Categories > Games > Soul Calibur > Destination

Nine - Belated

by noisee 2 reviews

Instead, it's your vision of their demise..

Category: Soul Calibur - Rating: PG-13 - Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance - Characters: Ivy, Siegfried, Talim, Yunsung - Warnings: [?] [V] - Published: 2007-04-10 - Updated: 2007-04-10 - 1753 words

0Unrated
noisee: WOW. Blank, you got it! It was palabok... I love palabok. xD Have you got any one-shots you'd like to see?

Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! I'm glad, and I really appreciate it! I apologize for the extreme lack of updates... I've been busy in real life, and I've been busy in creative-ness, too.. There was a short fiction contest here, and I just made the deadline. @__@;

I bring you another chapter of Destination, dedicated to Sakura Moonflower of Gaiaonline, who found me through THe Amazing Sponge on fanfic, my old account. loooole. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me! :D




Chapter Nine - Belated

"Kilik! Kilik! He's gone!"

"What?"

Beildered, Kilik grasped his friend's shoulders in an attempt to steady her. Tears streamed down her face, shining brown eyes wrought with sorrow.

"I- I can't find him! /Akong/- My- my Talun!"

"Talun?" Confusion painted itself upon his face, but realization soon reigned. "Your bird? Talun's gone?"

"I went to- to feed him this morning, but-!"

Talim erupted into a series of heart-breaking sobs, burying her face into her hands.

"Oh, oh, Tal'... Don't worry, we'll find him. I'll go with you after school and we'll look all over, 'kay?"

Kilik gave her a tentative smile; she smiled back, but the corners of her lips fell just before radiant, and she furrowed her brow in worry.

`~o0o~`

Raphael found his friend lying on a bench outside, hands under his head and a tattered textbook open over his face like a misplaced hat.

"Overslept?"

"Still am."

"You missed Talim in homeroom," Raphael informed him, "she looked positively miserable."

"Yea?"

Siegfried plucked the book off of his face and peered up through vivid azure eyes.

"Talim was... miserable?"

"Mm."

Raphael slid his hands in his jeans' pocket and closed his eyes; a quiet breeze dragged its fingers through his blond locks. Siegfried stared at him, expectant.

"Well?"

"What?"

"You're such a fucker, Raph'."

Raphael grinned good-naturedly at Siegfried's dark, exasperated expression.

"Maybe you could try asking for once."

"Why bother?"

"Because that's how you be polite," Raphael explained, a parent to a child.

"Who gives a shit?"

"Girls."

Siegfried glared at Raphael, knowing that his friend would burst out laughing if this continued. He let out an aggravated sigh.

"Why was she miserable."

Raphael's smile faded minutely. He didn't even comment on Siegfried's deadpan tone.

"Ah... Her bird went missing. Talun. Heheheh, Talim's Talun..."

His chuckle was as faded as his grin.

"Her /bird/?" Siegfried was incredulous. "She's miserable over a fuckin' /bird/?"

"Don't tell me you never had a pet, Ziggy!"

"Fuck pets," Siegfried spat, bristling over use of his ex-girlfriend's pet name.

"So you don't want to help her look after school?"

Raphael sighed, shrugging his shoulders.

"I guess I'll have to explain to Talim about your lack of compassion, possibly stemming from a deprived childhood..."

When Siegfried didn't reply, Raphael eyed him carefully. His voice fell into a more serious tone.

"You're not going to come? She really was miserable, you know. Like she lost her best friend."

Siegfried exhaled, sensing some twisted, inner meaning to Raphael's words. He decided to dismiss it; things were steadily becoming too complicated to add his friend's undertones to the list.

"I'll go."

"Wonderful."

Raphael grinned again, tilting his head to one side with the air of a child.

"You know... I was able to give her her birthday present in homeroom."

"Aa."

Siegfried placed the book back over his face, ready to drift into unconsciousness, when the gravity of his situation dawned on him. He shot upright, the book flapping to the ground, and he stared at the laughing Raphael.

"You- You GAVE her it? For REAL?!"

`~o0o~`

The final bell rang, and the students of Regelus High excitedly filled the halls, slamming lockers and each other.

Kilik stood in front of his locker, practiced fingers undoing the lock with ease. He threw his textbooks in, swung the door shut, and clicked the lock in place, all in one fluid motion. He span on his heel, preparing to break into a run, and found Xianghua in his path.

Smiling at him.

She looked so pretty when she smiled, especially with her hair in that cute little ponytail, and her outfit- a printed tee and a short, ruffled skirt- was quite, ahem, flattering-

No. NO! Bad Kilik! She's the enemy! She's- saying something?

"... Kilik?"

From his lips burst out the most suave and cool thing he could think of:

"... what?"

Xianghua sighed, pouting prettily.

"I said, Ms Carinore needs you in her classroom!"

"What- What?" He stammered. "I can't, I have to go an help-"

"C'mon! It won't be long!"

She grabbed his wrist with strength no girl of her stature could possibly possess, and they ran to homeroom. She shoved him in and closed the door behind her.

"Hey-!"

The room was empty. Just desks and chairs and /her/.

"What's going on? And- aren't you suspended?!"

Xianghua giggled, advancing on him. He stepped slowly back until he hit the teacher's desk behind him.

"Oh, Kilik, you really do talk a lot."

She didn't stop until her knees her against his, and even then she leaned forward, bracing her arms on the desk on either of his sides.

Then she kissed him.

`~o0o~`

She caught him as he neared the exit, calling his name with an inhuman coldness.

"Raphael."

He stopped, looked over his shoulder. She said nothing more until she had crossed the length of hallway between them.

"We need to talk. Now."

"What about?"

"Us."

Us. Oh-ho. That's never good.

"What's so important about... /us/... that can't wait?"

Sophitia looked over her own shoulder; Cassandra and Link were revealed as they turned the corner and headed toward them.

Raphael's eyes widened.

"You didn't..."

"No, I didn't," she informed him, eyes hard, "but if you don't, I will."

His eyes darkened.

"You... bitch."

`~o0o~`

Siegfried was stopped before he started. He had been lying on a bench outside, catching some desperately needed z's, when a shadow blocked out the sun. He blinked his eyes open.

"Are you telling me," he drawled, "they let your skanky ass back in here?"

The white-haired woman stared down at him with a stone smirk, not at all offended by his comment- in fact, it seemed to spur her on.

"Such words, Ziggy..." She tsk-tsked him, "you should be more careful with what you say, especially to the sole person who holds the life of your little girlfriend in her hands."

He rose into a sitting position, eyeing Ivy with suspicion.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

She grinned.

"Watch."

She motioned toward the far side of the field, where a very distraught Talim could be seen, walking all by her lonesome.

Siegfried muttered a curse, having overslept (again), and made to catch up with Talim, but Ivy stopped him.

"You go any further... And that girl is in a world of hurt."

"What?"

She dialed her cellphone and spoke, "bump into her."

Sure enough, in the distance, a large figure appeared on the same path as Talim. He rammed his should into hers as he passed, not taking a glance back as the girl yelled back, quickly gathering her fallen things.

"What the fuck is this?"

"I can make them do /anything/, Ziggy. Much worse than a bump in the arm. And I /will/, if you don't give me what I want."

"What do you want?" he asked, glaring.

"I want you back. With us. Not speaking to a little shit like her."

He stared at her for a moment, before spitting at her feet.

"Fuck you!"

She began to dial.

"Alright, then. I wonder how she'll react to getting mugged. Or worse. Dragged into an alley, forced to- Ah, Maxi? Mm, seems that Ziggy's more concerned with his own skin, after all..."

It could have been fake. It could have been some freaky coincidence that that person had done just as Ivy said- but Ivy didn't leave things to chance. She took the pawns that she had and used them to get the position she needed.

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ivy was detailing to Maxi the terrible things she wanted him to inflict upon Talim, no doubt prepared beforehand in the case of Siegfried's rejection.

"Stop."

She paused, looked coolly up at him.

"If I agree... You'll leave her alone?"

"For the time being."

"What the hell!"

Ivy seemed to laugh.

"Let me put it this way: If you don't agree, the girl gets it."

They stared each other down, but for the first time in a long time, Siegfried was the one who broke. He sighed and looked away.

"I agree."

Ivy smirked, said, "Maxi, it's off," and pressed the disconnect button. The two of them watched as Talim walked home alone.

`~o0o~`

Talim curled up on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest. Outside, the sky was a raven tapestry littered with glitter.

Inside, the birdcage was empty.

Where was everyone?

She brushed an arm over her eyes, blinking at the tears.

What happened?

She rolled onto her stomach and buried her face into her pillow.

Where's Talun?

It was only the second week of school

Where's...

and already

Talun?

she had lost so much. Despite her gains, despite the win against Ivy, she felt like she was still losing.

She rolled onto her side, and caught sight of the package on her nightstand. Raphael had handed it to her in homeroom, telling her not to open it in school for "their combined well-being". She had left it in her room before heading out to search for Talun (alone).

She sat up now, taking it in her hands and carefully tearing the wrapping paper off, a habit inherited from her "waste not" mother. What she revealed was a large, white picture frame, with notes written onto it: Raphael's elegant script, 'happy birthday, Talim!'/; Siegfried's scrawl, 'please burn this.'; Kilik saying 'Raphael stole my idea'/. Everyone from the party had signed, save for Mina.

The picture was the best part, though; pressed beneath the glass was a well-taken snapshot of Siegfried, bombarded by the elder women of her family, looking almost terrified.

Almost.

Talim laughed. She laughed until she cried. She cried until she fell asleep.





noisee:/ "Akong" is Tagalog for "my". I think. Yea. Whatever. Kinda burned out from typing this up. Gonna recreation now. Thanks for reading :D/
Sign up to rate and review this story