Disclaimer: I do not own Claymore
Waking the Dead
Chapter 2: Early Meeting
The night air was crisp and the town of Lezon was silent. A full moon illuminated the light and the sky was clear of clouds. On the roof of his house, Clyde laid down facing the sky. Though his eyes may have been on the moon he did not see it. His thoughts were muddled and there were too many things to think about. It had been twelve days since he had delivered Dietrich's message to the ghosts in Rabona. He had left soon after delivering the messages but the state that they had been in when he gave them the message troubled him. He felt anger, disbelief, regret, sadness, and happiness all at the same time from them. Galatea had assured him that everything would be alright and he chose to believe her. He went back to Lezon to wait for Dietrich, but now twelve days later there was still no sign of her. *CRACK* Clyde bolted upright hearing a twig snap. Using his enhanced inhumane eyesight he looked to the east forest. There were three cloaked figures approaching. He recognized the cloaks immediately. One was brown with a left shoulder pad, and the others both dark green with a metal clip which led them in place. Clyde jumped off the roof and ran to meet them.
"Irene! Noel! Sophia!" he had a broad grin on his face as he approached them. He jumped and wrapped his arms around Irene who was in the front leading the other two, as usual. "What are you doing here?"
"First, let go" Irene sighed. He did.
"Still cold ain't ya?" Noel pulled down her cloak and stepped up to Clyde and ruffled his hair "Hey brat"
"So why are you guys here so early?"
Irene explained "I felt there was something wrong. Something unnatural and had to come check it out."
"Oh" Clyde dropped his head thinking 'Irene's intuition is amazing. I can't believe she sensed something like this'
"Clyde?" Sophia called his name
"Hmm?"
"Do you know something?"
"Ah, well..." he trailed of and didn't meet her eyes
"Spill it brat" Noel crossed her arms.
Clyde sighed "Alright, I'll tell you. Follow me" he led them into his house and sat down at the table. Then he explained to them about the Organization brining back four dead warriors from the War of Pieta.
"What!" Noel stood up so fast her chair clattered to the floor. Sophia's mouth dropped slightly and Irene's eyes widened, only slightly though.
"More importantly, how do you know this?" Irene asked. He then explained to them about the Ghosts and Dietrich.
"Heh? Seven brats trying to take down the Organization? You've got to be kidding me." Noel snorted
"Where are they?" Sophia asked
"In the Holy City of Rabona" That raised Irene's eyebrow
"How did they manage that?"
"One of the ghosts once saved them from a Yoma seven years ago. They slowly opened up, not only that a former warrior was disguised as a blind nun there and she also helped them."
"How many of them are there exactly?" Sophia asked
"Including Dietrich, eleven"
"Eleven, eh?" Noel tapped her chin
"Do you know their names?" Sophia asked
"Umm, let's see... Galatea was disguised as the blind nun; there are two warriors who ran away named Miata and Clarice. Tabitha, Cynthia and Deneve are survivors from the war as well as two others I don't know the names of and of course Miria-nee and Helen-nee."
"Miria-nee? Helen-nee?" Sophia asked
Clyde smiled "You guys remember how I told you I had two sisters but they were killed by the Yoma?" they nodded "Well, it turns out I was wrong. They actually were taken and became warriors. Now they're survivors of the War in Pieta hiding in Rabona."
"Heh..." Noel tapped her chin "How interesting"
"It's a miracle that you were able to meet them." Irene told him.
"I know" he smiled broadly
"So out of the eleven you don't know two of the names?"
"That's right."
"How do they look?" Noel asked him
"How will that help?" Sophia turned to her friend
"Hey what if we know them?"
"We've been hiding for over a decade. Who the hell would be alive that we know?" she snorted
"You callin' me stupid?"
"No, but I can if you want"
"Noel, Sophia." She didn't raise her voice but hearing Irene scold them stopped them from arguing any further. "When is the next time you will meet with them?" Irene looked back at Clyde.
"I will go to Rabona if Dietrich gives me a message but sometimes Miria-nee drops by. I don't think they will though. They're still probably shaken up about their comrades being revived"
"I see..." Irene closed her eyes in thought.
"So what are we going to do?" Sophia asked her superior
"What do you mean?" Noel asked Sophia
"Are we going to join the 'ghosts' or are we going to stay out of it and keep hiding?"
"..." Noel had no answer to that. "Irene?"
"Why are you asking me?" Irene didn't open her eyes
"What do you mean why are we asking you?" Sophia turned her attention back to Irene
"You can make your own choices. Why ask me?"
"Well..." Sophia trailed off
"Cause your our leader" Noel simply said
Irene turned to look at her with confusion in her eyes "I'm your leader?"
"Yea, we've been hiding together all these years. Not only that I still haven't repaid you my debt for saving me that time."
"Noel, that was years ago."
"I still need to repay you. Not only that," she smiled "Your my friend and I wanna stick with you and Sophia" Irene's eyes widened and she was speechless.
"Same goes for me, Irene" Sophia put in "I'll respect whatever decision you make. I want to stay with you and Noel as well. I also have my debt to repay."
"Noel... Sophia..." Irene had no words. "What if my decision isn't one you like?" she managed
"I decided after that time that I'd follow you Irene" Sophia said
"Where Sophia and you go, I go" Noel simply said.
"You two..." Irene sighed and smiled "Alright. We'll go meet these 'ghosts'"
"Alright!" Noel did a fist pump and Sophia chuckled. Clyde had been silent the whole time they had been talking.
"When are you planning to go?"
"I'm not sure. I think we will go with you" Irene replied
"I don't mind, but I don't know the next time I'm going to go."
"We can wait" Sophia sighed
"Are you sure?"
"We'll wait brat" Noel rolled her eyes
"But-"
"Clyde." Irene stopped him "We'll wait" He nodded then stood up. As he stood he swayed and almost fell over. If not for Noel's quick movement he would have fallen to the floor.
"Oi, brat. Are you okay?" Noel said supporting him
"I'm just tired" he mumbled, eyes drooping.
Noel sighed "You're so troublesome" then scooped him up in her arms
"Hey, put me down" Clyde mumbled tiredly
"You can barely put up an argument, let alone walk" Noel said as she walked up the stairs. "You don't have to act so tough. Sometimes you just have to let people help you." During the time she spoke Clyde had fallen asleep in her arms. After hearing no response, Noel looked down to see him breathing peacefully. Chuckling quietly she laid him down in his bed before heading back downstairs. "He's asleep." Noel informed coming down the stairs. Irene nodded signalling she had heard.
"Hey, I'm grabbing some air" Sophia said beginning to walk out the door.
"I'll come with you" Noel said following her. The two jumped onto the roof of the house and sat down.
Sophia breathed deeply. "You know, I still have dreams about that time."
"Yea, same here. I don't think I can ever repay Irene for that" Noel closed her eyes.
Priscilla's Yoki was running wild. "Priscilla!" Irene yelled as she launched herself from the ground and jumped of a side of a building heading for Teresa. "Noel, Sophia. Can you stand? We have to go after her!" Irene looked back at them. "That fool doesn't even know her limits"
"This must be a joke!" Noel shook with fear as they approached the mountain "Their Yoma auras are huge. They can't be real"
"What can we do? Look at them?" Sophia shook as well.
'Wait both auras have grown but one is far beyond the other. Whose is it?' Irene thought 'Either way, if Teresa is the one with the bigger aura then she will kill Priscilla and we will have failed our mission. If Priscilla kills Teresa then she will most likely go over her limit. We won't be able to kill her and mostly die.' She thought "Noel, Sophia" Irene turned around
"What?" Noel asked
"Take these" she tossed them each a suppressant
"What are these for?" Sophia asked
"In a worst case scenario, Priscilla will awaken and kill us. We can prevent that. If she does awaken let her attack you in a non-vital spot and knock you out. The suppressants will cut off your flow of Yoki and we can pretend to be dead."
"But if we do that then we will be branded traitors!" Noel shouted
"Honestly Noel, I don't plan to return to the organization after this anyway."
"What?"
"The Organization uses us like tools. They have no care for our humanity but looking at Teresa... My mind has been made up. I intend to leave the Organization for good. If you two don't want to do this then so be it." She waited for their answers.
"Heh?" Noel chuckled "Man, I thought I was going crazy but seems like I'm not the only one thinking that."
"You too?" Sophia looked over smiling
"Alright, Irene we'll go with your plan"
Irene bolted upright gasping. The cool evening air whispered along her skin. She closed her eyes thinking of the moment she thought she had died. Priscilla appeared before her and raised her blade. The last thing she saw was the flash of Priscilla's Awakened eyes. She reopened her eyes and took in her surroundings. The missing left arm was gone, probably taken by some scavengers, Noel and Sophia lay not too far off. At first glance, with all the blood they seemed dead but the faint rise and fall of their chest was visible. Irene's wounds had closed while she had been unconscious and stood up walking to them. She knelt down beside them and turned them over so they were on their backs and examined their bodies for any damage. They were both offensive types ad their wounds hadn't healed properly. "Tch, if they keep bleeding like this they might die." She then remembered something she had seen in training before. A warrior had synchronized her Yoki and healed her comrade. "I might as well try" she sighed. Closing her eyes she placed a hand on Sophia's stomach and tried to synch her Yoki. To her approval the wounds began to close.
"Gahh" Sophia's eyes fluttered open,
"Don't move you're still hurt" Irene told her as she moved her hand to Noel's stomach and synched her Yoki. Noel's wounds also closed and she also woke up.
"Ughh… What happened?" she mumbled sitting up and rubbing the back of her head.
"Priscilla Awakened and we were taken down." She said as she stood up. The other two also stood as well. Irene then walked over to Teresa's dead body. Looking around she realized Teresa's head was missing but she spotted her severed hands and Claymore a few feet off.
"Are we going to bury her?" Noel asked
"If we did then the Organization would know we were alive, for sure. It's best for us to leave her body and let them think Priscilla did something with our bodies." Sophia said rubbing her sore neck.
Irene remained silent looking down at her fallen friend. It was true that Teresa wasn't one to mingle with other warriors but during their time as trainees Irene and Teresa had become close. The only time Teresa would cooperate in group missions was if Irene was there. Irene was Teresa's only friend and Teresa was Irene's best friend. It had hurt to be ordered to hunt her down but Irene thought it was a mission and therefore she must obey. Now, she regretted it, because of her a monster that rivalled even that of the Abyssal Ones was born, she was leading two warriors away from the Organization, and she was responsible for her best friend's death. That was what Irene was thinking at the moment.
"We should get going, Irene" Sophia called to her comrade.
Irene slightly nodded "I'm sorry, Teresa" she said quietly enough that Noel and Sophia couldn't hear. Turning around her and the two other women began to walk away.
"So what are we going to do?" Noel asked
"What do you mean? You two aren't going off on your own?"
Noel and Sophia looked at one another then shrugged "Well I owe you my life, Irene. I'm going to stay by you until I've repaid you" Sophia said
"Where Sophia goes, I go." Noel shrugged "I owe you my life too"
"Humph" Irene turned around to hide the small smile which sprouted on her face "First, take these suppressants then." She handed back several suppressants to them "We will hid in a place where the Organization can't find us until we can suppress our Yoki properly. We most likely will end up in a place with little food and people. Are you okay with that?"
"I already said I was going to follow you, Irene." Sophia sighed
"And I'm following Sophia"
With a nod from Irene the three warriors disappeared. They went to a barren land where the Organization was nowhere to be found. The Organization claimed they were dead and they hid for five years. Moving from place to place and finally settling down in a valley where there were no people. They found an abandoned boy just outside the valley. He had Yoki and was very mysterious, they decided to take him in. They planned to live a quiet peaceful life with no disturbances. Then Clare came along.
Noel opened her eyes. During the time they had hidden together Noel had developed a strong respect for Irene and was set on returning her favour for saving her life more than ever now. Just then they felt Yoki approaching. Silently they jumped off the roof meeting with Irene who had stepped out of the house.
"Do you think that could be Dietrich?" Sophia asked as she landed beside Irene
"Whoever it is, they're coming here fast." Noel commented "So, what should we do?" Noel turned to Irene.
"We'll wait and see. That's all we can do" Irene said walking back into the house. Noel shrugged and jumped back onto the roof with Sophia. They sat and waited as the Yoki got closer. They soon spotted a warrior approaching.
Hoped you guys liked it!
Review much appreicated!
