DISCLAIMER: I do not own Claymore. I own the OCs and the story I wrote.

I really like this chapter and I hope you do, too.

Enjoy!

004 – Farewell, comrade!

It took Lisa more effort than she had thought to climb the hill. Taking the suppressant while emitting almost half her Yoki had taken its toll on her body: the moment it had kicked in, several shockwaves had gone through it, damaging muscles, innards and blood vessels in the process. The damage was by far not fatal, not even severe, but without Yoki she wouldn't be able to regenerate it until the suppressant's effect would wear off. A truly reckless strategy Karin came up with, she thought.

It was successful, however. Under cover of night she was able to ascend the hill without being noticed by Harun. The blinding flames at the hill's base helped her to merge with the shadows even more. She took a moment to look back and marveled in disbelief: "Flames. This is unheard of. For Yoki to be able to do something like that…" In the end she had not been mistaken. Karin was an interesting person indeed. Grieving about the fact that she could not see scenes of her past in Karin's Yoki then that it was finally unleashed she proceeded to climb the hill, hoping, that Anna had made it as well.

Upon reaching the hill's top she whispered her comrade's name: "Anna?" The latter only called attention to herself through strained breathing. Lisa went over to her and squat down next to her fellow warrior who was lying behind one of the boulders they had prepared in advance. "You alright?" she asked. Anna shook her head. Lisa then bent down to her comrade who was lying on her back in order to see what was wrong. As her eyes had become accustomed to the darkness she could see several bloodstains on her captain's uniform that were located along her stigma, a remnant of a human's transformation into a hybrid warrior, a wound that would never heal and was only kept close by a sturdy string made of plastic – a material unknown to the native people of Erema. Impulsively Lisa tore open Anna's uniform to take a look at the stigma. Blood had extravasated in several spots, but, fortunately so, the string had done its job in keeping the wound closed.

That was the risk of Karin's emergency strategy: if taking the suppressant while emitting as much Yoki as Anna had the shockwaves that created would do severe damage to the body. In addition to that Anna had taken a hit and had probably not had the time to regenerate the damage from it fully.

Lisa carefully helped Anna to sit up, serving as support for her. "Try to tell me how serious it is," she demanded.

"My whole body burns," Anna answered while coughing up droplets of blood. "It's even worse than when the shocks ran through my body. I might die from internal exsanguination. Fifty-fifty, at best, I'd say."

"And with the suppressant in your body you can't regenerate now of all times!" Anna said agitatedly.

"We've known that beforehand, did we not?" Anna tried to appease her comrade. "Only Karin could judge whether or not she could do something about Harun's Emotional Control – and obviously she couldn't. I think she made her decision because of the situation Lea was in. I'd rather bleed to death here than seeing her awaken."

"You're right," Lisa had to admit. "I hope Lea is alright."

From their position they had no means of witnessing the course of battle any further, neither with their outer nor their inner eyes. For Anna the battle was over. She imploringly hoped that Karin's decision was right and that she knew what she was doing. If not, Harun would just force her into awakening. And the moment that would happen their hope of returning alive would be gone.

While her senses were slowly fading she tried to focus on believing in Karin. She distrusted that Yoma-loving woman from the bottom of her hearth despite she had intended to do the opposite. She was inwardly pleading that reality would belie her gut instincts. And while her heart and mind were fighting the crackling sound of the flames at the hill's base were soothing her into unconsciousness. As Lisa noticed that she put Anna down again. "Don't die," she said with a worried gaze.

###

Carefully Karin seated Lea into the dust of the plateau, about 50 meters away from Harun. Apart from some slight burns she had gotten from Karin's Yoki she did not seem hurt at all. Apparently, so Karin thought, her body was sturdy enough to withstand taking the suppressant even when she was close to awakening. She bent down to her, whispered something into her ear, arose again and then turned around to face Harun, who had turned towards her, too, and was remarkably patiently waiting.

She walked towards him and then stopped just out of range of his attacks. Meticulously she suppressed her Yoki to the point where her eyes were silver again, but not as far as to take away the possibility of Harun controlling her emotions. She had thoroughly observed him and the fight and knew that he was in a wholly different league than Ariane had been. Physical strength, Yoki, mental strength and, despite his size speed – in neither aspect Ariane would have been even comparable to him. She had been able to defeat her in a fit of rage, but that would not work against the giant she was facing. Oh, she did want to flip it, badly, after what he had almost done to Lea and after what he had done to the girls from the Outer Ring. But given his power there was no way she could afford to do that. Instead she remained as calm as possible and had come up with a strategy – all that was left now was to put it into action and make it work.

"Splendid move," he sincerely praised Karin with his growling voice. "So you understood how my Emotional Control works and by utilizing the suppressants you have seen to it that I am now unable to control their Yoki and hence their emotions." He lowered his huge head until it was just centimeters above the ground. "But how is that protecting you?" he asked scornfully.

Not wasting any time he began to send his own Yoki to Karin, intending to change her own flow of Yoki in his favor. It felt so easy to him. That fool didn't suppress her Yoki well enough, he jubilantly thought, and hence she will fall for me!

"That is interesting" Karin whispered to herself. She placed the palm of her left hand onto her chest and noticed that her heart suddenly was beating more strongly than before. In addition to that a strangely comfortable warmth began to fill her body. A faint but genuine smile appeared on her face. Directly, yet anxiously she looked at Harun and said: "What is this? It feels astoundingly nice. I'm feeling so… light."

The giant's labial angles invisibly twitched upwards. It was over. He had gotten her. "If you like that," he said as softly as his voice allowed it, "then come to me. The closer you get, the better you will feel!"

Seemingly falling for his words Karin began to walk towards him. She was excited and began to become ecstatic as she was nearing him. Apparently without her noticing it Harun positioned his horns and hair in order to impale Karin with them. He was convinced that it would be mere child's play to make her awaken once she was skewered in every imaginable spot of her body.

She had miscalculated. Or could it be part of her plan? No, impossible, he thought confidently. Each plan, each strategy, each thought was born by a person's intellect, but he was manipulating her on a deeper layer of mind, a layer, where intellect and reason were powerless. Whatever she was thinking, however much her intellect might have been rebelling – she was caught in his Yoki like a fly in a spider's web.

He would thoroughly enjoy her company.

Moments later Karin was standing so close to Harun's face, she could have touched it. Ingenuously and enamored she was smiling at him, remembering how she had taken that part of her training for nonsense. Learning mimic, gestures and the way of speaking of all kinds of people, be they peasants, nobles or prostitutes, had appeared to her to be a complete waste of time. Apparently not, she realized.

"Harun," she tenderly said, "you are so strong!"

He felt slightly flattered by her words. It works, he thought triumphantly.

"I have seen it instantly and told those stupid girls that we would not stand a chance, but they didn't want to listen to me! Forget about them! I am all you will ever need!" she convincingly tried to coax him.

Harun felt unusually smitten. Finally a woman that is able to understand my greatness! he inwardly delighted.

"I am sure you are a big, handsome man!" she sweet-talked him. Spreading her arms she leaned against his face and then whined artfully: "I would love to hold you, but that won't do! Won't you show me how handsome you really are?"

She fell right into my trap, his inner voice cheered as he was taking his human form. After the transformation was complete she smiled the brightest of smiles and flung her arms around him; he was returning the hug.

For a while both of them remained silent. Harun was floating in an ocean of bliss – until he asked himself just what in the world he was doing.

"Furthermore," Karin whispered to his ear, "you are ugly."

In the blink of an eye she unleashed her Yoki until hardly below her limits. Its size and outstanding density made it so powerful that even Harun's huge Yoki could not keep it from entering his body.

He went up in flames.

###

Lea was climbing the hill as she could hear the noise of bursting flames behind her. She stopped and noticed how suddenly a strong wind was blowing down the hill. She turned around to find out what was going on on the battlefield. Startled she noticed that Harun was nowhere to be seen. Hastily her eyes were searching the surroundings. There was no way that giant could have just vanished into thin air! But she couldn't find him, no matter how hard she looked.

It was only then that she became aware of the fires Karin's Yoki had sparked. And she could see a blinding light from the spot Karin and Harun had been before. She concluded that the two of them were fighting there in some way. That reminded her how Karin had told her to get away as fast and far as possible, preferably to where Anna and Lisa should be. Regarding the blazing spectacle she understood why one would not want to be down there and apparently Karin had known that this would happen. Wherefrom, however, Lea couldn't tell. After all she had no idea that Karin's Yoki was able to set things aflame.

She decided to follow Karin's advice and go to where Lisa and Anna should be. Upon taking the suppressant a series of painful shockwaves had gone through her body. Obviously that had happened to Lisa and the wounded Anna, too. Worrying about her comrades she turned around and continued her way up.

###

Anna was groaning under intense pain as Karin's Yoki outburst reached her. Lisa was really worried but had no idea what to do for her comrade and hence could do nothing but helplessly kneel next to her. Even she felt a pressuring pain in her head. Impossible, she thought, but is this a side effect of being exposed to her Yoki? How? The suppressant should make it impossible for us to feel it at all!

Just as she had finished that thought she could see the sight of a young man in her mind's eye. Moreover she could astoundingly detailedly feel a Yoma's Yoki originating from him. Both the sight and the Yoki vanished from her mind as suddenly as they had appeared. She mused aloud: "Where that… Karin's memories?"

Another thought crossed her mind and realization struck her: if that had actually been Karin's memories that meant she could still feel her Yoki and hence the suppressant wasn't perfect. But for me to be able to still feel her Yoki, she cognized in shock, just how powerful does it have to be?

Lea arrived and tore her out of her musings. "Anna!" she exclaimed in worry and instantly kneeled down next to her. "What's wrong?" she asked dismayed.

"Just a theory," Lisa replied quickly, "but it appears that she can feel Karin's enormously dense Yoki – and in her state that must be truly painful. What I am saying, is, that the suppressant isn't perfect. What is going on down there?"

"No idea," Lea answered while holding Anna's hand and worriedly gazing at her. "Harun is gone and there are flames everywhere."

"I'm going to take a look," Lisa said and warily took a look from behind the boulder they were hiding behind. A blinding light met her eyes and she had to screw them up and hold her forearm in front of them so it could act as a kind of visor. Vaguely she could see two figures embracing each other. It took her a while, but as she recognized one of them as Karin she could barely believe it: she was embracing the body of a naked man, Harun, as she concluded. And, so it seemed, that embrace was menacing for him because he was literally turning to ash. Around the two of them even the air seemed to be burning and was flowing upwards in a manner resembling lava erupting from a volcano.

Hastily she turned around and returned to the other two warriors.

"So?" Lea, who had placed Anna's head on her lab and was caringly massaging her temples in order to fight the pain in her head, asked.

"I'm not really sure," Lisa admitted, "but it seems as if Karin is winning."

###

Suffering death agonies Harun struggled to break free from Karin's deathly embrace, to no avail, however. Violently her Yoki had taken possession of his body and taken away his ability to use his own Yoki. Consequently he was no longer able to shape shift into his awakened form and had to rely on the powers he had had as a warrior. But those were not nearly enough to free himself of his opponent's fierce grasp. The utterly destructive force of her Yoki was destroying his body more and more. He knew that it was only a matter of time until he would be gone permanently.

He refused to believe what had happened. For years all kinds of woman had fallen for him. Humans, warriors, even Awakened Beings. And those with Yoki who he had not been able to seduce with his charming personality alone he had drawn to his side with his Emotional Control. Even at that time everything had gone according to his plans. Or so he had thought. That woman had only pretended to be manipulable – and he had naively thought that he would never meet a person capable of defying his control.

And then that woman appeared out of nowhere. Not only had she been able to defy him, no, she had also been able to manipulate him. He had been played at his own game. He laughed bitterly at that while his body was consumed by that woman's Yoki. He looked at her and said: "We could have been big, you and me. Are you aware of that?"

Under great strain, because her body had already begun to distort, she answered with a guttural voice: "I apologize… but… I am not interested… in monsters."

He laughed again. "I could have accepted you the way you are. You are something special, girl."

"I am not… flattered. The opposite… is true. It is insulting to be… accepted… by an abomination… like you… who has robbed… my dear comrades… of their humanity," she explained bit by bit in order to not lose focus of her own Yoki.

That woman had beaten him, that he accepted. He dropped his struggle and his resistance completely and waited for the inevitable to come. When two Yoki clash it is similar to a battle between two armies: the one with the better combination of numbers and class wins. And that woman had won the battle.

Suddenly he was longing for death to come. It felt to him like that exact woman was destined to finally end his life. For a reason he couldn't understand he felt like the fire was cleansing him of his sins and that he would be able to leave that world without regrets. Before his mind's eye he could see the figure of Sha-Karin as he knew her from statues and illustrations he had seen: a tall, fragile looking woman clad in a black cloak, her hair and face hidden by a hood. On her back, between two black, feathered wings with a span of several meters, she wore a scythe with a blade of almost a meter's length. Even though he could not see her face he knew that she was looking at him. She had come to get him.

He closed his eyes. Utilizing the last bit of breath and life he had left he said: "I understand now, girl. I know who led you to me. It wasn't my deeds. It wasn't the request. It wasn't chance. She herself has led you here, to kill me. Karin the Tranquil… has come… to end my existence…"

As he realized that had just used the name of the one who was killing him he was wondering just how he knew it. And then, not being able to cope with the pressure of Karin's Yoki anymore, his body burst asunder in a big explosion. Not having anything else to burn anymore, her Yoki began to melt the ground beneath her feet. What was left of her uniform turned to ashes instantly and the metallic parts of her uniform began to melt away. The molten metal began to burn itself into Karin's skin and flesh. Screaming out in agony she emitted a pulse of Yoki that, for but a moment, had her breach her limits, and that instantly evaporated what was left of her armor, only leaving her claymore behind. Mustering all of her will's power she forced her Yoki back into her body and tried to suppress it there. She dropped to her knees, grabbed her upper arms and clawed her distorted fingers into them in order to distract herself from the pain of her severe burns. Eventually she managed to suppress her Yoki.

After a while Lisa came downhill to find Karin kneeling amidst the shattered battleground. She couldn't do anything but stare at the scene in disbelief. Seemingly endless minutes passed in absolute silence. For whatever reason Harun was gone, probably dead. Karin had severe burns on her wrists, ankles and feet, her shoulders, her back and around her hips and waist. Nothing was left of her uniform and armor, only her claymore, covered by metallic dust like the ground around her, was lying behind her. It took a while until the heavily breathing warrior tried to stand up.

Lisa picked up the claymore, sheathed in the second sheath of her armor and then supported Karin as the both of them were returning to their comrades.

###

After the both of them had climbed the hill Lisa could see that Anna was awake, her head still resting on Lea's lap. Lisa was relieved to see that Anna's life apparently wasn't in danger anymore. She then helped the exhausted Karin to sit down.

Regarding their party she stemmed her hands into her waist and sighed in relief. "So this was our first encounter with a male Class Two Awakened Being," she said. "We've had it pretty bad."

Anna smiled bitterly. "Says the one who is perfectly alright."

"I'm okay, too," Lea tut at them, "in case somebody cares."

Karin was already carefully releasing small amounts of Yoki to take care of her burns. But then, suddenly, a shockwave ran through her body and her Yoki unleashed itself.

For a moment the air around Karin became incredibly hot. The grass around her that had withered due to the climatic conditions of that area anyways burned to ash, the soil below her turned black and the logs supporting the boulder next to her charred, broke under the boulder's weight and then said boulder began to roll down the hill. Lisa and Lea grabbed Anna's arms and, carrying her, mad a long leap away from Karin to not get burned, too. Then the heat disappeared and a heavy aura began originating from Karin that the other tree warriors were able to feel despite having taken suppressants – and it was even heavier than before.

Her outburst had raised dust that was then slowly floating to the ground, unveiling Karin. Their eyes were widened in shock as her comrades regarded her: she was kneeling on burned ground, her claw-like fingers clawed into the ground. Each and every of her muscles had grown significantly and was tense to the point of them twitching and shaking. Her skin had become dark, ashen so, and her burns looked like flesh that had rotten black. Her face had become one not too different from that of a Yoma and was flooded by tears.

"Dear gods…" Anna whispered. "Don't tell me she's…"

"Darn it!" Karin interrupted her, apparently not noticing her presence at all. "My body… is acting up… control… is slipping…"

That pressing aura, Lisa mused, is way heavier than before. Has she actually crossed her limits? If so, then we must…

Abruptly her thoughts were interrupted and shoved out of her mind by visions of Karin's past. She saw a scene in which a bunch of corpses, a family, as it appeared, were scattered in something resembling a sitting room. It was a cross sight. Right in front of her she could see a Yoma, whimpering, sobbing and begging. Not for his life, but for his death. The person, through whose eyes she saw, extended her hand to him and said: "Let us help each other!"

After having seen that scene over and over for what felt like hours Lisa returned to reality. However, time had seemingly not passed there because the situation had not changed at all. Lisa clicked her tongue and then said in a grim manner: "And now you are awakening? You put us in your debt by saving our sorry asses and now you force us to kill you so you don't awaken?"

A shockwave emerged from Karin that startled the other women. Laboriously and as if she was in slow motion she raised her head and the determined gaze of her expressionless face met Lisa's. "I am not… awakening!" she said falteringly but vigorously.

Lea had to avert her gaze in pain. That just was not what Karin deserved. She had obviously passed her limits and would awaken. She knew exactly. Every warrior knew it. The more Yoki one released, the more power one gained, but at the same time one taxed one's body and even more so one's mind. As long as one stood below a certain percentage of released Yoki it was possible to suppress it again and return to normal, but the moment one released more than 80 percent there was no turning back – and only one way to avert awakening.

Anna, still constrained due to her body's condition, slowly arose, drew her claymore and, without getting closer to her, ignoring pleading gazes from Lea, walked around Karin until she was placed sideways to her, roughly five meters away. She then sternly said: "I apologize, Karin, but you have breached your limits and are about to awaken. The only way to prevent that is to decapitate you while your consciousness is still that of a human." She then closed her eyes, shoved out all of her doubts about the situation out of her thoughts and took a deep breath. Opening her eyes again she asked, well knowing that she could not be mindful for whatever answer Karin might give: "Are you ready?"

Within Karin there lay a potential vaster than anything she had ever seen. Even she, who had an eye for that sort of thing, had, so she assumed, not even seen the surface of it. Probably, so she knew, it might have been possible for her to suppress her Yoki despite having passed her limits – her Yoki Manipulation skills were something else, after all. But Anna couldn't afford leaving room for experiments. Not in Karin's case. Considering how Karin had killed someone who had been number one, even if briefly, after he had awakened, as well as the potential within her, she had no reason to ponder. Additionally, even if she would probably have never been able to prove it, she assumed that Karin had never intended to stick to the plan but rather use Anna, Lisa and Lea as tools in order to gather information about her enemy. What she actually believed was that they had all survived by pure chance.

Just as she had prepared herself Karin insisted: "I am not… awakening!" Just as she had finished her sentence yet another shockwave blasted over the hill's top. Shaking, Karin turned her head to the side to look at Anna directly. Her face was tear-stained and filled with desperate wrath as she growled: "I am not… accepting death!"

"I truly am sorry," Anna tried to assure her, "but at this point you will either awaken or die. And I am not going to let the former happen."

Swiftly she covered the distance between her and the awakening Karin and tried to take her head, but her attempt came to nothing for Karin had suddenly vanished. The ground below Anna burst asunder and hence she lost her footing. Chunks of it were sent flying at an enormous speed and one of them hit her inconveniently enough to shatter both of her right legs shinbones. "Shit!" she grunted and collapsed onto the cracked ground.

Karin had moved only a few meters. Her posture hadn't changed a bit, but she was struggling with her steadily mutating body even more than before. The muscles of her upper back had begun to act in an inhuman manner and were crawling beneath her burned skin like snakes.

"My leg is broken," Anna grunted. "I can't get close to her again… she'd kill me!"

"Anna!" Lea, who was rushing towards her, exclaimed in a berating manner. "She wouldn't do that!"

"Just take a look at her!" Anna snarled at her startled comrade, regretted it instantly and apologized ruefully.

"I see now!" Lisa suddenly called just as if she had awakened from some kind of trance.

"What do you understand?" Lea asked her.

Lisa turned herself towards Karin, directly gazing at her and then gave an extensive explanation of what she had thought of: "Each warrior who surpasses her limits does wish for nothing more than to die as a human before her awakening actually occurs. Your Yoki gave me some nice insight on you… and I know that you, also, have no intention of becoming a monster. You'd much rather die. However, you stubbornly insist on us letting you live – or more accurately, on you not awakening. And I know exactly why that is, Karin. You strongly believe that there is something you and only you can do. You desperately cling to the idea that you absolutely have to do it before you die. To an extent at which you ignore what it is you truly want and instead foolishly are ready to abandon your humanity in order to prove yourself right. It is conflicting: You want to prove that Yoma can live as humans amongst humans without endangering them. You have accepted that a certain portion, probably all of the Yoma have been humans before despite your sense telling you how that is impossible. And you also believe that, if Yoma used to be humans, there should be no reason for them to continue preying on humans. Yet you believe that Awakened Beings are all monsters after your encounters with Ariane and Harun. If it holds true that all Yoma once were humans and if you consider that all Awakened Beings actually were humans once – why would you assume Yoma could live as humans but Awakened Beings cannot? Moreover, you are ready to abandon your own humanity in order to prove that nonsensical beliefs you have? Just how are you going to do it if you become a monster yourself?"

"By not awakening!" Karin bullheadedly shot back instantly.

"But that is not the way it works!" Lisa angrily yelled at her.

"You gave the answer… yourself…" Karin explained determinedly, "abandoning… my humanity… that is a decision… and I am not going… to make it…"

Another shockwave was rolling above the hill as the skin on Karin's back began to be torn open by the moving muscles beneath.

"Are you and idiot?" Lisa shouted, filled with rage. "What if you are wrong? Are you aware what kind of danger you would pose to the humans if you awakened?"

"I am not… wrong!" Karin determinedly shouted.

At least that was what she wanted to believe. Already she had begun to doubt that she would be able to suppress her Yoki by sheer force of will anymore. Especially the fact that someone like Harun had had the ability to influence what she thought to be a decision was a fundamental hole in her beliefs. Fueled by her raging Yoki her doubts grew constantly and soon, of that she was certain, she would give up and let her comrades kill her.

Lea had all the time sat next to Anna and listened to everything quietly. She hated how things had become and how helpless she had to feel about all of it. Still, she just couldn't sit still and let that happen to Karin. Maybe she was unable to help her, but she would at least try. Resolutely she arose and began to walk towards Karin.

"Lea? What are you doing?" Anna worriedly asked her.

Unflinchingly and more convincing than she had thought she would be able to she said: "What do you think? You can't help her anymore and Lisa seems to rather be babbling stuff only she understands" – Lisa was hit by that, averted her gaze and clicked her tongue – "instead of helping, so I am going to do it!"

As she had reached the barely controlling herself Karin she drew her blade, grabbed its handle with both hands and rose it. Can't move, Karin was thinking as the blade dropped – and crashed into the ground next to her. Instinctively she had closed her eyes. Since her head was not dropping as she had expected it to do she opened her eyes again and got sight of blood on the ground. But it wasn't hers. Hesitatingly she rose her gaze and regarded Lea who had been impaled in what seemed to be a hundred spots by black, muscle-like strands. Black strands that had emerged from Karin's back muscles. In disbelief her eyes widened upon she began to realize what she might possibly have done to Lea.

"Lea!" Anna screamed desperately and tried to rush towards her, but stumbled and fell due to her broken leg. Lisa ran to her and kept her from getting back up again. "Don't!" she warned. "Or she will get you too!"

Lea coughed up blood and some of its droplets landed on Karin's face. "I am not… dead yet," she faintly mumbled. She then began to slump down but was caught by Karin who suddenly seemed to be in control of her body again. Immediately she noticed how her comrade's body had gone absolutely limp. She cried and sobbed: "What have you been thinking?"

Despite she was not able to turn her face towards Karin anymore the small warrior still forced herself to smile. She then, with the faintest of voices, said: "Two years ago… when I was still a newbie… I had a good friend… amongst my comrades. I've been small… and weak… but she took care… of me… and made me strong… so I could survive. One day… she didn't return… from a mission… and I've been told… that Ariane… should've been executed… by my friend and… her comrades. But she had refused… and instead… killed them all. I've been heartbroken… for a long time… after that day. And then… a few weeks ago… I heard that you… had killed Ariane… and that had filled me… with peace. I was… very happy."

The black strands that had emerged from her upper back pulled themselves out of Lea's body and began to retract and merge with her own body again. "Let me see… your face," Lea whispered. So Karin carefully turned her around in her arms but still held her closely.

Anna and Lisa both were not able to get closer or say anything. Both of them had already understood the full weight of the situation. There was nothing they could do and so they instead listened closely to the fading voice of their comrade, as she continued: "When Harun had brought me… in desperate straits… I was afraid. After I had finally found… Anna… another great friend… and also Lisa… and you… yet… I was about… to awaken. I feared… that I would… kill you all… if I awakened. But then… when I felt… your Yoki… I don't know… I suddenly felt… like… there was… no need… to be… afraid… anymore. Again… I was… very happy."

The heaviness of Karin's Yoki began to fade.

"I know it was… stupid. But… I couldn't… just… let you… awaken… after… you saved… me. I wanted… I'm… sorry."

Karin's Yoki faded and her body became that of a human again. What remained was the naked, sobbing Karin who was kneeling on the ground, holding the comrade in her arms that was dying for her sake.

"Why would you do that… for me?" she asked tremblingly.

"Because… because of… you…" she said with her last breath, "I was… happy… again."

Smiling in bliss and having her face overrun by tears her eyes closed for the last time, leaving Karin behind. Devastated and Empty.

###

At the base of a hill on the Attaja-plateau, midst charred tree stubs and bushes, there was located another, much smaller hill. Atop that small hill an indestructible claymore had been stuck into it, marking the final resting place of its former owner. In front of that hill a silently crying warrior with an improvised leg brace on her right lower leg was kneeling. Behind her there stood another warrior who was telling her with a torturously monotone voice of visions she had had during the last moments of her fallen comrade.

Some ten meters afar from them stood Karin, gazing nowhere. Even though there were a lot of things that she had to think about the only thing that was on her mind was the sight of her perforated comrade. And that sight was steadily accompanied by the thought that, no matter how she looked at it, Lea's death had been her fault and her fault alone. She painfully realized that she was not always in control, that there were things bound to happen no matter whether she decided on them or not. For as long as she could remember she had faithfully believed that each intelligent being was solely responsible for its decisions. Hence her believe that each intelligent being could live without killing.

Yet she had killed one of her comrades – and she had definitely not decided to do that. Reluctantly she began to face up to the question whether situations like that were a common thing. Did humans kill without deciding to do so? Did warriors kill without deciding to do so? Did Awakened Ones kill without deciding to do so? Did Yoma kill without deciding to do so? She did not know. She did not know at all. What she had believed in for so long suddenly began to crumble right before her eyes. If beings killed on a regular basis without deciding to do so, without wanting to do so – was the world without killing that she wished for possible at all?

Lisa, who had decided to let Anna grieve in silence – she felt she hadn't listened to her at all, anyways – turned her head to take a look at Karin. What she had been able to see in her Yoki, in her memories, had given rise to more questions that it had answered. Karin viewed Yoma as empathic, human-like beings capable of logical reason, which they clearly weren't. Naturally, Lisa could have settled for Karin simply mistaking the human behaviors and emotions a Yoma disguised itself with for actual human behaviors and emotions. But it had been drilled into each end every warrior time and time again that everything seeming human about Yoma, no matter how convincing it was, simply wasn't real. Yoma had but two interests: food and survival. Also, Lisa deemed Karin too smart to fall for a play that she knew was one. So, Lisa pondered, what let's you think of them the way you do?

Also, from Karin's memories of her fight with Ariane, Lisa had gotten to know about her brother and that he had been a Yoma. But Lisa had not been able to see anything else about that matter at all. It was not like she could look for specific information. By sensing Yoki she got to see random events of the Yoki's owner's past, but – and that she knew from experience – significant memories usually popped up first. And, that was what Lisa thought, having a Yoma in one's family should have made for quite a few significant memories. So, where were those memories? After all she had had quite a bit of time to see her past. Enough time to know that Karin preferred passing obstacles on the right side if she could. Compared to what she had hoped to see that seemed utterly trivial.

However, Lisa was content. She's always had a nose for interesting people. That time as well: it had been a while since she had met someone that was firing her imagination so much. Especially at that moment, when Karin's mind was probably about to break down from the guilt of killing a comrade she had brought upon herself, Lisa's mouth was literally watering. Not only that, Karin had breached her limits and returned to being human – a feat that was thought to be impossible. Thinking about how many interesting stories she would be able to tell about her filled Lisa with glee.

Anna dried her face. She then took a deep breath and arose. After she had went past Lisa using her claymore as a crook, the latter's eyes were following her with flagrant interest as she was walking towards Karin. She stopped right in front of her absentminded seeming comrade.

"Karin," she said gravely, making her, who was apparently startled, look up at her. "We need to talk about the Yoma thing."

The tall warrior's gaze dropped to the floor. Even before the fight she had already suspected that she wouldn't get away easily after what she had done in Arnea. Back then, however, she had not known that every little detail about her relations to the Yoma would be known by then. She never had imagined that there was a warrior capable of seeing into other warrior's pasts. And she had also not anticipated that her Yoki would be so strong as to outclass the suppressant. She desperately tried to convince herself that she was prepared for whatever might come. But she was not sure whether or not she would get away this time.

"Lisa has informed me in great detail about everything she was able to learn from your memories. Due to your lax, not to say treacherous way of treating Yoma," – she raised her voice angrily – "for fucks sake, Karin, you are friends with some of them!" – she took a breath and then continued sternly – "It is safe to say that you are partially responsible for hundreds of murders committed by Yoma. In addition to that you deliberately hid Yoma from me. That alone is, and I hope you are aware of that, a crime severe enough to justify execution!"

Karin gulped audibly. Anna was perfectly right: if a human died because of a warrior that warrior was to be executed. And she was very well aware that the Yoma that she had let get away have killed more than just one person.

"I am not done yet, however," Anna fiercely continued, "I am also alleging that you have never intended to follow our strategy against Harun in the first place! You willingly risked the lives and souls of your comrades just so you could-"

Anna was harshly interrupted by Karin's fist landing in the middle of her face. The punch was strong enough to knock the ailing warrior off her feet and have her drop onto her rear. Boiling with anger she wanted to yell at Karin, but the latter beat her to the punch and, wearing the most marmorean of all faces, answered: "Yes, it is true. Everything concerning the Yoma is true. But I am not going to let you accuse me of willfully risking the lives of my comrades!"

Those words were echoing over the plateau despite being said with a calm voice. Lisa was brimming with excitement and her eyes were beaming. A part of her that she was not ashamed of in the slightest wished for the both of them to continue that discussion forever just so she could tell everyone about it.

Karin continued calmly: "As you were fighting Harun I assumed that, as long as there was no need to take care of your Yoki, I could control him! That was a grave miscalculation on my part, I admit that. Because, while I was trying to look for his weak spots and keeping him from injuring Lea he suddenly exerted his Emotional Control on her and that so fast that I could not counter it anymore and hence had to signal the failure of Plan A. It is true, I made a grave mistake, but under no circumstances would I ever willingly put your lives in danger."

Anna ground her teeth. To her it was incomprehensible how that woman could face those accusations without the faintest of expressions in her face and voice. She had no means of telling whether that woman was telling the truth or was just giving a memorized excuse. The sole truth that remained, however, was that Lea was dead.

Lisa, who had joined them, helped Anna to stand up. Too bad, she thought, they seem to be done already.

"Listen well, Karin," Anna said sternly while laboriously suppressing her anger, "I told you before: the regions twenty-one to thirty are my turf. Not only are you responsible for hundreds of dead humans, you also disobeyed my orders and, be it at will or not, that led to the death of a precious comrade and personal friend of mine. I am not going to overlook those things. It was a mistake to trust you. You are but a traitor." She turned around and was about to leave when she added: "And Lorenz will not be overlooking this, either."

Anna then left, as dignifiedly as she could with a broken leg and a claymore for a crook. After looking at her leave for a while Lisa turned around to Karin and said: "I'll be on my way, too," she said and turned away. "You're in big troubles – hum, what did he call you again? – Ah, Karin the Tranquil! Be a good kid and don't die so soon, okay?"

"Wait, is that my nickname now?" Karin asked a little surprised.

Lisa began to walk away and waved. "Gotta spread the news, gotta spread the news…"

Karin sighed.

After a while, when she was alone, she walked over to Lea's grave. Minutes passed while she was only regarding it in silence. She then turned around and set off to her own region.

"I am sorry," she whispered into the wind.

I hope you liked it.

Next time Lady Astarte will get her reports from the people on Test Facility 4. And Karin will face betrayal - but by who? See you next time!