Finally, an update! Sorry it took so long, circumstances were beyond my control. As usual, the story will get freaky, but there is method to my madness, as usual.

Number Zero

Pain.

It's amazing how the human body and mind work. If the body is damaged in any way, it will feel pain, the mind, it will register it as pain. If there's a heavy amount of pain, then the mind cannot focus on anything but it, and all manner of thought processes cease to exist.

That's what Wiess was experiencing at the moment, total and utterly mind-numbing pain as he hung from a branch some few hundred feet above a raging river. The huge hole in his chest poured rivers of blood and it was all he could do to not let go and fall to his death. Above, he heard the noises of Clare and Miria fighting the Awakened Being. Good, they were still alive. He grit his teeth.

"Heal!" he pleaded with himself. "Come on damn it, heal!"

Ever since the Yoma attack seven years ago, Wiess knew that something about him wasn't right. Lifting heavy objects suddenly became easier, fighting was stronger and faster and his senses had improved. Though he knew that the Yoma had killed his father, and he, it, Wiess had no recollection of the events after the attack. It was as if a heavy fog had descended on his memories, denying him access to precious information. He knew he wasn't a Yoma, that was for sure, but he also wasn't a warrior like Clare and the others.

"Ow!"

His chest began to irritate him and he looked down to see a new lung being strung together, fiber by fiber. Soon enough, muscle, flesh and skin began to cover it and within minutes, he was healed. "Amazing..."

Taking some time to climb up, he retrieved his bow, which had caught onto a branch above him and got back onto the path. Looking around, he saw the warriors gathered around the corpse of the freshly slain Awakened Being, and they were all talking. Clearing his throat, Wiess stepped forward and they all turned to him. Clare's furious glare was the first thing he saw, and it made his heart plummet to his ankles.

"...Hey..."

"So you made it afterall," Miria said, eyeing him. "Welcome back Wiess."

He scratched his head. "Yeah, I don't know what happened," he nervously said. "I don't even know what I am anymore, if I'm even human..."

"How long?" Clare suddenly demanded. "How long have you been lying to us?"

Wiess tried to reason with her. "Clare, if I had any idea of what I was, I would have told you right away!"

Clare turned her back on him as the others watched sadly. "I hate Yoma and Awakened Beings," she angrily said. "If... If I ever see you again, I'll kill you."

Deneve gasped as Helen's hands flew to her mouth. Miria was apathetic as always. Hot, salty tears began to slide down Wiess' cheeks, but he ignored them.

"Clare," he said, gathering what courage he had left. "I - There's no way in hell that I'm leaving you! I told you this already!"

In a whirl, Clare had turned around and planted the tip of her sword into Wiess' throat, making him gasp in one last gulp of air. She had hot, angry tears in her eyes as she drove her broadsword in deeper, making Wiess drop to his knees. She pulled her sword out, making crimson red liquid spurt out of his neck.

"Clare!" Deneve gasped.

"But - but his blood is red!" Helen sputtered, pointing at the pool building at Wiess' knees. "Red, like a human's!"

Clare looked down at Wiess, whose eyes were beginning to dim. She could see him mouth something slowly...

With you till I die, he mouthed, giving her a sad, defeated smile before falling over and making no movements. All was silent.

Miria finally broke the silence by unclipping her cloak and draping it over Wiess' body. "For all it means, I think he loved you."

Clare didn't move.

-----

He opened his eyes. "And still, I can't die," Wiess sighed, sitting up. He looked around to only see empty horizon around him. It was obvious that the Claymores had left. "What happened?"

He couldn't remember a thing. His memory of what had happened after he climbed up the cliff had dissapeared.

Piercing silver eyes flashed across his memory, and the tip of Clare's sword imprinted itself into his vision. "She... she tried to kill me!" he gasped. "But, why?"

Hot tears began to flow down his cheeks again, but these weren't full of sadness, no, these were tears of rage. "That - that bitch!" he fumed, "She tried to kill me, but she failed, and she probably ran off scared! I'll make her pay! I'll make her wish she never hurt me at all!"

A blue halo of energy erupted around Wiess as his anger intensified, filling every nook and cranny of his being. His face slightly distorted, and his eyes shone red with triple slits as he roared in fury. "PAY!"

Something was close, he could feel it. Something was going to break. Was it... was it he that was going to break? No, he couldn't break now, he needed to get his revenge!

Must... hold it back! Wiess thought intensely, concentrating on stopping the enormous flow of energy that was coming out of him. Stop... Stop... "STOP!"

And at once, it did. The blue flames slowly evaporated and his anger abated. However, Wiess could still feel it, simmering down deep below in his very being, just waiting to be tapped into again. The power, such raw power... His for the taking. They would know his anger, those two-timing Claymores! They would feel his wrath!

-----

Clare dodged Duph's blow by jumping into the air in the confines of the tunnel. Jean was right behind her, ready to use her Twist Sword attack while Galatea used her Yoki control technique to keep the giant Awakened Being's mouth shut. Concentrating hard, Clare directed her Yoki to control her Quick Sword's movements, restricting them to attacking Duph's arms only.

"Do it now!!" she yelled, as Jean flashed by her.

Duph screamed out in pain as Jean completely tore through his throat, leaving behind a massive trail of purple blood. He sagged to the ground, gagging on his own blood and gore as Jean and Clare landed. Riful looked on apathetically.

"That head!" Jean seethed, "I shall take it off completely!"

She made to jump towards Duph, twisting her arm again, but suddenly she was tied up by black cords. The cords wrapped around her body tightly and then slammed her into the ground.

"Jean!" Clare cried as Galatea watched silently in shock.

"Sorry," Riful said, her right arm a huge mass of snaking black cord. "I really want you to savor your moment of glory a little longer... But I really can't be having this."

Despite having a grotesque amount of black vines coming out of her small body, Riful gave them a smile. "After all is said and done... He is still my man after all."

Clare gritted her teeth angrily and made to leap at Riful, but something stopped her. Indeed, Jean and Galatea felt it too, as did the Abyssal One, who turned to look curiously.

An incredible amount of Yoki had just entered the cave.

"Wow, looks like I was late for the party," an all-too-familiar voice said as a dark figure stepped into the tunnel. "No food, no drinks and all the babes are finished their cat fight."

Wiess walked around the collapsed portion of the tunnel and looked around with a deceptive smile. "Found you," he said to Clare.

-----

"Who the hell around you?" Duph asked, his throat somewhat half-healed. "Mooooooooron!"

He created a lance in his throat and fired it at Wiess without abandon, to Riful's forehead-slapping. It rocketed towards Wiess, as the young man raised an eyebrow.

"Relax," he said, raising his right leg so that he kicked the lance just before it hit him. It spun around in midair in front of the man as he stood there, hands in pockets as his knee was touching his chest. "Take a breather."

With a flick of his leg, Wiess launched the still-spinning lance right back at Duph at more then ten times the speed, letting it explode out of the Awakened Being's back like a bomb. Clare and the other warriors gasped in shock at the brutally powerful attack. Duph staggered backwards, falling completely as he suffered another crushing blow (quite literally). Riful stood up in anger.

"How dare you!" she cried, her cords unwrapping from a groggy Jean as she directed them towards Wiess. "Just who do you think you are, coming in here like that and hurting my man?"

Wiess blinked and looked back at Duph's body. He turned back to Riful. "You call that thing a man?" he asked incredulously. "I mean like seriously, a man?!"

Riful fired her cords at Wiess, but the man was gone in an instant. They harmlessly impaled into the ground as she and the warriors looked around in confusion. Suddenly, Riful stiffened.

"What's wrong with her?" Clare whispered to herself.

"Something's not right," Galatea answered, having heard the lower ranked warrior. Jean went to join them as they watched Riful stand there with a shocked look on her face. Wiess' face appeared over her shoulder. Clare's eyes widened.

"Well, that wasn't nice, was it?" he asked Riful casually, placing his hands on her shoulders. Her corded right arm suddenly changed back to normal, and the limb sagged to her side as she flinched at his touch. "And you chastise me for being rude!"

"It's been a while," Riful answered, some fear seeping into her childish voice. Her shoulders were beginning to shake. "Number Zero, Wiess."