A.N: Alright, thank you to the THREE people who reviewed. Just, three. All it takes is a little click and maybe a word or two but no. You can FLAME me if you want, I don't care, just stop me from getting lonely.

Chapter 1

'Red. Blood. He was surrounded by it, breathing it, smelling it, tasting it. Swimming in it, sinking in it…drowning in it.

And pain. An ocean of blood and anguish and agony. He couldn't escape it, could barely stay conscious in it, but there was someone, diving through the scarlet suffering…to save him, perhaps.

But as the person reached, they were deformed and grinning and suddenly, killing him'

The previously sleeping figure rolled over in his bed, groaning to himself. The dream had plagued him for nights now, and unfortunately, it was probably a premonition, his dreams usually were. Sighing he rolled over onto his back and stared up at the beech coloured ceiling, putting a hand to his forehead and wiping away the sweat, pushing it into his brown hair.

Leaning back he closed his eyes again and rested against the pillow at his back. It was these moments that made him hate even more that he could sense evil, especially since the current events were particularly malevolent. He listened for a moment to the quiet outside, enjoying the near silence, the only sound being the wind and a few birds, one chirped a little loudly and he cracked one eye open to see it sitting on the window frame. He smiled a little and closed his eye, he would have to get up in a few minutes, but….he was too comfortable right now, despite the dream.

A distant scream suddenly shattered that though, and he dashed out of bed, running to the window and looking out, brown eyes searching desperately for the reason.

He located it soon enough. The small village, just beyond the 'house', was swamped with people frantically running towards their houses, scuttling to safety; in the centre of the commotion was a humanoid figure. One that had probably once been human…it wasn't anymore though.

Turning around he grabbed a pair of pants from the chair, pulling them on hastily. Slipping on his red cloak and boots, he grabbed the rod that stood in the corner and ripped the door open, dashing down the stairs and out the front door.

A minute later, he was standing in the centre of the village, looking at the figure who had reached the creature before him. He walked over to him.

"Another one?" he asked

"Yeah, how many is that now?"

"From this village, about ten….ten too many if you ask me"

"Hmmm" the other man frowned at the creature lying, dead, at his feet. "There's something seriously wrong here, Kilik"

Kilik snorted, and looked over to his companion. "That's an understatement"

He didn't get a reply. "Maxi?"

"Yeah?"

"We need to find out what's behind this, even if it means setting off again"

"I know,"

Kilik glanced at Maxi, concerned. Ever since these deaths had started, he had gone unusually quiet, something no-one expected from the usually chipper pirate.

"I think it's time we called everyone together again" Maxi commented, kneeling down to look at the former human. "Is it me, or does this look incredibly familiar"

"Maxi, all the people who have been turned into these things look like this"

"….What I mean is this" he pointed to a lump on the arm of the body, it resembled a large, yellow eye "Very similar to Demon Sword, don't you think?"

Kilik half-smiled at Maxi's terming, he could come out with the strangest things, and only he could get away with it. He had several terms for Soul Edge ranging from 'Demon Sword' to 'Freaky Swordy Eye Thing', although Demon Sword was his usual one. He didn't, however, dare even to think about mentioning any of them in front of Siegfried.

"I've never seen one so clear before" Kilik commented

"Which means that whatever is causing this, freaky sword or otherwise, is getting stronger"

"People can only mutate when touching Soul Edge though, and Siegfried has that under close guard. He wouldn't let anyone near it."

"Unless something happened. Which is unlikely, we only contacted him a week ago. So it has to be something else, similar"

Maxi looked down at the body, grabbing a piece of cloth and guarding his hand with it, before gingerly turning it over.

The once human, was hideously deformed, ragged rips covering it, and teeth emerging from them. The skin had turned brown, black and green, and was covered in blood. One of the eyelids of the face had either rotted away, or been pulled off, leaving the raw, red eyeball exposed. The back was covered in thin black and dark red lines, spilling their way up to the neck and going underneath the remaining black hair of the former man.

"Get a sheet, we have to cover this over and move it away" Kilik frowned.

Maxi nodded his head and jogged to a small building in the corner of the village. He disappeared inside for a minute and shortly came back out, white sheet in hand. Laying it across the body, he gently pulled the body back over. He grabbed one end of the sheet and Kilk grabbed the other, lifting the makeshift stretcher up, and carrying it to a small shed, where the other bodies had been placed. Pulling the sheet back over it, Maxi straightened and walked away, Kilik by his side.

Maxi stood in the forest, glancing up at the canopy, white light filtering through. It had been two years since he, Siegfried, Yunsung and Raphael had visited Hyrule and Link. He hadn't heard from the Hylians since, and he was started to get a little worried over their lack of activity. He would have to go back to Hyrule sometime soon, and visit Link, Liam and Zelda. He suspected that Leon had gone back to his world after they had departed.

Sighing he turned and made his way back to the house. That was the only reason he was distant and quiet, he was just missing his friends, Xianghua and everyone, not just Link. Perhaps with the events, they could get together, even if it was just to sort this out.

A sudden sharp 'kee' made him stop, and he turned to see a black hawk swoop towards him. It slowed and landed on his shoulder and extended its leg. Attached, was a small, rolled up piece of paper, he smiled and removed it. It was a short message from Siegfried, he and Kilik had been contacting him since these events had started. People were mutating into monsters and attacking villages and towns, killing their people. Those who were attacked, but survived, soon turned into a monster too. The problem was, no one knew how to stop this. It had started a few months ago, and it was affecting the whole world.

He unrolled the paper and read the scrawled, bold handwriting that spidered across the paper.

'Soul Edge has been acting a little unusually lately. The evil that radiates from it seems to have increased, but I'm unsure as to why. People here are mutating slowly, but it doesn't seem to affect me.'

Maxi rolled his eyes, he hadn't thought that Siegfried might be affected; it would probably take a lot to make a difference to him.

He looked towards the house that he had just walked to, to see Kilik sitting on the steps that led to the wooden structure.

"He's written back?"

Maxi nodded and handed the letter to him. He watched quietly as Kilik's brown eyes travelled over the paper. Finally he snorted and crumpled the paper up

"Of course it isn't doing anything to him; he's practically immune to it"

"That's what I thought"

"We should tell him we need to all get together and discuss this"

"Yeah, send Raven back"

Kilik nodded and grabbed a small piece if paper from off to the side, and a quill he had nearby. He wrote a small note on it and whistled. Seconds later, a black raven swooped down and he tied the note to its leg.

"Siegfried" was all he said, and the bird took flight again.

A few days later, the men got their response.

"Alright, we meet at my cathedral, by 12:00pm next Friday. I'll try to send a letter to everyone in Europe, you work on Asia. I don't care how you get here within a week, just do it!"

Maxi snorted. "How the hell do we get from China to Germany in a week?"

Kilik shrugged "We have to do it either way. Give Raven a few hours to recover, we borrow some horses and move out tonight. We can take the birds with us and send the messages along the way"

Maxi nodded "I'll go into town and see if I can get our horses" looking at the younger man, he said "are you going to tell the villagers?"

"No, they'll go mad if they know we're leaving" Kilik looked up, "Go on, I'll see if I can find any food, and get some from the shops if we need any extra"

Maxi smiled, "You know, if we do return here, they'll kill us anyway, for leaving in the first place"

"But at least we'll have saved them"

"True"

Kilik watched the pirate walk away, and then went inside the house.

It was about 11:00pm when the two men began to set off, skirting around the village and making their way to the main trail that was about five miles away. Once they were there, they would rest the horses for a minute and then press on, they had a long way to go, and they really couldn't afford to waste time.

They reached the main road in just under an hour and slid off the horses, stiffly. Maxi grunted as his feet hit the floor and stumbled over to the side of the road, under a tree to a small pool of water. He wasn't really comfortable riding a horse, he hadn't done it for two years, hadn't needed to. Kilik, on the other hand, seemed perfectly comfortable, even seeming to be enjoying himself.

"I can't believe that you're happy to be riding a horse"

Kilik grinned at him "I'm merely happy to be out on the open road again. It's been a long time since we've done any travelling, besides, I thought you would too."

"I prefer standing on the deck of a ship, having a smooth ride, to straddling an animal's back, and feeling each and every uncomfortable little jolt" Maxi whinged

Kilik shrugged and moved to join Maxi "You haven't been on a ship for nine years now, and yet you still call yourself a pirate"

"Once a pirate, always a pirate…besides, the memory of standing on the deck of the old girl is enough. That will never leave me…the salty air, the deep blue sea, the azure sky…"

"The throwing up over the side" Kilik cut in. Maxi glared and swatted at him. Kilik grinned again "Sorry, but I never was that fond of ships"

Maxi rolled his eyes and stretched "Besides," Kilik continued "Think of this as an adventure…we can have races along the road"

"How old are you, Kilik?"

"25…I am allowed to act like a three year old sometimes"

"You're usually the more mature; it seems that role has been reversed"

"Aw, is that what this sudden quietness is about? The fact that you're turning thirty in May, grandpa?" Kilik smirked and sidled away to his horse

"Come here you little twerp!" Maxi yelled, mounting his horse and galloping after Kilik, who was already moving along the road.

Kilik glanced behind him and smirked slightly, he knew that little 'turning thirty' quip would get Maxi to move.

The days moved by in a blur to Maxi and Kilik, blending into one another. They barely stopped riding, save to give the horses a chance to breathe, and for the travellers themselves to eat and drink. They had taken to sleeping on horseback, one keeping the horses moving, while the other rested. Maxi tended to stay awake more, still hating travelling on horseback; he couldn't wait to get to the cathedral in Germany.

The constant riding took its toll on the two men, leaving them stiff and sore when they finally arrived. Maxi stumbled off his horse as soon as they were just outside the village, and stretched before limping like a cripple for a short distance. Kilik on the other hand, was still as comfortable as ever, or so it seemed. Leading the horses to a nearby stable, they moved towards the cathedral.

"Man, do you have any idea how glad I am to be off that horse?" Maxi groaned as he limped up the hill

"Very?"

"Oh yeah"

"Besides, I have to remind you that we are two days late…It's Sunday" Kilik scolded. Maxi looked up at him, arching an eyebrow

"How the hell do you know?"

"I asked the man at the stable"

"Right"

The sound of muttering voices greeted the Asians as they neared the ruin. Stepping over the rubble, lethargically in Maxi's case, they saw a group of eight people, seated in a circle inside the chapel. All the Europeans, as expected, were there, all of them looking perfectly comfortable and well rested. A few Asians were there too, all in varying degrees of exhaustion, but it seemed they were still missing a few members.

Siegfried looked up at the new comers, from his place at the seeming 'head' of the circle. "Nice of you to join us, I must say…you're only two days late" he grumbled

"Yes, Ziggy, and how were your travels…oh, wait, I forgot…you haven't been on any" Maxi retorted, staggering forward.

A slight chuckle ran round the circle that, whether at Maxi's comment, or limp, was anyone's guess. Looking around Maxi took note of who had arrived. Sophitia, Cassandra, Ivy, Raphael, Xianghua, Taki, Mitsurugi and Yoshimitsu.

"Have you started the discussions yet?" Kilik asked, sitting next to Xianghua after a brief hug

"Not yet, we've been waiting for you" Siegfried responded "We're hoping that everyone else turns up tonight"

"That's if they're coming…we've been waiting two days" Mitsurugi spoke up

"There's only Yunsung, Mina and Talim to come" Maxi informed "They said they were meeting up first"

"So we could be waiting a while longer" Siegfried frowned

"You could…but you're not" spoke a masculine voice.

The group turned to see Yunsung, Mina and a taller Talim walk through the wall.

Two hours later, the group was coming to a decision.

"So we've all seen the mutations of the people, and agreed that Soul Edge can't be causing it, at least not on its own…so what do you suggest we do?" Siegfried finished

"Search around for some answers?" Yunsung suggested, shrugging

"Yeah, we know that Yunsung…the question is where to begin" Mina replied

"Uh…guys, can I just suggest something" Talim interjected, in a voice barely above a whisper

They turned to her and she blushed at being the centre of attention, before raising her head. "I've been reading the winds and lately …well, there seems to be a form of this evil coming from another world too, it's slightly different, but it's of the same origin…I think" she trailed off, lowering her head

"Do you know what world?" Maxi asked, sounding slightly eager

"…something to do with that boy you came back with two years ago, I got the impression that the winds meant him"

"Link?" Maxi turned to Siegfried "this is coming from Hyrule?"

"Could be…this isn't Soul Edge's doing alone. Perhaps we should pay him a visit and see if anything is happening over there"

"We can't all go" Yunsung argued "It'd be like an invasion, plus, if something is happening in Hyrule, the last thing they would want would be a group of thirteen people turning up on their doorstep"

"Then maybe, the one's who went last time should go again…at least they know people there" Xianghua suggested

"No. I don't want to go back there." Raphael stated, folding his arms and frowning

"Why not?" Yunsung asked

"That's none of your concern"

"So who will take Raphael's place?" Siegfried asked, looking around the group

A long silence followed the question, as the warriors looked from one to the other. Finally Kilik sighed. "I will. It may be that I can help in someway"

"Then that's settled." Ivy finalised "You should leave the day after tomorrow, and take tomorrow to rest and make preparations"

The group nodded and separated for the night. Going back to the inns they were staying at, Maxi and Kilik, were going to stay in the cathedral with Siegfried.

Maxi walked out for a moment, sending a bird out with a message to see if it could find Hyrule and inform Link of their arrival.

"So, we'll be seeing you again sooner than I thought Link".

That's chapter 1 up, and I'm still only in the middle of writing 6, so don't expect too many updates. That said I'll tryto be as quick as I can. Blame my friend Justine, or rather her borrowing of the SIMSto me. Bloody game is addictive.

Keep reviewing whatever you do PLEASE! Here's a question for you: Kilik and Maxi? Friends or slightly-more-than-just-friends-I-mean-we're-kinda-talking-boyfriends-here.

Tell me what you think. See ya soon peoples!