A/N: For those of you wondering where Cleric Team came from out of the blue in paladin313's The Inquisition, you can blame it on me. I pitched the idea to him and he took it and ran with it. He also authorized me to include an epilogue from Cleric Team's perspective, as seen below. Is this all that I'm going to contribute to his intricate tale? Maybe not. I might do a companion work that follows more closely Cleric Team's exploits during the fighting against the Inquisition, but if I do, be warned now that it's not a project that's high in priority. Between all my work on Project: Arashi, The Unsung War, and Project: Stardust, not to mention my heading off to basic training (USAF baby; Above All) within the next few months, any "The Inquisition: Cleric Team" project may be a long time in coming. I certainly don't complete things with the speed that paladin313 does, considering how long it's taken me to finish these five pages.

June 22, 2017
Narita Airport Arrivals Terminal, Mahora, Japan
1632 hours, local time

There was no parade waiting for Cleric Team as they stepped off the plane back in their home country, no bands or crowds of well-wishers singing their accolades. The only one present was Colonel Lorenzo Ruiz, commanding officer of the 'Fireteam Charlie' Assault Expeditionary Force of the Mahora Mage Knights Defense Brigade, clad in his United States Marine Corps camouflaged utility uniform.

Without glancing back or giving an order, the nine members of Cleric Team fell into an orderly formation with Yuuna alongside, Regan trailing behind her. The formation came to a halt precisely before Lorenzo. Yuuna paced the length of both rows, inspecting her team, then marched to the front of the formation and came to a halt three paces away from Lorenzo, saluting sharply as she barked, "Sir, Cleric Team reporting successful completion of the mission, sir!"

The Fireteam Charlie commander, a man in his mid-thirties that appeared older than his age, paused for two beats, then returned the salute and responded, "Excellent work, Helljumpers. Dismissed!"

Yuuna dropped her hand, then performed a textbook about-face and called out, "Cleric Team, fall out!"

"Feet-first!" the squad roared back, invoking the ODSTs' motto of 'Feet-First into Hell' as they stepped back, turned, and put their military cohesion back into the bottle they kept it in when they weren't on the field.

"Word of your success and the reverberations of your mission have already begun creating ripples here in Japan," Lorenzo said, producing a PDA and idly thumbing through information. "As a direct result of your successful work in dismantling the Inquisition, a large number of Mahora's own formerly-hidden population of vampires have come forward seeking to join the Mage Knights."

"Hell yeah," Nishiyama voiced as he turned and bumped fists with Hatsu. "That's what I'm talking about."

"Job well done then, eh?" Hartley asked, nudging Matsunaga's shoulder with his elbow.

Lorenzo put away his PDA. "There's been discussion between Old Man Konoe and the local head of the Clan concerning an alliance between the Clan and the Greater Japan Magic Society."

That stopped the banter of Cleric Team cold, bringing all ten members and Regan to stare dumbfounded at their division commander. It was Regan who spoke up first. "The Old Man's going public?"

"To the other magic societies, yes," Lorenzo answered. "Not to the general public. Cleric Team is tasked to appear at the alliance signing in two days. Until then, you're free to do as you like."

With that done, Lorenzo turned on his heel and strode away from the still dumbstruck Helljumpers. Regan looked away from him and gently took hold of Yuuna's wrist. "So, any ideas?"

Grinning, Yuuna pulled her arm from Regan's grip and threw that arm around her shoulders, then hoisted her travel bag in her other hand. "A celebration is in order for another successfully-completed mission, squad. And I know just the place. A certain night club in Tokyo…"

---

June 24, 2007
World Tree Victory Plaza, Mahora, Japan
1946 hours, local time

Yuuna had been expecting a low-key affair for the signing of an official alliance treaty between the Clan and the Greater Japan Magic Society. It ended up being something of a spectacle. Several hundred people, humans, vampires, and mages were in attendance, lining the stairs of the central walkway that led up to the plaza. A good number of the Mahorans in attendance were members of Fireteam Charlie, and in the group of 'officials' were the members of both Ala Alba and Kuro Arashi, as the two groups were the primary non-mundane muscle of the Greater Japan Magic Society.

In its original inception, Mahora had not been intended as a city-academy for mages, the way a certain poor imitation of Mahora in a subpar fantasy novel had been set up. Mahora had started its life as a mundane institution, and simply became the headquarters of the Kanto Magic Association, which kept its activities secret from the mundanes, which made up approximately ninety percent of the population. After the Mages vs. Mars event, Elder Konoemon Konoe had decided upon a social experiment, in which the truth of magic was revealed first to those who had shown extreme skill in fighting against Chao's droid army during the event, and then to the entirety of the Mage Knights. From there, the spread of knowledge had progressed at a controlled rate until every person that lived in Mahora knew of the existence of magic, whether or not they had any ability to use it.

It was ironic, the gunslinger girl thought, that ten years ago, she and the other Mage Knights had fought to prevent Chao from realizing her ambition of magic becoming common knowledge in the world, and yet here they were slowly revealing it little by little to the world. Chao was a master strategist and was looking ahead to events hundreds of years in the future, so there was always the possibility that she had planned for this eventuality. Either way, it wasn't something Yuuna cared about either way. Magic was slowly heading toward mainstream, and whether or not Chao had planned it was irrelevant.

Fireteam Charlie had never put any stock into a service dress uniform, so Cleric Team was lined up before the platform on which the 'delegates' sat in their combat armor, standing at attention with the functional, replica battle rifles at their side. Regan, not in ODST armor and standing at Yuuna's right, presented an anomaly in that she wasn't a registered member of Fireteam Charlie and thus didn't technically belong in the formation, but woe upon any individual who would think to attempt to force her to leave Yuuna's side.

The sun had long since sank below the horizon, making it safe for the vampires in the gathering to be there without any form of protection, and looking out from her position standing before the platform, Yuuna honestly could not pick out the vampires from the normal humans. It just went to show that the Clan was in the right all along, and that Mahora was staying on the progressive cutting edge by backing them.

Her enhanced audio sensors picked up movement on the platform behind her, as Elder Konoemon stepped forward to stand at the podium, adjusting the boom-arm microphone to an appropriate level. "Good evening," he began, his voice echoing over the gathering. "Ten years ago this very day, three thousand students of Mahora's academies, elementary students to college graduates, men and women of many different nationalities, religions, creeds, and preferences put aside all that separated them, and banded together in order to stop a tyrannical plot that threatened the very world as they knew it.

"This plaza where we are now gathered, since renamed Victory Plaza in honor of those three thousand brave defenders of freedom, is the location where they made their final stand, snatching victory from the jaws of certain defeat and allowing the future that we have enjoyed these past ten years to come to pass, as opposed to a future of hardship and strife."

Yuuna stood a little bit straighter at the mention of that last conflict, and many of the gathered Mage Knights in the audience turned appreciative glances toward her, as they remembered it was her rallying speech at the eleventh hour that had given them the confidence they needed to take the fight to the droids, holding them off just long enough for Negi to defeat Chao in the final battle. Her contribution to the Mahoran victory did not go unrewarded; Ayaka had commissioned a life-sized bronze statue in her likeness to be placed on the decorative fountain in the center of the plaza precisely where she had stood to give her speech, the attention to detail and pose provided by a still-frame image from one of the many video cameras that had recorded the incident.

"And here tonight on the tenth anniversary of the success of the Mahora Mage Knights Defense Brigade," Konoemon continued, "we gather to witness history repeat itself, as once more diverse groups set aside their differences to look toward a common goal, that goal being a future in which all beings of every color, nation, preference, and genetic disposition may live together in harmony without fear of persecution or oppression."

Yuuna tried not to bristle at the headmaster's last line, taken as it was nearly verbatim from the prepared letter of condolence that she'd been fortunate enough to have opportunity to destroy following the Quebec and Paris missions. At least it had found a better, brighter use in his speech.

"Over the years, the Greater Japan Magic Society has been aware of a growing organization of humans and vampires working together toward the goal of fully integrating vampires into human society. We have watched them closely, at first to judge their true intent, and now to 'watch their backs,' as the young men and women you see standing before you would say. Theirs is a model that we could look to for our own future, for the inevitable day when the world will no longer be divided by 'magical' and 'mundane,' and the ultimate goal of the Mage Knights' former enemy, that goal being a common knowledge of magic worldwide, can be achieved in a far more peaceful manner."

Konoemon paused to clear his throat, then continued, "It is with great pride I announce that the Greater Japan Magic Society, its outreach organizations Fireteam Charlie and Ala Alba, our current allies of Kuro Arashi, and the head of the Japanese branch of the Clan, have come to a mutual cooperation and protection agreement, the signing of which will occur in just a few moments."

The audience broke into polite applause, and inside the sanctuary of her sealed armor, Yuuna fidgeted slightly. Official functions like these were never to her liking. To her right, Regan caught the near-imperceptible motion on her partner's part, smothered a smirk before it could come to life, and concentrated on that permanent link that bound them as magistra and ministra.

Now, now, love, mustn't forget your military bearing, the swordswoman telepathically projected across their link.

Yuuna's helmet turned just slightly toward her, and there was a split second in which the visor depolarized, allowing the taller woman to get a glimpse of her face just as she rolled her eyes. Anyone else who would have noticed would merely have assumed that it was the visor cycling. I got some military bearing right here, the gunslinger girl returned. Hate these duties.

Regan would've patted her head if not for the circumstance, but instead opted to soothingly offer, I know, but we've become something of celebrities in the vampire world after our actions. Of course, you were already a celebrity here. Her implicit inference to her partner's statue that made up the centerpiece of the plaza was obvious.

Sh-shut up! Yuuna hadn't liked having a statue of her made, either. She was proud of her accomplishments, yes, but the statue had been going too far.

While their internal discussion was going on, the signing of the alliance papers was also occurring. It went off without a hitch, save for when several of the more stupid-actions-prone members of Kuro Arashi decided they wanted to have a miniature one-upping contest with who could make the bigger signature, leaving over half the document covered in gigantic signatures. With that out of the way, the formal alliance was signed, and Old Man Konoe paused for a photo-op handshake with Henry Marker, the de facto head of the Japanese branch of the Clan. And then the ceremony was concluded.

As the audience's applause faded and people began to disperse into personal conversations, Yuuna set her helmet radio to broadcast on her squad's frequency. "Cleric Team, fall out."

There was no reciting of the motto as had happened at the airport, instead a quiet breaking of the formation, a removal of helmets, and joining with the various groups in conversation. Yuuna was looking around for where Seno Nakakami and Hiroyuki Murakami of Kuro Arashi had gone to discuss the possibility of getting together later on that night for a few rounds of Firefight in Halo 3: ODST, but an imposing figure decked in a well-cut tuxedo stepped into her view.

"You are Akashi Yuuna, yes?" Henry Marker asked.

She looked up, and up, and up some more until she was finally able to meet eyes with the patriarch of the Marker clan. "Yes," she answered. Even having been around Evangeline for years, and having just recently fought alongside vampires, there was still that little animal fear that came up whenever one of them snuck up on her like this.

Henry smiled down at her. "I've heard many good things about you from my children, and I wished to personally offer my gratitude for looking out for them during these past dreadful weeks."

Yuuna relaxed instantly, her trademark grin making its way onto her face. "You're welcome. I was honored to have the opportunity to fight alongside them, and do my part in making this world a better place."

He nodded at her words, and looked back as Regan moved to Yuuna's side, smiling as the two linked hands. "And this must be your partner, your…oh, what was that word Karin used…"

"Ministra," Regan helpfully offered, then bowed. "Hiryuu Regan. It's my pleasure to meet you."

"And you as well, young lady," Henry returned, bowing as well. "Your reputation as a powerful warrior precedes you. This magic that the two of you and the others employ is most interesting. Perhaps it is something I should take to studying in my spare time."

Grinning, Yuuna threw an arm around Regan's shoulders, then swept her other arm out to encompass the width and breadth of the city-academy of Mahora. "Well, there's no better place to do so than right here at Mahora. Gotta warn you though, it's going to be a hell of an adventure!"

Henry smiled again, and looked up toward the sky as fireworks began to rise and burst in the night sky, celebrating both the annual victory of the Mage Knights, and the new alliance formed between the 'world of the dark' and the 'world of the light,' an alliance carrying the dream of a brighter future for all.

"Indeed it will be, Akashi-san. It's an adventure that we can all look forward to."