Reader2001: Yeah, misstype, gotta remember to edit that, I keep forgetting.

Abyssdoor: Yeah, not usually a big canon person, otherwise I wouldn't be writing fanfiction :P Love your point about filler arcs in anime though ahahaha.

SpectorChris: Yeah, I gotta try and update my stories more often. It's a problem XD

Quathis: Yeah I'm trying to keep things interesting.

This chapter is a little...meh, but it was kinda filler. Stick with me people!

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Silver-Eyed Angel

Chapter 8

Exposition

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"Raki? What the hell is going on here?!"

"Calmly, Nina, calmly. I will happily explain everything, but perhaps you would prefer a more comfortable venue?"

"Is this some kind of trick?!"

"No, no trick. Please, follow me."

Anastasia couldn't do much more than look in muted awe around the massive, light filled hall that she and her sisters had been shown into by the crimson-haired former warrior that had intervened during their confrontation of Renee in that village. It was clear to all of them that the stone building they had found themselves in after they had awoken was a massive and ancient fortress, which was even now in the midst of being restored to its former glory. Each massive support pillar had a former warrior standing at parade rest before it, silver armor of the same make as the team that had subdued herself and her comrades. All in all, she guessed that there were some twenty former warriors at such posts, with several more leaning on the railings of the catwalks and balconies that ran around the upper part of the room.

A large, long carved wooden table dominated the center of the room, at the head of which Raki sat in a throne-like chair, while several more former warriors (including but not limited to those who attacked the Execution Squad, she noted) sat in positions of authority, while Dietrich and a former warrior Anastasia didn't recognize stood just behind Raki, at his right and left sides, respectively.

"Ah, excellent." Raki said, getting to his feet. While he had come to greet them in the dungeon, he had insisted that it was no place for dialogue amongst friends and colleagues. Wary, but wanting out of the dark and dank cell, the Organization group had bit back the instinctive comment that they were neither friends nor comrades any longer, and allowed themselves to be lead from the room. "I'm glad you decided to join me..."

"We've done no such thing." Alicia interjected coldly, glaring around the room in general and at Raki specifically as she continued. "Though many traitors have flocked to your side for one reason or another, you will find we are far more difficult prey, fool."

Discontented muttering filled the room as the guards and other warriors shifted in displeasure at the blatant disrespect being shown to their Master, and Raki's lip curled as his aura flared with pressure, a silent demand of obedience and submission, and he unconsciously let slip a low, rumbling growl as his more bestial Youma side expressed its displeasure with one of "his" females so blatantly challenging him, and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he fought back the urge to suitably cow her and achieve her submission to him. In doing so, he totally missed the blushes and awkward shifting of every warrior as they rubbed their thighs together slightly, their own Youma sides responding to the growl and what it represented. Huffing slightly, he held up a hand to Dietrich, whose own hand had half-drawn her blade, and opened his eyes to stare down the length of the table.

"I was actually referring to joining me in this room at this point in time, but that is hardly the point. Please, sit down." he finally said a little dryly, gesturing to the foot of the table, where an appropriate number of seats had been placed for them so that they could remain close to each other. He wanted them to feel as comfortable as possible, after all, to make them more amicable to hearing him out. Hesitantly, the warriors obeyed, and he nodded before leaning forward, folding his hands before his face as he rested his elbows on the table.

"What are you doing, Raki? Why did you attack us? Renee is guilty of killing humans!" Audrey asked sharply after a few moments of silence, and her group made noises of agreement. Looking around, she continued. "And who are all of these warriors? I don't recognize any of them, which means they are deserters or Awakened!"

Regarding them calmly, he spoke. "I knew why you were in this territory, and I tell you now: It was a lie. Renee," at her name, the dusky skinned warrior entered from a side door, and he gestured to her. "Never attacked any human. The Organization feared that she was growing too close to me and might have negatively affected the conditioning and brainwashing they believe I am still under. As for my guards, well," He looked around the room and smiled slightly, before refocusing his attention of the other end of the table. "Let's just say that I offered them a better path than that which they were walking on. Same with the Youma you will no doubt come across while here."

"And why should we believe the words of a traitor, regardless of what rank they might have once had?" Beth asked just as coldly as her sister had spoken, and Raki wasn't entirely sure if she meant him or Renee. Both, as likely as not, and he hummed to himself as he nodded his head in agreement, surprising the room at large.

"Yes, that is true. And yet, you continue to heed and obey the words of the twisted old men who have betrayed Humanity for decades." he told her, sounding almost sly, and the Organization warriors seemed to draw back almost as one.

"The Council?" Anastasia scoffed, her tone expressing outraged disbelief. Shaking her head, she addressed Raki directly. "You will need a better tale than that to earn our treachery, Number 00."

"Dietrich." Raki said simply, and the named warrior murmured a quiet "Master" from her place at his right shoulder as she in turn gestured sharply to a warrior waiting in the wings, who approached the foot of the table with a large stack of files. Setting them in front of the twins, she withdrew to her previous post in the shadows. Alicia and Beth silently exchanged a glance before turning in unison to Raki.

"What are these supposed to be?" Alicia asked, raising her left eyebrow slightly.

"And more importantly, why are we supposed to care?" Beth continued without pause, raising her right eyebrow just as slightly, slightly disturbing the majority of the room at their eerie sibling interactions.

"Oh, nothing significant, simply files copied from the Council's personal archives by myself." Raki said easily, leaning back slightly in his chair. He knew they would dismiss them as fabrications, of course, which is why he planned to prove the truth behind them in an irrefutable fashion.

"The Youma are being created by the Organization as test dummies for we warriors, who are supposedly a secret military project for some supposed war on a mythical continent between two giant countries?" Alicia scoffed, tossing the papers back onto the table after only a cursory glance, and the other Organization warriors reacted with matching disgust and disbelief.

"Don't you find it odd that there are no female Youma? No noticeable way for them to reproduce? They certainly don't mate with fallen female warriors, because the first generation was all-male, and Youma already existed then." Raki pointed out, getting thoughtful (if reluctant) nods of agreement from the gathered warriors, who seemed to be trying very hard to find a fault in his logic.

"While I will admit that it is a very strange truth you speak, Raki, it is quite a leap to suddenly claim that the Organization creates them. What purpose could that serve?" Audrey pointed out, not having read the papers, and Raki hummed, nodding in acknowledgment of the point.

"Several things, to be frank. They have an entire island-nation to use as a laboratory, or even a secret hiding place should the war go poorly. Furthermore, by charging the people of the island, they get to make a fairly significant amount of money in order to supply their own operation, allowing them to be totally off the books in their homeland so that their enemy doesn't discover this island and the research they are doing here." he explained slowly, trying to remain calm. It seemed as though he was making progress, but he would rather not jeopardize that by appearing to pleased with himself. Gesturing to his companions, he continued. "While this may seem to you to be a gathering of traitors bent on taking power for some twisted reason, I assure you that our interests lie entirely in securing the safety of the people of this island from any threat, whether it is from within...or not."

"If you're tellin' the truth, ya better be able ta prove it." Rachel, of all people, said calmly, surprising her opponent from the earlier fight, Nimue. She did notice that Audrey seemed to have a significant influence on the foul-mouthed and tempered warrior's behavior, her gentleness balancing the other woman's gruff bluntness. "I ain't speaking for everyon', but I'm not gonna chance everything on faith."

"Fair enough, fair enough. I would expect nothing of the sort of course, I am rather significantly turning your world upon its head." Raki said evenly, though he was utterly gleeful inside. As hoped, one of them had proposed investigating proof, which helped him a great deal. People are always more inclined to believe something if it was their idea in the first place. Getting to his feet, his warriors rising with him, he made a sweeping gesture to the main entrance and smiled invitingly. "Come, let me show you the truth of my words."

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Clare and Miria trudged through the silent, snow-covered landscape of the north, heading for e familiar place that they made the time to visit every day.

The graves of their fallen friends, sisters, and fellow warriors. The final resting place of the many halflings that had fallen in a pointless, and futile, last stand against Isley's Army of the North, in a suicide mission ordained by the Council of the Organization for one reason and one reason only.

To end the lives of those warriors who were considered rebellious or inconvenient to the Organization.

There were no other living creatures in this area of the North, not since Isley and every single of one of his Awakened and Youma subordinates had moved to the southernmost border for reasons unknown. Even stranger, they were not massacring any human villages like they had Pieta, instead seemingly satisfied with lingering in the mountains and forests of the area.

Thus, imagine their surprise upon coming over the ridge into the small, sheltered ravine they had buried their comrades only to find Isley kneeling in front of Jean's grave, one hand laid flat upon the mound of dirt and snow. Infuriated at the idea of this monster desecrating the burial site of those whose lives he had, ultimately, ended, Clare began to draw her sword. She stopped, however, when Isley held up a hand and spoke without looking at her.

"It would reflect poorly upon us to disturb the sleep of the honored dead." he said, his language more antiquated than that off the younger generations. Getting to his feet, he turned to face them and gave the half-boy of a courtier. "It is a pleasure to meet two of the warriors that Raki speaks so highly of. Truly, I thought he was deluded in his belief that you still lived, but then I found this place. And I knew that some of the warriors the Organization had sent to die had managed to live. Truly impressive."

"What did you do to Raki?" Clare snarled, sword hissing from its place on her back to point ominously at the Abyssal.

"Nothing. I consider that foolish young man to be kin, a younger brother who needs to be guided away from foolish, naive ideology before the world consumes him." Isley told her calmly, meeting her eyes evenly and without a hint of fear. Not that Miria could blame him. While she and Clare were stronger, and by far the strongest of the Ghosts, they were still nothing before this man's immense power.

"Is Raki well?" Miria asked, hoping that good news would settle Clare down, although it was more likely Clare would try to insist they go south again immediately.

"Very well indeed, and as happy as one can expect under these conditions. But, alas, such is the world we live in." Isley mused, starting to amble away from them, towards the south. When Clare shifted to follow, he stopped and glanced over his shoulder at her. "Raki wouldn't like it if I hurt you, so please don't do anything you and I might regret. See you."

"Where is Raki? What is going on in the south!" Clare called after him, and he raised on hand in a casual farewell as he called back.

"Come south in a few months and find out for yourselves!"

With a slight buzzing sound and a momentary blur, Isley vanished in a series of flash steps, heading south rapidly to meet up with his forces. While he had ventured north to investigate the warrior's cemetery his scouts had mentioned (and, as he had hoped, to meet the survivors of the war and measure their worth), he had many tasks to attend to in order to ensure that things didn't get out of hand when Raki and his followers destroy the Organization.

Exchanging looks, the pair of warriors quickly paid their respects to the fallen and raced back towards their mansion hideout, eager to share what just transpired with their sisters.

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"...it seems that things in the south are really getting strange, and I have no idea why Isley would act like this. It is unlike any Awakened Being I have ever met or heard of." Miria wrapped up her briefing on the events of an hour ago, looking around the room at the bewildered and curiously confused expressions that her sisters wore.

"This is unprecedented." Deneve mused, tilting her head back against the wall she was leaning against as she stared aimlessly at the ceiling, deep in thought. "Has the whole of the world gone mad during our absence?"

"Startin' ta look that way!" Helen said with her usual smirk, though the smirk did appear to be rather forced and fake to those who knew her as well as the Ghosts did. Shrugging, she continued more genuinely. "Regardless of what's goin' on down south, there ain't nothin' we can do about it right now. Just a fwe more months, and we head out."

"Speaking of heading out, I need to speak with you all about something." Miria said suddenly, and the Ghosts were shocked to see their implacable and unflappable captain blushing faintly and shifting on her feet. Taking a breath, miria took the plunge. "Clare and I spoke about Raki and the...reactions his aura sparked in all of us."

She held up a hand as a couple of voices rose in protest, the owners claiming that they certainly hadn't had a reaction, which they all knew was a lie. For beings with an enhanced sense of smell, the arousal that each warrior had felt at the aura's presence had been easily noticeable, as it was now when they remembered how it felt and the feelings it awoke within them.

"Regardless of whether or not you are ready to admit it, that aura affected us deeply. While I will not speak for Helen and Deneve, I know that it affected me even more profoundly because I already knew Raki and felt some measure of attraction and friendship with him. I'm sure it is the same for them."

"It is. Who'd have thought that the stubborn punk that cooked for us can make us wet and willing." Helen said gruffly, blushing faintly as she spoke her admittance aloud for the first time, and Deneve made a sound of agreement, her own face covered with a blush despite her attempt to seem impassive.

"I see. Regardless, Clare has agreed to allow us to pursue relationships with him," she raised her voice to e heard over the murmuring that came with that announcement, forcing the group to look away from the blushing and half-heartedly scowling Clare and back to her. "As long as we accept the fact that she is by far the closest and most important to him. I have already agreed to do so without reservation, and I hope that each of you decide to join me in that."

"As do I." Clare admitted after a moment, and every pair of eyes swung to her in surprise (even Miria, who was surprised about how much calmer she was about it now), and she shrugged. "It's true. I have no issue admitting that I love Raki, not anymore, and I know that each of you are drawn to him as I am. He is the most powerful Alpha Male on the island, and our instincts are calling for us to submit to him." she shrugged again and smiled. "I also have no issue in admitting that it is hard to find an ugly warrior, and if I must share my mate, I can think of far worse people to do so with than my beautiful sisters and friends." Her eyes hardened suddenly as she continued. "However, remember this: I am the Alpha Female. I will accept nothing less, and Raki will listen to me if I should speak out against anything, this little harem plan included."

"And Miria has agreed to be one of this little harem?" Veronica asked, raising an eyebrow at their Captain. "Is that why you took so long to come back after that meeting, Captain?"

Miria blushed faintly, turning her head to the side, and nodded in response, while Clare smirked wickedly. This baffled the rest of the warriors, who had never seen their stoic Captain blush, or Clare to look so, well, pleased with herself. Alas, it was a question that likely would never be answered. (A/N: Unless you go read Dany le fou's one-shot based on chapter six!)

"Well, I certainly have no problems with that. I would be a fool and a liar if I denied attraction to any of you, and from the feeling of his aura I am sure that Raki is the best mate possible in this land." Veronica said with a shrug, and Clare blinked at her, surprised. Not that she was attracted to them or to Raki, no, but that she had spoken up before Helen and Deneve, both of whom knew the young man in question personally. Meeting her eyes, Veronica continued inclined her head, tilting it to the side to bare her throat in a universal sign of submission and trust. "I will accept Clare's authority over me in this matter without reservation."

"You've not even met him yet, Veronica, but you're so quickly agreeing to yield to Clare's authority and hop into bed with him?" her friend Cynthia asked, baffled by her normally aloof friend's attitude.

"If he is a good enough man that Captain Miria is willing to submit to Clare for him, then who am I to doubt his character or suitability?" came the calm reply, and Cynthia opened her mouth before closing it again, looking thoughtful as she considered the former number thirteen's words.

"Do ya think that he'll be available when we get south, Clare?" Helen asked, almost nervously, and flinched slightly at the venomous glare that came her way. "Ah mean, he was pretty damn cute all those years ago, I bet he's a hunk of a man now. With an aura like that, our sisters still with the Organization are gonna be after him like bees to honey."

"They will submit to me regardless of whether Raki has taken them into his bed," came the cold, certain reply in an iron-clad voice. Then Clare smirked slightly. "Besides, I doubt that he will take another into his bed until I return to his side. He is far too loyal for that."

"I agree." Deneve said softly, and her fellow Ghosts all looked at her. Folding her arms across her chest, she gave a halfhearted shrug. "Raki drew steel on Miria, Helen, and myself when we insulted Clare for her rank, back when we first met. If he was willing to cross blades with us for her, he will keep other women at arm's length until he knows for certain where she stands."

"What do you mean, where I stand?" Clare bristled, believing Deneve was challenging her right to be Raki's First, and Deneve held up a placating hand.

"In other words, whether or not you care for him as he does for you." She explained, before continuing in a rather reassuring tone of voice. "I promise you, I have no intention of trying to take your place in the hierarchy. I will be content to be cared for in my own way."

"Well, if Captain Miria thinks that he is worth it, I'll agree to." Tabitha said firmly, though she was blushing rosily as her mind dove into the gutter, which rewarded her with the mental image of herself and Miria doing unspeakably enjoyable acts while Raki watched or participated. Unfortunately, Raki was simply a blank spot in a chair for her particular fantasy, since she had no idea what he looked like beyond an almost decade-old description.

One by one, the other Ghosts agreed to submit to Clare's authority as Alpha Female, though a couple were specific in mentioning that Raki's authority as their Alpha and mate would always comes first, something that Clare frowned at but couldn't really protest against, as it was only natural for them to heed his commands before hers.

"So, now that we've all agreed how much we want Raki in our pants, and that Clare is the boss bitch, now what?" Helen asked, looking around the room. "Head south now? Wait a few months as planned? I, myself, find it interesting that Isley told us to come south in a few months to see how things had changed. He must be involved in whatever is going on down there."

"We already knew that much, but I am beginning to wonder if this "Silver Eyed Angel" is our mate after all." Miria said speculatively, getting a hum of agreement from Clare and looks from the rest. "Well, think about it. His aura was far too massive for him to still be human, and Isley did refer to him as a younger sibling who had taken a naïve path. My assumption is that the Organization turned him into a warrior for one reason or another, and he's decided to wipe them out."

"But then, who will stop the Youma? Without new warriors being made, we will be stretched far too thin to protect the people!" Cynthia protested, and Miria took a deep breath before telling them to wait a moment as she disappeared upstairs to her room. A few minutes later, she returned with a large sheaf of papers, and placed them on the table in the center of the room.

"Besides that fact that Isley and his youma wouldn't keep attacking humans if Raki was in charge, and that Raki apparently has the loyalty of the new Abyssal of the South? The truth of the matter is," she paused, took another deep breath, before plunging on. "The truth is that the Organization creates the Youma."

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"I can't believe it." Anastasia breathed in horrified fascination, as they stealthily flitted through the dark research lab that Raki had lead them to. The outer-most of the Organization's hidden labs for Youma creation and research, it was staffed by Organization humans that lived in the small village a couple of miles away. Hidden in a small ravine, it was left largely unguarded when closed down for the night, and the few Youma that had been guarding it had defected long ago to Raki's side, eager to be out from under their creator's thumb. Now, he lead the large group of women through darkened and slient halls and catwalks over small rooms that had Youma, humans, or stunted versions of what Raki said were "Dragon-kin", the trump card of the nation that opposed that which the Organization was loyal to. The very reason they Claymore were being created and tested.

"Everything we've ever known, ever believed is a lie." Alicia said, voice shaking with rage as her eyes flashed with more emotion than anyone but Beth had seen her possess.

"What purpose do we have now? For what reason should we continue to exist?" Beth added, and Raki cut that potentially fatal line of thought off immediately.

"Not everything is a lie. You still protect the people of this land, but now you know that the real threat to protect them from is the very Organization claiming that it is doing the protecting." He told Alicia, before turning his eyes to Beth. "You continue to exist to prove that the Organization is wrong, that you are not trained beasts to be let off of the leash on command. You are still human, still free creatures with the right to choose your own fates. To find your own purpose."

He looked at the group at large, which seemed truly horrified by what they were seeing. All except for little Miata, who seemed to be as impassive as ever, and he frowned slightly in concern. What had the Organization done to her?

"I hope that all of you will help me right this injustice, to free everyone on this island from the oppression of the Great War, and to keep it safe from those who would impose such injustices upon them again." He pleaded, and they looked at him in unison, before kneeling and baring their throats in submission, and a pleased rumble echoed subconsciously from his chest at the sight of so many beautiful women yielding to him. All except for little Miata, who looked up at him with somewhat wide eyes before grabbing his hand tightly.

"Papa." Was all she said, before smiling brightly at him and hugging his leg, leaving him baffled but rather pleased for some strange reason, and he ruffled her hair slightly with his hand, getting a slightly giggle from her. Looking at the others, he gestured for them to rise.

"Now, what I need you to do is report back to the Organization. Begin sounding out your fellow warriors, I don't want any of them harmed when we destroy the Council and their human underlings." He commanded as they flitted back into the darkness of night.

"As you wish, Master, but what will we tell them happened here in the South?" Alicia said submissively, and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, causing her to duck her head slightly. "If we return without Renee's head, we will need a good excuse for it."

"Ah, of course. Good point, Alicia." He said with a thoughtful frown, trying to find a way around this fairly significant problem, before nodding to himself. "Tell them that Dietrich and I were with Renee when you located her, having sensed her presence and thinking that she was there to assist us. As such, you couldn't attack without violating your orders to keep us in the dark about your mission. That should satisfy them long enough for us to accelerate our plans."

"Yes, Master." Alicia bared her throat again, shortly mimicked by the rest of the Execution Squad, before racing into the night, heading back towards the Organization Headquarters. Raki and his closest companions watched them until they were out of sight and sensing range, before making their own way back to their base.

"They decided to follow you rather quickly, Master, it could be a trap." Octavia proposed softly, sounding concerned, and Dietrich nodded in agreement beside her. Shaking his head, Raki barked out a laugh and replied.

"No, I find that unlikely. I used sound logic to make them doubt, and then I hit them with irrefutable evidence while their resistance was low. Underhanded, but highly effective. No, they won't be betraying us anytime soon." He said, sounding somewhat guilty for the way he had almost brutally destroyed the worldview of the seven young women who had just left. Unfortunatly, he couldn't take his time. They were expected back at the Organization Headquarters quickly, which meant he didn't have time to work on them slowly. He just prayed that he was right in his faith in them.

"Now what do we do, Master?" Nimue piped up from behind them, and he pursed his lips in thought, gait never faltering. "Now, I think I need to think about how to handle Riful after we deal with the Organization. I would rather not kill her, after all."

"You could always just fuck her until she's a drooling, but utterly loyal, puddle on the ground." Kiara commented in amusement, getting chuckles from her fellow Raki-lovers, and Raki shook his head at their antics, even as he grinned at the idea, eyes glinting. Maybe he would do just that, after Clare got back…

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Short and kind of to the point, this chapter is just like it's title: singular in meaning. It's only purpose was for the Single Digits and the Ghosts to find out the truth behind the creation of Youma and the true goals of the Organization. Thanks to Dany le fou firing up my perversion with his fantastic one-shot, next chapter has a high likelyhood of an orgy as the Ghosts show Clare just how much they want to be with her and Raki.