Chapter 26: The end of a journey
Heishiro had been tied to a chair by that woman who blamed him for her father's death.
The worst thing was that she was right.
The man who lived in that house when Heishiro visited it years ago probably was that woman's father, and it hadn't been a courtesy visit.
By then, Heishiro was looking for a sword which could defeat firearms, during one of his missions for Japan.
The investigation led him to that house, where he heard about Soul Edge for the first time.
Undoubtedly, he would find very useful files there , but the owner wouldn't give them to him willingly, so Heishiro challenged him to a fight.
Heishiro beated the man, mortally hurting him.
Heishiro never noticed it, but there was a little terrified girl watching the whole fight from under a table. That girl, whose name was Setsuka, would become the woman who now had caught her father's murderer.
- So...- said the woman while going around the room. - ...you've come back to check if you have left something, haven't you?
- You don't understand. – exclaimed Heishiro. – It's very important t…
- Shut up! – ordered Setsuka. – Nothing is so important as to kill an innocent man.
- I'm very sorry for what I did to your father… – apologized Heishiro. – …but we were on a fight, I couldn't have done anything else.
While distracting her with the talk, Heishiro was managing to slowly untie himself.
- You couldn't? Then I'm afraid I can't do anything but killing you too. – said Setsuka.
- If you want so much to kill me, why haven't you done it yet?
- That would be boring. – replied the woman. – Furthermore, you are surely looking for something really valuable. What is it?
- It's a...a sword.
- A sword? How can a sword be so worthy?
At that moment, someone knocked at the door.
Heishiro feared the worst. Edgar was going to fall into the same trap he himself had fallen into.
Setsuka was surprised, because she hadn't expected someone else to come. She headed to the door and opened it.
It was Edgar, indeed.
- What do you want? – asked Setsuka in a bad mood.
- You'll see, my brother came in here quite a long while ago. Has something happened?
- Ah, so you're his brother. – Setsuka smiled slightly. – Come in. We're having a little talk.
Edgar came in and Setsuka closed the door.
He went into the living room, where Heishiro was being held captive.
- Edgar! Don't! Go! – Heishiro tried to warn him.
However, it was too late. Setsuka took Edgar from behind and put her sword on his neck.
- Don't you dare hurt him...- said Heishiro.
- Or what? You'll tell my dad? – asked Setsuka ironically. – Oh, almost forgot. He's dead.
When saying that last two words, she pressed the sword stronger against Edgar's neck.
- You won't get anything this way. Let us go and we'll never come back. – promised Heishiro.
- I'm sorry. You shouldn't have come back yet.
From that moment on, everything happened really fast.
Heishiro untied himself completely and he tried to quickly reach his sword and save Edgar, but Setsuka was faster than him. She slit Edgar's throat and, by when Heishiro had unsheathed his weapon, Edgar was profusely bleeding on the floor.
Heishiro jumped on Setsuka, raising his sword, and then she opened her umbrella. Heishiro's sword ripped it, but when Heishiro managed to get rid of it, Setsuka was gone.
Heishiro hurried to his brother and knelt down beside him.
- Edgar!
Edgar was still alive, but he was choking on his own blood.
- Heishiro...- whispered Edgar, while Heishiro lifted his brother's head.
- Edgar, calm down...- said Heishiro, despite himself being about to cry. – Everything's going to be okay. I'm sure there is something in here…
- Heishiro. – interrumpted Edgar. – We both know I'm dying.
Heishiro sobbed.
- Edgar...
Heishiro was trying to convince himself that there was a solution , but he knew Edgar was right.
- Heishiro, don't give up. – mumbled Edgar. – Do it for Father.
Heishiro, despite being completely healthy, at that moment was more unable to speak than his brother.
- Go on...find that sword… – said Edgar. – …and when you succeed…I'm sure you will…go back home and take care of Mother….
Heishiro couldn't stop crying.
- …and let her take care of you.
The two brothers tried to laugh, but they couldn't.
- I'll take care of you two. – insisted Heishiro.
- I love you, brother. – said Edgar with his last breath. – I couldn't imagine a better end to my journey…than beside you.
- I love you too, Edgar.
However, his brother didn't hear it. Heishiro's sweaty bloody hands were holding a lifeless head now.
Heishiro left his brother's body on the ground with a moan of pain and he respectfully closed his eyes.
He would inspect the house the next morning, but now he couldn't even stand up. He wanted to forget it all and restart the game.
He was strong enough to defeat almost a whole army by himself, but he wasn't to accept that the journey of his best mate had come to an end.