A/N: A new year's present for all of you. Sorry I haven't updated in a while.

Disclaimer: Claymore belongs to Norihiro Yagi, not me.

Chapter 4

Better Open the Door

The pitch dark room didn't let in a single beam of light. For all she knew, she could have been there for a night or a month. Either way, it didn't matter to her.

She only realized it was time to leave the room when she sensed the kakuseisha coming closer to the organization headquarters. She had matters to attend to, and they would have to be dealt with before the kakuseisha arrived. It would be too late by then.

Galatea left her room and marched to the organization's assembly hall, where she knew the leaders gathered. She briefly considered slashing them as vengeance for her lover's death, but that would mark her for death, and while her life was not of much value to her at the moment, she still had that sliver of hope, keeping her from doing something utterly meaningless.

Galatea kept her regal disposition until she returned to her room. She closed the door behind her and, appalled by what she saw in that hall, couldn't help but vent.

"Those bastards! They did this to them. To her! They sent them to their deaths. It was always meant to be a suicide mission." She thought to herself, clearly upset by what happened that day. She had watched from afar the pandemonium in which the north turned into. She couldn't just keep her mouth shut.

"I know you said I should watch my back, Miria, but could it be that…? No," Galatea thought, remembering the words spoken by her lover, "Did you know of their intentions, Miria?"

Galatea had no way of knowing. Even if she tried to think of how Miria would react, remembering that she was gone was too hard for her to handle. She tried to convince herself that looking for any sign of Miria's existence was a waste of time. Not that she had better ways to use her time, although there was that possibility.

"They were only fodder for the organization. Something they could use to bide their time until they finish Alicia. Bastards," Galatea huffed, pacing around the room, "Why would the organization need to complete Alicia, anyway, if she's number one already? Well, I don't think I've ever seen her, or number two, Beth. This is truly baffling."

Galatea kept thinking relentlessly in her room, trying to make some sense of all that happened in the past days. Still, before she could dwell further into these thoughts, she heard a knock on her door.

"Galatea, it's time." She heard the man speak.

Galatea picked up her claymore and breathed in before leaving the room. Even when the organization was already suspicious of her, it wasn't a good idea to further those thoughts in their minds.

She followed the man who called her, who happened to be Rubel, to the organization's grounds. To her amazement, Galatea was, after the longest of times, in the presence of claymores ranked higher than her.

There they stood, Alicia and Beth, in their black claymore outfits. Galatea couldn't help but wonder about the reasons for a different uniform.

"Is there any deeper meaning to those black uniforms?" Galatea said, addressing the man with the black hat.

"You'll understand once you see it."

"Attack, Alicia." Galatea heard from afar.

And Galatea would see plenty; more than she thought she could ever witness from the organization. She always knew that they handled their actions as a business. If a town failed to pay their fee, they would be swarmed by yoma and no warrior would be sent to help them. However, this was a little too much for Galatea to take.

"She… She awakened?" Galatea paused before resuming, "How can it be? She fully awoke but she's still targeting her enemies?"

In her bafflement, Galatea gave some thought to the situation, until she came up with what seemed to be the answer.

"Soul link?"

"I can't say I'm surprised you figured it out, Galatea." Rubel replied, as they watched Alicia destroy the kakuseisha mercilessly, "They merge their souls during battle. Beth is in charge of keeping Alicia's soul while she fights, thus allowing her to awake and fight with her full power. Because of this, we now have a power capable of fighting the abyssal beings."

Galatea couldn't believe what she saw. The organization had, in her terms, crossed the line. Now they were fighting fire with fire, transforming claymores into kakuseisha. She completely hated the idea.

"This might come a little late, but… You people make me sick." She said with disgust.

Galatea didn't care for the spectacle anymore, as everything became clear to her. As she walked away, she couldn't help but feel like they were all toys under the poor care of the organization.

She didn't care for her life as a claymore anymore, so when she found herself before her bedroom door, she turned back and decided to leave for good. There was nothing of meaning to her in that organization.

"I'm sure you'd be disgusted by all of this too, Miria, but if I'm wrong, I'm sorry. I'll have to find another way to honor your memory."