Disclaimer: I do not own Claymore

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Clare

3 Days Later

After Raki fell asleep in her arms while they were inside the cave, he slowly began fading away. Apparently Raki was not as stable as Clare thought he was.

Helen lectured Clare about the piss poor job she did in her attempt to "stabilize" him. All she did was stop the external bleeding, she didn't do anything about the concussion or the possible infection, If Helen had shown up any later than Raki probably would have died.

Admittedly Clare was thankful for Helen's help, however what she absolutely was NOT thankful for, was how touchy Helen seemed to be with Raki's unconscious body. Clare didn't know why but the thought of Helen being the one to "Heal" Raki left a bad taste in her mouth that she couldn't explain.

After Raki was actually stable, they moved back to the main cave that they were staying in. At first the other warriors were apprehensive about taking Raki in, but after they had the situation explained by Clare, and some private conversations with Helen (For whatever reason), they became a bit more open to helping Raki. Even Miria agreed, which Clare found surprising since she was the one that Raki attacked. Miria stated that Raki could provide the group with much needed information, and whatever weapon he attacked her with could be very useful in their fight against the Organization. So until he woke up and could be questioned by Miria he would be temporarily allowed to stay.

Clare was relieved. If her comrades had thrown him out, she wouldn't have known what to do. She WAS NOT going to leave him, not after everything the two of them had gone through to find each other. But what would she do if she left? Where would she go? "No I can't think about that. It doesn't matter, I'm here and so is Raki." Clare thought.

Clare continued to gaze down at Raki. She had held him in her lap for the past three days and hadn't taken her eyes off of him at all.

Everything about him was a mystery, she wondered where he had been the past five years, why he had fallen from the sky, she looked him up and down, noting every physical change on his body, from the strange scars on his torso to his new trimmed hair. She had many questions but little answers.

"Raki...what happened to you?" She said to herself in her head.

She thought back to what he said in the other cave. "Every time I thought I was going to die I thought of you and I somehow survived." What had he meant by every time he thought he was going to die? Just how much danger was he in? "You were the thing that kept me alive every time! Every time I was on the verge of death your memory brought me back!" She remembered him saying.

"Did he mean that? Did he really keep surviving just for me? For someone who wasn't even fully human?" she thought. But it was the last thing he said that disturbed her the most. "They took everything away! Why?! All for nothing! They stripped me and so many other young men of our humanity simply for pieces of the ground!" What did that mean! Was he literally not a full human, like her? Or was it just a metaphor?

Clare had so much running through her head, but then Raki began to stir. "He's finally waking up!" Clare's heart began pounding in her chest.

She didn't know if he was ever going to wake up. She had been so worried about him for the last three days. At last Raki's eyes opened, and he smiled at Clare.

Raki barely had time to say "Hey" before he was crushed by Clare's arms, which had held him tightly against her body. Clare pulled herself away from Raki slightly, still keeping him in her arms.

Clare had so much that she wanted to tell him, but how? She didn't know how to describe how she felt about him.

She gazed into his eyes and he looked back in hers, there faces were only a few inches apart, slowly they both started moving closer. Suddenly Clare pulled away, someone was...slow clapping?

Both Raki and Clare looked in the direction of noise where they saw Helen "Bravo! Bravo!" She said sarcastically, still clapping her hands. Clare's cheeks turned bright red as she noticed all seven warriors in the room watching her. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you forgot we were all in the room?" laughed Helen.

Clare looked really embarrassed now. "Well I can't really blame her, she must be sleep deprived, after all, she practically hasn't blinked in the last three days, she has just been gawking at you." Helen said to Raki.

Raki looked up at Clare, her cheeks were bright red, she looked away from him.

Raki remembered that time in Rabona, where Clare was injured and he didn't leave her side, oh how things have changed.

Cynthia, who had been standing towards the entrance of the cave decided to chime in. "Oh leave her alone Helen, don't act like you haven't been making googly eyes at him ever since he got here."

Helen was taken completely off guard, she looked back at Raki with HER cheeks now turning red. "Whatever, like how am I not supposed to? Look at him! He's so tall! And he looks like a damn bodybuilder! Jeez Clare I thought he was gonna be a little snot nosed brat forever, but it looks like he's taken care of himself." Helen chuckled, completely shameless in her way of speaking about Raki, despite the fact that he was sitting right there.

"Helen!" said Tabatha. "What? I'm not wrong." said Helen. It was Raki's turn to be embarrassed now. "Right… well...uhh... thanks…. I guess" said Raki timidly. "You can thank me after we have our fun" Winked Helen.

"HELEN! Exclaimed Yuma. Helen just laughed. Clare shot a small glare at Helen. She didn't know why but the way Helen was talking to Raki and her talk of "having fun" bothered her.

Raki was visibly uncomfortable. He had just woken up and was already the focus of everybody in the room, and still, nobody knew anything about him other than what Clare told them.

Suddenly Miria spoke up "That's enough. You all can poke and prod at him later but right now we have business to attend to." Miria looked at Raki. "Raki, I apologize for the rude awakening, you must be very confused and disorientated, but now that you are awake I need you to follow me, we have to talk."

Raki looked up at Miria and immediately winced. He remembered shooting her in the leg. "Hey...umm... I'm sorry about… the leg… I didn't kno-" Raki was cut off by Miria. "Don't worry about it, we can talk about that later. For now I want to talk to you outside."

Raki stood up, and Clare got up to follow him. Miria turned back and looked at Clare, "Alone please…" Clare was clearly taken off guard. She hesitated, but then frowned and sat back down.

Raki turned around and shrugged at Clare, pretending not to know why Miria decided to leave her out of the conversation.

A bit after Raki and Miria left the cave, Clare said to herself "Why would she leave me out? If anyone would know how to talk to Raki it would be me." Helen overheard Clare and began laughing. Clare looked at Helen and asked "What's so funny?" Helen looked Clare in the eyes and smiled. "You really are clueless aren't you?" Helen chuckled.

"How's that?" said Clare. Deneve chimed in, "Remember when you told us everything he said to you in the cave the night you found him? Didn't he say he was stripped of his humanity?" Said Deneve. "It sounded like he went through hell, and seeing how much he cares about you and your opinion of him, I doubt he would want to share all that with you. Most likely because he was afraid of what you would think of him." Explained Deneve.

Clare blinked, was that really it? Did Raki really think that anything that happened to him over the past 5 years would change her opinion of him?

Helen spoke up. "Well that's one way of putting it Deneve, I was just gonna say the kid had a massive crush and didn't want Clare to think bad about him."

Clare looked at Helen. "What makes you say that? You've only seen him conscious for about two minutes."

Helen shrugged. "It's not hard to tell, and from what you've told us I think the feelings mutual." Helen Winked at Clare. Clare looked down "It's not like that!" she said. "Hey, if you don't want him I'll take him. I always love a challenge!" Said Helen with a wicked grin.

Clare kept looking down. In truth she had no idea how she felt about Raki, she knew deep down that she felt something for him, something she never felt for anyone else. Clare didn't know how to describe it, she had never experienced anything like it before, so she had no words for it. Logically however she knew that whatever she felt was just an irrational human emotion, an emotion that could never be fulfilled…because a human could never love a monster...

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Raki

"I'm sorry about my comrades, they can be...well...overwhelming." Those were the first words Raki had heard from Miria after he stepped out of the cave.

Raki was still disorientated, just moments ago he had woken up to Clare and six other claymores all watching him like he had risen from the dead, he didn't know any of them other than Clare, but they acted as if they knew him. It was strange indeed.

"My name is Miria, we've met before, I was with Clare when she hunted her first awakened being. Same goes for Deneve and Helen" Raki remembered that hunt, he remembered how Clare linked up with three other claymores, but he didn't remember their faces or names.

When Miria told him this information he accepted it with ease, for whatever reason he found this claymore, a complete stranger, to be very trustworthy, despite the fact that he barely knew her.

Raki and Miria walked about 200 feet, well out of earshot of the other warriors.

Miria turned around, "Raki, I know this might be hard for you, but I need you to be open with me if you want to stay here with Clare and the rest of us. I promise you, whatever you say will stay strictly between us, but I need you to be honest with me and tell me everything that happened to you after you and Clare split up."

Raki stared at Miria, he knew that she was going to ask that question, but it still took him off guard.

At that moment Raki's kind and trusting nature had left him. This claymore, a woman who he had hardly any memory of, wanted him to just give her information about the hell he went through?! "Who does she think she is?" Raki caught himself, there it was again, the anger that had been growing over the past five years.

Raki took a deep breath in, and thought carefully about what she said. "I need you to be open with me if you want to stay here with Clare and the rest of us." he remembered Miria saying. If he wanted to stay with Clare than he needed to make sure that they knew he wasn't a threat. Raki looked Miria in the eyes and began to tell her everything.

5 years ago…

Raki was leaving the city of Hanel when he was captured.

He remembered just a few days ago he had seen a statue of Teresa and Clare, the twin goddesses.

Raki had left Hanel, and just outside of the city he was approached by a large group of men. Their leader asked Raki where his parents were, Raki naive about what was about to happen to him answered honestly.

Immediately he felt something hit the back of his head, and he went out cold.

When he came to, he was being carried on someone's back with his hands bound.

He immediately attempted to escape by trying to squirm out of his captors hands, as soon as he began moving he was thrown to the ground.

"Get up! From here on out you are walking!" ordered his captor. Raki stood up and looked at the man; the guy who captured him was a tall grizzled man who looked like he had seen some serious shit.

"Who are you? And where are you taking me?" asked Raki.

"Listen up kid, your now our property, we own you. There is nothing you can do about that, and no one is coming to save you. So I suggest you shut your mouth and keep walking."

Raki looked at the man. "That's not true! Clare is going to come for me! And when she gets here you are all screwed!"

Raki felt a swift kick to his stomach, he crumpled over and fell to his knees. "What did I just say kid? Shut your mouth and keep walking!" Raki got back up and did as he was told. "That's all right…" he thought "Just a few more days and Clare will find me!"

Unfortunately she never did find him, and as "a few days" became "a few weeks" became "A few months" Raki slowly began to lose hope. He waited and waited but his savior never came.

Raki, all alone in a cell, far in the northern lands, drew a picture of the twin goddesses as a reminder of the promise he and Clare made to each other. "I'm going to get out of here, and I am going to find you." He thought to himself.

Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching his cell, Raki turned around just in time to see a man wearing a strange outfit approaching his cell.

Raki observed the man's clothing, he seemed to be wearing a suit, it was a very dark blue color, and on the shoulders there was a gold trim. On the man's forearms Raki noticed a small metal device. On his hips was a strange black pouch which Raki would later learn was called a holster.

The man squatted down outside of Raki's cell, "Hey kid, you want out of that cage?" the man said in a polite yet sinister tone.

Raki thought for a moment, anything was better than the cell he was in, and if Raki came with the man than he would likely stay in the area, he wouldn't go any further north, and that meant Clare would have an easier time finding him.

"What's the catch?" asked Raki. The man smiled, he placed his hands on the bar and said, "I will get you out of that cell and I will make you one of the most fearsome humans to ever walk the planet if you come with me, all I ask in return is that you carry a weapon and fight for me…"

Raki's eyes widened as he began to think. "One of the most fearsome humans to ever walk the planet" if that were true than he could finally protect Clare, he would no longer be her burden, he could be her savior.

Raki looked back at the man "For how long?" asked Raki.

"I can't say for sure, but you will be allowed to return home when you have served your purpose." said the man.

Raki paused for a moment. He thought about Clare, he thought about all the times she saved him… Raki then proceeded to make the worst mistake of his life. He opened his mouth and said "yes".

The man grinned… "Good, then we shall start right away." the man began tapping the metal device that wrapped around his forearm, suddenly Raki was surrounded by a blinding light. "I will see you soon" said the man. Raki felt like his entire body was on fire, like every particle of his body was being torn off one by one, he tried to scream but couldn't, and as suddenly as the pain had come on, it went away. The light that surrounded him was gone, he looked around and saw that he wasn't in the same place as before, he was now in a small white room with almost nothing in it.

Raki looked all around the room but he couldn't find a door, he couldn't find anything, it was just a plain white room, there were no doors, windows, or candles… "Wait, how can I see if there aren't any candles?"

Raki looked up and found his answer. He saw a bright light being emitted from a small circle hanging from the ceiling.

Suddenly Raki heard a noise from behind him, he turned around only to find that the wall he saw just a few seconds earlier had now become open doorway.

"EVERYONE OUT!" a voice screamed from outside the room.

Raki, startled, did as he was told. Raki walked out of the doorway and into a wide white corridor filled with exactly 49 other people, on the sides there were other doorways just like the one he came out of.

When Raki looked at the people he noticed that a very small amount of them were dressed like commoners from the lands he traveled across with Clare. However most of the others were all dressed like they were from other planets. This puzzled Raki at the time, but later he would learn why they were dressed this way.

"FORWARD, MOVE IT! CLEAR THE HALL!" Screamed a man in dark green clothing.

Raki along with everyone else did as they were told and moved forward out of the hallway.

The group entered a large room where they were face to face with ten men who were dressed similarly to the man screaming out orders.

"Form a single file line in front of each Sergeant! Five people to a Line!" The screaming man said.

Raki fell into the line that was all the way on the left, standing in front of him was a young 11 year old boy, the same age as Raki at the time.

"Hey do you know what's going on?" asked Raki

"I have no Idea, I just got here! Where are they taking us?" said the boy.

"What do you mean, you have no Idea?" Said a voice from behind Raki.

Raki turned around to see a 15 year old boy staring at them. He was dressed strangely, like he wasn't from the same world as Raki. "You signed up for this didn't you? Just like everyone else." said the 15 year old.

"I was taken by slavers and a strange man said that he would give me my freedom if I agreed to come with him." said Raki. "Hey the same thing happened to me as well!" said the 11 year old boy.

The 15 year old looked at Raki and the other boy with a puzzled look on his face. "Wow, you really don't know what's going on do you?" Said the 15 year old.

Raki shook his head. "You and everyone else here just signed up to be soldiers, and right now we are beginning our training to fight in the largest and most dangerous war to ever exist…" Raki didn't understand what he was hearing, "Wait, what war? I didn't sign up for any war!" Said Raki.

"What do you mean 'what war'?" said the 15 year old boy "The war that has been plaguing the land for generations! The war to end all wars, the two hundred year war! The only way you couldn't have known about it is if you're an Stunt, and we would never use one of them… were not that desperate." the boy said trailing off at the end as he looked at Raki's clothing.

"Well kid, I guess we are that desperate." Said the Sergeant staring at Raki and the 11 year old boy. "These two boys in your squad are abhuman."

The 15 year old stared at Raki with disgust, "Oh lucky me! I'm put in the squad with the freaks."

Raki was confused, "What did he mean abhuman? Is there something wrong with me? Why is he saying that about me?" Raki thought to himself.

"I wouldn't worry about them too much." Said the sergeant, "If they're abhuman than they probably won't live very long, everyone knows that they will never be good enough to live up to Terran standards." The sergeant said in his most condescending voice.

"Why are you here freak?" said the 15 year old. "You are not going to survive long out there, your kind will never do anything important, your useless, a waste of armor!"

Raki remembered how he felt when he was with Clare, he remembered feeling useless, he remembered how helpless he was against the Yoma. The words he was hearing now were a reminder that he could never live up to her…

Over the next twelve months of training, Raki would hear those words used to describe him a lot.

He would be discriminated against for reasons unknown to him. He was told by everyone that he would die immediately if he ever made it to the front line. Raki was called many things: Abhuman, Subhuman, Stunt, Freak, Waste of armor, Useless, Helpless, Bullet sponge… Even the sergeants would abuse him and the other "Stunts" more than they would other trainees.

Raki would be told daily that he would never amount to anything, that he would never live up to the people around him. It didn't matter how fast he was, how strong he became, or how accurate his shooting was, they still treated him the same.

Raki would be tripped by other soldiers when they all ran together, he would have his feet stomped on by his sergeants when the trainees all stood in formation, and they would beat him if he ever did anything wrong.

Raki had a very vivid memory of his sergeants beating him for doing something wrong; he remembered one night a sergeant was inspecting the soldiers uniforms and found that Raki's nameplate was not aligned. The sergeant who was on duty that day had a special hate for "Stunts" so when he saw that Raki had done something wrong he decided to let his anger out on him.

Immediately he grabbed Raki by the throat and threw him to the ground. "YOU ARE USELESS! YOU CAN NEVER DO ANYTHING RIGHT! YOU ARE JUST A WORTHLESS STUNT!" screamed the sergeant as he began stomping on Rakis gut.

"YOU ARE WEAK! YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING!" Screamed the Sergeant. Raki thought about Clare, he thought about how she had protected him from so much. He thought about how useless he was against the yoma, how he would forever be at their mercy. "I will never be able to protect Clare." he thought to himself. "Clare…" he repeated her name in his mind as he continued to be beaten. "Where are you?" he thought as he took a blow to the face. "I need you!" Another hit "Please!" Raki gasped for air "PLEASE HELP ME!" He thought as he blacked out.

After that day Raki unknowingly became the fastest runner in his entire platoon of trainees, he learned to hit a target better than even the sergeants could,and he was able to lift far more than anyone else, he was one of the finest soldiers to ever come out of training, but none of it mattered, he was treated all the same.

Raki was verbally and physically abused to the point that even after everything he accomplished he still believed that he was just as weak and useless as he was at the beginning.

When their training was over, Raki was at the top of his class, but when they announced the top trainees they skipped over his name. Raki truly believed that he amounted to nothing, and when he told Miria about his time in training he told it exactly how he remembered it.

"I was one of the worst trainees that they ever saw, I was nothing, I could never live up to the other soldiers, I was destined for death the second I said yes to the man outside my cell."

Miria listened to everything he said attentively, she pursed her lips, "Raki… what did they mean when they called you abhuman?" asked Miria.

Raki looked down, "In truth I don't know much, but what I do know, I still find hard to believe." Raki looked back up at Miria, "There are other humans out there, humans that come from other worlds, they have far more advanced technology than we do, but they are violent, they wage war with one another for small reasons, but they are better than us in every way." Raki said with a sad look in his eyes.

"I never did find out why they called us things like abhuman, subhuman, or stunt, but every time I asked they refused to tell me. However I do know this, next to the Terrans, we are nothing…"

Miria paused for a long time, Raki couldn't tell what she was thinking about. He hoped he hadn't said anything wrong, if Miria threw him out he would no longer be with Clare. He knew that, next to her, he was nothing, just like he was nothing next to the Terrans.

If he had to leave, he doubted she would go with him, he knew that he was a heavy burden to bear and that he was basically useless to her.

"She would be much better off with these warriors than with me." he thought.

Miria spoke up and interrupted Raki's self loathing thoughts. "I still have a few questions…" she said. "I will start with a simple question, when you were getting trained where were you? I know that I've never heard of, or even seen a place like what you are describing.

Raki looked up to the stars "I thought the location of my training was heavily implied" he said.

He looked back at Miria, "I mentioned that these humans are from other planets…" He continued. "Well, we were trained on their world." Said Raki.

Miria's eyes widened "So you've seen their world!" she exclaimed.

Raki stared at her judgingly. "Well no shit!" He said. Raki smiled and in his most sarcastic voice said, "I mean, I was just fighting in a 200 year war! We have lots of those here right? We have one by Rabona… one by Hanel-" Raki was cut off. "Okay, Okay I get it! That was a stupid question…" said Miria looking down. "I was just surprised by your story…"

Raki looked at Miria and replaced his smile with a serious expression. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me… anyways, you said you have a few more questions."

Miria looked back up at Raki, "Ok... second question, can you describe the world you were on? What did it look like? What kind of animals were there?"

Raki didn't have to think very long to answer her question. "Their world is very much like ours, the trees and vegetation that I saw were identical to the ones on our world, as for animals I did not get to see too many, but the ones I saw were identical as well." said Raki.

Miria looked surprised, and this time Raki understood it was for a genuine reason. "So despite the fact that they exist on another planet, their world is identical to ours." she said shocked.

"Yes… everything except for the man made objects were the same." said Raki. "Miria believe me when I tell you, their buildings were so tall that they touched the clouds, they had machines that allowed them to soar through the sky, they invented things that could allow them to move a mile in less than a minute. Their world's technology far exceeds ours, they are so wise, but their war machines far outshine anything you have ever seen in your life. They are a species with so much potential, yet they kill and wage war like savages."

Miria's expression didn't change, it was almost as if she had heard it all before. She sighed, "Raki, this will be my last question, it is the one I have been avoiding because I understand that it must be very difficult to talk about…"

Raki knew what she was about to say… "Can you please tell me wha-" "What the fighting was like?" He cut her off. Miria shut her eyes and nodded. "Yes... what was the fighting like?" she said solemnly.

Raki glared at her through sad eyes. "No…" he said meekly, Miria looked at him confused. "No...I can't tell you… No matter how hard I try I will never be able to even begin to put into words what I saw…what I did… it's not something I can just tell you about! I lost everything! Not only do I not want to revisit those memories, but even if I try to explain it… my words will never do it justice..."

Miria looked disappointed. "It's okay I completely understand… I don't want to push you, we all have our own hell... But at least tell me this... If you were fighting on an alien world, than how did you get back here?"

Raki furrowed his brow. "I honestly do not remember much… I just remember… fighting...and then falling… falling towards here." he said.

Miria decided to ask another question. "Okay then… before that… what is the last thing you remember?"

Raki had to think hard to remember, he had to dig deep, past all the fighting for whatever details he could muster, when suddenly, it all came back to him. He looked at Miria, "I remember one night I was approached by a man wearing strange armor, he told me that he had heard about me through my CO. Apparently they were looking for survivors...people who fought a lot but always came back alive. He told me that he was recruiting for a new special forces unit… and for whatever reason he wanted me to join."

Miria lifted her head, "Special forces?" she asked.

"Yes" said Raki "Our side had small divisions of elite soldiers that served many different purposes, some were undercover spies, others were amphibious divers, but whatever the case was, they were off of the front line and somewhere safer. So naturally I jumped at the opportunity to get off of the front."

Miria became very intrigued, she leaned closer in towards Raki. "That night I left the frontline, and then I was taken to… I was taken to…" Raki paused and began rubbing his temples.

"Where DID they take me?" He thought.

"What's wrong? Asked Miria.

"Nothing, I just feel like I am missing parts of my memory."

Miria cocked her head to the side, "Well that's strange…" she said "You said that each special forces group did something different…" she continued "Well what did yours do?" she asked.

Raki appeared strained. "I don't know… I just… damn… what did we do?" he said.

Raki's memory began coming back in flashes, he remembered a fight on the front line, the memory took place AFTER he was recruited for special forces. He remembered feeling invincible… he remembered feeling like he couldn't die. "What did they do to me?" he thought.

Raki tried to remember more, but then he began to feel like someone was screaming at him... "STOP GO BACK!" the voice seemed to say. "YOU DO NOT WANT TO REMEMBER!" it said.

Raki felt as if the memory was right in front of him and all he had to do was reach out for it, but every part of him was screaming at him, begging him not to dig any deeper.

"What do you remember?" asked Miria.

Raki stopped trying to remember, "Nothing… I can't remember anything after the man approached me…" he lied.

They both sat in Silence, neither of them knowing what to make of the situation.

"Well it's pretty late…" Said Miria "I have decided that you can stay with us if you wish…" Raki beamed at Miria with a smile. He was thrilled that he wouldn't have to leave Clare. "On one condition…" said Miria as she stood up, "If you begin to remember anything, you come to me first." she said. Raki nodded his head "Will do!" he said.

Raki and Miria made their way back to the cave. Upon entering they found everyone asleep, everyone except for Clare, who was eagerly awaiting Raki's return.

Miria looked at Clare, "He can stay… for now…" she said. Clare smiled and nodded at Miria.

Clare looked over at Raki and her smile seemed to widen, her face said that she was glad he could stay but deep down, beneath her countenance, she was far more thrilled than she was letting on.

Miria spoke up "Get some sleep, were training tomorrow , and Raki…" Raki looked at Miria. "Tomorrow, you will be joining us." she said as she walked away, further into the cave, leaving Clare and Raki alone.

Clare was leaned back against her claymore staring at Raki.

Raki simply smiled and moved towards her, normally when they traveled together he would sleep a good few feet away from her, but tonight he sat his tired and wounded body right next to her and leaned back against the cave wall.

Raki knew she wouldn't mind the close proximity, after all, she had held him in her lap for three days straight. Raki's eyes drifted towards Clare, he met her gaze.

He looked her up and down, she looked exactly how he remembered, she hadn't changed at all since they split up.

"It's funny…" he said out loud to her. "You look exactly the same as you did back then… not a thing has changed…"

Clare began to speak. "Yet you have changed so much… your hair… your face...I even noticed a few new scars!" she said as she looked up and saw Raki gawking at her. "Huh… what's wrong?" she asked.

Raki shook his head, "It's nothing…" He smiled "I just...can't believe...I cant believe it's all over...and that i'm finally here with you! I've waited so long to find you… I can't believe you're actually here!" he said.

Clare's eyes widened, she completely understood how he felt. She turned her body to the right and grabbed Raki's hands.

She began to speak, "Raki…" she squeezed his hand "I… I just want to say…that" there was so much that she wanted to say, so much to get off of her chest, but how? How could she say how she felt about him, when even she didn't know how she felt. She felt a lump in her throat begin to form. "I want to say that I understand… I still can't believe that you are here either! It's been so long… I missed you." she decided to simplify her feelings, careful not to show too many of her emotions.

Raki smiled at Clare, "I missed you too…" he yawned. Raki was struggling to keep his eyes open, but he willed them not to shut because he wanted to spend every moment he had with Clare.

"Raki…" she said "What happened to you… when I was gone…" she asked.

Raki paused, he didn't know how to respond to her question, what could he say? He had no words to describe what he saw. He thought about everything he went through over the past five years, and he decided to generalize it with one word. "Hell…" he said coldly. "I walked through hell."

With that Raki slipped off to sleep leaving Clare alone with her thoughts. "Hell" she thought. "What could that be?" she thought. She looked over at Raki, she gently placed her hand on his cheek. He HAD changed so much, he no longer had a baby face, he was mature, he had well kept hair and, he was much more built. She leaned back away from him, she knew that he needed rest, she could wait to find out what happened to him.

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The Viper

Location: Orbit of Planet 5607

"Do we have his location?"

"Negative, but we know that he is still on this planet."

"...We need to find him… he is too important! We can't let him fall into the wrong hands…"

"You're not thinking about…"

"We have no choice"

"..."

"Reactivate The Viper! We can't let the experiment get away! He is too valuable!"

"Roger that sir!"

Agent Kennedy ran to the Cryogenic holding wing of the ship. He found captain Dawson, the man in charge of the cryogenic subjects, and relayed his orders. "Initiate protocol 415" said Kennedy. Captain Dawson's eyes widened "Your sure?" he asked. "We have no choice, time is of the essence." said Kennedy. With a deep breath Dawson entered his password into his terminal and began to reactivate The Viper. Dawson looked at Kennedy, "I need the targets ID." he said. "The targets ID is LS-11" Dawson typed the code into his terminal. "The Viper will be reactivated in 10 seconds." Kennedy held his breath as Dawson counted down. "4...3...2...1…"

"Welcome back sir…" those were the first words The Viper heard as he woke up… He didn't remember much… but he knew that he had one mission… find and capture LS-11… The Catalyst… Sergeant Raki...