Author's note: Nothing new as always, but thanks for waiting!
On a side note, Chapter 14 may not be as short as I expected it to be...
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The next morning...
Sunlight flickered through a closed window, brightening Marie's room. It was just enough for her to awaken, and find herself in bed with Patroklos.
Holycrapisthisforreal?!
Once again, her thoughts were swirling nonsense as she smiled at his sleeping form. After yawning, she told him, "Good morning."
He opened his eyes, and smiled as he kissed her forehead. "Good morning, Marie."
Marie smiled back, before asking, "I guess this is a new chapter in my life, huh?"
Rubbing the back of his neck, Patroklos nodded. "I believe so. But I did feel like I'm grateful for being your first." he said.
"Mmhmm."
They kissed again, until they suddenly heard a belch from outside. It just so happened to be Greed, who was rambling endlessly about how he got laid last night.
Marie asked, "Do you think we should ask him what happened yesterday?"
"I think so."
Both of them would get out of bed and get dressed, and once they left, Freyja emerged into the room. She smiled as she saw that her torc was still present, and smiled while she graciously picked it up.
"Made good on your promise. I like that!" she said as she put it back on, before noticing Marie's dress on the floor.
She sighed as she muttered to herself, "Do I have to clean things up for once?"
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"Believe me, I enjoyed having her big titties in my face!" Greed exclaimed.
He was clearly having a hangover as Z.W.E.I. asked him, "Really? That's the only thing you remember about it?"
"Oh yeah."
Downing some more of the ale that he was served with, the silver-haired man sighed. The doors to the tavern were soon opened as Patroklos and even Marie came inside to see them, prompting him to take notice.
"You again?"
Patroklos nodded. "Yeah; Marie and I were wondering why Greed's so shit-faced this morning."
"What happened?" Marie inquired.
"As far as I can remember, he was hitting on this one girl and spent the night with her." he told him.
"And yet she also happens to work here as a waitress." Viola added. "Besides, we've recognized her a few times and didn't expect her to be at the banquet."
"Wait...I slept with one of the waitresses?" Greed asked, eyes widening in bewilderment. "Holy shit!"
Nearly the entire group laughed as the blond got up, searching almost aimlessly for the waitress that he had bedded. It didn't take long to find her, having just served a customer.
"Excuse me, do I know you?" she asked as she turned around. She was a fairly attractive redhead, and seemed to look even more beautiful when she dressed up for the banquet.
"Yeah, and we were both pretty drunk."
"And I can pretty much recall what we did last night." the waitress told him with a wink.
"Oh great..." Malice muttered to himself. "Is there a chance I ever get to hook up?"
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For the next few days or so, Patroklos traveled to Greece with the Mad Hearts Neo accompanying him. The reason that he wanted to go there was that he wanted to get advice from his aunt.
Cassandra Alexandra was the carefree and plucky little sister to Sophitia, his and Pyrrha's mother. As she had gotten older, she had maintained a strong will and was much wiser than she seemed to be, but did have that outgoing streak once in a while.
It had been a fairly long time since the siblings had last encountered her, and with Athena in charge of mentoring Patroklos, his change of attitude warmed Cassandra's heart. As they arrived at the town he and his sister grew up in, he had searched high and low for her.
Then, to his surprise, he caught a woman with slightly shoulder length blond hair in an updo. She was in the midst of getting her weapon taken care of by a blacksmith, when she saw him coming his way.
"Aunt Cassandra?"
Patroklos's words prompted a playful smile right out of her as she quickly ran over to him, giving him a strong but belated hug. "Patroklos! Where on earth have you been?" she asked.
"I've been in Germany for several months, and I've a feeling I might be staying there a little longer." he replied.
Cassandra nodded, but her smile turned into a confused frown as she asked him, "Where's Pyrrha?"
This prompted Patroklos to frown as well, and Marie spoke up with, "It's been a long story; but first, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Marie Schtauffen, known as the 'Daughter of the Two Heroes', the Fated Heroine, and what not."
She then looked over at the other members, allowing themselves to provide their introductions, as well. "I'm Lydia Carrington." Lydia said with a smile as she curtsied.
"Helen Mortavic." Helen simply told Cassandra as she nodded her head with a small smile.
"My name's Elizabeth Hancock. But you can call me 'Liz' if you want." Elizabeth added.
"And I'm Isuzu Kumosaka. And you must be?" Isuzu greeted.
"I am Cassandra Alexandra, Sophitia's little sister. Nice to meet you!"
As she spoke, she grinned, offering Marie her hand to shake, to which she accepted and done so. The leader then asked, "Would you mind if we go into more detail at your house concerning everything that has happened?"
"Nope. As soon as my sword and shield are good as new, we can get moving." Cassandra replied.
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Once Cassandra paid the blacksmith, she had brought the group back to her house. Having feared of being referred to as what modern people call a 'spinster', she married a friendly shopkeeper who was not only close to her in age, but was also a close friend of hers from childhood.
"I'm back home, Elijah!" she called out.
"My dear Cassie, welcome home!" he exclaimed.
"As you can see, my nephew had dropped by from Germany to see me. But he also brought some friends along, too."
"Oh, that's good. And you're lucky, for the servants and I have prepared ourselves some food and drink for them as soon as we can." Elijah said.
"Great!"
Cassandra smiled as she beckoned the others to the courtyard outside her home, which she had regularly used for conversations with visiting family and friends.
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The servants had graciously offered the visitors and even Cassandra tea as well as artichoke soup, and it instantly raised an eyebrow from Isuzu. "So this is what people in the Mediterranean eat?" she asked.
"Of course. But you always have to eat well if you want to become a strong fighter like I am." Cassandra replied.
As the samurai used a spoon to carefully sip her bowl of soup, Patroklos spoke up. "The reason I've come here was to not only reunite with you, but there had been a lot going on before I got here."
"Do go on; I bet it's really exciting."
He nodded. "It all started when Pyrrha tried to stop me from killing this sick man, whom I believe was malfested. As I continued residing in Lasberg, I eventually realized that my careless attitude was due to being mentored by Ares, the god of war." he added.
"Ares?! I was expecting you and Pyrrha to be mentored by Hephaestus, but..."
"Yeah, but Athena wanted to be in charge of such a role; unfortunately, despite his efforts, Ares wound up becoming pretty unhinged and even destroyed my shield. Hence, she took over him, and it's been smooth sailing since then." he continued.
Cassandra then noticed a brown-haired woman emerging before them, and quickly recognized her. "Athena...?" she asked.
"That's right; you see, my brother was quite the fickle, stubborn man. And from what you've heard from Patroklos, I agree." Athena replied.
With a nod, Cassandra turned to Marie and asked, "Could you tell me more about yourself and your friends?"
"Sure. On a side note, we've named ourselves the Mad Hearts Neo, after my mom's group from years ago." was her response.
"Tristianne Lindegarde? Sophitia told me about her and Siegfried a long time ago, even after he redeemed himself and broke away from Nightmare."
Marie nodded before she resumed, "And since my mom and my dad are known as 'The Two Heroes', as they had valiantly fought Nightmare to the end, they have had a pretty awesome reputation as the years went on. Plus, they're confident that I'd be taking up after them, too."
The other members brought up their backstories and whatnot to Cassandra, and she was simply intrigued by the most of the details concerning them. "So, you've wanted to become a fighter? I wanted to be one, too!" she exclaimed.
"But I wound up accidentally breaking some weapons and had to fix them on my own." she added with a small sigh.
"I'm sorry to hear that; but I know you've grown out of immaturity...right?" Helen asked.
"I think so."
Cassandra then brought her attention from the Russian girl to Lydia, and said, "And you seem to be quite the adventurous one."
"Not as much as Marie, but I'm pretty close."
"But is it really true that you...I dunno...swing both ways?" she inquired.
"Isn't it bloody obvious? Of course I do!" Lydia said with a grin.
"And you," The Greek woman looked over at Elizabeth, before asking, "I believe that seer was right all along, was she?"
"Yes, very."
She smiled before focusing on Isuzu, who asked, "You're not too familiar with my parents and Taki, right?"
Cassandra could only shrug. "I'm not really familiar with any of them, other than the fact that I once fought the busty ninja chick before."
Isuzu giggled, finding her choice of words to be quite humorous. "Well, she was quite the looker. And I think she still is as of today."
Both women smiled, before the blonde asked Patroklos, "Now let's be serious here; what happened to Pyrrha?"
A deep breath escaped from him, before he spoke, "What Pyrrha and I didn't know that Marie and I were prophesied as the Fated Hero and Heroine, destined to quell Nightmare. And it became quite apparent when we would also wield Soul Calibur, too."
"Unfortunately, Nightmare seems to have planned Pyrrha to be Soul Edge's successor, as well. Especially when we had our first big battle with him, and that it ended with him kidnapping my sister."
"And I'm afraid that she'll turn her backs on us."
After Patroklos finished his story, Cassandra's mouth gaped in shock. "I...I had no idea that would happen, but...was it possible she'd escape?" she asked.
"I'm afraid not." he replied.
Her fists clenched briefly, before taking hold of his own hands. "Patroklos...I know you and your friends can stop Nightmare, for I have the utmost faith in all of you."
"Siegfried and his allies had also said the same thing almost similarly. Thank you, Aunt Cassandra." he said, giving her a hug.
When they broke away, Cassandra asked, "Are you sure you'll be heading back to Lasberg soon?"
"Yes."
"Well, I think you've got one day to spend here, since you haven't been here for a while."
Her words prompted Patroklos to smile, and as he looked over at Marie, she replied, "We'd really like that; besides, I've never been to Greece before, and I'm more than happy to take in the sights."
Both she and Cassandra smiled together, and with that, Patroklos and the Mad Hearts Neo would spend a day and a half in Greece.
But elsewhere...
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Prepare to be surprised as to what happens next 'elsewhere'!
With love for my fans,
Chrissy