Stories from the North, part 7
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Finally decided to get off my rear and continue the story a bit more, a mixture of being busy and slacking off are to blame for the delay, but here it is. Kind of a rush job, but when inspiration hits, it hits hard.
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It had been long time; considerably longer than any of them were willing to admit.
Although it was never a primary concern (that would be survival) for the seven of them; it was certainly of great importance that a suitable location be found as soon as possible.
So when Helen and Cynthia returned one day from patrol looking brighter then they had for a while; Miria knew something was up.
"I found one! We finally found one!!" Helen cried, running towards the rest of the Ghosts, her arms waving.
Miria calmly stood up, raising her hand to slow Helen down before she hurt herself.
Helen nearly ran into Miria before coming to a stop, and quickly grabbed her leader by the shoulders.
"At long last, our prayers are answered!!" Helen shouted, causing Miria to wince.
"Please calm down Helen; you're liable to cause an avalanche at this rate." Miria said, freeing herself from Helen's vice-like grip.
"Oh, sorry," Helen quieted, quickly covering her mouth.
She clearly remembered the last time they had to outrun an avalanche due to her lack of volume control.
It took them hours to find Yuma……
"Ok, now that you're a bit more manageable, what did you find that has got you so excited?"
It has been a while since the eternally-bored Helen had looked so pleased; the last time Miria could remember was when Helen had dumped snow on her while she was sleeping; payback she supposed for the time she had trounced Helen and Cynthia in a snowball fight. (Not that Helen got away with it)
"We found an underground spring." Cynthia said having caught up with her ever troublesome partner, a pleased smile decorating her features.
"An underground spring?"
Cynthia nodded.
"As in an area of water that is located underground and is kept warm by heat coming from the earth?" Miria inquired, obviously surprised.
By now, everyone was listening closely to the conversation.
"Yup!" Helen replied, puffing out her chest to show how proud she was of herself.
There was a moment of tense silence.
"T-that means we can finally take a d-decent bath?" Yuma nervously questioned, braving the silence.
Cynthia nodded again, her smile growing wider.
"No more ice water for bathing?" Tabitha asked, her eyes showing her disbelief.
"No more ice water for bathing!!" Helen responded.
"A warm bath…" Clare said, almost in a state of shock.
Another moment of silence passed as the Ghosts absorbed the information.
"…………why are we still standing here? Helen take us there already!!" Deneve almost shouted in a rare display of impatience.
Needless to say, it had been a while since the Ghosts had taken a proper bath.
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A few hours later……
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After covering several miles in record time; the Ghosts arrived at their destination.
It was a cave with an entrance that could almost be called hidden. If it wasn't for the slight lack of snow in the area it probably would have been unnoticeable.
The Ghosts stood outside the entrance; hesitating.
"Helen, if this is some sort of joke, you will pay dearly…" Miria stated; voicing the doubts the other Ghosts had written on their faces.
But Helen wasn't listening; she was practically diving into the modestly sized entrance.
Cynthia ducked her head and followed soon after.
The rest of them didn't hesitate much longer.
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By the time the others had gotten inside; Helen was half undressed standing next to one of the many pools of steamy water. Cynthia had just removed her cloak.
The place was much bigger then it appeared from the outside.
The cave was devoid of the slightest hint of ice; the steam carried warm moisture in the air that Miria hadn't felt in long time.
"Helen….This place…." Miria started.
"Is Awesome!!" Helen cried as she finally finished undressing, cannon-balling herself into the largest pool of water; spilling some of the water into other small pools around them.
A splash of hot water hit all the Ghosts; and they all stood stunned; feeling warmth for the first time in a long time.
The Ghosts moved in a chaotic fashion; rushing to get their clothing off in a mad dash to get into the spa of heavenly water.
Miria never would have guessed she could strip off Clare's skintight-by-design uniform so quickly
Miria relaxed for the first time in ages; sinking her body into the hot spring.
The other Ghosts weren't far behind, most of them settled in the biggest pool of water; the one Helen had jumped into.
It was big enough to allow the other six relax in it while giving each other a good amount of space; Miria located herself into an adjacent pool.
The others were all sinking their bodies into the water, obviously enjoying the long forgotten warmth.
Yuma leaned back, concealing everything but the upper part of her head in the water, trying to submerge as much of herself as possible.
Tabitha immediately found a nearby piece of stone, and went to work on scrubbing her skin; eager to clean her body.
Cynthia was playing with the water; and occasionally dunking her head underneath to submerge herself in the warmth.
Clare mirrored Deneve; they were relaxing themselves on opposite sides of the pool; their arms resting on the stone and their heads leaning back as they enjoyed the steamy air.
And Helen……well Helen could never just sit still could she?
"Hmm…." Helen pondered as she looked from person to person in the main pool, standing in the center; everything waist-up blatantly exposed.
Miria kept an eye on Helen; hoping she wasn't up to any mischief.
"You know, I think they have gotten smaller." Helen stated.
Everyone's questioning gaze fell upon Helen.
"W-what?" Yuma asked, unsure of Helen's meaning.
"This" Helen said; pointing at the area between her breasts.
The scar; the one thing all Claymores had in common aside from their silver eyes and hair.
No matter how they disguised the color of their eyes; the scar would always remain; separating them from normal humans forever.
At least; that was what the Organization had told them.
The Ghosts all quickly examined themselves; hoping to confirm Helen's statement.
Miria, Clare, Helen, and Deneve's scars had decreased significantly since their partial awakening, but much to everyone's surprise; so had Yuma, Cynthia, and Tabitha's; if by a lesser extent.
"What do you think it means?" Cynthia inquired, her curious question mirroring everyone else's thoughts.
"Heck if I know." Helen shrugged as she looked at Miria; as if passing on the question.
Miria realized that everyone was looking to her for answers now.
"I really don't know for sure, but for the four of us, the obvious link of our partial-awakenings has something to do with it." Miria began; a bit hesitant to state her theory.
"It is possible that when our bodies returned to normal; that our memories of how our bodies used to be subconsciously affected us, and as a result the scars shrunk."
"So our bodies were trying to return to normal?" Helen asked.
"In a manner of speaking; I suppose normal form would technically be more correct."
"Much like an Awakened Being changes form, right?" Deneve stated bluntly.
"………Yes." Miria said with a wince, obviously not liking the comparison.
An awkward silence permeated in the air, some of the steam created droplets could be heard falling back into the water.
"Now that you mention it," Clare spoke; breaking the silence.
"When Jean returned to normal I didn't see the scar on her anywhere."
It was always painful to bring up a lost comrade, but Clare obviously thought it was worth mentioning, Jean had come closest out of all of them to becoming an Awakened Being, but she had returned; only to later die in the battle for the North.
"But that doesn't explain the three of us." Tabitha stated, gesturing to Cynthia, Yuma, and herself.
"I can't say for sure but…..it could be due to how long we have lived." Miria replied as her brow furrowed in deep thought.
Everyone eagerly awaited her explanation.
"Think about it; most warriors don't live past a few years; yet some of us here have been hybrids for a decade now. It is hard to say what effects that will have on our bodies."
"Because we haven't been using Yoki, and have managed to survive so long; the Yoma flesh in our bodies could be...adapting to us better."
That statement made all of them uncomfortable..
"But does that mean we are getting closer to Awakening, or that we are less likely to?" Deneve questioned; her poker face in full effect.
"Like I said, I really don't know, but all we can do is wait, and hope." Miria said; the word "hope" feeling almost like a whisper to her own ears.
A somber feeling descended upon them once again.
"AHHHH this so depressing!! We should be relaxing, not thinking about this stuff!" Helen roared; finally growing frustrated with everyone's gloomy attitude.
Everyone showed various signs of surprise in response to Helen's outburst, from Clare's eyes widening in suprise, to Yuma jumping out of the water.
"Jeez, you all missed the obvious benefit of this!" Helen said; looking disappointed.
"Really, and what would that be?" Miria felt compelled to ask.
"Sex-appeal of course!" Helen stated, making it sound obvious.
Miria slapped her hand over her face.
Deneve looked amused.
Clare rolled her eyes.
Cynthia laughed, her face flushed.
Tabitha looked shocked
And Yuma just looked mortified at the thought.
"Come on! We're a bunch of attractive girls with awesome figures; guys would throw themselves at us! Think of the possibilities!" Helen emphasized her words by waving her hands in the air.
"Helen, that is ridiculous." Miria replied, hand still on her face.
"Y-yeah, and besides, I-I don't think I have that much s-sex appeal" Yuma chipped in, her face crimson.
"No way Yuma, Your figure is top class! Take it from me; the guys would trip over themselves for you!" Helen whirled on Yuma.
"You got nice long hair, a pretty face, great chest, cute bottom, not to mention the whole "vulnerability" thing you have going on." Helen rattled on; pointing for emphasis.
With every compliment Yuma attempted to cover the aforementioned body part, and eventually settled for hiding her body in the water.
"Everyone here is a great looker; Clare and Deneve have that "cold-beauty" look, Tabitha is "do-me!" sexy, Cynthia is sexy-cute, and Miri--" Helen paused her tirade; noticing that Miria's body was out of view since she was in a different pool.
"W-what?!" Miria asked, alarmed by Helen's sudden pause and glare.
Helen splashed her way across the spa towards Miria's own pool.
"Come to think of it, you have been hiding over there all this time; let me have a good look at you!" Helen said with an evil grin plastered on her face.
"N-no, stop it" Miria stuttered out as she attempted to fend of Helen with one arm as she used the other to shield herself.
Half the Ghosts stared in a stupefied shock, and the other half simply looked amused.
Tabitha quickly started to make her way over to defend her commander.
"Oh, want a piece of the action to eh Tabby?" Helen teased, noticing Tabitha's menacing advance.
Tabitha froze in her tracks; "N-no, I'm not, I wasn't…" Tabitha stuttered, hesitant to move forward.
As Helen turned back to her "prey," the potential threat dealt with, but she felt Miria's firm grip on her arm.
"Cut it out Helen!" Miria cried as she threw Helen with a text-book jujitsu style throw back into the main spa.
There was a huge splash, causing everyone to shield their eyes from the hot water.
Helen was coughing as she resurfaced; some water had obviously gotten into her throat.
"Helen, you really need calm down, there is such a thing as "personal space" and you should respect it!" Miria stood fully, her "command" voice in full effect.
"I mean really Hele--why are you all staring at me?" Miria asked; suddenly realizing all eyes were on her.
Yuma had an amazed look on her face, her face blushed crimson
Deneve simply looked impressed.
Cynthia had her eyes partially covered, a light blush on her face.
Tabitha's face was a deep crimson, a hand covering her mouth (and nose.)
Clare looked almost…envious?
(cough, cough) "Jeez Miria you didn't nearly have to drown m—" Helen paused half way through her sentence and stared as well.
"W-what!?" Miria asked, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious.
"Wow……your b-body is…PERFECT!" Helen cried as her jaw dropped a look of shock etched into her features.
Miria felt her entire body turn red as she shielded it with her arms and quickly splashed back into her own pool.
Seeing their leader so embarrassed was both surprising and highly amusing for everyone, except for Miria herself.
Silence once again took its iron grasp on everyone present.
Helen's jaw was still dropped, as if frozen in place.
"Fu-fu, as I thought, I don't stand a chance." Yuma lamented.
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To be continued;
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There you go, the glorious return of Stories from the North!!
I even filled out the "hot-spring episode" quota.
Not sure when the next update will be, but I hope you guys liked this one.
Please Review, any advice or compliments are appreciated.
