Sorry that this chapter is so short.. haven't had much time to write this
week, too much programming, D&D and abandoned house exploring
Nightmare stood stock still, laughing as the slip of a girl scaled the last bit of the ruins, coming to stand before him. She couldn't be a day over 16 (*See Author's Note), judging by the youth of her features and the spring of her step as she pushed herself into a standing position.
"So you are Nightmare. The possessor of Soul Edge, who has slain so many.." The girl's voice rang clear in the evening sky, certainly not sounding as immature as Nightmare had first expected.
"Come closer, little girl, let me look upon your pretty face, for soon it shall be as cold and dead as the rocks we stand upon." Nightmare's voice boomed, echoing throughout the ruins, as he once again began his cold, heartless laughter. Despite his arrogant exterior, Nightmare noticed the shining form of Soul Calibur in the hand of the young girl, quickly re- assessing the situation – perhaps the girl was more dangerous than she first appeared.
Xiang Hua took a few careful steps towards the looming form of Nightmare, more than slightly unnerved by the ghastly appearance of the demon, [Can I really do this? Just look at him..] she thought nervously to herself, keeping her eyes focused on her opponent.
"Soon YOUR face will be the one lying cold and dead on the rocks, demon!" Xiang Hua boasted, trying to boost her confidence.
"Then let us begin, young one." Nightmare smirked underneath his twisted helmet, dragging Soul Edge along the ground towards the ripe young lady. [Fresh meat...] Soul Edge cackled with glee, forcing Nightmare forward step by step, while Siegfried's mind struggled feebly in the dark recesses of Nightmare's soul.
Xiang Hua backpedaled quickly even before Nightmare attacked, trying to stay out of his reach while fueling her courage. Luckily, her quick retreat placed her a hair's breadth out of the range of Nightmare's first attack, a great overhand cleave with the massive Soul Edge which slammed into the ground at Xiang Hua's feet, sending pieces of broken rock flying in all directions. Xiang Hua raised her arms reflexively to protect herself from the chunks of rock, which pummeled her as she stumbled back, shocked by the force of the blow.
Heart pounding in her chest, Xiang Hua darted to the side, desperately trying to avoid Nightmare's next attack, [I can't do this, he's too strong!!] she yelled to herself silently, on the verge of panic as Nightmare's massive blade swept over her head, barely missing as she dove onto the ground.
"Try again!" She shouted haughtily, trying to talk big to restore some of her former courage. Nightmare complied easily, stabbing his blade straight for Xiang Hua's chest. Reacting at the last moment, Xiang Hua slammed her blade against Soul Edge, pushing it aside with all of her might while stepping to the side of the demonic sword. Surprised by how easily Soul Edge was deflected, [That's right, I have Soul Calibur! I can win this!!] she lunged straight for Nightmare's stomach with sword outstretched.
Nightmare quickly pulled up his blade in a vertical sweep, knocking Soul Calibur off-kilter, and counter-attacking with an overhand strike, which Xiang Hua raised her weapon to cross-parry. The massive Soul Edge slammed against the upraised surface of Soul Calibur in a clash of noise and metal, while Xiang Hua held her ground using the power of her sword.
"Come on! Is that all you've got!?" Xiang Hua shouted, darting forward to strike through Nightmare's shoulder-plate with the point of her weapon. Just as Soul Calibur cut through Nightmare's armor, Xiang Hua was caught on the leg with a vicious backswing from the mighty Soul Edge, slicing into her calf and knocking her clean off her feet. Landing flat on her back, knocking the wind from her lungs, Xiang Hua rolled aside desperately while struggling to regain her breath. Stumbling to her feet and favoring her left leg, she let out several ragged breaths while staying a good distance out of Nightmare's range.
"Pathetic, little girl. Using that sword, I had hoped you would be more of a challenge." Nightmare taunted the injured girl, yet still felt the sting of the wound on his shoulder, as the blood of Siegfried's twisted body seeped down through his armor plating.
"You'll see how much of a challenge I can be!!" [I hope...] Xiang Hua boasted, rushing forward with feet clattering against the hard stone floor, quickly springing into a cartwheel while attempting to keep as much weight as possible on her uninjured leg. Nightmare rotated his hips, lashing out with an armored leg to deliver a vicious roundhouse kick to Xiang Hua's midsection, just as she flipped within range. Grunting in pain as Nightmare's foot slammed her off course, the young girl sailed through the air for several meters, bracing herself to roll as she crashed into the hard rock floor. Rising to her feet shakily, Xiang Hua clutched Soul Calibur in a tightened fist, leg stinging from Soul Edge's slice and body aching from her latest mishap. [I can't give up now, I have to stop the Soul Edge!]
"That was n-nothing" she stammered, stepping forward in an attack stance. "I'll show you Soul Calibur's power!" Closing her eyes to prevent distraction, Xiang Hua surged forward, slashing high twice blindly, feeling her blade skip across a metal surface, then, opening her eyes widely, she thrust her blade low towards the ground, stabbing into Nightmare's foot.
Nightmare howled in anger as the tiny girl's blade passed through his foot, sweeping his blade around horizontally for her head. Xiang Hua braced her sword with both hands, raising it to shield against Soul Edge's terrible form as the massive weapon crashed into her defenses, causing her to skid almost a full meter to the side. As she pulled back her weapon to slash downwards upon Nightmare, the twisted form of Siegfried reached out with a huge, deformed hand to grab her by the neck and haul her into the air.
"Die, little girl!" Nightmare's voice boomed, as he swung Soul Edge diagonally, hoping to cleave the struggling female in half. Xiang Hua whirled Soul Calibur around to guard against the blow while squirming in the fist of Nightmare, managing to deflect the greater portion of the attack. The force and weight of Soul Edge, however, shoved the smaller Soul Calibur aside, cutting a horrendous gash down across Xiang Hua's chest as she hit the ground hard.
The wounded, weary woman picked herself up as quickly as her bleeding body would permit, not allowing Nightmare time to recover from his attack. As she rose, Xiang Hua shouting hoarsely, "How about this!!" pulling back her sword to slash twice lightly across Nightmare's upper body, the first slash skipping from his disfigured armor while the second sliced his shoulder near the collarbone.
"Here's another!" Confidence bolstered by her own voice and her successful attack, Xiang Hua spun around, thrusting her Soul Calibur straight backwards in a last desperate effort to turn the tide of the losing battle. As Nightmare raised his mighty greatsword to block the young girl's thrust, Soul Calibur pierced into the looming, terrible eye at the base of Soul Edge's demonic form.
For a split-second, both weapons seemed to shudder and resonate as their wielders froze in mid-swing. Then, suddenly, as if two volatile chemicals combined to form an exponentially volatile reaction, the weapons exploded with a resounding boom, shattered metal pieces spraying forth from the once-great swords. Soul Calibur's shards intermingled with those of Soul Edge to shower upon the stone ruins, clinking against the ground like steel rain falling from a sky of darkness.
As Siegfried watched the top half of his monstrous captor explode in a fury of energy, he felt a terrible searing pain consume his body, as if his own arm had been torn loose from his torso and tossed aside. [The shards!!! RETRIEVE THEM NOW!!!] Soul Edge's voice boomed through Siegfried's head, adding to the pain of dismemberment, but Siegfried's attention was diverted to the young, courageous girl who had stood up to his terrible reign as Nightmare. Somehow, her courage reminded him of another woman who had once stood up to the blade.. Siegfried watched in horror and remorse as a single shard of Soul Edge tore into the girl's chest near her heart, knocking her backwards off the edge of the ruins. Reaching desperately in a vain attempt to grasp the girl's hand, Siegfried fell to his chest as Soul Calibur's former wielder toppled out of sight, in all likelihood falling down the cliff surrounding the base of the ancient fortress to crash on the rocks below. Letting out a terrible scream of pain, anger, and regret, Siegfried desperately tried to fight off the encroaching will of the Soul Edge...
...
"..gfried! Siegfried!!! Wake up!! You're having a nightmare!!" Sophitia's urgent voice broke through Siegfried's dreamlike state, hauling him back to reality from the dark recesses of his memories. He shot up into a straight sitting position, grasping outwards to try to reach the fading hand of the young girl.. and his fingers closed around a smooth but well-defined female wrist. [I caught her!?] Siegfried thought to himself in desperate surprise, [I've never caught her in the hundred times I've had this dream!] As the dream images slowly passed into reality around him, droplets of water fell loosely from tree branches, remnants of the prior day's rain, and the slow, easy swish of a mountain stream echoed lightly from behind Sophitia's kneeling silhouette.
"Are you awake? You were screaming terribly.. I was afraid that S-.. that.." Sophitia began, then stammered when she almost mentioned her true fear: the fear that Soul Edge had been retaking Siegfried's body. Glancing down awkwardly to Siegfried's hand clasped around her wrist, Sophitia decided not to point out that he was holding her with a painfully tight grip.
Siegfried shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the awful visions that still left their imprint upon his weary soul. Finally noticing his fingers around Sophitia's wrist, "O-oh, I.. s-sorry, I was reaching for.." and he quickly let her arm fall to her lap, pulling back his hand, [so, I failed to catch her this time as well.. just as always..] "I was.." glancing to Sophitia, his voice ground to a halt, as he suddenly realized that he didn't really want Sophitia to know what had happened back then.. he didn't want her to know about yet another of a long line of terrible sins.. yet another sign of his monstrosity and lack of control.. yet another reason why she should leave him alone.
"I killed a young girl." He stated simply.
"I don't believe that." Sophitia replied, just as simply.
Siegfried looked up at her incredulously, "What do you mean, you don't believe that? You know I've.. I've murdered.." he began, but Sophitia cut him off shortly,
"Siegfried, stop this nonsense. You must learn to separate yourself from the blade if you ever want to be free." Sophitia immediately felt guilty for being so harsh with him, [I shouldn't be so patronizing.. but it might be the only way to get him to relinquish his association with that awful weapon.. if he would just stop thinking of it as himself..] "Why don't you tell me what happened? Tell me about your dream.. about what .. what Nightmare, and Soul Edge did.. and about what you saw while you were there." She took a seat next to him, bending her knees to fold her legs up under herself comfortably.
... And so he relayed the story of his battle with Xiang Hua to Sophitia, who listened raptly for several hours...
After Siegfried finished his tale, he turned away from Sophitia, not daring to see the look of pity and horror he knew he would find staring back at him. Sophitia simply let out a small sigh, folding her hands in her lap.
"She could have survived, you didn't see where she fell. Did you find her afterwards?" Sophitia asked supportively.
"I.. I don't know, I don't remember much after that, except for gathering the pieces of Soul Edge." Siegfried said, without much conviction in his voice.
"Then who knows? Why don't we just assume that she's alive and well, just as I was when I was cut up by the shards of the blade four years ago." Sophitia offered, hoping to cheer Siegfried up, [I'm so clumsy.. I'm probably making him feel worse.. I better just close my mouth..] she thought to herself dejectedly.
"You were.. that's right.. and you survived.." Siegfried didn't dare hope that the girl had lived, but he was beginning to feel pleased that he had told Sophitia of his long-time recurring nightmare [at least she doesn't seem to hate me even more now..].
"With the blessings of Hephaestus. And I'm sure whichever god that girl believes in has granted her the same kindness. Why don't you get some rest now, Siegfried? I'll keep watch." [In case anyone comes by, or in case Soul Edge regains the upper hand.. he did not look to be in good condition when he woke up..] Sophitia thought to herself grimly, but at the same time, she felt proud that he had tried his best to rescue the girl – regardless of what Soul Edge had done, the man that was Siegfried deserved much better than this.
Siegfried nodded tiredly, shutting his eyes and leaning his head back against the tree behind him, trying to relax his body. [It's been so long since I had control over it, I barely know what to do with it anymore...] Siegfried thought to himself, chuckling cynically as he attempted to adjust his back to feel slightly more comfortable. Feeling relief for having relinquished even a small portion of his burden to Sophitia, Siegfried was finally able to rest with some measure of comfort for the first time in a very, very long while.
End Chapter 5
* Author Note: Since the destruction of Soul Edge occurs 2 years earlier in this fic than it did in the game series, Xiang Hua would actually have to be two years older than she was in game (unless I wanted her to be 14, which is too young to fight well in my opinion). Since this is 2 years after Soul Blade ended, instead of 14 as she would be at this time in the game, I decided to make her 16. Thus at "present" in the fanfic, Xiang Hua would be 19 years old.
email questions/comments: kelaros@mail.com
Nightmare stood stock still, laughing as the slip of a girl scaled the last bit of the ruins, coming to stand before him. She couldn't be a day over 16 (*See Author's Note), judging by the youth of her features and the spring of her step as she pushed herself into a standing position.
"So you are Nightmare. The possessor of Soul Edge, who has slain so many.." The girl's voice rang clear in the evening sky, certainly not sounding as immature as Nightmare had first expected.
"Come closer, little girl, let me look upon your pretty face, for soon it shall be as cold and dead as the rocks we stand upon." Nightmare's voice boomed, echoing throughout the ruins, as he once again began his cold, heartless laughter. Despite his arrogant exterior, Nightmare noticed the shining form of Soul Calibur in the hand of the young girl, quickly re- assessing the situation – perhaps the girl was more dangerous than she first appeared.
Xiang Hua took a few careful steps towards the looming form of Nightmare, more than slightly unnerved by the ghastly appearance of the demon, [Can I really do this? Just look at him..] she thought nervously to herself, keeping her eyes focused on her opponent.
"Soon YOUR face will be the one lying cold and dead on the rocks, demon!" Xiang Hua boasted, trying to boost her confidence.
"Then let us begin, young one." Nightmare smirked underneath his twisted helmet, dragging Soul Edge along the ground towards the ripe young lady. [Fresh meat...] Soul Edge cackled with glee, forcing Nightmare forward step by step, while Siegfried's mind struggled feebly in the dark recesses of Nightmare's soul.
Xiang Hua backpedaled quickly even before Nightmare attacked, trying to stay out of his reach while fueling her courage. Luckily, her quick retreat placed her a hair's breadth out of the range of Nightmare's first attack, a great overhand cleave with the massive Soul Edge which slammed into the ground at Xiang Hua's feet, sending pieces of broken rock flying in all directions. Xiang Hua raised her arms reflexively to protect herself from the chunks of rock, which pummeled her as she stumbled back, shocked by the force of the blow.
Heart pounding in her chest, Xiang Hua darted to the side, desperately trying to avoid Nightmare's next attack, [I can't do this, he's too strong!!] she yelled to herself silently, on the verge of panic as Nightmare's massive blade swept over her head, barely missing as she dove onto the ground.
"Try again!" She shouted haughtily, trying to talk big to restore some of her former courage. Nightmare complied easily, stabbing his blade straight for Xiang Hua's chest. Reacting at the last moment, Xiang Hua slammed her blade against Soul Edge, pushing it aside with all of her might while stepping to the side of the demonic sword. Surprised by how easily Soul Edge was deflected, [That's right, I have Soul Calibur! I can win this!!] she lunged straight for Nightmare's stomach with sword outstretched.
Nightmare quickly pulled up his blade in a vertical sweep, knocking Soul Calibur off-kilter, and counter-attacking with an overhand strike, which Xiang Hua raised her weapon to cross-parry. The massive Soul Edge slammed against the upraised surface of Soul Calibur in a clash of noise and metal, while Xiang Hua held her ground using the power of her sword.
"Come on! Is that all you've got!?" Xiang Hua shouted, darting forward to strike through Nightmare's shoulder-plate with the point of her weapon. Just as Soul Calibur cut through Nightmare's armor, Xiang Hua was caught on the leg with a vicious backswing from the mighty Soul Edge, slicing into her calf and knocking her clean off her feet. Landing flat on her back, knocking the wind from her lungs, Xiang Hua rolled aside desperately while struggling to regain her breath. Stumbling to her feet and favoring her left leg, she let out several ragged breaths while staying a good distance out of Nightmare's range.
"Pathetic, little girl. Using that sword, I had hoped you would be more of a challenge." Nightmare taunted the injured girl, yet still felt the sting of the wound on his shoulder, as the blood of Siegfried's twisted body seeped down through his armor plating.
"You'll see how much of a challenge I can be!!" [I hope...] Xiang Hua boasted, rushing forward with feet clattering against the hard stone floor, quickly springing into a cartwheel while attempting to keep as much weight as possible on her uninjured leg. Nightmare rotated his hips, lashing out with an armored leg to deliver a vicious roundhouse kick to Xiang Hua's midsection, just as she flipped within range. Grunting in pain as Nightmare's foot slammed her off course, the young girl sailed through the air for several meters, bracing herself to roll as she crashed into the hard rock floor. Rising to her feet shakily, Xiang Hua clutched Soul Calibur in a tightened fist, leg stinging from Soul Edge's slice and body aching from her latest mishap. [I can't give up now, I have to stop the Soul Edge!]
"That was n-nothing" she stammered, stepping forward in an attack stance. "I'll show you Soul Calibur's power!" Closing her eyes to prevent distraction, Xiang Hua surged forward, slashing high twice blindly, feeling her blade skip across a metal surface, then, opening her eyes widely, she thrust her blade low towards the ground, stabbing into Nightmare's foot.
Nightmare howled in anger as the tiny girl's blade passed through his foot, sweeping his blade around horizontally for her head. Xiang Hua braced her sword with both hands, raising it to shield against Soul Edge's terrible form as the massive weapon crashed into her defenses, causing her to skid almost a full meter to the side. As she pulled back her weapon to slash downwards upon Nightmare, the twisted form of Siegfried reached out with a huge, deformed hand to grab her by the neck and haul her into the air.
"Die, little girl!" Nightmare's voice boomed, as he swung Soul Edge diagonally, hoping to cleave the struggling female in half. Xiang Hua whirled Soul Calibur around to guard against the blow while squirming in the fist of Nightmare, managing to deflect the greater portion of the attack. The force and weight of Soul Edge, however, shoved the smaller Soul Calibur aside, cutting a horrendous gash down across Xiang Hua's chest as she hit the ground hard.
The wounded, weary woman picked herself up as quickly as her bleeding body would permit, not allowing Nightmare time to recover from his attack. As she rose, Xiang Hua shouting hoarsely, "How about this!!" pulling back her sword to slash twice lightly across Nightmare's upper body, the first slash skipping from his disfigured armor while the second sliced his shoulder near the collarbone.
"Here's another!" Confidence bolstered by her own voice and her successful attack, Xiang Hua spun around, thrusting her Soul Calibur straight backwards in a last desperate effort to turn the tide of the losing battle. As Nightmare raised his mighty greatsword to block the young girl's thrust, Soul Calibur pierced into the looming, terrible eye at the base of Soul Edge's demonic form.
For a split-second, both weapons seemed to shudder and resonate as their wielders froze in mid-swing. Then, suddenly, as if two volatile chemicals combined to form an exponentially volatile reaction, the weapons exploded with a resounding boom, shattered metal pieces spraying forth from the once-great swords. Soul Calibur's shards intermingled with those of Soul Edge to shower upon the stone ruins, clinking against the ground like steel rain falling from a sky of darkness.
As Siegfried watched the top half of his monstrous captor explode in a fury of energy, he felt a terrible searing pain consume his body, as if his own arm had been torn loose from his torso and tossed aside. [The shards!!! RETRIEVE THEM NOW!!!] Soul Edge's voice boomed through Siegfried's head, adding to the pain of dismemberment, but Siegfried's attention was diverted to the young, courageous girl who had stood up to his terrible reign as Nightmare. Somehow, her courage reminded him of another woman who had once stood up to the blade.. Siegfried watched in horror and remorse as a single shard of Soul Edge tore into the girl's chest near her heart, knocking her backwards off the edge of the ruins. Reaching desperately in a vain attempt to grasp the girl's hand, Siegfried fell to his chest as Soul Calibur's former wielder toppled out of sight, in all likelihood falling down the cliff surrounding the base of the ancient fortress to crash on the rocks below. Letting out a terrible scream of pain, anger, and regret, Siegfried desperately tried to fight off the encroaching will of the Soul Edge...
...
"..gfried! Siegfried!!! Wake up!! You're having a nightmare!!" Sophitia's urgent voice broke through Siegfried's dreamlike state, hauling him back to reality from the dark recesses of his memories. He shot up into a straight sitting position, grasping outwards to try to reach the fading hand of the young girl.. and his fingers closed around a smooth but well-defined female wrist. [I caught her!?] Siegfried thought to himself in desperate surprise, [I've never caught her in the hundred times I've had this dream!] As the dream images slowly passed into reality around him, droplets of water fell loosely from tree branches, remnants of the prior day's rain, and the slow, easy swish of a mountain stream echoed lightly from behind Sophitia's kneeling silhouette.
"Are you awake? You were screaming terribly.. I was afraid that S-.. that.." Sophitia began, then stammered when she almost mentioned her true fear: the fear that Soul Edge had been retaking Siegfried's body. Glancing down awkwardly to Siegfried's hand clasped around her wrist, Sophitia decided not to point out that he was holding her with a painfully tight grip.
Siegfried shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the awful visions that still left their imprint upon his weary soul. Finally noticing his fingers around Sophitia's wrist, "O-oh, I.. s-sorry, I was reaching for.." and he quickly let her arm fall to her lap, pulling back his hand, [so, I failed to catch her this time as well.. just as always..] "I was.." glancing to Sophitia, his voice ground to a halt, as he suddenly realized that he didn't really want Sophitia to know what had happened back then.. he didn't want her to know about yet another of a long line of terrible sins.. yet another sign of his monstrosity and lack of control.. yet another reason why she should leave him alone.
"I killed a young girl." He stated simply.
"I don't believe that." Sophitia replied, just as simply.
Siegfried looked up at her incredulously, "What do you mean, you don't believe that? You know I've.. I've murdered.." he began, but Sophitia cut him off shortly,
"Siegfried, stop this nonsense. You must learn to separate yourself from the blade if you ever want to be free." Sophitia immediately felt guilty for being so harsh with him, [I shouldn't be so patronizing.. but it might be the only way to get him to relinquish his association with that awful weapon.. if he would just stop thinking of it as himself..] "Why don't you tell me what happened? Tell me about your dream.. about what .. what Nightmare, and Soul Edge did.. and about what you saw while you were there." She took a seat next to him, bending her knees to fold her legs up under herself comfortably.
... And so he relayed the story of his battle with Xiang Hua to Sophitia, who listened raptly for several hours...
After Siegfried finished his tale, he turned away from Sophitia, not daring to see the look of pity and horror he knew he would find staring back at him. Sophitia simply let out a small sigh, folding her hands in her lap.
"She could have survived, you didn't see where she fell. Did you find her afterwards?" Sophitia asked supportively.
"I.. I don't know, I don't remember much after that, except for gathering the pieces of Soul Edge." Siegfried said, without much conviction in his voice.
"Then who knows? Why don't we just assume that she's alive and well, just as I was when I was cut up by the shards of the blade four years ago." Sophitia offered, hoping to cheer Siegfried up, [I'm so clumsy.. I'm probably making him feel worse.. I better just close my mouth..] she thought to herself dejectedly.
"You were.. that's right.. and you survived.." Siegfried didn't dare hope that the girl had lived, but he was beginning to feel pleased that he had told Sophitia of his long-time recurring nightmare [at least she doesn't seem to hate me even more now..].
"With the blessings of Hephaestus. And I'm sure whichever god that girl believes in has granted her the same kindness. Why don't you get some rest now, Siegfried? I'll keep watch." [In case anyone comes by, or in case Soul Edge regains the upper hand.. he did not look to be in good condition when he woke up..] Sophitia thought to herself grimly, but at the same time, she felt proud that he had tried his best to rescue the girl – regardless of what Soul Edge had done, the man that was Siegfried deserved much better than this.
Siegfried nodded tiredly, shutting his eyes and leaning his head back against the tree behind him, trying to relax his body. [It's been so long since I had control over it, I barely know what to do with it anymore...] Siegfried thought to himself, chuckling cynically as he attempted to adjust his back to feel slightly more comfortable. Feeling relief for having relinquished even a small portion of his burden to Sophitia, Siegfried was finally able to rest with some measure of comfort for the first time in a very, very long while.
End Chapter 5
* Author Note: Since the destruction of Soul Edge occurs 2 years earlier in this fic than it did in the game series, Xiang Hua would actually have to be two years older than she was in game (unless I wanted her to be 14, which is too young to fight well in my opinion). Since this is 2 years after Soul Blade ended, instead of 14 as she would be at this time in the game, I decided to make her 16. Thus at "present" in the fanfic, Xiang Hua would be 19 years old.
email questions/comments: kelaros@mail.com