Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur, Soul Edge, Taki, Mitsurugi, Sophitia or Cassandra. These all
belong to NAMCO. Such a pity--they won't let me have them. Oh well. But this fanfic is mine.
Viator: By Your Side
The Sequel to Requietum:A Journey Home
by jin long
lycan11@yahoo.com
Chapter 5
It was not a peaceful sleep that took Taki two nights after she and Mitsurugi had met Cassandra.
"Where... am I?"
Taki opened her eyes to the azure hue of the sea and the drab gray and brown ruins of a ghost
port. It felt as if she was floating, or was it the other way around? The images seemed to swirl
about in front of her, almost wavy in appearance.
"The.... that Spanish harbor.... I...." The kunoichi shook her head, trying to dispel the cobwebs.
"That's right, this is where I found Soul Edge... Where I..." Taki took a tentative step forward, a
hand on her forehead. Was this real? Taki found her senses betraying her once more, unsure if this
was a dream, a vision or even reality.
What scared her was how similar this feeling was to being possessed by Mekki-maru. Was it
trying to take her over again?
No... wait, she thought. Somehow, this was different. How exaclty, she did not know, but it was.
"This can't be real..." We were... Heishiro-kun, Cassandra and I were on our way to... not
Spain..." the ninja murmured to herself.
"It is only as real as you allow it to be, I would think."
Taki quickly turned towards the source of the words, the origin of a deep, coarse-sounding voice.
On reflex her right hand reached behind her shoulder for Rekki-maru, which was absent from
its usual place. "There's no need for that," laughed the voice. "After all, it was what had slain me
a long time ago... Eight years, maybe?" Another laugh.
"Who are you?" Taki said threateningly. It was impossible to detect whoever it was or even where
he or she was. The voice seemed to echo around her and she could sense not even a smidgen
of ki from whoever it was. "Stop this little game of yours and show yourself! What do you want?"
"My.... apologies..." The dull thump of boots on the ground met Taki's ears, coming from her right.
Taki turned, still ready to fight if need be, body tensed slightly and ready to spring at any moment.
She breathed softly, focusing on the figure that slowly came into view from the darkness of the
ghost port.
It was a man, his eyes a feral yellow in the darkness. He was an imposing figure, much taller than
most Japanese men, Taki noted, and seemingly competent in battle by the appearance of his
well-muscled body and his strong stance. Indigo, almost purple hair fell to his shoulders, some
covered by a black hat associated with the rogues of the sea.
Taki recognized him as he finished emerging from the shadows. "You're the pirate who had Soul
Edge."
The pirate smiled and bowed towards her with a wave of his hand to the side in a mock gesture.
"Cervantes de Leon, madam demon-slayer," he said. "I would prefer to be known as such between
yourself and I. Cervantes will do," he finished, straightening up.
"Why do you haunt me?" Taki asked, easing herself into a standing position with her arms crossed
over her chest. "Did even Hell reject you? And how is it that you speak my language?"
Cervantes laughed softly, or at least as softly as a captain who had slain his entire crew could.
"I have been touched by Soul Edge, as have you, my dear." He placed his arms behind his back
as he slowly paced around her, much like a tiger would while eyeing its prey, Taki thought.
"And believe me, Soul Edge has been in the hands of many. It was only a simple matter for it to
gain, shall we say, a world of knowledge?" Cervantes laughed at his joke, though Taki found it
anything but amusing and remained silent. "In any case, I am simply given knowledge of how to
speak in your tongue and you need not know exactly how. Suffice to say, it is Soul Edge's doing."
Taki opened her mouth to speak, but the buccaneer cut her off as her began again. "You would ask
what you are doing here, kunoichi?" Cervantes mused. "What could there possibly be for you in
such a pathetic place as this phantom harbor? It is an easy question to answer."
The pirate sneered slightly, looking at the ground briefly as he paced then looking up at her again.
"Everything you could possibly want, demon-slayer, is what the answer is. Everything that you've
ever desired and needed can become concrete," the corsair said.
"In exchange for what?" Taki retorted. "I know what this is about, and I know what you're trying
to do -- Soul Edge!"
Cervantes raised a hand to his chest in a mock gesture of hurt. "Soul Edge? Hmm... hahah... You
are a perceptive one, aren't you, kunoichi? I do admit that I have been called by that name
lately, and you have addressed me as Mekki-maru also, although I would never succumb to simply
being a blade, by any name."
Cervantes chuckled then continued. "I happen to be so much more than that, of course."
Taki arched an eyebrow in an inquisitive gesture. "Much more than a mere evil blade, you say?
The way you say it, it would seem that you are an entity apart from the blade known as Soul
Edge. Or are an entity that infests Soul Edge, at the very least." She raised a finger to her lips as
she was wont to do while thinking, still keeping a cautious eye on Cervantes, ready to act should
he show any signs of hostility.
"You are... like those that are my prey, then..."
"Correct! And yet you are still wrong." Cervantes laughed heartily. "I cannot be what I am without
humanity itself."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, I would think that you would realize such a thing from how you've lived, kunoichi," the corsair
said. "Humanity is always but a hair's breadth away from the basest of instincts, the instincts I
gain my power from."
Cervantes put a thoughtful finger to his chin, then continued. "Humanity prides itself on the thought
that it is above the common animal, wiser, more decent, capable of love and kindness and all
that claptrap. But really," the pirate paused, eyeing Taki with amusement, "it is nothing more than
foolish pride.
"It is so easy to kill someone, of course. So easy to.... eliminate every obstacle in one's path
towards one's desires. What stops a person from doing so? Ethics, morality, religion... the
sort of lies spread by those who wish power and yet have none in truth."
Taki squinted her eyes. "And power allows... no, gives those who wield it the right to ignore all
the principles which you call empty mouthings of the impotent? That's ridiculous!" the kunoichi
replied. "Where would humanity be if those were gone?"
The corsair suddenly came up in front of her, his yellow eyes boring into her own with such
intensity that Taki took a step back. "Oh really? The fact that they are there, that humans kill
others over these so called ethics shows that these mouthings are empty husks devoid of any
meaning.
"These ethics are hypocritical at best. Said one, 'Thou shall not kill', and yet those that
believe this creed slay many to make it the only ethic." Cervantes paced before her yet again,
eyeing her.
"And sometimes these ethics don't apply, even if humanity encounters itself in a slightly different
form. You saw it yourself, in the guise of that girl you and your friend aided. Never mind if both of
you helped her. You were still barbarians, beneath her."
"So why bother with civility?" Cervantes asked Taki. "Why bother with petty little ethics that don't
really matter? Why be concerned with what another feels?"
Taki crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "Somehow, you fail to convince me, corsair. I'd
expect such words from you, what with your twisted mind."
Cervantes laughed. "Perhaps I should tell you of a boy. A child's story, if you will."
The image of a child, about six years old, appeared between them. Taki noted that he looked
scraggly, though he would certainly be handsome if only his dark hair and his face were clean.
Cervantes approached the child, patting the boy roughly on the head.
"Pathetic, isn't he?" the buccaneer asked the kunoichi. "Let me tell you about this weak little soul.
"The boy was a farmer's son, a child from a small village in the area of the Mediterranean. He was
happy, innocent and ignorant -- the lot of a peasant's son, perhaps. Such states cannot last, of
course, and in his tenth year, every illusion fed to him by weak peasants was shattered.
"Foreigners, dark as anything, came from the south. Oh there had been news of fighting, but
the village of this boy paid no heed. Why would the fighting come to the village? There was nothing
there, only farmers making a living off the soil. In doing nothing they sealed their own fate.
"So the village fell to these invaders. And this little son of a bitch was made to watch as both his
parents as well as his siblings were slain before his eyes."
Cervantes tousled the boy's dark locks. "Pathetic, truly pathetic. And what became of this brat?
Why, he staggered off to the nearest town he could. When he was there, what do you think became
of him?
"Nothing, that's what. Who in a city would give a job to an ignorant country boy? So pathetic he
remained, and do you know why, kunoichi?
"Because this hapless creature was weak. Surely mercy, kindness and goodwill would have
mattered enough for people to perhaps help him? It was not so. If they themselves suffer no loss
or are harmed not, people will do nothing. Only their own suffering ever matters to them. Never
mind that the weak are left to die. There are others who have illusions of strength that are to
follow.
"So human kindness failed this weak boy. And if he could not rely on the illusionary kindness of
strangers, why should he not take advantage of them? They were weak anyway, and the weak
do not deserve anything, not even life, as the world had shown him.
"Thus the boy changed. He robbed, he pillaged and he murdered for his own sake. If others were
not concerned about his life, why should he be concerned about theirs?
"But it wasn't enough. All could be easily taken away by someone stronger. So the boy wished for
power, and power was what I granted him in exchange for a simple thing that really never
mattered, and still does not.
"I gave him power in return for his simple disposing of his petty morals, and he became the pirate
whose form I now take. But then, you proved the stronger one when he faced you." Cervantes
suddenly jerked his hand, whipping the boy's head around and breaking the child's neck. The boy
crumpled to the ground in a heap, lifeless, with his head at an odd and gruesome angle to his neck.
"There is no room for weaklings in the world. Only the strong need survive. And to be strong, one
will need power.
"And the only thing that means *anything* in this world is *power*!" Cervantes backed away from
Taki, clenching his fist and raising it up in front of her. "Power, kunoichi, is all that matters.
Power to make your own rules, power to make your world and power to do away with all that
stand in your way!" bellowed the corsair. "I *am* power!
"And I offer you that, kunoichi. I would give you that -- I could give you the whole world if you
would but embrace this truth and dispose of your petty ethics and honor." Cervantes
extended an open hand towards her. "Embrace what humanity truly is, what being human
truly is. Realize that which truly will make you human -- power over your whole world!"
"No!"
Cervantes seemed taken aback. "You refuse?"
"I refuse to give in to you!" Taki said sharply. "You offer power, you say, but at what cost? And
I don't believe what you have argued about human nature. If people can love, if people can
project themselves and realize that there are others in the world--"
"Love? You mean the emotion that you feel for this Greek of yours? The emotion that constantly
weakens you, that tortures you?" Cervantes laughed evilly, and Taki knew why. Somehow...
somehow part of herself wanted to believe him, did in fact agree with him about power, about
everything he had said.
And the corsair, or at least that which had the image of the pirate knew that. It knew what
buttons to push, what chord it had to strike. Taki wondered for a moment, doubted herself
and her will for a moment.
She was weakening, she knew. What it offered now was tempting, as she felt powerless as of
late, unable to change the world or fate, it seemed. She had no family to turn to, for they were
out for her capture and she was sure now, for her blood. She had her best friend, but their
relationship had begun to suffer with their opposing views on Soul Edge, she knew.
She could not even be with the one she loved, and that hurt most of all.
Taki looked into the darkness, part of herself just wanting it to envelop her, wanting to escape.
Yet she knew what price she would have to pay, and that was just about the only thing that
was keeping her will strong.
"I don't have to talk to you. I don't have to explain anything to you. Begone from me, whatever
you are. We are finished here," Taki finally managed to say.
"Huh, kunoichi. We should talk more about this, as you intrigue me." The corsair turned around,
walking and fading away into the darkness. Before he completely disappeared, Cervantes peered
over his shoulder at her, saying "You may have held out this long, but I know your weakness.
Eventually you will realize that you will have to come back to me. And you will want to do so."
Cervantes became one with the darkness. "Everyone does. It's only a matter of time."
to be continued...
.
.
.
.
.
jin long's notes:
okay, japanese people are very conscious of hierarchy, and proper speech comes with that.
Not to mention, proper addressing.
for example, if Karakutaa A is meeting Paason B for the first time, the prefix "-san" is added to the
person's last name, i.e. A-san for Karakutaa A or B-san for Paason B. Or, to illustrate more clearly,
Taki meets Sophitia Alexandra for the first time. Assuming both know the proper decorum, Taki
will address Sophitia as "Alexandra-san".
now let's say Taki and Sophitia become close, akin to more or less the level of friends. Taki will
address Sophitia probably as "Alexandra-chan". Note, however, that they aren't as close as could
be for Taki to stop calling Sophitia by her family name.
eventually, Taki and Sophitia become very, very intimate friends. At this point, it is all right for
Taki to address Sophitia as "Sophitia" or "Sophitia-chan".
In this fic, Taki and Mitsurugi are close, so Taki calls Mitsu "Heishiro-kun" (-kun for guys is like
-chan) and Mitsu calls Taki "Ta-chan"
belong to NAMCO. Such a pity--they won't let me have them. Oh well. But this fanfic is mine.
Viator: By Your Side
The Sequel to Requietum:A Journey Home
by jin long
lycan11@yahoo.com
Chapter 5
It was not a peaceful sleep that took Taki two nights after she and Mitsurugi had met Cassandra.
"Where... am I?"
Taki opened her eyes to the azure hue of the sea and the drab gray and brown ruins of a ghost
port. It felt as if she was floating, or was it the other way around? The images seemed to swirl
about in front of her, almost wavy in appearance.
"The.... that Spanish harbor.... I...." The kunoichi shook her head, trying to dispel the cobwebs.
"That's right, this is where I found Soul Edge... Where I..." Taki took a tentative step forward, a
hand on her forehead. Was this real? Taki found her senses betraying her once more, unsure if this
was a dream, a vision or even reality.
What scared her was how similar this feeling was to being possessed by Mekki-maru. Was it
trying to take her over again?
No... wait, she thought. Somehow, this was different. How exaclty, she did not know, but it was.
"This can't be real..." We were... Heishiro-kun, Cassandra and I were on our way to... not
Spain..." the ninja murmured to herself.
"It is only as real as you allow it to be, I would think."
Taki quickly turned towards the source of the words, the origin of a deep, coarse-sounding voice.
On reflex her right hand reached behind her shoulder for Rekki-maru, which was absent from
its usual place. "There's no need for that," laughed the voice. "After all, it was what had slain me
a long time ago... Eight years, maybe?" Another laugh.
"Who are you?" Taki said threateningly. It was impossible to detect whoever it was or even where
he or she was. The voice seemed to echo around her and she could sense not even a smidgen
of ki from whoever it was. "Stop this little game of yours and show yourself! What do you want?"
"My.... apologies..." The dull thump of boots on the ground met Taki's ears, coming from her right.
Taki turned, still ready to fight if need be, body tensed slightly and ready to spring at any moment.
She breathed softly, focusing on the figure that slowly came into view from the darkness of the
ghost port.
It was a man, his eyes a feral yellow in the darkness. He was an imposing figure, much taller than
most Japanese men, Taki noted, and seemingly competent in battle by the appearance of his
well-muscled body and his strong stance. Indigo, almost purple hair fell to his shoulders, some
covered by a black hat associated with the rogues of the sea.
Taki recognized him as he finished emerging from the shadows. "You're the pirate who had Soul
Edge."
The pirate smiled and bowed towards her with a wave of his hand to the side in a mock gesture.
"Cervantes de Leon, madam demon-slayer," he said. "I would prefer to be known as such between
yourself and I. Cervantes will do," he finished, straightening up.
"Why do you haunt me?" Taki asked, easing herself into a standing position with her arms crossed
over her chest. "Did even Hell reject you? And how is it that you speak my language?"
Cervantes laughed softly, or at least as softly as a captain who had slain his entire crew could.
"I have been touched by Soul Edge, as have you, my dear." He placed his arms behind his back
as he slowly paced around her, much like a tiger would while eyeing its prey, Taki thought.
"And believe me, Soul Edge has been in the hands of many. It was only a simple matter for it to
gain, shall we say, a world of knowledge?" Cervantes laughed at his joke, though Taki found it
anything but amusing and remained silent. "In any case, I am simply given knowledge of how to
speak in your tongue and you need not know exactly how. Suffice to say, it is Soul Edge's doing."
Taki opened her mouth to speak, but the buccaneer cut her off as her began again. "You would ask
what you are doing here, kunoichi?" Cervantes mused. "What could there possibly be for you in
such a pathetic place as this phantom harbor? It is an easy question to answer."
The pirate sneered slightly, looking at the ground briefly as he paced then looking up at her again.
"Everything you could possibly want, demon-slayer, is what the answer is. Everything that you've
ever desired and needed can become concrete," the corsair said.
"In exchange for what?" Taki retorted. "I know what this is about, and I know what you're trying
to do -- Soul Edge!"
Cervantes raised a hand to his chest in a mock gesture of hurt. "Soul Edge? Hmm... hahah... You
are a perceptive one, aren't you, kunoichi? I do admit that I have been called by that name
lately, and you have addressed me as Mekki-maru also, although I would never succumb to simply
being a blade, by any name."
Cervantes chuckled then continued. "I happen to be so much more than that, of course."
Taki arched an eyebrow in an inquisitive gesture. "Much more than a mere evil blade, you say?
The way you say it, it would seem that you are an entity apart from the blade known as Soul
Edge. Or are an entity that infests Soul Edge, at the very least." She raised a finger to her lips as
she was wont to do while thinking, still keeping a cautious eye on Cervantes, ready to act should
he show any signs of hostility.
"You are... like those that are my prey, then..."
"Correct! And yet you are still wrong." Cervantes laughed heartily. "I cannot be what I am without
humanity itself."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, I would think that you would realize such a thing from how you've lived, kunoichi," the corsair
said. "Humanity is always but a hair's breadth away from the basest of instincts, the instincts I
gain my power from."
Cervantes put a thoughtful finger to his chin, then continued. "Humanity prides itself on the thought
that it is above the common animal, wiser, more decent, capable of love and kindness and all
that claptrap. But really," the pirate paused, eyeing Taki with amusement, "it is nothing more than
foolish pride.
"It is so easy to kill someone, of course. So easy to.... eliminate every obstacle in one's path
towards one's desires. What stops a person from doing so? Ethics, morality, religion... the
sort of lies spread by those who wish power and yet have none in truth."
Taki squinted her eyes. "And power allows... no, gives those who wield it the right to ignore all
the principles which you call empty mouthings of the impotent? That's ridiculous!" the kunoichi
replied. "Where would humanity be if those were gone?"
The corsair suddenly came up in front of her, his yellow eyes boring into her own with such
intensity that Taki took a step back. "Oh really? The fact that they are there, that humans kill
others over these so called ethics shows that these mouthings are empty husks devoid of any
meaning.
"These ethics are hypocritical at best. Said one, 'Thou shall not kill', and yet those that
believe this creed slay many to make it the only ethic." Cervantes paced before her yet again,
eyeing her.
"And sometimes these ethics don't apply, even if humanity encounters itself in a slightly different
form. You saw it yourself, in the guise of that girl you and your friend aided. Never mind if both of
you helped her. You were still barbarians, beneath her."
"So why bother with civility?" Cervantes asked Taki. "Why bother with petty little ethics that don't
really matter? Why be concerned with what another feels?"
Taki crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "Somehow, you fail to convince me, corsair. I'd
expect such words from you, what with your twisted mind."
Cervantes laughed. "Perhaps I should tell you of a boy. A child's story, if you will."
The image of a child, about six years old, appeared between them. Taki noted that he looked
scraggly, though he would certainly be handsome if only his dark hair and his face were clean.
Cervantes approached the child, patting the boy roughly on the head.
"Pathetic, isn't he?" the buccaneer asked the kunoichi. "Let me tell you about this weak little soul.
"The boy was a farmer's son, a child from a small village in the area of the Mediterranean. He was
happy, innocent and ignorant -- the lot of a peasant's son, perhaps. Such states cannot last, of
course, and in his tenth year, every illusion fed to him by weak peasants was shattered.
"Foreigners, dark as anything, came from the south. Oh there had been news of fighting, but
the village of this boy paid no heed. Why would the fighting come to the village? There was nothing
there, only farmers making a living off the soil. In doing nothing they sealed their own fate.
"So the village fell to these invaders. And this little son of a bitch was made to watch as both his
parents as well as his siblings were slain before his eyes."
Cervantes tousled the boy's dark locks. "Pathetic, truly pathetic. And what became of this brat?
Why, he staggered off to the nearest town he could. When he was there, what do you think became
of him?
"Nothing, that's what. Who in a city would give a job to an ignorant country boy? So pathetic he
remained, and do you know why, kunoichi?
"Because this hapless creature was weak. Surely mercy, kindness and goodwill would have
mattered enough for people to perhaps help him? It was not so. If they themselves suffer no loss
or are harmed not, people will do nothing. Only their own suffering ever matters to them. Never
mind that the weak are left to die. There are others who have illusions of strength that are to
follow.
"So human kindness failed this weak boy. And if he could not rely on the illusionary kindness of
strangers, why should he not take advantage of them? They were weak anyway, and the weak
do not deserve anything, not even life, as the world had shown him.
"Thus the boy changed. He robbed, he pillaged and he murdered for his own sake. If others were
not concerned about his life, why should he be concerned about theirs?
"But it wasn't enough. All could be easily taken away by someone stronger. So the boy wished for
power, and power was what I granted him in exchange for a simple thing that really never
mattered, and still does not.
"I gave him power in return for his simple disposing of his petty morals, and he became the pirate
whose form I now take. But then, you proved the stronger one when he faced you." Cervantes
suddenly jerked his hand, whipping the boy's head around and breaking the child's neck. The boy
crumpled to the ground in a heap, lifeless, with his head at an odd and gruesome angle to his neck.
"There is no room for weaklings in the world. Only the strong need survive. And to be strong, one
will need power.
"And the only thing that means *anything* in this world is *power*!" Cervantes backed away from
Taki, clenching his fist and raising it up in front of her. "Power, kunoichi, is all that matters.
Power to make your own rules, power to make your world and power to do away with all that
stand in your way!" bellowed the corsair. "I *am* power!
"And I offer you that, kunoichi. I would give you that -- I could give you the whole world if you
would but embrace this truth and dispose of your petty ethics and honor." Cervantes
extended an open hand towards her. "Embrace what humanity truly is, what being human
truly is. Realize that which truly will make you human -- power over your whole world!"
"No!"
Cervantes seemed taken aback. "You refuse?"
"I refuse to give in to you!" Taki said sharply. "You offer power, you say, but at what cost? And
I don't believe what you have argued about human nature. If people can love, if people can
project themselves and realize that there are others in the world--"
"Love? You mean the emotion that you feel for this Greek of yours? The emotion that constantly
weakens you, that tortures you?" Cervantes laughed evilly, and Taki knew why. Somehow...
somehow part of herself wanted to believe him, did in fact agree with him about power, about
everything he had said.
And the corsair, or at least that which had the image of the pirate knew that. It knew what
buttons to push, what chord it had to strike. Taki wondered for a moment, doubted herself
and her will for a moment.
She was weakening, she knew. What it offered now was tempting, as she felt powerless as of
late, unable to change the world or fate, it seemed. She had no family to turn to, for they were
out for her capture and she was sure now, for her blood. She had her best friend, but their
relationship had begun to suffer with their opposing views on Soul Edge, she knew.
She could not even be with the one she loved, and that hurt most of all.
Taki looked into the darkness, part of herself just wanting it to envelop her, wanting to escape.
Yet she knew what price she would have to pay, and that was just about the only thing that
was keeping her will strong.
"I don't have to talk to you. I don't have to explain anything to you. Begone from me, whatever
you are. We are finished here," Taki finally managed to say.
"Huh, kunoichi. We should talk more about this, as you intrigue me." The corsair turned around,
walking and fading away into the darkness. Before he completely disappeared, Cervantes peered
over his shoulder at her, saying "You may have held out this long, but I know your weakness.
Eventually you will realize that you will have to come back to me. And you will want to do so."
Cervantes became one with the darkness. "Everyone does. It's only a matter of time."
to be continued...
.
.
.
.
.
jin long's notes:
okay, japanese people are very conscious of hierarchy, and proper speech comes with that.
Not to mention, proper addressing.
for example, if Karakutaa A is meeting Paason B for the first time, the prefix "-san" is added to the
person's last name, i.e. A-san for Karakutaa A or B-san for Paason B. Or, to illustrate more clearly,
Taki meets Sophitia Alexandra for the first time. Assuming both know the proper decorum, Taki
will address Sophitia as "Alexandra-san".
now let's say Taki and Sophitia become close, akin to more or less the level of friends. Taki will
address Sophitia probably as "Alexandra-chan". Note, however, that they aren't as close as could
be for Taki to stop calling Sophitia by her family name.
eventually, Taki and Sophitia become very, very intimate friends. At this point, it is all right for
Taki to address Sophitia as "Sophitia" or "Sophitia-chan".
In this fic, Taki and Mitsurugi are close, so Taki calls Mitsu "Heishiro-kun" (-kun for guys is like
-chan) and Mitsu calls Taki "Ta-chan"