Hi hi~

A big hug of awesomeness goes to my newly appointed beta readers Mechwar and Captain Black Night. You two are amazing! ~throws Muffins~

Sorry this update took a while…I had a busy week with filling in my friend's shifts at work and trying to translate the Odyssey so a third grade class can understand (pfft)

Agh! Longest chapter! 2,356 words!

Language may be a little awkward, this chapter was fun to write, but also…ya know, awkward. I love Tira, though. The twisted characters always seem to be the best; they have the most effort put into their characterization.

DISCLAIMER: rawr

Chapter 4: Torment

"'Prophet!' said I, 'thing of evil! —prophet still, if bird or devil!—Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore…'"

-Edgar Allen Poe ("The Raven")

It would seem that not many know of her past. Not many care. Most are dead before they can think to ask, and others only hope for her demise.

Not one wants to know.

Eiserne Drossel, Iron Thrush, the Misguided Angel of Death, Dark Wings That Plot in Secret, Servant of the Cursed Sword…

Tira.

Tira. It was a new sound that had puzzled her when it had first reached her ears. The woman who had suggested it—the woman who would genuinely try to think of her as a daughter—smiled brightly.

"Tira" wrinkled her nose in disgust. She never had a proper name before. When she was in the Bird of Passage, she was given the codename Eiserne Drossel. In English, "Iron Thrush". She was still quite fond of that name, of that way of life, and had no intentions to start a new one.

Her brown eyes scanned the room. A woman, a man, a small boy, and two girls. It was the woman who had suggested the family bring her into their care.

"What do you think, dear? Would you like to be Tira?" the woman asked again.

Tira nodded silently. The Bird of Passage, her Mother Bird, her leader, were dead, all dead. She would try to live a new life. One without constant bloodshed, a normal one. She thought she could do it.

It was harder than she anticipated.

Every day, Tira would wake up, assist her "brother" with chores, eat meals, nothing particularly interesting. The days dragged on and on, leaving Tira without a thrill to live off of. The one thing she noticed though was the bird, the youngest girl's bird, which just sat in the cage all day, doing nothing but tweeting occasionally.

Remembering the time when she was freed from her masters, Tira felt pity above all else for the poor thing. Why wouldn't the girl let it go? Could she not see its suffering?

So one day, Tira released it into the wild. Upon seeing it fly away, a fond smile grew on her face; she knew it would be happier, that she had done the right thing.

Her "family" thought otherwise.

They scolded her for releasing the bird. Their youngest daughter was heartbroken, they said, she loved the thing, and it was cruel of Tira to take away that happiness.

Tira was enraged. Who cared about the kid's happiness? She was a stupid little girl; it was the bird they should have thought of! It didn't deserve this!

She didn't deserve this!

In a blind rage, "Tira" murdered her family.

She became a wanderer, heartlessly killing anybody who dared to cross her path. As a symbol that she was a new person, she kept the name Tira, and passed the title of Eiserne Drossel on to her ring blade.

It was soon after, that she met the Azure Knight.

She had heard rumors of him, of his ability to spread pain, and of how many he had killed. The young girl had grown positively giddy; such a man could only be seen as a kindred spirit in her eyes.

So when she found him at the tender age of seventeen, she immediately fell to her knees and begged for him to take her as a servant. She couldn't take freedom much longer.

The Azure Knight had assigned her two missions as his loyal servant: to destroy the spirit sword Soul Calibur, and to find a permanent host for Soul Edge.

He had also given her the Watchers, a flock of demonic raven sentries as an army. Tira came to think of them as a family. She was always fond of birds.

During her travels to collect souls for her master, Tira encountered several candidates for hosts. One of her favorites was the Holy Warrior, Sophitia Alexandra. It always intrigued the young girl how such a seemingly strong woman could be brought to her knees when threatened with the death of her family members.

She had gone ahead of Nightmare to the Lost Cathedral and waited before the gate. Having already malfested, she had been affected strongly by witnessing the destruction unleashed when the legendary swords clashed. Hurled into the maelstrom, Tira's mind was torn apart, shattered into countless shards. But the loyalty she felt toward Soul Edge made her cling to life, and her consciousness clawed itself together again. In the end, she became two people, her mind reformed into two separate entities that represented the extremes of the original, unstable Tira. Two consciousnesses. Two awarenesses. Two Tiras.

"Soul Edge will consume everything, oh, yes, everything~"

"Everything I am is devoted to the service of my king."

A former assassin infatuated with the destructive power of Soul Edge, Tira was devastated when the blonde man defeated the Evil Sword 17 years earlier.

The two personalities within her lamented as one, and howled together in a chorus of rage. But Tira found some solace in her plans for a certain young girl, and in the ever-growing strength of the shattered sword's fragments. Revitalized by her hopes to revive Soul Edge, Tira dedicated herself to a hunt for the sword's scattered pieces.

"Found another!" Tira chirped. She placed the glowing red chip in her cleavage. For now, it was the safest place.

"We're close," her Gloomy side hissed, "Only so many more shards until we can revive him."

A sweet smile formed on Tira's face. She sighed, pulling the shard out once again to admire it. "Ain't it lovely?" she marveled, speaking as her Jolly side. As if responding to her, the object pulsed and glowed more intensely. Tira giggled, her multi-colored pigtails swaying. "Ayup, it's taken us a long time, but it'll all be worth it once we're serving under him again!"

But after working so hard for so many years, the reborn Azure Knight was not at all what Tira had hoped for. He curried favor with human nations, scheming in secret and gathering souls from the shadows. Tira could barely stand to look upon this cowardly Nightmare.

"He's an imposter! I will never accept him!"

"In that case…" began the dark half of her personality, "…I shall prepare an appropriate vessel for Soul Edge myself!" finished her brighter half. Tira certainly had all the ingredients; she'd carefully been preparing them for 17 years. It was the perfect plan.

And so Tira disappeared into the night once more, on her way to visit that "certain young girl…"

"Pyrrha~!"

The frightened blonde turned around in her cell, wiping her eyes. "Wh-Who are you?" she sniffled, "What d-do you want from me?"

Tira smiled. Oh, this girl would be perfect. She was just as she remembered her.

And she did look so much like her mother.

Pyrrha Alexandra was known as a cursed woman. She never knew her real family, and those who raised her mysteriously died. Everywhere she went, men would confess to her, and every one of them would die similarly. Just the day before, Pyrrha's buyer from the black market, Jurgis, proposed and was brutally murdered not two hours later. Of course, Tira knew the reason~

Tira unconsciously licked her lips. "It's not what I want from you," she ran her fingers over the iron bars of the prison, "It's what I can get for you."

Pyrrha squeaked.

Tira grabbed the bars and leaned in towards the girl, "You didn't kill him, I know. Jurgis was a man you respected. He bought you as his maid, and proposed to you. When he was murdered, everyone turned to you. The 'Bringer of Woe'."

The blonde whimpered again.

Tira continued, "But, like I said, I know you didn't do it. You don't have the heart, do you?" she paused, and Pyrrha could have sworn she saw a flash of dark purple in the strange girl's pink eyes before she continued more harshly, "But none of that matters, does it? These people will never understand you. Everywhere you go, you are shunned, pushed around, and you have nobody to support you." She knelt down to Pyrrha's level. "I can release you from here. You can join me, and we will protect each other from these horrible, evil people."

Pyrrha's eyes widened. She inched closer to the girl. "You…you'll be my friend? You won't leave me?" she asked desperately.

Tira's eyes flashed yellow. She giggled childishly, "'Course not, Sweetie! You and I gotta stick together! We're different, Pyrrha," she looked her in the eye, "and mean people are going to hate us for it. Let me help you." She extended a gloved hand.

Pyrrha hesitated, but took it. "I trust you, I-I think. What's your name? I'm Pyrrha Alexandra…"

Tira giggled again, "I knew that. I'm Tira! Our names rhyme, isn't that cool? Oh!" she snapped her fingers, "Silly me, the bars!" she picked up Eiserne Drossel, which had been leaning on the wall. "Swish!" she cut through the metal with ease.

Pyrrha stood up and brushed herself off. "I don't want anyone to know that I'm g-gone. I-I could get into big trouble, a-and I really just want to make sure that—"

'Good GOD, she's annoying,' Gloomy griped, 'Such a pushover.'

Jolly smiled, 'Pushover's good. She's too much of a wuss to resist us, and once her soul is darkened, all we have to do is get rid of that phony Nightmare and she'll be the ideal host!'

"Don't worry about it, Pyrrha," Tira put an arm around her shoulder, not having heard any of what she said. "I'll make sure that you never ever get into any trouble."

Pyrrha smiled nervously.

"Oh, and here, Honey, take these," Tira picked up Sophitia's Omega Sword and Elk Shield, the very same ones she had taken from the woman when she killed her.

Pyrrha gasped, "What are these?"

"You can fight, can't you? If we're gonna be out and about without getting in trouble, you're gonna need to be able to fight back," Tira smiled devilishly.

"I…I can fight…" Pyrrha stuttered, "I taught myself. It's just that this sword and shield…they look so…"

"Beautiful, I know," Tira finished. "I thought they'd suit you well."

'They were your idiot mother's, after all.'

'Hee hee! From one idiot, to the next, right~?'

"This is the Omega Sword, and this is the Elk Shield. Take good care of them, okay?" Before Pyrrha could say anything, Tira heard the prison guards coming to check on the noise. She took another glance at the Alexandra. She'd be killing many later, so for now the easiest thing to do was to let her escape. "Go on, I'll take care of these dummies!" Tira giggled.

"I-I can't just leave you alone," Pyrrha stuttered.

"Honestly, wench, you're too nice!" Tira snapped, "Leave before they recapture you! I could kill them all with one hand tied behind my back."

Pyrrha looked startled, but obeyed and crawled out the small window outside the cell.

Tira rolled her eyes.

'You might've blown it for us!' Jolly whined inside her head.

"Shut up," Tira muttered. The men drew close. Tira hung Eiserne Drossel over her shoulder and licked her lips.

"Guess it's time to collect a few more~"

Ayup, that's the chapter. I don't think I'll have too much more Tira in here, but we'll see. Maybe a Pyrrha/Tira follow-up or summit.

Next up shall be Natsu! Looking forward to writing it!

QotC: Would you rather fall off of one side of a bunk bed onto a pile of hardback books, or off of the other side onto a pile of easily angered sheep? (Rights to this question go to my little sister, when she was nine.)