Authors Note: Hey everyone, this is my first fanfic ever. I am hoping that you all enjoy what I have so far. I love the Claymore universe and hope that I can bring something good to what is already here. I really want to improve as a writer so I'm a little hesitant saying this but...please tell me what I'm doing wrong or what could be improved, what you like and what you don't. I really want to continue to improve. Oh and thanks to sandy000000004, Shades22, and Ironclad, for reading this so I don't make a fool of myself, you all are great and I am grateful for your input.

I DO NOT OWN CLAYMORE.

Reunion Overdue

It was a beautiful yet tragic sight before Clare. The city of Robona was nestled in-between the rolling hills of the heartland of this island. A gentle breeze made waves across the grass covered hills as they swayed from its passing. It seemed like a dream more than a reality. The warm mid day sun illuminated the many limestone buildings of the city giving them their own light to shine with. The elegant stone architecture of the towering cathedrals gave a sense of hope to the villagers. The sound of the bells atop each tower rang out and seemed to carry tranquility with them as their melody traveled across the valley. Taking in the whole scene conjured a feeling of serenity; it was easy to lose yourself here in this paradise, it was easy to forget about the violence.

The high walls that surrounded the city stood up like sentries protecting her from any dangers that would inhabit the wilderness just beyond eyesight, but as Clare's eyes scanned across them she could see the scars of battle etched across their faces. Stone had been cut, wood had been splintered and craters riddle the ground. The streets were splattered with blood, bone, limbs and debris. Rooftops where Clare had jumped to and parried attacks now stood on the verge of collapse. The enemy showed no discretion in this battle. Guards, merchants, priests, women, and children lay strewn and mutilated around the entire center of the city. If she had been here any later there may not have been a city left to save.

The awakened being, Agatha struck without any warning or regard to her surroundings, but this is the way they are. Beings of no remorse or concept of humanity left in whatever occupies that deep void of their soul, if they had one to begin with. The sight was terrifying enough, but it was the sound that made the guards and claymore's alike drop their weapons and rush to aid anyone who was still alive. Their cries were many and as diverse as the people they belonged to. Some cries were choked and muffled by blood filling their lungs; others were high pitch and piercing.

Clare spotted a guard with his hands tightly wrapped another guard's neck lying on the ground and rushed over to help. His wound was fatal as blood erupted from his injury. A small piece of rubble had zipped right by him cutting his jugular.

"Simon, look at me," The guard said as his voice rattled. "You are going to be fine. Just keep your eyes open, okay." Clare could see on both of their faces that they knew the outcome here. The edge of Simon's hair turn crimson as the blood pooling around him soaked up into each strand. He slowly brought his hand up to his friend's hand squeezing it tightly as he used all his strength to stand himself up. But as he brought his shoulder blades off the ground the strength in him failed and he fell back on to the blood drenched stones.

His friend, his brother in arms kept squeezing his hands as Simon let out his last breath. He tried to say something but, only blood curdled wheezes escaped his mouth. Clare could see that anguish in his eyes as he continued to grip his fallen comrade's hand. It was heartbreaking to see him try to hold on to someone who was no longer there, no longer living.

A mixture of blood, sweat, and tears began to slowly collect and drop from his trembling head. Clare slowly extended her arms gently placing her hands over his. "Please, you have to let him go." She stated in an icy tone as the guard swayed back and forth still reeling from his lost brother. There was nothing more she could do as she carefully loosened his grip. Clare quickly untied her cape and gently placed it over Simon's body. The guard remained there on his knees continuing to stare at the body before him.

A familiar voice grabbed Clare's attention as she stood up to look for more survivors "This is the second time you have saved my life and this city." Galk said sternly, his face scarred and bloodied as he glared at Clare.

"I only wish we could have arrived sooner." She stated genuinely, feeling uneasy at Galk's accusing eyes.

"Just glad you could make it." Galk said as the slightest hint of a smile made itself visible across his face.

Clare exhaled a small breath of relief, she could never tell his intentions, but that thought was soon discarded. She soon found herself searching through endless piles of rubble. Clare continued to dig with the others, searching for survivors trapped under the chaos they had created. Each rock removed brought hope that she would finally see a face or an arm reaching out towards her for help. It rarely ended this way, she counted eight lives saved but saved too late. Their injuries were too deep and all Clare could do was make their passing easier by not letting them drift away alone.

It seemed that wherever she went she could only bring more destruction and suffering with her. Clare knew this wasn't true; she had stopped Agatha from completely wiping out Robona. She had saved lives, not only of the innocent but of the soldiers who stood their ground to meet their maker. Clare did everything she could have; she did her best, but as these thoughts ran through her mind it seemed like it wasn't enough. It was hard to accept that truth as she stared at the bodies and destruction around her.


He had been training and searching for more than six years now. Although Isley and Priscilla had left his company for more than nine months his resolve to find Clare was only honed even further. Even though Raki had insisted to stay along their side Isley demanded that they separate. He remembered that before they parted, Isley revealed one last truth. Isley wasn't leaving because he wanted to, he was holding Raki back. He was preventing him from reaching his goals, from fulfilling his ultimate purpose. He was stopping love, and through their journeying he realized he could not stall Raki any longer. He told him to search and find her, his purpose.

Every town he went to it was the same story. Someone would assure him of seeing some claymore that fit Clare's description and Raki would get his hopes up and tirelessly search the surrounding area only to find out that the claymore was not his Clare. It was even worse that all of the claymores he ran into had insisted that no single warrior survived that battle in the north.

The highway leading north out of Hamal saw little traffic as Raki made his way along the dirt path. It took nearly one day before the open plains started to give way to more trees. Shortly after that he had arrived at the foothills of the Western mountain ranges. The sun was beginning to fall below the horizon and he needed to rest but in order to gain ground he couldn't afford to camp for the night. Just one more hour, Raki thought as he continued to march upward along the shallow grade of the hills.

And then he heard it. It couldn't have been anyone else. If someone was going to travel this far out wearing full combat armor then they would have to be mounted. And since Raki couldn't hear the obvious clap of horseshoes and earth, it had to be a claymore. Only they had the immeasurable reserves of stamina to carry such a load on foot for so long.

Raki quickened his pace as he chased the repetitive clanging of armor bearing footsteps. It was that feeling again, it could be her. He had often thought about what the first thing he would say to Clare when they finally met. But now as he picked up the pace to an all out sprint, he had no idea of how he would react or what he would say. To be honest he wasn't even thinking at all as he ran with a full heart down the narrowing path.

Raki's heart was now pounding away but not from exhaustion, it was the anticipation that opened up his adrenal glands to full measure. Everything else around him began to fade away as he flung himself forward with each step. He was now literally trailblazing towards that metallic march, and then finally he saw her.

"I knew you were tracking me two days ago. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever catch up to me." The claymore continued to march, not even stopping to directly address Raki.

"Sorry," Raki's spirit dropped as the claymore in front of him was not her. "It's still difficult to keep pace with you'll with your endless stamina and all." Raki stated apologetically still catching his breath.

"What do you want, if you seek my life I assure you, you will be the one who is gravely mistaken." She stated sharply.

"Whoa, I uh don't mean you any harm or anything. I just wanted to ask you a question." Raki retreated carefully, knowing firsthand how dangerous a claymore could be.

She just kept walking on, paying him little attention. Out of frustration Raki quickened his pace and ended up right behind her. He suddenly stopped as her blade just suddenly appeared against his neck. Her motions were quick and almost undetectable.

"This isn't the first time I've had a blade to my throat. In fact, the last person to bring their sword against me is the one I'm looking for." Raki said fearlessly, he knew she could not slay a human unless they had new policy, but that was a risk he had to take.

"Don't tempt me human, I am capable of more than you know." She shot back with more threats.

"Really," Raki leaned forward allowing the sword to graze his windpipe. "Then slice. I won't stop you."

She growled lowly as she lowered her blade and knowing the only hope of getting away from this fool was to indulge him. "Who is it you are looking for?" She said shortly.

"Clare, number forty-seven." Raki recited.

"Dead, she fell in the defense of Pieta." She quickly recited back.

"I have been told so." Raki didn't lose his spirit; this wasn't the first time he had been dismissed.

"Then why do you ask?" The claymore's anger finally showed as she replied.

Raki paused shifting his gaze to the ground beneath him, seemingly staring at nothing. She was about to turn to leave before another question halted her. "What is your name and rank within the organization, have you ever fought an awakened being?"

She was little surprised by his question as she turned again to address him. "Alyssa, I am number forty-four within the organization. Now tell me why you know so much!" Alyssa quickly grabbed the hilt of her sword, and readied herself for a killing blow.

"Hey, calm down Alyssa, I told you I have spent time with Clare." Raki again retreated carefully taking a couple of steps back. "I will not accept that she is dead." Alyssa lowered her guard as Raki explained his intentions. "I have one last request," Alyssa sighed loudly as she continued to lose miles from her journey to her next assignment. "If I can land a single blow against you, you promise to try some of my new and hopefully improved lizard stew." Raki exclaimed happily. He knew claymores weren't the best audiences when it came to dining, but he needed someone's input on his cooking.

"I don't have time for games." Alyssa was fed up with his immaturity and turned back to her long march.

Something stopped her though, right in the middle of her tracks. The threat was obvious; she just turned her back on a possible combatant. She couldn't sense any Yoki, but the sound of what could have only been an enormous great sword alarmed her.

The massive sword's head thudded against the ground as it fell almost carelessly from its wielder. Alyssa quickly turned and brought her claymore to arms ready for a fight.

It was a strange sight. Raki slowly and deliberately walked towards Alyssa dragging the hefty blade across the ground. What was even stranger was that instead of twisting his wrist back and holding the sword right wise, Raki simply had his wrist neutral. The result was as if he was holding the blade like a dagger or small knife. With each step he brought the blade forward allowing his arm not to ever be fully extended. That was the giveaway, Alyssa could tell that he knew how use the weapon, but to the extent she was not sure. The scrapping sound of the sword across the ground was effective as he could see Alyssa was not going to hold back, she was genuinely concerned.

"No blood." Raki said quietly as he paused for only a second. He needed to strike first in order to turn the battle his way. If he could make this fight on his terms then he might have a chance. In one powerful swing he brought his arm up and to the right across his chest. His great sword quickly followed right behind his arm kicking up dirt in Alyssa's face. She reacted with a quick back flip, landing a couple of feet away from his initial upward swing. Her reaction was as Raki expected, but before she could regain her composure Raki struck again.

It was one fluid motion, one attack lead right into the other. From the upward swing he allowed the momentum of the sword to carry his body full circle through the air and land his next attack into an overhead cleave. It was very effective, switching from a low attack to a high, and left Alyssa no time to parry his attack. She quickly brought her claymore up to block his strike. The two swords crashed together right above her head, and neither one of them bounced or recoiled from the blow which further worried Alyssa. She quickly rolled to her left allowing Raki to follow through with his blow burying his blade into the earth. Alyssa took a second to focus as she recovered from her dodge. It was less time than she thought; in another powerful motion Raki swung the blade again sending clay and dust at his opponent. Alyssa was furious, she had had enough.

"Finally taking me seriously aren't you." Raki said as he saw her once silver eyes turn gold.

Now it was her turn, Alyssa quickly dashed to Raki's left and unprotected side and struck with unprecedented speed. Her blow landed squarely against his sword as he swung his body with the sword. It was becoming clearer to Alyssa of his technique. It was as if he was more or less flowing with the sword. He was moving not only his arm but his entire body and momentum to create attacks. It was very effective but only worked in short range.

Alyssa was again on the defensive as Raki started low again striking upwards. This time Alyssa blocked his attack by meeting his sword with her own downward strike, and with advantage of position she brought her sword down on his. The force behind her swing sent the blade to the ground burying a quarter of it in the dirt, well beyond his capability to simply pull it out.

"Yield." Alyssa demanded as she placed one boot on his weapon securing his disadvantage. Raki shot a hateful glare at her as he knew he had been squarely beaten. He released his grip on the blade and stood upright to his opponent.

"You have skill I'll give you that but…" Raki knew he couldn't fight honorably against a claymore so naturally he had to play dirty if you wanted to win. She honestly didn't see it coming, then again who would. But before Alyssa could rant on about her victory; Raki viscously struck her head with his own, bloodying his scalp and cracking her jaw in the process. In a daze she stepped back giving Raki his opening. He took three steps back and then jolted towards the hilt of his buried sword. Leaping through the air he gripped his sword at the crest of his forward flip. With every bit of upper body strength he had he pulled the blade free as he continued his downward travel coming full circle out of his sky high flip and into a devastating overhead cleave. He traveled through the air with his blade leading the way down to his opponent. It was perfect; he had spent months training his body and disciplining his skills at the great sword. Now it all paid off as he flew through the air about to land his crucial blow.

It was unknown to most the quality of craftsmanship that the claymore's wielded. No blacksmith could duplicate their alloys or even come close to replicating the shear resilience of that metal. All it took was time or the proper amount of force to crack any shield or sword brought against it. And that is exactly how it ended for Raki. His strike landed right against Alyssa's raised claymore slicing his blade in two.

They both stood there for moment each breathing heavy from exhaustion, both frozen in their last stance. Raki was holding only a fragment of what was left of sword, still gripping it as if ready to swing it again. Alyssa, now bloodied from Raki's cheap shot, still had her claymore raised in defense of his strike.

"If you come at me again I won't kill you, but I will leave you here broken and cut to die." Alyssa finally broke the silence as she returned to a state absent of inflection or emotion.

Raki slowly brought his shoulders up dropping his sword as he stoop upright. "I have no reason to kill you either," Raki panted still recovering from their spar. "But I won the bet." He stated cheerfully as he pointed to their head injuries.


The sun was now setting on the western horizon and there was still much more work to do. Miria and her seven ghosts, along with any soldiers that were able, began rotating in shifts during their rescue effort.

"How many do we still have unaccounted for?" Miria asked.

"It's difficult to say, but there are still families reporting missing children and siblings throughout the west side of Rabona." Vincent rubbed his high polished head as he tried to come up with a figure. "It could be as high as thirty or even as low as a dozen."

"We're losing time and it is going to be more dangerous searching for survivors in the dark. All the splintered wood and debris will make excellent kindle for a city wide fire." Deneve stated with a hint of concern.

"We can't just stop searching now, if we wait until dawn there may not be any more survivors left." Clare objected earnestly. She hated giving up, and the thought of abandoning these people to a grave of rubble was not an option.

"Deneve is right, if we continued to fumble around in the dark with torches a fire is sure to break out. We will have to wait until first light." Miria commanded sternly. "Clare, if you want to do more accompany father Vincent to the cathedral. The injured have been pooled there for treatment. I'm sure he could use your help."

It was good to see father Vincent again as they made their way north along the torn streets. Clare led Vincent to the cathedral making sure to point out any debris that he could harm himself on.

"It has been a long time since I asked for your help in dealing with the Yoma crisis." Vincent began as they continued to carefully maneuver through the darkened streets.

"Yes, it has been a long time, but not a distant memory."Clare assured.

"I thought he was going to be with you when you showed up earlier today." Vincent stated apologetically. "It must be five months now since he last came through town."

Clare's spirit rose as she felt as if she was closing in on finding Raki. It had been a hard time feigning death from the organization. Concealing her existence from them also meant exile from Raki as well. She just hoped he would understand when they finally did meet again. It was never a question of if they would. She had to push all those thoughts out every day.

"It hasn't been easy, I know he is a strong kid but I worry about him. It has been so long, I don't know if he is the same Raki anymore." Clare sidestepped past some debris as her tone plummeted. "I know I am not the same Clare…"

"I am not concerned for the safety of Raki more than I am of yours." Vincent stated as he ducked underneath a large wooden beam.

"And why would you say that?" Clare's curiosity peaked as she turned back to father Vincent.

"Well, because you rely too much upon your own strength or at least what you perceive as strength." Vincent continued.

"Father, I know you have a point, but if you are worried about me becoming awakened I can assure it will not happen." Clare stated with confidence.

"And that is the exact point I am arriving at. You are a claymore, a being of two worlds. Where do you think your greatest strength lies? Are you more powerful than these knights of Rabona because of your Yoma half?"Vincent placed his arm around her shoulder as he ushered her to continue their walk. "Yes, you are the most powerful of warriors I have ever seen. You are quick, lethal, strong, and you have an unstoppable will. But you claymores rely on that power from the Yoma too much. It is not that half that your strength comes from, it is your human half. Think it over, which half of you has proven to be more powerful during your battles. If it was your Yoma half you would have succumbed to it by now, but here you stand as human as ever. It is through the strength of the human soul that you are able to wield the power of the Yoma." Clare opened the heavy wooden doors to the cathedral allowing Vincent to proceed first. "And I know the depths of the human soul, trust me. I have seen the best and the worst of humanity and Raki is among the truest of souls. No, I don't believe for a second that there is any obstacle he cannot overcome or foe that could withstand him. He does not rely on his physical strength but the strength that lies dormant within us all. He can draw out that strength and evoke the best in us. I know you have experienced this first hand that night you almost lost your humanity right here in this very spot."

Clare's heart dropped as she looked at the floor beneath her. It was right here that everything changed; she could feel Raki wrapping his arms around her all over again. And at that moment she knew Vincent was right.