Disclaimer: I do not own Claymore.

AN: Last of the already finished chapters :) Enjoy!

DON'T MIND ME I'M A LINE BREAK

Where the calm fields of snow become one with the sky
I am there; I am waiting as time passes by
I set up the weather to suit how you feel
Drop rain down with wishes, build grace out of steel

Lost northern star
Buried in sorrow, I'll guard your mind.
Let demons howl outside.

My soul burns.

~Lost Northern Star, Tarja Turunen

DON'T MIND ME I'M A LINE BREAK

Clare walked forwards through the forest, trying to ignore the two people following her. While Jean's foot steps were soft and quiet to her enhanced hearing, Noah didn't make any noise at all as he moved, and it was sending shivers down the Number Forty Seven ranked warriors spine. While he hadn't done anything to harm her, and the Abyssal One had even helped to bring Jean back to normal, it was still hard to trust the former Number One.

What were his motives for coming along?

She stopped, "Just how long do you plan on following me for?" Clare heard Jean stop, and Noah flickered into sight in front of her, sitting on a tree branch.

"I have no intentions of leaving, not until I return a favour of equal magnitude."

Clare turned around to face her, watching as Jean continued, "I've said so already . . . I owe this life to you."

Nate spoke up from his perch in the tree, "She's not going to leave, Clare. She's decided that her life belongs to you, so just let her come with."

Clare turned to face him, "And why are you coming with me? What's your reason for going North? Why should I trust you?"

Noah jumped down from his tree, and walked over to them, noting that both warriors were listening intently, "Like I said, you interest me. Plus, I have to see what the competitions like." When Clare continued to give him a penetrating look, he sighed, "You might not know this, but all four Abyssal Ones are about even in power. With that woman in Isley's possession, he has the advantage."

Jean interrupted, "But how? With you as her ally, Riful has the advantage, doesn't she?" Clare was too busy trying to control her rage at the mention of Priscilla to respond.

Noah shook his head, "No one really knows how powerful the One Horned woman is. It's possible that she could be powerful enough to rival one of us. The fact that she fought against Isley and survived, proves that she is stronger than most Awakened beings. Plus Isley has an army and Riful has no army at all."

Clare stared at him in silence for a second, "That explains why you're going to the North, but not why you're travelling with me."

Noah smiled lightly, "Why wouldn't I travel with you? Like I said to Number Three, you're too interesting for me to just let you go. Your right arm isn't your own, and I'm sure that I've felt your yoki aura before . . ." He frowned lightly. "So while I'm not going to fight your battles for you, I'm definitely going to be fighting by your side."

He winked at her, "Unless you think you can take an Abyssal One and one of the most powerful Awakened beings to ever be created on at the same time, I'll be coming with you."

Clare frowned, it made sense, and she could definitely use the help . . . but she was wasn't a total weakling, "I'm not as weak as my rank indicates. Thanks to Jean, I've gained a valuable skill, something that is worth the debt she owes me." She spun around, sword blurring as she unsheathed it.

Jean stood still, calmly standing in the middle of the storm of sword strikes, until finally, Clare's blade stilled. The two trees behind Jean fell to the ground, shredded into hundreds of pieces. Noah smirked slightly, despite her protest, she hadn't said that she didn't want his help, which was smart for the long run.

"Very impressive." Noah nodded his agreement. There were few warriors, Awakened or not, who would be able to defend themselves from an attack like that.

Clare turned around to the other warrior, "I acquired this skill thanks to you."

"Me?"

The Number Forty Seven ranked warrior bowed her head, "Before then, it never occurred to me that the Quick Sword was controllable. But when I saw you in that underground castle, I completely changed my thinking. Even when your body had already Awakened, you were able to keep your mind on the human side, something that shouldn't be possible according to our common sense. It had a great impact on me."

She turned to look at Jean, "The strength of one's mind can be a very powerful force. That's why I gave it a try. By reacting to the yoki, I was able to use my strong mind to control the Quick Sword."

Jean looked behind her at the pieces of the trees, "And this was the result?"

Clare nodded, "This skill was possible thanks to you." Noah's head jerked to the left.

"Someone's here." And with that, he disappeared.

Clare and Jean reached for their swords, reaching out theirs senses to try and detect anyone. While neither of them doubted Noah's warning, it better to be safe then sorry.

It was silent for a few minutes, and then both warriors spun around to see a man in black walk into the clearing, "Don't give me that look. If you go missing, I go looking. That's a given."

"Rubel . . ." Clare was shocked, how had he managed to find them? Jean didn't know who the man was, but from the way he dressed, and the familiarity he had with Clare, she guessed that he was a handler from the Organisation. No wonder Noah had disappeared.

Both of them swung around again, reacting to a swishing sound, barely audible to either of them. Standing against a nearby tree, was another short haired warrior, half hidden in shadow. Her left eye was gone, with only a massive jagged scar was left in it's place and her short spiky hair did nothing to cover it.

"Impossible," Jean whispered, "We didn't even sense her presence . . ."

Clare caught a glimpse of her symbol, 'Number five, Rafaela?'

"So, surprised, right?" Rubel started to walk forwards, "This one is the most talented at hiding her own yoki." He stopped next to the motionless warrior, "She's the best choice for secret missions."

Clare drew her sword, and the warrior still didn't move, "I suggest you don't. Even with the two of you, you won't be able to defeat this one. She's a bit special, you see."

Jean refrained from mentioning that they, hopefully, had an Abyssal One backing them up, "And Galatea? What happened to Galatea?"

"She abandoned her original mission, and came up with that blatant lie. After we heard her report, we chopped her head off right away."

There was a faint rustle of leaves, and both Clare and Jean had the feeling that it was Noah.

Before anything could happen, Rubel continued, "I wish we could say that, but she'd a rather useful individual. We spared her life. She'll be sent on dangerous missions for a while, instead."

The black clad man pushed his pitch black glasses up his nose, "Clare. I'm here to give you a mission."

Clare blinked in confusion, "A mission?"

"Numerous Awakened beings have appeared in the Northern lands, and several warriors under the command of Number Seven, have all lost their lives. Your mission is to take out these Awakened beings."

Clare and Jean gaped, take out 'numerous' Awakened beings? It wasn't possible, not without at least two full teams of warriors!

Rubel put both hands in his pocket, smirking slightly, "The organisation is prepared to send a large number of warriors, and you're one of them, basically."

Number Five still hadn't said anything, standing perfectly still, with her remaining eye trained on Clare and Jean. "Complete this mission and we might even reward you. This should be considered a great chance for two runaway warriors like you two."

Clare gritted her teeth, while Jean continued to watch Rafaela. Her choice was already made, she would follow Clare, and therefore Noah, until her debt was repaid.

"Well, you don't need to decide right away. We've already made you aware that we can find and kill you whenever we want." Rubel started to walk off, before he stopped and held up a hand, "Ahh, and . . . that boy you had around . . . it seems that he was captured by slavers and taken to the North. So it seems, that this mission might be your best chance of finding him."

Clare gasped, Raki! He was in the North?

Rubel started walking again, Number Five following him after one last look at Clare and Jean.

DON'T MIND ME I'M A LINE BREAK

Noah sighed quietly. He was getting bored of this already, he hadn't had a chance to speak with Clare and Jean for several days now. The whole time they had spent travelling to the North, they'd been watched by agents of the Organisation. He couldn't risk being discovered by the Organisation at this point, so he'd had to stay hidden, only appearing to the two warriors every once in a while to reassure them that he was still there.

The appearance of the Claymore was a little bit disconcerting. She was suppressing her yoki in the exact same way that Noah was, which in itself was suspicious. The only way someone could learn to do that was with years of practice. The only reason he had heard any one approaching was because he could hear and smell them, using senses far stronger than the average Claymores.

They were in the town of Pieta now, with Noah running along the roofs of buildings while the two Claymores had slowed down to a human paced walk.

It was snowing lightly as the humans in the town stared. It was possibly the first time in history so many Claymores had ever gathered together in one spot, and a fairly large crowd had gathered to gawk and stare.

The Abyssal One watched as another Claymore ran and seemingly attacked Clare. He didn't feel the need to interfere, Clare had Jean watching out for her and the woman's yoki hadn't felt malicious or aggressive, only friendly.

Jean fended her off, and then another Claymore interfered, preventing Jean from attacking the first girl. Noah watched carefully, examining their yoki. They were just like Clare, partially Awakened. He could feel it, that faint sense of menace that drifted through their auras. Jean had more running through her than they did, most likely because her body had fully Awakened instead of only approaching and crossing the limit before coming back.

They felt fairly powerful, which made the Abyssal One wonder what their ranks were. Another thing that confused him, why was Clare was ranked number Forty Seven? Her Quick Sword ability should have pushed her up into the twenties at least, not to mention her speed and strength were fairly good too.

His sensitive hearing picked up their conversation as the warriors all apologised. Number Twenty Two Helen and Number Fifteen Deneve, eh? At least they were seemingly ranked appropriately.

Suddenly, a soft voice drew all of the warriors' attentions, "Everyone, please gather here."

The gathered warriors all walked over and stood in front the Claymore who had called out to them. She stood on the stairs of a raised area, in front of what Noah guessed was the town hall.

"We will now be briefing you on this mission. My name is Flora, Number Eight in the Organisation."

The one called Helen walked towards the wavy haired warrior, "Hey, since there's more than one single digit warrior here, you having the lowest number must mean you're the leader, right?"

Flora shook her head, "No, there's someone with a lower number than me. She's the leader . . ."

Noah leaned forwards, there were some weak yoki auras, quite a few average yoki auras and several strong yoki auras. The strong auras were coming from; Flora, a warrior who just introduced her self as Number Six, Miria, Helen, Deneve, Jean, a warrior with her hair tied back in a tight pony tail and a warrior with huge muscles and two swords. Her bulk was comparable to Dauf's when he was in human form, and Dauf was one of the most well built warriors in the history of the Organisation.

Strangely enough, Clare's yoki was fairly small. It didn't make sense though, comparing her yoki to her skill level, and she couldn't be hiding it as she'd almost Awakened a few days ago in the mountains, and to do that one's yoki had to be pushed to the limits. What was the mystery behind Number Forty Seven . . .

The Abyssal One watched as the meeting wore on. He frowned when arguments broke out, these people were supposed to be well trained warriors, not pre-pubescent children. Number Eight, Flora, truly impressed him with how she handled it, both with her attitude and her technique. 'Windcutter Flora'. Her attack was something he'd never seen at such a high level before before. It was similar to the Quick Sword, but more accurate in it's strikes and possibly less draining on her yoki. It must have taken her months to refine and speed up her ability to unsheathe her sword, slash then sheathe it again.

The brawny one, Number Eleven, Undine, was considerably less impressive. While her strength was probably something to marvel at, he had to agree with Deneve. Showing off with her muscles was a waste of yoki and effort, while her attitude was laughable for team dynamics.

From what he could see, this bunch had next to no chances of survival, especially if he was correct about the number of Awakened beings approaching. He could feel thirty five of them approaching, all around average in strength, and one who was far beyond that. The strong one had to have been Number Two to Five before he Awakened, meaning that it was probably Rigardo.

Noah smiled viciously, maybe he could 'introduce' himself to Isley's second in command.

Number Six, Miria, was an interesting one. She was partially Awakened, just like Clare and her friends. Maybe she was part of their group? Her yoki was the biggest one here, and Noah heard some of the lower ranked warriors calling her a nickname, 'Phantom Miria'. With a title like that, it made him even more curious as to what special ability she had. She was serious and professional, everything that a leader needed to be.

He watched as she created the teams, splitting up the warriors evenly, and creating back up teams. It was smart, and made the whole plan more flexible. Jean, Flora, Miria, Undine and Number Thirteen, Veronica were made team leaders, and four to five warriors were in each team.

He leant back against the wall, this was something he had to see.

DON'T MIND ME I'M A LINE BREAK

Alright, I didn't want to have to do this, but seeing as no one's signed in to leave reviews, I'm going to start answering them at the end of every chapter. If I get any more.

Marc: I'm glad you liked it :) The fight scenes would have been awful if I hadn't watched the anime and described everything that happened there. Thanks for reviewing :)

DBZLOVER: I'm glad you think so. Thanks for reviewing :)

marc: Thanks. And thanks for reviewing :)

DBZLOVER: Thanks for mentioning that, I didn't really notice until you pointed it out. One day I'll go back and fix it. Also, that happened in this chapter, and I fixed that up hopefully. I'm glad you liked how I did that :) Thanks for reviewing :)

Freehawk: Thanks. Why would Clare waste valuable time that Jean needs, fighting against someone she knows she can't win against. She knew that Noah was a former Number One, plus neither he nor Riful had interfered in the fight, so she just left him alone. Thanks for reviewing and I hope that answered your statement thingy :)

marc: I'm glad you liked it and thanks for reviewing :)

DBZLOVER: Thanks for reviewing :)

marc: I tried to answer that in this chapter. Jean decides to follow Clare without knowing anything about her, and while this is a bit more extreme, in her mind Noah has proved that he is honourable enough to warrant her loyalty. Not that she would go around attacking humans if he asked or anything stupid like that. Clare on the other hand, knows that she needs help, even if she doesn't act that way. She still thinks she can take Priscilla on her own though, and Noah is just to fight Isley. She trusts him, but at the first sign of betrayal she'd turn on him. I hope that answered your question, both in and out of the chapter :) Thanks for reviewing :)

Me: The line breaks are kind of a tradition, seeing as I couldn't get the normal line breaks to work :) I'm glad that you like Noah. I was afraid that he would turn Gary-Stu (not quite sure of the definition). Thanks for reviewing :)

All done! Also, there will be a fair wait for the next chapter. These were all written in three days ages ago, and they just needed some editing. The seventh chapter was also written, but I didn't like it, so I decided to scrap it and rewrite it. Also I'm concentrating on my other stories, seeing as they all need desperate updating :)

Phoenix