stumbled backward, clutching his face, the pirate leapt forward again and punched him hard in the chest and again in the face. The monster regained its footing and began to retreat, and Maxi started after him in hot pursuit.
Xianghua threw herself at him and tried to drag him back by an arm. "What are you doing?!" he roared, trying to shake her off of him. "This is my chance! I need to kill that monster!"
"Maxi ..." she sobbed. "Kilik and Ilya are hurt! They need help!"
"You take care of them! I'm going after Astaroth." He shook his arm once more, this time hard enough to send Xianghua to the ground.
"What about Ilya?!" she shouted at him, still crying. "You said you wanted to protect her – so why are you so willing to abandon her now?"
Maxi stopped dead in his tracks and flinched. The only thing on his mind since he learned the beast still lived was revenge ... he owed it to his comrades. But now that he had his chance...
"You love her, don't you? What will I tell her when she wakes up and you're gone? That revenge is more important to you than love?!"
"It is," he said coldly. "Vengeance is the most important thing to me right now."
"You selfish bastard ..." Xianghua seethed. "I can't believe you. You'll have other chances to fight Astaroth – the priest wants us dead and Ilya captured. He's not going to give up so easily! So let it go for now and help me take care of them!"
Finally Maxi decided to let the golem go for the moment and help Xianghua tend to the wounds of their companions. Xianghua determined Kilik had broken a few ribs but other than that he was fine. Maxi gently picked Ilya up and put her on her makeshift bed. With water from the river he wiped the blood from the left side of her face; it had come from a cut she suffered when she hit her head. It was the only thing wrong with her that he could see. He grabbed her hand and put it against his cheek, enjoying the feel of her soft, silky skin against his. "I'm sorry, Ilya," he said softly, "but the only thing on my mind right now is revenge. Please understand."
Xianghua looked on sadly as Maxi left the campsite and headed toward the river. He sat on a rock and looked out over the water, where he remained until the moon rose.
Ilya began to stir soon after, and sat up next to the crackling fire. "What happened?" she asked, rubbing her head. "My head hurts ..."
To her surprise, Xianghua embraced her so tightly she feared she'd be snapped in two. "Ilya ... please don't be mad at Maxi," the Chinese girl pleaded. "He's a good person, and he really loves you, but ... he's still so angry about losing his crew. They were his family. He needs to have his revenge before he'll settle down. Once Astaroth is out of the way, the only thing in his world will be you. Please, don't hate him."
All at once Ilya knew what Xianghua meant, what Maxi had meant to do, and what she needed to do. "Don't worry," she said in her heavy accent. "I won't." She got to her feet, a bit shakily, and walked over to the rock where Maxi was still sitting. "Um ..."
"Feeling better?" Maxi asked. She couldn't see his expression, nor could she tell what he was feeling from the tone in his voice.
"Yes. May I ... sit down?"
"Go ahead."
She sat down next to him, so close their bodies were touching. "You didn't have to stay behind, you know. I would've understood if you'd gone after him."
"Xianghua begged me to stay. Said she didn't know what she'd tell you if you woke up and I was gone."
Ilya smiled. "It wouldn't matter, I wouldn't care." He was a bit stung by her words. "I know how you feel, having so many loved ones taken from you. We all have our pain." He turned his head slightly and noticed her eyes were shiny from tears. Her voice began to crack. "You could run off and I'd be fine, because I know, somehow, that if we got separated you'd come look for me. The only thing that scares me is ... if you got killed, that I'd waste away waiting for you, and you would never come back. That's the only thing."
Maxi put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Don't worry; I don't plan on dying anytime soon. You can trust me on that."
Ilya closed her eyes and leaned against him. "I hope so."
Maxi: Yeah, pretty short, but it's been awhile since the last update. Oh well. See ya next time. Seems things are gonna get interesting ... who knows, maybe we'll even get to Marseilles!