Author's Notes

First of all, thanks to the readers and Soutrick who also has reviewed.

Here is the second part, nothing else to say for now, besides:

Enjoy!


II - Beteigeuze

Jacqueline's eyes opened as she awoke. It was still in the middle of the night, so why did she wake up? She normally had a tight sleep that lasted past the sunrise. She sat herself up, stretched and yawned loudly. She then realized a strange smell coming from the corridor.

"Huh?" she wondered drowsily, "why is the door open?"

The door indeed was slightly opened and she could see a soft light shine into her room.

'Is it from brother's room?' she mused. She then rubbed her eyes to get the sleep out of them and got up. Making small steps she left her room while asking: "Brother?"

Directly after entering the corridor she stepped into something wet. She then looked down: it was red. Fear had struck her and her eyes had widened. Her little hands began to shake, then her whole body did. "Brother?" she asked again, more quietly that time.

Trembling she made hesitant steps towards her brother's room. The door also was open and the light came from there. Her heart beat stronger with every step that she took. "Brother?" she asked yet again. "I'm really scared!"

She appalledly realized that her brother's room was empty. She then ran to her parent's room calling out for her mother, just to realize that no one was there. She then ran to the stairs to look for her brother and her mother, alternatingly calling out for them.

At the stairs she stopped as she saw that they were full of blood, too. She could also see that the door that led to the living room was slightly open. Not realizing how stupid it was to go down there her right hand grabbed the handrail and she went down the stairs.

As she stood in front of the door to the living room she realized that the strange smell came from there. Nor being able to think she whispered "Brother?" again as she entered the living room.

"Oh, Jacci, still up at this hour?" her brother's voice asked her.

Before her there was a scene that burned itself into her mind and made anything else vanish. Her brother was squatted, facing her direction, over the body of her mother. Her stomach was torn open and her face was in shock. All life had left her eyes. Everything around her was full of blood. Her brother held a dark red slimy mass in his right hand. Both his hands and his face were also drenched in blood. He was taking a bite of whatever was in his hand, chewed a few times and then swallowed it. Tears were running down his face.

"I am sorry, Jacci," he stated, "but I was just so hungry."

Being totally dull Jacqueline stepped towards her brother and stopped just an arm's length away from him. Her view wandered down to her mother's corpse and then to the thing that her brother was holding. Without her noticing tears had begun to run down her face, too. She was so overwhelmed yet her mind was so empty, that she just had no idea of what to do. Not even her survival instinct that was desperately telling her to run had no chance of influencing her.

"I am so sorry, Jacci," her brother said yet again, "but Mum won't be able to make breakfast tomorrow." He then held the slimy mass in front of Jacqueline and said: "It's all that is left. You have to be hungry."

The girl's gaze wandered upwards to meet her brother's and then wandered back to the disgusting thing that he was offering her. She had no idea just what was going on. Her brain desperately tried to get through to her mind but failed. She had completely sealed it off. Her small, trembling hands slowly reached out for the red mass in her brother's hand. Whatever it was was not bigger than an apple. 'Yes,' a voice in her mind told her, 'it's your brother handing you an apple, that's it!'

Her hands took the slimy mass while her mind repeatedly told her body that it was an apple though that obviously not being the case. 'Don't worry, it's your brother handing it to you, everything is fine' the voice in her mind still tried to convince her body while not a single rational thought of her brain could reach her.

She took a bite. And it was disgusting. But it was her brother that gave it to her, so it had to be fine. Bit by bit she ate whatever it was. Her brother gave it to her, so it was fine. Truly fine.

###

A crowd had gathered around the house Jacqueline and her family lived in. "Is it true?" a man murmured. "A Yoma, really?" another one said. "That is horrible!" a woman said.

The town's chief arrived at the scene, too. "What in the world has happened here? Is what I have heard true?"

A man stepped out of the house and made his way through the crowd.

"It is terrible" he told the chief. "The way it looks we have a Yoma here."

"You've got to be kidding!" the Chief shot back startled.

"I fear that this is the case. The corpse of a woman whose intestines have been devoured was found by her son this morning. He said that, after he awoke, he found bloodstains in the corridor and immediately went to look for his mother and sister. His sister was asleep, but he found his mother the way I just described it to you."

"What to do now," the Chief mused, "we definitely can't afford to hire a Claymore!"

"A Claymore?" a person inside of the crowd asked. "No way!" another one answered.

The Chief fingered his beard for a moment. "Bring the boy and the girl to my office. I have an idea."

"Alright" the other man said and went back inside to get Jacqueline and her brother.

###

The Yoma, Jacqueline's brother, entered the office of the village's Chief. The distinctly shorter Jacqueline was holding his and. Her face was completely empty, as well as her mind. She was neither scared of her brother nor did she feel sad for her mother's death. She just did not feel anything. All she did was telling herself that it was her brother and that everything was alright.

Though she heard that her brother and the Chief were talking she did not comprehend a single word. She just kept staring nowhere and waited, though she did not really know what for. 'It is okay, it is your brother, everything is totally fine' her mind told her yet again.

"I understand," her brother said. "That is probably the best thing to do since we can't hire a Claymore."

The Chief replied: "Good. We will supply you from the outside with everything you need. It's good that you understand. And please take good care of your sister, she now needs you more than anything else."

###

Jacqueline and her brother were sitting at a small table in the kitchen of their home. Her brother had suggested to go to the living room, but Jacqueline did not dare to enter it despite the corpse being gone and the floor having been cleaned. She still was holding her brother's hand which she also did not dare to let go of.

"Don't worry" he said to her.

Her empty gaze wandered up to meet his warm smile. 'It is your brother. Everything is totally fine' she thought yet again.

"We will get everything we need from the outside. They just want to make sure that neither of us is a Yoma, so we will have to wait for two weeks."

Jacqueline blinked. "Aren't you a Yoma?" she asked as quietly as possible.

"I sure am" he answered.

"Don't you have to eat?" she asked.

"I will be fine. Don't be afraid, I would never harm you, would I?" he convincingly said.

Jacqueline blinked again. 'It's your brother. It's totally fine' she thought yet again. "You can if you have to" she blankly stated.

'He, now look at that girl' he mused. 'I've never seen something like that. Does she even know what she is saying? Or have I already broken her?'

"Do not worry," he said, "if worse comes to worst we will just break out and run away."

Jacqueline nodded before letting her gaze drift to nowhere again.

'Still,' the Yoma continued his thoughts, 'two weeks is a long time. Damn, I had just entered this body and the first thing I thought of was eating. Whatever. I will just enjoy my time with the girl and then break out the moment I can't stand starving anymore. Those stupid folks can't do anything, after all.'

###

Sistina was still watching over the Yoma from outside of the village. So far everything went the way it was supposed to: the Yoma had instantly murdered and eaten Jacqueline's mother. Since the village did not have enough money for hiring a Claymore they came up with a plan to find it. It was common knowledge that Yoma most of the time ate their family members first. So they thought that it was likely for either Jacqueline or her brother to be the Yoma. They had decided to lock them up for a set amount of time to see if either of them kills the other one. Then they would kill the Yoma themselves. That was indeed not that big of a problem, finding it was the difficult part – and the reason why Claymore were needed by the people.

"It has been five days already" she said to herself. "Tomorrow he will eat, no matter what."

"Perfect" Rubel, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere – that, at least, was what it felt like to her – said to her.

"She's doing fine so far, don't you think this is enough?" she asked her handler.

"Not yet" he began to explain. "You know what kind of person we are looking for: she needs an extremely strong will to survive. A will that lets her forget anything else as long as she is able to make it. Even though she went as far as eating guts because she was afraid of being killed if she didn't I don't think that this is enough proof yet."

"You see," Sistina answered, "the Yoma will eat tomorrow, there is no doubt about it. He might eat her if I don't do something about the situation."

"She will kill him if he tries" Rubel plainly stated.

Sistina looked at Rubel disbelievingly. "Let alone the fact that a girl can't kill a Yoma, I highly doubt that she will even try it. What if he kills her?"

"Then she is not the right one, as simple as that."

"I really don't get it. What does he need a girl like that for?" Sistina asked.

Rubel then turned around and said: "He is looking for his long lost love. And he is going this far to find her. Leave the situation as it is."

With that he left Sistina alone. She was staring after him for a while before she faced the direction the village was in again.

Don't have doubt, Sistina.

"Don't startle me like that. I have no other choice than doing what you say anyways" she answered the voice that had spoken to her mind directly.

If she is the right one she will indeed kill her brother, just as Rubel has stated. You are merely here to bring her to the Organization, if she succeeds.

"You know," she began to answer, "it is slightly scary how you seem to know about everything."

I have lived for a time so long that you could never grasp it. I have seen so many things that you can't dream of. And I have learned to judge them and come to conclusions in a way that no other living being can do it. I can predict the future as long as I have enough information. And in this case the Yoma will try to eat her and he will do it tomorrow. If she is the right one, she will kill him. If she is not he will eat her. It's that simple.

"But," Sistina wondered, "what if she kills him and still is not the one you are looking for? For her to be the one you are looking for it is necessary for her to kill her brother, but not necessarily sufficient."

Only patience will bring forth answers. If she kills him she has passed the first test, but many other will follow.

"And if she passes the test and I bring her to the Organization my work is done here, I assume?"

Yes. You will be sent to Unikum then. And I will of course keep my promise of never bothering you with anything again. That also includes that you can keep your soul, no matter what you do.

"Be sure to keep that promise, Beteigeuze."

Do not worry, I am a man who keeps his word.


Author's notes:

And there he is. What do you think will Jacqueline's fate be? Will the Yoma that possesses her brother try to eat her or will he break out like he has said? Will Sistina sit by idly or will she interfere?

More to come in the second update, stay tuned!