Soul Caliber: No Future

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Soul Caliber 2, its characters, or any other part that is involved with the Soul Caliber Series created by Namco.

Chapter 3

Nightmare although badly wounded, recovered from his wounds rather quickly. He needed to intersect Kilik and Xainghua's path. He knew that after the two weeks that had past that they wouldn't be in China anymore, but they couldn't be too near either. And then there was the woman he met the other day. He looked at his stomach, and the bandage was stained with his blood. He put his hand over it and it stung, so he took it off.

If Kilik and Xainghua are near, he said to himself, I can find a route they would be traveling. Let see. To get to Athens, they would need to come from around Russia. That's a long trip. So they would be near Greece. So If I left Greece, I could easily find them.

Cassandra sat in her room admiring her shard that she had found. She stroked it with her hand and then she cut her finger. A small droplet of bloody leaked out and fell onto the floor. It did not hurt her, but the shard glowed as the blood spilled onto it. She smiled and hid it away in her pouch.

She left in the bright Greek sun and the humidity was overbearing. She let out a sigh and wiped her forehead. She marched out of the town into the wilderness. She was trying to track Nightmare, but she had no clue on where to begin. The vision of his glare as he retreated from the fight came back.

"ARG! Who does he remind me of!" she said to herself, "Why would Nightmare be in my memories." In he deepest recesses of her mind, a young boy with blond hair looked at her, but his face was clouded in darkness. She couldn't remember.

"Humph! Well, he looked so different from here. If I went elsewhere, maybe I can stumble on some clues."

"Near Greece at last. Phew it's hot here, "Xainghua said to Kilik ahead of her, but no answer came back. He had been silent as if he was entangled in his own mind. A large rash had come on his arm, but that couldn't have been a result of the snake bite he endured. The trip from China around Russia and from Norway was very taxing on them. It would be a relief to get a little rest.

They went into a great town full of people. Athens was finally a place they had visited at long last. It was much more crowded than they had imagined. Xainghua looked at Kilik, still deep in thought and then she looked up at the mountains. The sight of them chilled her to the bone. It was on that mountain that she used Soulcalibur to prevent the destruction of the world at Nightmare's hands. The icy air was still quite vivid in her mind.

"Well, where to now? Nightmare obviously wasn't here."

"Not quite my dear Xainghua, "said an inquisitive Kilik examining the ground, "Look!" He picked up a small piece of black metal, "This must have fallen off of Nightmare's armor! He WAS here!"

Much to Xainghua's bad disposition, Kilik was right. That was a piece of his armor undoubtedly. They went to the harbor and asked the seadog some questions and found that Nightmare was a step ahead of them. They boarded the ship and urged them to get there in one day. It was actually two.

Nightmare couldn't decide what to do. Find the woman and kill her, or go for his real goal. What was that woman's name? Her memory confused him with many questions. He decided to wait for the woman to leave Greece and he would follow.

A few hours later, Cassandra did come out of the front gate holding something in her hand. She opened up her fist and to Nightmare's amazement a shard of Soul Edge was held within it. This confirmed his desires. He wanted to retrieve the shard and find out about this woman.

Wait! She's headed for my home! She'll uncover thing even I don't know about! I must follow her.

He ran as quietly as he could, hiding behind the cover of trees when he made a sound she could hear.

"I've got a feeling like I've been followed all this way," Cassandra said to herself. Then two figures came into the distance. Nightmare approached Cassandra with extreme caution. After all, hiding wasn't one of his fortes.

Cassandra drew Omega and Namean. One she was sure was a man, but she wasn't sure of the other. As the figures drew closer, she sheathed her weapon as a man and woman came in sight. They appeared to be harmless.

It was none other than Kilik and Xainghua. They saw Cassandra and as she approached them, they got cautious.

"Oh," Cassandra said to the two, "Can you please tell me if you have seen a shady character around here?"

Xainghua lept up at the words "shady character", "Who! Are you talking about one person in particular?" Cassandra described the man and it was all know too well to all of them.

"Nightmare, it seems like we are all in the same boat," said Kilik, "You should travel with us." Cassandra agreed and the three decided to go in Cassandra's direction.

Perfect! Soul Edge whispered in his ear. We can get all three of them at once!

Nightmare smiled at the thought of exacting his revenge and getting three souls for the price of two. The shard was another bonus. He tightened his grip on Soul Edge. He kept following them until the right moment.

It seemed like they all had a lot in common. Nightmare had all affected their lives and they all were warriors. As dusk drew near, they sat and made camp.

"This is the time to strike!" Nightmare thought to himself. Then his maniacal laughter filled the air.

Kilik, Xainghua and Cassandra all knew this laughter. They grabbed their weapons and prepared for battle. Nightmare slowly and menacingly stepped out of the trees.

"Well, well! I guess we all meet again! Sorry little lady, but I still don't know your name. Can you tell me the name of the person I shall soon kill?!" He pointed at Cassandra with his demonized arm.

"I am Cassandra, sister of Sophitia."

He laughed an evil chuckle, "You know," he lied, "I really enjoyed tormenting her. Want to know what I did?"

Xainghua and Kilik advanced infront of her but she moved them aside, "Yes, I want to know how much I need to do to exact my revenge."

"REVENGE; You know nothing of the word! Well First I tied her upside down, and then I peeled off her skin strip by strip. Ah, the screams were so cheerful to my ear!"

"You bastard! Die for Athena!"

Cassandra rushed Nightmare, but he just shook his head. He wouldn't be fooled three times. She attempted at long thrust, and with his right massive arm, he sidestepped and pulled her arm behind her back.

"Quite familiar isn't it?"

He wrenched the arm tighter behind her back, and her blood curdling scream made the birds leave the trees. Kilik grew in rage, and Xianghua already was running after Nightmare. Kilik went into a trance. His hatred flowed through his blood. Xainghua slashed at Nightmare, who blocked all of her attacks and moved Cassandra in the way of one to cut her pouch off. It flew in the air and he caught it with his right. Cassandra quickly tried to regain some feeling in her arm.

Kilik was last to rush him, but this was no form of Soul Charge he was under. This was vaguely familiar to Xainghua, but she couldn't put her finger on it. All of Kilik's strikes, they seemed to create trouble for Nightmare. Nightmare attacked with his own sword, flipping in the air forward and slashing down. Kilik parried and sent him to the ground. He got up and decided it was easier to pick them off one by one.

"So long everyone, you won this battle, but I got the spoils!" He held up Cassandra's pouch and jumped into the sky, disappearing in the bright dusk sun.

Kilik then turned to Xainghua. He smiled at her and then ran at her.

"What! I'm not your enemy! You ass!" she cried as Kilik grabbed her. He launched her high and threw her to the ground.

"Xainghua! I'm coming!" Cassandra called and as Kilik was about to kill Xainghua, Cassandra knocked him out.

Nightmare watched all of this from the safety of a tree. Night rolled on and Kilik finally regained consciousness. He shook his head and then held it. A large bump was on the back and the world spun for a moment.

"Xainghua what happened!?" Kilik asked, but Xainghua turned around and cired.

"Nice one jack ass! You should be ashamed! What were you think of when you loomed over Xainghua and tried to kill her!?" Cassandra slapped him on the cheek. Nightmare giggled quietly.

"Xainghua, something is wrong with me. I've decided to leave. I'm a menace to you and Cassandra. Cassandra! It was best that Nightmare took your shard. It would have taken over your mind eventually." Kilik gathered his things, slung his rod in between his backpack and ate his meal as he left.

"Good riddance! Jack Ass. Oh Kilik. Why?" Xainghua started to cry again not because of Kilik almost killing her, but because he left. Cassandra comforted her.

Nightmare, still in the tree hopped from one to the next to get ahead of them.

Good! I'm more powerful now! But we still need more souls if you want to resurrect your father.

"I don't know," Nightmare said looking at Soul Edge; its eye staring back at him, "I felt kind of different this time. Not hate, but not happy either."

Damned fool! I keep telling you, no one cares about you. So let your anger flow. It will not be too long before they all pay!

"But they're..."

Who care's if they uncover the truth. Follow Kilik, he intrigues me.

A/N: I thought this one was kind of bad. Oh well, you decide. R&R.