Disclaimer: Ah jeez, no witty remarks this time. I don't own Soul Calibur or anything like that, or its characters, this is purely an outlet for too much creativity and a really screwed up mind.

A/N: Damn, I have seriously been slacking....loss of inspiration one would say....err or just me getting lazy with the whole 'no more all nighters' junk. Anyways.... Yeah sorry about the descriptions, really lacking on that, and I'm trying to figure out how everyone's getting over that mean ole' "language barrier". In fact, sorry for not doing anything writing-oriented for like what, 5 months? I guess I kept putting it off, but hey, guess I'm back now. This kinda thing happens when you got too much crap going on, like failing out of school...Err... like I stated, I need to work on this, try and do some research. As for the nationalities, I know about the tensions in the east around that time period, sorry I didn't incorporate it better, but hell, you got a whole bunch of people from different countries traveling/fighting each other, so what the hell? Besides, who said true love couldn't bloom between enemies? coughcornycough.

Chapter 11: Civilization!

    It was a longer hike than Talim expected, but they had arrived at a very large port city. It looked like a cross between a walled city and a coastal fortress. The gates were wide open and the guards welcomed them in with friendly expressions. William and Talim trudged aimlessly through the bustling streets trying to find some sort of weapon smith to help repair their overly-abused equipment.

"Wow, I can't believe how many people are actually out in the streets. All the villages and hamlets we've been to there were barely anyone on the streets, let alone running stands in the streets. I guess they're not afraid of an attack." Talim thought out loud while walking next to William. People were wise enough to clear out of William's path. The giant man just trudged along, sword over shoulder, occasionally bumping into someone who didn't see the big man coming.

"Me tinks me see somthin like em' smithy peeplz!" William jabbed a finger straight ahead past a crowd. It was an open-air smithy being run by several blacksmiths. Each one was racing back and forth with molten metal, buckets of water, clamps, hammers. . .they seemed so frantic with their actions. What piqued Talim's curiosity more was the massive amount of swords, lances, and shields being made and tossed into large barrels and crates. It was if they were making weapons to fight a war. Talim dodged her way through the crowd in front of the smith while William just plowed his way past. Unfortunately, William had picked a wrong person to shove out of the way. The man whipped around angrily and started shouting insults at William and jabbing him in the chest with a rather pointy index finger. William grabbed the unfortunate man's arm and twisted it sideways. There was a sickening crack followed quickly by a scream of pain. William looked down on the man who was rolling on the ground in agonizing pain, gripping his broken arm. Everyone gave William a wide berth after that, and the pair quickly found themselves in front of the smithy.

"Um. . .excuse me, but are you open?" Talim asked politely. Several blacksmiths ran by her, not taking notice or to busy to notice.

"Excuse me? We would like to have some repairs done?" Talim tried again, once again, not a glance from any of the smiths as they worked frantically. Talim sighed and put a hand on her forehead. William saw her plight and trudged towards the closest smith.

"We wants service!!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. The shocked smith quickly recovered, rubbing his ears.

"Hey hey hey, keep it down, we're busy sorry. We've got a big deadline and we don't have the time to repair anything right now." The smith said irritably before going back to tempering a sword.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are the weapons for?" Talim asked innocently, prying for information. She got what she was prying for.

"They say that them demon things are massing up again, so every major city is supposedly stocking up on weapons and armor. Tis a great day for blacksmiths like us then, even if there's a war approaching." He said, concentrating once again on his work.

"Demons? I didn't think there were so many, but massing?" She said out loud to herself. The smith glanced irritably back at her while working.

"Listen you two, maybe after we close up, I'll try and see what I can do, but for now, can you leave me alone? I got about fifty more swords to temper for this shift and you talking to me isn't. . . .hey what are you doin' there?" The smith said, pointing his hammer at William, who in turn, had grabbed a hammer and started to temper a sword. Sparks flung from each hit William struck against the heated blade.

"Me be help! Me know how to work in smiths." William said, tossing the tempered sword into a vat of water and grabbing a newly fired one.

"Hmph . . . I suppose. . .just don't screw anything up, we only make high quality weapons here." The smith smirked and went back to hitting, this time with more vigor, trying to keep up with William's rate. Talim just smiled and stood out of the way.

OI>

    Rheaol sat in a dark corner while his master worked on his arm wound. Ever since losing the fight to Takaishi, Rajied had gone off the deep end towards Rheaol, claiming the demon assassin as a failure, a lost cause, and a worthless creation. Rheaol just ignored his master's pointless rambling, the one thing on his mind was to get stronger. He needed more power, he needed to get stronger to defeat the human that had bested him. Everything else was pointless, all he wanted was revenge, to reclaim his lost honor as both Angel of Death, and as a high ranked demon.

"That human will pay." Rheaol muttered under his breath. Rajied heard his comment.

"He better damn well pay, or you will. Understood Rheaol? NO MORE FAILURES!" Rajied seemed to grow twice his size when he became infuriated, the hatred burning in his eyes burned even brighter than usual.

"Understood, there is no room for a second failure. If it happens, termination is immanent." Rheaol uttered, the line rehearsed perfectly for just such an occasion. Hearing such a line coming from one of his most defiant minions, the demon lord stepped back a bit, both shocked and pleased that he finally got a point across to Rheaol.

"Good that you see things my way finally Rheaol, because I have a new servant to replace you if you do . . ." Rajied threw out his arm as if presenting something. On queue, a man sat up off one of the tables Rajied used for experiments. There was a blank look in his eyes, as if all hope was lost, every ounce of his soul gone. He wore a tattered and bloodied red vest and a necklace around his neck.

"I serve my master Rajied, and only him." The man said in a monotone voice.

"Ah yes, such a fine catch, and to think, that idiot Raphael would waste such a good corpse. You see Rheaol, there is no more room for you anymore, so you better prove that my assumptions of you being useless are wrong." Rajied sneered at Rheaol and the turned to leave, the red-vested man following behind him.

OI>

"'Fraid I can do nothing for these, lass." One of the smiths handed back her tattered tonfas after inspecting them. Talim bowed slightly and took her weapons back.

"Thank you for trying." Talim glanced over her shoulder where William was sharpening the cutting edge of his massive sword. He had been working on it for a good two hours and he still wasn't half way down the blade!

"William, are you going to be here a while?" Talim asked the large man as she walked forward.

"Be looking dat way." He responded, not looking up to meet Talim's eyes.

"'Kay then, I'm going to look around the street stands a bit while you're working. See you in a bit." She waved slightly and took off towards the street, but one of the burly smiths stopped her.

"Fergot something' lass..." the smith rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a small bag, "This is the pay for the share of the work your friend did, he said to give it to ya." The smith held his hand out with the pouch. Talim accepted the payment gratefully.

"Thank you very much." Talim tied the small pouch to the rim of her pants and stepped out into the streets and looked around. Many of the stands were closed but a few remained open. Some selling trinkets, others good-luck charms, occasionally a fruit stand here and there, but it was a rarity. Occasionally heavily armed guards would trudge down the street in threes, obviously routine patrolling. Talim could make out archers walking along the city walls and towers that where scattered about the city. The place definitely looked like it was ready for a war. Talim kept walking down the street. It seemed to be less bustling than usual, as more people started to head back to their homes. She rounded another corner when she nearly collided with a guard.

"Excuse me miss, but the curfew is coming up, its best that you head home now, if you're caught outside you could be thrown in prison or shot." The guard said in a gruff voice. Talim took a step back and bowed slightly.

"Ah... Thank you for informing me of this, is there an inn around here that I could check in to?" She asked politely.

"Aye, there's one two residential blocks down from here. Is that all miss?" The guard inquired."

"Ah, um yes, how do you get there from the smithery?"

"Three business blocks to the west, one block to the south at the edge of the residential. Excuse me, but I need to get back to work." He brushed past Talim, the sound of clunking armor fading away.

'I need to go find William.' She thought to herself as she ran down the city blocks, working her way back to the blacksmith's.

While running down the streets, Talim took note of the street lamps being doused. Pretty soon, the only light sources left would be the torches high up on the ramparts and the signal fire from the guard towers. This was just more incentive for Talim to run faster. She blew past another guard patrol that futiley tried to stop her.

"H-hey! You're..." One of the guards shouted after her,

"Yeah! I know, curfew, off streets, I'm working on it!" She shouted back with a wave. The guard stood dumbfounded for a few seconds watching the girl run off, then merely shrugged it off.

OI>

 ::End Chapter::

A/N:: Once again, I apologize for taking so long on this update. I've got up to chapter 17 on the backburners, but they're all rough outlines, I still need to better address certain points for the ahem "plot". Also sorry for this rather small chappie, but I need to keep other characters still in the plot, I just can't have them drop off the face of the earth. So those who like this fic, just hang tight, 12 should be following soon....hopefully, if I can keep my grades up and my laziness in check. See that button down in the corner? You know, the review button? Press it, and send me stuff that I can improve on!