Three years had passed since the organization was wiped from the face of Toulhouse. The city of rabona had been rebuilt. Despite saving them, humans were still uneasy around claymores and as such, the three claymores that had remained in the holy city of Rabona: Clarice, Miata and Galatea, remained in the cathedral. Though Galatea being a Claymore has remained a secret out of fear that the children would fear her. The other claymores had since travelled for the mountains and went about their own way of life and had since lived in relative peace, the elder claymores; the ex-warriors acted as the adults and guardians of the smaller, weaker ex-trainee's. They had managed to build and maintain themselves a small village, hidden somewhere so that it could only be accessible by a heavily defended front gate. The rest of the area was un-accessible by humans and even Yoma for that matter. The harsh terrain and constantly changing weather made it impossible for anything to scale the mountains traverse the lands and reach them. But recently; there have been rumours of human settlements becoming ghost towns over-night and the settlers never being found. Those that go to investigate the areas never return. The areas are known as the 'forbidden zone' by those that tell the stories and those that live near the area.
A Yoma hangs in the tree-line nearby where the boy had been found by the priest, his guard and a few travellers.
Appearing to be a normal yoma: tall, slender, pointy nose, pointy ears, razor teeth, claws and dark reddish skin. Despite his normal yoma appearance, the Yoma was Very unique to others, almost completely 'alien' in a way. Gently placed on his eerie-Yellow coloured eyes where special, tiny transparent devices which allowed whatever the yoma was witnessing to be witnessed by others far away. Specifically, its superiors.
"Are you sure about this?"
A man asks as he sits in a dark room light up only by the large, Semi-transparent image of what the yoma was seeing. The man's voice was very rough and deep, making him sound as if he always had a sore throat.
"Yes I am. No one will believe the child's story, if he can even bring himself to talk about it and if they do believe it, they will mistake the truth for a deluded fantasy about Yoma's being the only thing they have to worry about"
The other man replies: his voice was crystal clear, had no roughness to it and had an almost sadistic feel to it.
Though the two observed the events play out with seemingly no emotion, the larger, bulkier man felt contempt for the child whereas the skinner less intimidating human had seemingly no emotion what so ever
"If the child does somehow ruin the plan though…."
"Then you will tear out his spine and wear it as a trophy yes, I know: you are very touchy about how things play out aren't you?"
"I know, I apologize sir, but. We have lost a great number of loyal personnel for this project, we've been stationed in this hell-hole for what seems like an eternity now!"
The smaller, skinner human raises his hand to gesture for the larger man to be silent.
"I know. And I have an idea. Send in a squad of Yoma to ask for the boy, the claymores will figure out what they really are, kill them and believe that they are responsible for the boy's current situation"
The less intimidating human says with a tone of authority in his voice to let the larger man know it was not a request.
"Yes, sir. Right away sir!"
The larger man quietly leaves the skinnier human alone in the dark room.
"As for you, my loyal eyes and ears, I want you to report back here"
The human quietly says to the screen. To which the Yoma silently acknowledges and heads off. Casting a concerned glance behind as he did so. Those creatures could still be there for all he knew.
The holy city streets were relatively quiet, it was still night, most of the families were asleep in their warm beds right now. A few sentry's patrolled the tops of the massive walls protecting the holy city from anything that could mean them harm, so far, they had a few incidents with yoma, but they were the only problems the city's walls couldn't stop. No living human could scale the walls or break through them. But the city had three claymores in the cathedral, so they didn't need to worry much.
It had been a three years since anything interesting had happened to the city since the attack by the awakened beings the organization had created in response to the claymores rebellion. The most memorable of which was Miata awakening to defeat another awakened being while Clarice protected her humanity and the monster known as 'Priscilla' simply disappeared without a trace and had not been heard or seen since.
Father Vincent, one of the many priests in the cathedral, saw the claymores more as a family. Having been with them and looked after them for so long. And it still brought a smile to his face when Miata went about her child-like shenanigans, one of the rare ones was, running away, usually stark naked and hiding behind Vincent. Thankfully though, they tend to happen so rarely and in empty parts of the cathedral, none of the other priests or monks had yet to see them.
"MIATA, COME BACK AND FINISH GETTING DRESSED!"
Clarice shouts as she desperately chases after her adopted daughter Miata who was once again, running away wearing only her pants, covering her breasts with her arms as she ran.
Though because the room was empty they needn't worry about them being seen by anyone. Though Clarice was thankful the yelling hadn't attracted anyone.
"Miata! You need to finish getting dressed!"
Clarice shouts as Miata comes to a halt at the end of the large room fitted with frames of deceased persists and holy crosses.
Miata points to the bra Clarice is holding in her hands
"I don't want to wear that! It's uncomfortable!"
Clarice holds the bra out to her
"You HAVE to! You need to cover your breasts, it's what all woman do after hitting puberty!"
Clarice retorts
"But I don't want to! It feels uncomfortable! I wear cloths already, why do I need to wear more?"
Miata shouts back, holding onto the doors handles in case Clarice got any closer. When the doors suddenly open and Vincent comes through followed by Galatea. Miata is quick to run the elderly priest for cover, clutching onto his robes.
"Oh dear, what is it this time?"
Galatea asks with a smile at the child-like antics. Vincent quietly chuckles and gestures to the bra in Clarice's hands
"Let me guess, she doesn't like the bra?"
Vincent chuckles as the blood rushes to Clarice's face. Vincent slowly urged Miata out from behind.
"It's okay child, it may be uncomfortable now, but you will get used to it, besides, it's all part of growing up"
Not a few seconds pass by after Galatea closes the door behind her to make sure no one else saw Miata, there comes an urgent knock at the door.
Galatea opens it slightly so that whoever it was wouldn't see Miata
"Yes what is it?"
She asks in her usual calm tone
"Sister Galatea; you need to inform father Vincent a boy has been brought in, he was found in the forest with injuries and has lost a lot of blood. It is urgent!"
A guard informs her in a quiet shout, much to Vincent, Galatea's and Clarice's alarm
"A boy? How long ago was he brought in?"
Galatea asks, having a genuine concern for the well-being of children.
"A few minutes ago, when he was conscious, he was raving on about his home being destroyed and Yoma being killed by demons. Some of the wounds on him are...the likes of which I haven't seen"
The guard seems at a loss for words about the boy's injuries, Vincent appears next to Galatea
"I heard the conversation, thank you coming to tell me"
Vincent says as he walks out of the room flanked by Galatea, stopping when he was almost out of sight, looking back at Miata and Clarice
"Sorry girls, this takes priority"
Vincent says, following the guard and disappearing from sight, along with Galatea.
It was a few minutes after Vincent and Galatea had gone to examine the boy that was brought in, that Clarice and Miata came to the room where the boy was.
"Mama. I don't like it! It's so uncomfortable!"
Miata continues to complain to Clarice about wearing the bra she was now wearing, constantly fidgeting with it and picking at it.
"Quiet Miata! I don't want to disturb them while their working on the injured boy!"
Clarice quietly scolds Miata, not wanting to be responsible for causing a miss-hap while Vincent was operating.
Miata quietly hugs Clarice tightly and quietly whimpers
"Sorry mama"
Clarice winces, unable to resist Miata when she was like that. she is about to reply when the doors open, Galatea quietly nods for them to come in. the room is tall and wide, lit candles and chandeliers illuminate the room. The yellow-green glow of the candles giving the cold wooden floor an almost warm look, while the red curtains covering the windows give an almost eerie blood-red colour.
"How is he?"
Clarice whispers to Galatea, seeing Vincent, a few other priests and a few guards gathered around a blood-stained bed.
"Fairly well, Father Vincent says he lost one third of his blood, which isn't good, especially for children so young"
Galatea whispers back. They arrive at the bed as the priests and guards move away to allow them to get a good look at the child that was brought in.
A teenaged boy, probably not a year older then Miata. Covered in bloody bandages here and there. A large wound with stitching from his chest to his stomach. Clarice becomes slightly alarmed at this particular wound
"He isent….one of us is he?"
Clarice whispers, loud enough for the ex-claymore-now-nun to hear her, and barely loud enough for Vincent to hear as well. As well as a earning a few looks from the guards and priests
"No, no he is not a claymore. It was just pure luck that the wound be somewhat similar to the ones claymores have…..he's very lucky, the wound was not deep enough to be severely fatal. But he would have died from blood-loss had it not been treated-"
"Forgive me for being so brash, father. But 'Lucky' is not a term I'd use to describe the child's dilemma: obviously something horrible was after the poor boy. He was scared out of his mind when we found him, he was covered head to toe in blood, some of which I suspect was not his own"
A guard cuts off Vincent. Though he wore an apologetic look for speaking as he did to a priest, his tone was not so apologetic, it was almost angry, which was understandable. Something like this to happen from out of nowhere, with no warning, in the middle of the night no-less, Vincent was not surprised at all that there was quiet whispers among the other priests and guards.
Among those in the room, Galatea was the one who looked shocked the most. She was at the child's side, her head hung low, her face, though Clarice couldn't see very well at the moment because of her hair in the way, looked to be full of guilt. Vincent's face also had some degree of guilt on it, though it was directed at Galatea, not the child, who Galatea was now gently petting on the head, quietly repeating over and over again
"I'm so sorry"
Vincent noticed Clarice's confused state and quietly whispers to her
"Galatea was acting strange all day, it got so bad a few hours ago that I questioned her about it, and she said she felt odd emotions: strange kinds of fear and despair and an overwhelming kind of anger, a strange kind of burning hatred directed at everything and an unbearable kind of agony…she told me it was coming from somewhere to the east - I told her I'd ask the church to send someone to travel that way and see if anything was out of the ordinary. We heard that a convoy of merchants were planning to head out east tomorrow and a church guard offered to head out east with them as he had friends there. It would seem that there may be a slight delay to heading that way though"
"No, father, it's not your fault…I should have told someone or acted sooner….if I had this poor child would not be here in this condition"
Galatea says, having heard them
"It is not your fault, it is not your fault the boy is here, and you cannot blame yourself for any of this"
Galatea finally looks up from the boy, her face gave away her emotions that she still felt responsible regardless of what anyone said. She is about to speak again when Vincent raises his hand for her to not speak
"I will not hear you blame yourself for this. But there is something that must now be discussed….perhaps we should see if the church can ask for assistance from the townspeople; ask around for information, see if anyone knows the child or if anyone knows where he came from"
Vincent then turns to face everyone in the room
"Come along, we should leave, let the boy rest. The church needs to plan on what to do, if there is a threat to the east, we need to learn about it so we may properly be defended against it. Should it come to pass that whatever happened to the boy's home, should happen to the city"
Vincent humbly says, the group all leave the room expect for Clarice and Miata. As they are about to leave the room, Vincent stops them.
"I would very much appreciate it if you could stay and keep an eye on the boy, just in case anything happens"
Vincent says with a smile.
"Uh, yea s-sure, we can do that"
Clarice quickly replies, staying behind as Vincent leaves the room, once again flanked by Galatea
With everyone else out of the room, Clarice decides to inspect the boy closer.
He appears slightly pale due to blood-loss. His nose appears normal apart from a cut going across the middle. He has almost-wood brown messy hair which had been recently cut. He has a short, slightly pointed chin. Broad jaw. Small forehead covered with cuts and bruises. His neck was fairly short but strong, also covered with cuts, bruises and small gashes. His torso was a muscular one, he looked to have the beginnings of a six pack before the wound and the stitching. Fairly muscly arms. His chest was less covered with scratches apart from the large stitch down the middle. He had a small, white blanket covering his waist, which had random blotches of blood on it. His legs were also fairly muscular
He must have been a farm boy or something
Clarice thinks to herself as she looks at the different muscles on his body, the ones that hadn't been cut open or damaged at least.
Clarice's attention was now back on the large stitching down the middle of the boy's stomach
Was it a yoma that did this? No….too….too neat…to precise, to ACURATE to be a yoma…yoma inflicted wounds are messy, not organized. This was done by….something else
Clarice was so busy thinking about the stitching that she neglected to see Miata removing the only piece of cloth covering the boy's waist.
"AH, MIATA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! STOP, PUT THAT BACK!"
Clarice quickly snatches the blood covered cloth from Miata and places it back onto the boy's waist to cover up his manhood
"Sorry mama! I just wanted to see if there were any cuts there as well!"
Miata utters as she hugs Clarice. Clarice's face was flushed with embarrassment. Was that really why Miata took the cloth or was she curious as to what was under it?
"Miata, I think we should have a talk soon…..do you know where babies come from?"
Clarice proclaims as she puts Miata as arm's length
"Babies? No…I don't know where they come from"
Miata replies completely oblivious as to where babies come from or why her mother's face was red as a cherry.
"Well….just don't look under there again…okay? It's not….not nice to take advantage of him and….invade his privacy"
Clarice states as she tries to calm herself down. Miata is about to speak when a knock comes on the door. The door opens slightly and Vincent's leans in and says
"Clarice, can you come with me for a moment please? There are a few questions the church would like you to answer for us"
Clarice simply nods and kneels down to Miata
"I'll be back as soon as I can - stay here and watch him for me….and don't….invade his privacy"
Clarice put a heavy tone on the sentence 'Invade his privacy' to make sure her adopted daughter heard her. Miata quietly nods in understanding and watches Clarice leave, after the door is closed, Miata is left alone in the room with the unconscious boy. Miata turns to look at him again, the slight rising and lowering of his stomach as he breathed - being the only thing he is capable of doing.
Miata isn't sure why, but she's been feeling strange for days. She's been looking at boys - males in general but mostly boys, differently. She'd began to take an interest in boys, though she didn't quite now why. And now she was alone in a room with one. Albeit this one was hurt and asleep.
Miata then remembered that the bra was still on and it was still uncomfortable.
"Why does mama want me to wear this? Its uncomfortable, I don't like it"
Miata mutters to herself as she takes off her warm cotton wool jacket and shirt and undoes the straps of the bra and takes them off. Throwing them aside and moving her breasts about with her hands as if they were a muscle she was stretching
"Ahhh. Much better~"
Miata is halfway through putting her cotton wool jacket and shirt back on when she hears the boy begin to mutter and moan. His breathing had also quickened and become jagged
She takes the cloths back off slowly and stares at him, slightly startled but mainly confused. She then slowly approaches the bed his prone form is on and places her hand on his chest.
Hmm….cold…
Miata then gently places her cotton wool shirt on the boy's chest, then her jacket. Miata then gently places her hand on the boy's face and her hand gently travels down toward his mouth, her fingers gently rubbing against his nose and eyes. His face felt cold, expect for a warm patch from where he was exhaling. Miata looks around the room, but doesn't see anything else warm, but as her eyes travel around the room, she remembers she tossed aside her bra and she spots in on the ground.
Then she gets an idea. An idea that probably only seems smart to her. She holds the bra against her chest, rubs it between her hands and breaths on it a few times to increase its heat, she then wraps it around his head.
Mama will be proud of me for thinking of this!
Miata happily thinks to herself about much her mother will appreciate her helping the boy.
Miata is about to leave the boy alone when her eyes travel down to his waist and she sees the cloth again.
Why didn't mama want me to look there?
Miata doesn't know why her mother didn't want her to look there. The only thing that was there was his manhood, and Miata wasn't interested in that….was she? She hadn't quiet thought about that. Recently she was too concerned about wearing that stupid bra her mother wanted her to wear.
Miata walked over to a nearby sink that had blood all over it and several medical instruments. She looked into the mirror and stared at herself in the mirror
Did Miata change? She twisted her neck and back so she could look at her butt, it had grown a bit and had become somewhat more rounded and had a bit more 'meat' on it, she turned back and looked at the front of her body. Her breasts had grown a bit, she had begun to grow hairs down near her womanhood. Was that it? Did Clarice hate her because she had changed over the years they had been with each other?
"urgh….bro-ther—"
The boy had begun muttering again, only this time he had tears streaming down his cheeks.
Why's the boy crying? A nightmare?
Miata couldn't help but feel sympathetic. Was he having a nightmare about his brother? Nightmares about family members were the worst kind. Miata knew from experience
"You're the WORST daughter! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"
She remembers Clarice shouting those at her, then she woke up crying like a baby. She woke up the real Clarice in doing so, it had taken a few minutes of Miata crying into Clarice's chest for her to calm down.
It made Miata's eyes misty just remembering that horrible nightmare.
She quickly approaches the bed. The tears on the boy's face not stopping. His breathing had become rapid again. She quietly gets into the bed with him, pulls on her jacket, slowly sits him up and gently wraps him in her arms and begins slowly rocking him back and forth as he continued to cry in his sleep. His head was slowly beginning to warm up from being held between her warm breasts. It was actually the first time Miata could think of, besides Clarice, that anyone had touched her scared skin. The same scar that would be with her the rest of her life from becoming a claymore
The door quietly opens and Galatea appears in the door-way
"Miata, it's me I just thought I'd-"
Galatea was halfway through the doorway when she stops midsentence. A smile quickly creeps its way onto her face.
"Galatea? What's wrong, why did you-"
The next one at the doorway was Vincent, his confused expression quickly turning into a smile when he figured out the scene before him
"Oh god, did Miata do somthin-"
The last one to arrive is Clarice, she stops mid-sentence and her jaw opens and refuses to close.
"i-uh-wha-he-"
Clarice utters in complete shock, unable to think of anything to say
"It's alright, I think I get it"
Vincent quietly whispers to Clarice who was still babbling
"Hello, what are you up to child?"
Vincent says with a warm smile as he approaches Miata.
"Mama…the boy's having a nightmare"
Miata quietly utters, her own eyes becoming watery upon seeing her mother's facial expressions. Thinking her mother had instead gotten angry at her for her actions.
"He was also cold"
She quickly adds
"It's alright child, that's very kind of you to look out for him like you are"
Vincent says with a happy smile and warm voice. Clarice slowly manages to calm herself down
"I was the only one in the room at the time, nightmares are easier to go through when you have someone there to hug you, right mama?"
Miata says to Clarice who sits on the bed next to her adopted daughter and the unconscious boy and sighs
"Yes. That's right. I am proud of you trying to hel-"
Clarice is cut off midsentence as the boys starts screaming.
"What the heck!?"
Clarice shouts in alarm as the boys screaming becomes more gut wrenching with each passing second, the boy falls to the floor, leaving a startled Miata on the bed and several confused Adults in the room unsure of what they should do when his eyes shoot open and he clutches his chest, hyperventilating, he looks around the room.
"GAARGH-WHA-WHERE-WHERE AM I!?"
The boy shouts as he scrambles away from Vincent and Galatea when he backpedals into the bed, turning and seeing Miata and Clarice, he quickly scrambles away from the bed towards a dead end, staring at the new faces in the room
"Easy child, easy! You're safe, calm down!"
Vincent tries to calm the boy down but to no avail as he continues hyperventilating, his eyes shoot about the room.
"Where are they?!"
The boy shouts, his voice was guttural, he could even recognize his own voice. Even to himself it sounded as if someone else was talking. Vincent looks around the room and says
"Who, child? Where are who?"
The child doesn't make eye contact with the priest, instead he continues to look around the room frantically
"The demons, I know they followed me!"
Vincent seems startled by the word 'demon'. Though he believes the child means Yoma and ignores it
"This is a house of god, child, no demons can get you here"
Vincent says in a reassuring tone, though Galatea can tell by the child's emptions, he knows the difference between a yoma and 'Demon'
"The yoma couldn't stop the demons, what good can god do?"
The boy retorts, surprised when the priest didn't get angry at him for speaking against 'god's power'
"God works in mysterious ways and he can't always answer everyone's prayers"
Galatea states with a friendly, almost uncertain smile. After all, she didn't want to offend the boy. She reaches her hand out to the boy, and he shrinks back in fear.
"Child, can you tell me what happened to you? Where are you family?
Clarice pipes up after remaining quiet for a few minutes. Galatea, Vincent and the boy look over to her and a half naked Miata.
The boy takes one look at Miata and looks away, his fear temporarily replaced by embarrassment. He had seen naked girls before, never made it any easier to see to see another one nude though. His father wanted to raise a gentlemen, not a pervert.
The boy looks at Clarice for a moment, the over to Miata, making sure to look her in the eyes and not at her breasts. Miata and the boy lock gazes for a few moments before he realizes he has something wrapped around his head. He takes it off and looks at it: it's a bra. HER bra
"What the?"
