After the War: 1

(Flash-back Clare's POV)

Dawn broke on a desolate scene. The ruins of Pieta outlined in the east, along with the newly dug graves of seventeen Claymores acting as sentinels. Silently the dead's comrades watched over them.

"We can't stay here. The organization will be sending others to investigate the aftermath." Miria's tone was cold, even for her. She probably still thought she should have had a better plan to defeat Isley's army. Almost as one, we all turned to the south. Tabatha was the one who spoke what was on all our minds. "A warrior is coming. One of the lower digits. Thankfully not a top five." You could almost feel the tension in the air disburse. At a signal we all shot off toward the western mountains.

Glancing over my shoulder, I recognized the warrior. It was Galatea. The organization's Eye. She stopped for a moment at the small grave memorial, then gave a small smile and started to return to the south. "Awakened Ones!" The call came from Helen this time, "They're coming in from the south." Most likely the remnants of Isley's army coming back for a victory party. But, no the yoki were too strong for that. That meant it had to be Isley himself. The others must have noticed it as well, for just when I was going to speak up, Miria gave a slight nod, and we all froze. Suppressing our yoki as much as was possible with the pills wearing off. Personally, I was glad to have the help. I was exhausted after our ferocious battle and didn't have the strength to manage on my own. Taking advantage of the halt to take a closer look at the damage from the battle, I could tell we never had a chance in hell of winning. Then again, I already knew that before we even started. The odds were unimaginable, that any of us survived is a miracle in its self. 24 Awakened Ones against 24 of us, one on one battles with creatures at least 10 times as strong as most of us. Never a chance in hell.

How did it get this bad?

Shuk! Miria's claymore sliced down on the small round object on the table. "Alright. I'm sure most of you will know what this is." Miria spoke to the silently waiting crowd.

"Half a yoki suppressant? What's that gonna do, huh?"

"Relax Undine, this is our escape. If we take these, when we lose consciousness the pill will suppress our yoki so it looks like we are dead." She sighed, "I'm not sure how effective this will be, but"

"We have a chance to survive. Pretty good. Sacrifice many to save a few, not half bad considering our situation." Undine stepped forward and picked up one of the pill halves. "Now, I don't know about you sissies, but I'll take any chance I got. I'm not ready to die just yet." With that Undine tossed the pill into her mouth and swallowed. There was almost no change in her yoki. So far, so good.

After we had confirmed that the preparations were complete, including the evacuation of the citizens of Pieta, we assembled at the center of town and waited for the yoma to come.

"I knew it. The size, the quality of their yoki. It's all so different…In the end, how many of us will survive?" Miria obviously didn't want anyone else to hear this, but since I was standing almost right next to her, I did. I'm sure the captains of the other squads, including Flora, my captain, had heard her. I was impressed at how none of them showed the slightest sign of fear, when the strongest among us, No. 6, phantom Miria, showed uncertainty, even fear.

The desperate battle to survive began. We were thoroughly out matched. Normally it would take at least two of us to take out an average Awakened One. Now some of us were fighting two or three at once, while the rest of us all had opponents of our own. One by one my comrades fell. We all fought desperately, but then Rigaldo the lion came. Known as the Silver-eyed Lion in his days as one of us, he was home to a power almost rivaling the abyssal ones. His yoki was so strong, it almost hurt just to be in its presence. With lighting speed he picked out and killed the five captains. First Undine, then Veronica, then Jean, Flora, and finally Miria. Helen, Deneve and I tried to protect her, but we were no match. Together we did manage to cause some damage, though. Miria took an arm while Deneve and Helen distracted him. Being an offensive type, he couldn't regenerate, and I managed to land a few hits with the quick-sword, but inevitably, we were all cut down. In the end we did survive, and Rigaldo did die, he was weakened and distracted, but it wouldn't bring the others back. Not Flora, or Victoria, or Jean, none of them.

"Clare! Quit spacing out! We need to keep moving!" Miria was calling from far ahead of me. 'Damn it! Why was I acting like such a fool? Me wishing for it isn't going to bring any of them back. I KNOW that, so –'

"CLARE! Come ON!" Giving myself a shake, I snapped back to reality and ran to catch-up. "You really are an idiot. Standing there with Isley like right next to you. Yeesh, and to think I thought you didn't deserve the rank 47."

"Shut up Helen. I'm really not in the mood for your stupidity." My voice was like ice, I knew it, but didn't try to change it. My hand tightened on my claymore, still out just in case.

"Woah! Lighten up! We survived didn't we? Or would you rather join the others in the graves?"

"Helen, don't take it personally. Not everyone can be as cheerful as you after being unable to help their friends." Deneve gently placed a hand on Helen's arm. Silently thanking her, I Practically leaped into the air when an explosion of yoki erupted from behind us, back in Pieta. Without even thinking, I ran back as fast as I could. I knew this yoki, it was definitely familiar. Recrossing the small mountain, Pieta came into view. The pressure from the yoki was almost tangible, pushing forward, I tried to make out who it was that was putting it out. Slowly, a woman's figure came into focus. It was Undine!

'Wow. I had no idea Undine could channel that much power without…' my thoughts trailed off as I was struck by a sudden realization. "UNDINE!" I screamed she turned toward me and as I got closer, I could see that Undine was desperately fighting against her out-of-control yoki. Deneve came shooting past me, and got to Undine first. I started forward again, but stopped when I realized Deneve was saying something. Feeling inexplicably like I was intruding on something private, I backed off to where the others were waiting.

"Hey, what the fuck are you sissies doing just standing there?! Are you gonna wait patiently for Isley and Pricilla to come back from their damn conquest?! Move your asses already!" The voice and attitude were unmistakable.

"Undine! Your alive!"

"Well obviously, I'm fuckin' talkin' to you bitches right?" 'Yup. That was definitely Undine.'

"Hey, when did you get your hands back? Weren't they cutoff?"

"Yeah. That Rigaldo bastard. I was sure as hell glad to see his corpse when I woke up. That was what the yoki was from. I've never had to reattach my limbs, so it took a lot of energy. Anyone got any food? I'm starving!" I was hungry too, so I looked to see if anyone had anything. Nothing, but that was to be expected.

"Helen? Why do you look so confused?" It was Miria that spoke this time, her calm voice bringing us back to reality.

"Didn't we bury 17? There were only 24 of us right? It doesn't add up." She was right. 17+825, not 24. We had an extra member and I had a good guess of who it was.

"Take a closer look at Undine. Doesn't something seem off? And how would anyone be able to release that much power with the side affects of the pill? Helen's right. None of it adds up. Unless," I shivered, at the consequences if what I thought was true.

"Unless, Undine isn't really Undine." Miria caught on right away, and quickly hid the horror that appeared on her face. One by one, Deneve, Uma, Tabatha, and Helen all turned to face Undine, hands on their swords. Quick as a flash, Miria attacked, but she only sliced air. "Above!" She yelled, just as an unimaginable explosion of yoki crashed down on us.

"This can't be real!" Helen shouted above the roar.

"It's Pricilla! That's why I thought it was familiar!" My heart was pounding impossibly hard, it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. "I finally found you –you- MONSTER!" I screeched and launched myself up against the crush of yoki, my eyes glowing gold, the yoki coursing through my veins quickly transforming my face. Then I was in the air, all thought of anything but getting my revenge vanished from my mind. The time had come for her to pay! I vaguely felt the sharp pain as my armor cracked from my distorted limbs. Mt yoki was running so wild, the quick-sword reached a new speed almost equal to Irene's. A sudden jerk threw me back down to earth where the others held me down. Even with Pricilla out of sight, I couldn't stop, I kept pushing, trying to shake them off. A sudden, intense explosion of pain in the back of my skull, followed closely by an unrelenting blackness, finally brought me to my senses.

This is what happened right after the War of the North. The manga didn't say anything about it so I got alot of my ideas from the anime. This took me a little longer to write because it was so long, I'm working on the next part of this now. At the latest it'll be up next saturday. I get the feeling i'm going to be busy.