Awakened Redemption:

Disclaimer: Claymore belongs to Nohiro Yagi, Gray, Meryl and Serenity belongs to me, Eira belongs to Requiem of Twilight, Rika belongs to Macen Krace, so all credit is due where it belongs, so please do not sue.

Notes: First of all I'd like to thank JammerJoint for creating Claymore: Class 85 because of it's great storyline and then the members who took part in it to make it as successful as it is now. and I'd like to credit Noelle and Macen Krace for making this side story possible, if I did this on my own, it would not have turned out as good as it did. So thanks guys.

Secondly, this originated as a backstory for an Awakened Being I created in the OneManga Forums Roleplay named Claymore: Class 85, so if some things do not make sense, I do apologise though this could be a project of it's own. Please bear in mind this is set in the past of a story set in the far future of the Manga.

Location: Unknown

Time: Unknown.

Cold winds blew carrying the sounds of thunder as a cloaked man walked through the forest around him. Not that it bothered him in the slightest, most of his face and clothing was hidden by a large Gray cloak that blew around him as he walked through the endless shower of rainfall, after several minutes of walking through the forest, he heard screaming, the screams of what sounded like a child following it.

He turned to his right, his eyes now showing. They were the same as those of claymores, Silver, clear as metal. "I don't sense anything...then, could it be bandits?" regardless of what he would face, he ran that direction and came to a stop as he closed in on his new destination. What he saw clearly defined the reasons for his hatred of bandits.

He say a group of four young men, no older than their mid-twenties, each armed with a short sword and a set of throwing knives, their clothing was bloodstained and their faces were filled with malice. In front of them were two young children, both girls, cowering as the bandits approached them slowly, in a sadistic manner, the could only predict that they were going to do the worst. To his left, he saw the body of who he assumed was the mother of these two girls, her death was no quick one, he could tell that easilly with the look of the corpse's state from when he stood. As a claymore, it was his job to kill yoma, not meddle into human affairs, but he could not stand by and allow these bandits to unleash what they had in store for the frightened girls. He simply stepped forward catching the attention of one of the bandits who leered at him and signalled his henchmen to take hold of both girls, both had long dark hair and pale blue eyes, they had the look of fear that only reminded Gray of when the Yoma killed everyone he knew on that day, the day his own life was saved by a claymore.

"that is futile" he simply stated coldly, the bandits didn't take him seriously"so, how are you going to stop us then? lay a hand on any of us and they're dead!" the leader said slightly annoyed. Gray didn't answer by words, but by action, with speed faster than a regular human, he grabbed the leader by the neck and threw him aside, into a tree, the force of the impact of the bandit hitting a tree head on disorientated him, he shook his head and charged with his shortsword drawn, the cloaked man dodged the swipes the bandit made with ease, angering the man even further, on the final swing, the cloaked man got hold of the bandit's sword arm, twisted it and pulling his arm behind his back, he took the bandits shortsword and knocked him out-cold. The bandits companions watched the entire fight with fear stricken faces "what...are you!?" one asked.

Gray did not answer and advanced on the remaining three, he pulled his hood down to reveal his face, he was a young man with Gray hair and silver eyes, the hair was quite messy at this point but short. "Do my eyes...answer your question?" he said in a tone of indifference, his voice deep yet soft.

"A silver-eyed killer!? But they're only female!" the first of the three remaining bandits gasped, fear clearly showing on his face. "That was true...but there are males now." Gray stated. "If you are a claymore, you can't kill us then!" the first bandit said arrogantly. "who said I was going to kill you?" Gray retorted and moved in swift motion, knocking out the bandit without a child in his grip with a elbow hit to the head, then he grabbed hold of the children and ran back, in the window of a few seconds. "How did he....!?" one of the two asked, "Iunno, he's a Claymore, let's just get outta here!" The two remaining conscious bandits ran, leaving two of their comrades lying unconscious.

The girls were still shaking with fright, holding onto each other, crying with fear, expecting pain and suffering from the bandits that had killed their mother, but instead they heard a calm, warm voice as they opened their eyes to find the man in front of them. "You are safe now" he held out a hand to help them onto their feet. "Can both of you walk?" he asked, the girls took his arm after hesitation and helped themselves to their feet, they nodded nervously, and still frightened.

Three days later, they arrived in the next town, where Gray had found a couple who were more than willing to take them in, now Gray's real challenge was to begin. He headed down the main streets of the town, until he saw a man in black lead him to a hut where his next mission was to take place. He opened the door to find three female Claymores waiting. He gave his number to them.

"Gray. Number fifteen present."

The air from the room was a little warm, showing that the ones inside were waiting for quite a while. As the door opened all gazes were directed towards the one who entered. Rika was resting her eyes while leaning against the wall. She was the last one to look at the newcomer.

After he properly introduced himself she gave him a smile, though not cold or rude. In fact it was quite pleasant and charming, not very common for a claymore. She continued and spoke in calm and friendly manner. Her eyes here unusually calm and warm despite their cold silver color.

"So you're here... and you're a male. Rare to see one nowadays. I'm Rika #8, the leader of the hunt. Before we leave I would ask you to get acquainted with your comrades and say how many you have hunted until now. I myself participated in 12 until now. Hope that hunt 13 is not an unlucky one."

The girl, half-shrouded in shadows, smirked when the male Claymore entered and was greeted by Rika. So he was Gray, and a man, at that. She was the first to stare at the newcomer, training bright, inquisitive silver eyes on him. They had not left him since; she was still scrutinizing him even after their leader had spoken. She decided she'd speak first; the child that she was would not let him have the smallest victory. She had a rather prejudiced dislike towards him that she could not quite explain.

"I am Eira, number seventeen. I've gone on four Awakened hunts before; still new to the game I suppose."

As she finished, Eira's eyes returned to their casual observing of Gray's every movement. There was no hostility though a little dislike was evident. She was just bored. Very, very bored.

Gray felt somewhat uneasy all of a sudden, he hid that well and stood against the wall. He was quite nervous about revealing how many Awakened hunts he has taken part in, frankly because the number he had taken part it was relatively low due to him being a rare male, and that they have had him doing special missions, they were still afraid of him awakening. "This is my second hunt, the organization has sent me on solo operations for most of my time since I got my symbol" he said in a tone of respect, he admired the single digits and had high respect for them, he knew he would get looked down on by his comrades for this, so again, like in his previous hunting mission, he would have to prove himself.

He stood against the wall. Tense and prepared for any scrutiny his comrades would throw at him, and Rika's first orders, he liked the fact that at least his commander showed kindness to him, it was rare that any claymore showed any form of acceptance of his existence, he disliked the resent other claymores he met had of him. Although he was almost always alone, but that didn't bother him, he liked the solo missions the organization usually sent him on, and on a few occasions, he got to train some of the trainees since some of the handlers, or trainers, were still impressed by his sword style, it was worth passing on to future generations.

"well well, so it's Gray, long time no see, kid." the third Claymore spoke and Gray was alerted by the voice. He recognised it well and looked to his left, sat there was Meryl. An old acquaintance from the days he was a trainee. "oh, sorry Rika, I haven't properly introduced myself yet, I'm Meryl, number twelve and I've successfully survived seven Awakened hunts, unlike this rookie here." her tone indicated a kind of proudness of herself. She was a fairly young claymore, her hair a bright silver, straight and thin as it went down to her back, with a small half-fringe on her left side of her forehead. Her body was slimmer than the average claymore, however she was taller, her most distinctive feature, was a scar on her left cheek, white and thin, a scar she chose not to heal. "I haven't forgotten that incident in the training session, you were weak and pathetic, yet you managed to give me this!" she said in an aggressive tone, pointing to her scar. Her hatred of Gray was fiery, and the only thing that kept that fire burning, was her ego to be better than Gray and put him in his place.

"Meryl, long time no see, but the past is the past, put that behind us" Gray said with a faint smile. "Put the past behind us just like that? I don't think so!" she responded angrily, and without warning, she punched Gray in the face, forcing him to stagger a little and lose balance for a second. Gray merely regained his stand and ignored it as if nothing happened. Then Meryl attempted another punch, only it failed, Gray dodged it and got hold of her arm, swung her around so she was pressed against the wall, with Gray retraining her with her arms behind her. He spoke calmly" with all due respect commander, I suggest we get moving, and Meryl, you and your Ego are going to get you killed one of these days." Meryl restrained herself for the time being and let him win this one, after she calmed down, he let her go. "Rika, why don't you order the rookie to stay here? we can take care of the Awakened ourselves, we don't need no men to help us, especially inexperienced idiots like him." Gray sighed; this was going to be difficult.

In the forest north of the town, their target awaited, feasting on a family of humans.