Chapter 21
With a deep exhale and a quick prayer for strength, Claire threw the garage doors open and stood before Wes, Claeo and Olaf.
"Where is she, Claire?" Wes demanded.
"Where is who?" She replied, cocking her head to the side; playing stupid to buy time.
"Don't try my paitence!" Wes thundered.
Claire shook her head.
"I'm not afraid of you, Wesker. You know that bounty hunters outrank preists."
"But a bounty hunter and a bounty hunter?" Claeo chimed in. "We are evenly matched. You'll pay for what you did to Acitra!"
"Oh please Claeo." Claire scoffed. "I know you. Since I can fight back, you won't be doing anything to me. Why else would you go against all customs and laws the
Goddess gave your element and bring Olaf with you?"
The seven foot undead just stood beside Claeo silently, blindly waiting for his orders from his new master.
"A pox on your Goddess' laws." Claeo replied with venom. "She only restricts what we could do as a superior community. Not only as the element of Death, but as Nether
folk in general."
"When our own Goddess rises through Scarlette, the world will know who the dominant race always was." Wes stated.
Claire loaded her rivet pistols.
"You'll never get to Scarlette..."
"You really think you're a match for Olaf?" Claeo chuckled.
"Not at all." Claire replied, cocking both the pistols with a metallic click. "Fighting him is going to be suicide... But I can buy my sister some more time to
escape!"
After a long silence. Claeo spoke.
"Make sure its painful." She ordered the creature that stood inbetween her and her cousin.
With an inhuman groan, the undead giant slowly shambled toward Claire, dragging the blade behind him. (1)
...
"She doesn't stand a chance against that thing!" Yusei exclaimed, watching the beginning battle through binoculars.
"And she knows it..." Scarlette responded. "She's buying us time... Like she said, she knows Claeo won't stop until she's killed her, and she wants to go down
defending me."
"Shouldn't we take this time to run?" Akiza asked.
"We should..." Scarlette said half-heartedly. "But... Maybe by some chance, Claire will be okay...and I want to see what happens."
As always, Cyan remained silent, and out of place. He owed Claire his life, and didn't know how to react to her more great act of heroism.
...
Claire began to appreciate the open spaces of the surface street, Olaf was slow and therefor the claustrophobic halls and catacomes of his home worked to his own
advantage. However, Claire was almost out of rivets and would rather not think of what she would have to do once she was out of ammo.
"Open fire, and open fire some more." Claeo taunted from the side-lines. "It's all you know how to do, Claire. Hide behind your firearms."
Enraged by Claeo's snickering and quipping, Claire heard the final clicks from both her pistols and threw them both to the ground, taking a fighting stands towards
the monster of a man that towered over her.
Claire froze for a moment as Olaf inched closer and closer. She recalled her combat training.
Becoming a bounty hunter in the Berth was extremely difficult and a great honor if you succeeded in training, particularly on your final exams. Out of the many
who qualify to be students of their districts hunters, only 20 are selected for training; and out of those 20, only 10 go on to be bounty hunters.
Exam day was more like a test of who could really be as dangerous as the Diat needed them to be. Two students are selected by the teachers. The two students step
into a ring to put their combat training to the test, and only one student was allowed to step out of that ring breathing.
A single tear fell from Claires eye as she remembered she had been good friends with her opponent in training. She fought him well, fought him and killed him with
her own bare hands.
She then opened her eyes as they burned with more determination and confidence. She had killed her best friend as a youth, she could kill Olaf the impaler as an
adult with a body count in the middle hundreds.
Olaf was right on top of her, swinging his blade downwards. Claire cartwheeled away, making the blade hit the pavement with a loud clang. She then noticed how much
surface dwellers were watching the event from a safe distance. Some safer than others.
"Move along, surface-" Her words were cut off when the inhumanely enormous hand clutched her throat and lifted her off the ground.
Out of the sound of her struggling to breath and struggle free. Claire heard Wes and Claeo's footsteps come closer, but she could only look to the sky as she hung
helplessly.
"Concern for others has always been your downfall, Claire." Wes stated. "You're the sorriest excuse for a Berth Bounty Hunter I have ever seen in my life."
Tears streamed down Claires face as she felt the pressure of metal being pressed against her stomach and then thrust through it, coming out her back. She let out
a screech that echoed through the streets of the city, a scream that even the group on the hill heard. Scarlette could swear she felt the Claires pain, wincing
as she clutched her stomach.
Claire was slammed to the pavement with bone crushing force, clutching her bleeding stomach and breathing erratically.
Wes kneeled next to what was left of Claire.
"Last chance for redemption, Claire Noire..."
"M-my l-l-last chance for redemption?!" Claire shakingly scoffed. "The G-Goddess w-will welcome m-m-me into the afterl-life with open arms. C-can you say the s-same?"
"Where is she going?" Wes asked.
"Somewhere you'll n-never find her in t-t-time." Claire replied. "You will l-lose..." She finished, spitting bloodened saliva into Wes' face.
Wes gave a nod to Claeo, who gave a nod in return to Olaf. The humanoid raised his blade, bringing it down on Claire's neck, severing her head from her body.
...
Claire found herself standing in what seemed like nowhere. All she could see was white light and from it emitted the shadow of a tall figure.
"Come to me my child." A soft womans voice spoke, causing Claire to walk into the warm realm with a small smile on her face. Eternal peace awaited.
...
Scarlette watched the whole event through Yusei's binoculars.
"What happened, Scarl?" Crow asked, seeing the horrified expression Scarlette gained. Without a word, she simply handed the binoculars to him with a shaky hand. He
took them and the first thing he saw was Claire's headless body, her head in Wes' hand. Crow nearly jumped out of his skin when the tall, male death elemental spun
around and seemed to make direct eye contact with him through the distance.
He put the binoculars down. "He's looking right at us..."
"We have to-"
"SCARLETTE NOIRE!" Wes' thundering voice in the distance cut Jack off. He was faintly heard. "I know you can hear me, girl! Make things easier for your beloved surface
and bring yourself to me! For every day you make me wait, the worse things will get for this city! Do you understand me?! Your choice!"
Scarlette dropped to her knees, feeling defeated. She started to feel dizzy; something burst inside of her and she lost consciousness. The feeling of her head hitting
the ground and the sound of her friends simultaniously aknowleging her distress gave her the feeling that she was drowning.
She lifted her head to darkness, blinking a few times to make sure her eyes were open.
"Where am I?" Scarlette asked, her voice echoing.
She looked forward and saw a small girl, a pale skinned, brown haired child who looked about 5 years old in estimate. Scarlette called out to her and the child opened
her black, soul-less eyes.
The girl smiled at Scarlette coldly.
"Scarlette..." She spoke in a spectral tone. "My daughter... My sister... My embodiment."
It then hit Scarlette who this little girl was.
"No! You're the Imitation Goddess!" She stood up and stumbled back in the darkness.
The child was suddenly infront of Scarlette, levitating so they could be face-to-face.
"Soon to be the only Goddess." She replied.
"You're an abomination." Scarlette spoke Claire's words. "An outrage against my divine protector!"
"You just need to see my superiority as a divine. Something you will see when you and I turn this world to what it should have been since the beginning. With the
Nethers as the master race."
Scarlette shook her head furociously.
"No... I won't. I refuse to be your harbinger. I refuse to be your body. I refuse to become you!"
"It's what you were born for. You have no choice in the matter."
"I'm choosing my own destiny. I don't have to be your vessel if I don't want to...and frankly, I'd rather die." Scarlette stood her ground.
The child looked displeased, scowling at Scarlette.
"Stupid girl..." She uttered before disappearing.
...
(1) Judging from that description... Do YOU know who Olaf the Impaler is a homage to?