Author's Notes

DISCLAIMER:

Claymore, in all its elements, belongs to Norihiro Yagi

All the characters and story elements that are not part of the official Claymore storyline belong to me

Here I go with something that I have planned for a while now. It tells the story of Jacqueline before Blankface, a little about her human life, how she became a Yoma (that's what the M-Rating is for) and how her training was. But, what is of at least as much importance, it will give you a little more insight on how I picture those parts of the Claymore-Universe that Yagi has not shown us yet.

And, since I am a little stuck with Blankface, it is a good way for me to get thoughts that for now only divert me out of my head. Those who have not read Blankface yet, you won't be spoilered much here. Those who are waiting for a Blankface update: Bit... by... bit it's getting done.

And now:

Enjoy!

I - Yoma-Delivery

Night had fallen over the small village known as Eran. Bit by bit all the lights went out for said village to live through another quiet and peaceful night. It had been a normal day, as always. It's citizens had been to work, the children had either played all day or helped their parents out and a few of the men had gotten into a fight after having drunk four to five after-work beers too many, but all in all nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

That should change.

Not everyone in that village was asleep. One person that had entered it just a few minutes before was awake. There was a job to do.

She was standing on one of the rooftops, staring into the window of a house opposite of the street.

"Yes," she whispered into the dark, "that definitely is the right one."

In her right hand she held a bag that was struggling and wiggling heavily. She rose it to her eye-level, taking a good look at it.

"Really," she said, "as filled with energy as you are I am not sure if you will do as you'll be told to."

Like a shadow she leaped down from the rooftop she was standing at and scurried over the street. With her back facing the house's front door she took a few glances around to make sure nobody had seen her. The she pulled a key out of an inside pocket of her long black cloak and warily eyed it for a moment.

Then she put the key into the keyhole and tried to unlock the door. A little bit of tension had built up insider of her, but it left the moment the lock opened.

'Really,' she thought, 'how does he always do that?'

She entered the house and closed the door behind her.

###

Inside she compared the position of the window that she knew was the one her target was in to the position of the front door of that house and, as if she had lived there her whole life, instantly found the right way to that room.

The room itself had not been locked, so she could enter it without problems. There her target was, a boy, around the age of seventeen, was lying there, sleeping.

Her bag that had become quiet for a while began to struggle again, more wildly as before.

"Yeah, yeah," she sighingly said, "it's your turn now."

She opened the bag and a dark flash shot out of it, directly onto the boys face. The latter awoke instantly and tried to scream, but he could not, because the thing had completely sealed his mouth and throats. Also the boy could not see or hear anything, because whatever had befallen him had began to invade his head through every possible entrance. He struggled wildly and fell out of his bed while doing so, making quite a bit of noise, but due to his family being well-known merchants they had quite a fortune, and a house of quality. So the ruckus he made stood unnoticed. Not that anyone could have helped him, though.

The black mass that had jumped onto the young man's face more and more disappeared inside of him. The deeper that thing dove into him the less the boy struggled, until the black mass was gone and the boy had stopped moving.

Ha lay there on his back for a while, being watched by the one who had brought what had happened over him.

She gulped.

"It's disgusting every time anew. To think that those things are created by humans..." she mused, as the eyes of the boy suddenly opened and he, a little heavy-handed, got to his feet. He held his head and shook it, as he realized that he was being watched.

His eyes widened and he jumped backwards over the bed, taking a defensive stance.

"You kidding me?" he hissed. "My first time in what do I know how many years to have a body and right after waking up one of you stands in front of me?"

"Cut it out, will you?" the woman answered and made a few steps towards him.

"Stay away!" he hissed a little louder. "I know that you're stronger than me!"

She sighed. "My, will you calm down already? You act as if I was going to kill you!"

"What else?" he spat at her. "Has happened often enough already!"

"Oh," she said, making a wondering face, "then you should know the deal already, do you?"

Sliding a few steps backwards just to nervously notice that he had been driven into a corner, he yet again hissed at her: "What do you want to say? Out with it already!"

"Don't play dumb!" the silver-eyed woman lectured him. "You get a body and do your Yoma-things until you get reported and killed, that's how it woks."

His face turned grim. "So? I have not done my – like you named them – Yoma-things yet, so I have all right to wonder about your presence, don't I?"

The warrior stemmed her hands into her waist, looking disappointed. "So you are a rookie, after all?"

The Yoma, still in his human form, clenched his fists, before saying: "Instead of posing questions you could explain what you are talking about, witch!"

"Well then, " she sighed, "since there does not seem to be another choice I guess I'll have to. I brought you here to fulfill a job. If you do it as you are told, you'll be set free – until you let yourself get caught again, that is. If you don't do as you are told we'll just dispose of you. It's as easy as that."

"A job you say? And if I do it as you want me to I can go around and do whatever the fuck I want?" he asked.

"If you don't have your cover blown" she answered.

He thought for a moment. Basically he did not have that many options: the warrior in front of him was at least a hundred times stronger than him, his senses were good enough to tell him that much. So, disagreeing with her would only lead to him being killed again right away. Past experiences have shown him that, even if it is only the host, the human, who dies, it also is a rather unpleasant experience for the Yoma – him. So for now his only option was to act as if he was interested in the job that woman wanted him to take care of.

'That I have to take orders of... of such... that's disgraceful!' he thought grimly, but he asked what that job might be.

"Easy," she began to explain, "your host has a little sister. Tell me about her!"

"Little sister, little sister..." he mumbled. He was not used to his new host so it took him a while to find the information he needed, but eventually found them.

"I got it. Her name is Jacqueline. She has a great affection to her brother, especially since he is always protecting her from bullies and helps her with nearly everything" he explained, before, after a short pause, adding: "guess she'll be fun."

"She has to stay alive at any cost!" the one who brought him there emphatically said, earning herself a questioning look from the inhuman boy. She rose a finger and explained: "She has a strong will. A will that needs to be tested. Do to anyone else in this village whatever you want. No, actually, do to her whatever you want, as long as she stays alive and in one piece. If you eat every two to three days the town will send a request after a week, maybe ten days. Then, about the same amount of time later, one of us will be sent. She'll let you escape as we agreed."

"I can do whatever the fuck I want as long as his sister doesn't die?" he asked.

"Yes" she answered.

"You know," he said, in a nearly praising manner, "I never got why you were fighting alongside the humans to begin with, and I don't have the slightest idea what it is about that girl and her will, but I take it that you want her to suffer and, well, I can arrange that! Really, some of you seem to understand what our kind needs!"

The woman reached out her hand to him, which he took while evilly chuckling.

She stepped towards the door and, right before closing it, turned around to him: "If you screw up, you die. Do not forget that."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, shooing her away.

After the warrior was gone the boy sat on his bad, having the maddest of looks on his face, and rubbed his hands, whispering: "Great, great, great, great, great, hehehehehe. That's the jackpot! I can kill and eat as much as I want and I have such a lovely girl to play with and the best thing is that they will let me get away as if nothing had happened! This is so great!"

###

She had left the village only a few minutes before, as a man completely dressed in black stepped out of the bushes in front of her. She stopped in her tracks the instant she acknowledged him as her handler.

He wore black cloth trousers as well as a black sweater, a black hat and darkened glasses. A casual smile was on his face as he greeted one of the warriors assigned to him: "Ah, Sistina, there you are!"

"Hey, Rubel" she greeted back. "Everything went fine, he is a dumb one, so I pretty much think hat he has taken the bait.

"I see" he said, changing his view's direction towards the village the Yoma was in.

Sistina turned around, facing the same direction as him. After a short while she asked: "Will she be the right one?"

"Who knows" Rubel said. "No matter how long we search, if we find someone who might be fitting, we'll have to test her. She either does great, or she dies. There are only those two options."

"Still..." Sistina replied, not letting out her thoughts. 'Still... to doom a village just because there is someone who might be of use...'

"Don't forget the greater picture, Sistina!" he reminded her, startling her a little. "This is not about a group of humans, if we find her this will have an impact on the world as we know it."

She sighed. "I know that. But even if she passes the first test, what, if she turns out to be weak? And even if she is strong, who says that she really is the one?"

A moment of forced silence followed, a stage-wait, like Rubel enjoyed to implement them from time to time, before he spoke up again: "We will know it, when he has chosen!"

Author's notes:

A little more than I wanted to put into the first chapter, but I didn't want to keep you completely clueless about what is going on and why.

Stay tuned for the first update!