FicWad

The Holy City of Rabona was bustling with activity. Her streets were filled with people who’re doing their day to day activities. However, if one were to really look for it, there was a sense of tense nervousness in the atmosphere, though the citizens of Rabona were doing an admirable job to not show it as they did their everyday occupations. There were even armoured soldiers patrolling the streets but was not uncommon for large cities such as Rabona.

Walking among the populace with hooded cloaks concealing them was Miata and Clarice. Getting the cloaks for them to hide under was a bit tougher than Clarice had been expecting but it had been doable. And with them having taken the yoki suppression pills that changed the colour of their eyes, the two claymores were able to slip on in. However, they had to be quick about it; the pills won’t last long, so they had to find Galatea before its effects wear off.

“Whew…” Miata let out a breath and reached up to pull down her hood, only for Clarice to stop her.

“No, don’t take it off,” she told the child beside her with a soft, yet stern tone. “If we’re caught, then going through all the trouble of hiding our yoki was for nothing.” Miata wordlessly obeyed. The brunette blinked and stared ahead of her as she exhaled. “Man, this is almost like a tree hiding in the forest! Just had to pick the most troublesome place to hide, didn't she.”

Clarice and Miata continued their walk down a street as they took in the sights around them. Well, Clarice did. Miata was more focused on the mission. Further down the street in front of them, in the centre of the Holy City itself, was the Cathedral.

“The Holy City of Rabona, huh?” muttered the brunette with awe in her voice. She and Miata must be the first claymores to be this far into the Holy City in nearly a decade! The brunette inhaled sharply when she spotted a small platoon of armoured soldiers making their rounds. Internally, the brunette was relieved they didn't seem to be looking in their direction. So, she and Miata kept their heads down as they walked past one another.

However, just as the two claymores passed the patrol one of the men looked in their direction, and seeing the hooded cloaks the two wore, he looked at the ground. The soldier saw their sabatons... and the pointy end of their sword sticking out of the hem of their cloaks.

“Hm…” seeing that the man frowned, stopped walking, and turned to face them, “Hey, you!” he called out, “What’s that on your back? Take off those mantles now!”

“Oh no-” Instead of doing what he told them to do, Clarice grabbed hold of Miata’s wrist and took off in a run, “-c’mon!” she urged the little girl, as she dragged her along. Clarice’s hood fell back as they made a run for it.

“Hold it!” the soldier chased after them with the rest of the patrol in pursuit.

Clarice was panting as she and Miata ran away from their pursuers. The brunette took a sharp turn to her right and came to a skidding halt when she saw two plate armoured soldiers spears standing guard in front of another corner several feet in front of them. The woman snapped her head back over her shoulder to see the shadow of their pursuers approaching the corner they took.

They needed a way out, now!

As if the gods themselves were watching down on her….

“Psst… up here!”

Clarice heard someone trying to catch their attention. So she and Miata looked up and saw a blonde, ponytailed man in his middle-to-late 20s, garbed in plate pauldrons and padded leather armour mixed with civilian garbs, holding out his hand to them atop a roof!

“Jump on up. I’m sure it’s no problem for the two of you,” he told them with a small grin.

“Eh...?” Clarice blinked in bewilderment. Was he… helping them? She snapped her head to her left and saw their pursuers had finally turned that corner and were running towards’ them. “Damn! Let’s do it, Miata; follow me!” the brunette said as she looked at her charge; then Clarice started wall jumping until she got to the very top.

The man quickly grabbed hold of her forearm, “Yo…!” he said as a form of greeting before pulling the brunette onto the roof with him. Then he looked back down and offered his hand out to Miata to take hold of, “Now it’s your turn young lady.” he called down to her.

“Mama…”

The soldiers were getting closer to the girl and she didn't seem to notice as she stood in place, looking up at the rooftops. Seeing the little girl wasn’t going to be moving anytime soon without prompting, Clarice quickly leaned over the edge and called out to Miata.

“What are you doing?! Hurry!”

That was all the child-like Miata needed to hear. The girl bent her knees and with a mighty leap, she jumped up and over Clarice and the stranger and landed on her feet on the middle of the roof.

“Sweet.” The man grinned obviously impressed by the feat.

“Mama… mama…” muttered Miata.

Clarice perked up in alarm when she heard the men shouting below.

“They flew!”

“Up there!!”

“Quickly, we have to contact the others, now!”

Clarice let out an audible gulp. Well, that didn't sound good. She almost wished she was back in Alphonse. Almost. The woman let her thoughts drift off to the Youma Hunter and wondered how he was. She hoped he was alright…

The brunette was pulled out of her thoughts when the man they entrusted themselves too, took off running, “C’mon! We can’t hang around here, follow me!” he urged from over his shoulder.

Clarice got up, took Miata’s hand and followed after him. It wasn’t like they had much of a choice here… still, the brunette couldn’t help but think this was a trap. But, she hoped she was wrong.

//

Clarice and Miata were led through several back alleys for almost an hour. The blond man leading them knew the streets of Rabona like it was the back of his hand, and soon enough they lost the pursuing patrolmen. After that, the man had deemed it safe enough to bring them to a seemingly rundown building, and he proceeded to open the door to show the interior of the building was actually well kept.

“C’mon in,” the man told them invitingly, “they won’t find you lovely ladies in here.”

They didn't make it two steps into the building before someone else spoke up. “What happened?” a deep baritone voice of a well-built man said when he saw the younger man bringing in Miata and Clarice into the building. The man in question had short brown hair and looked like he had seen some shit, as he had a nasty looking scar on his cheek and he wore the same armour as Rabona’s guards. The brunette stiffened in shock as his eyes looked them over, before they focused on the blond, “You’re supposed to be making your rounds, Cid.”

The man, Sid, just smiled and replied, “Well ya see, I found some interesting new friends. Two Claymores, Galk.”

Thinking the worst Clarice immediately pulled her sword out of its slot and held it protectively, “I knew it! A trap! You won’t capture us here!” the brunette exclaimed, her lips thinning in determination and a hint of fear. “I understand the Holy City doesn’t welcome us, but we have a mission to finish at all costs!”

Sid and Galk looked at them bemused for a moment, before the latter calmly said, “Calm down. Ever since that day seven years ago, this city has been changing, little by little. Now we’re happy to have you.”

When Galk spoke Sid had gone to take a seat behind a table and had enjoyed seeing the sheer dumbfounded look on Clarice’s face.

The woman in question blinked owlishly while Miata merely cocked her head to the side with childish wonder.

“Huh?”

They must’ve seen how utterly confused Clarice was because Sid drew her attention to him when he started to explain the change, “A long time ago, one of you guys saved my hide. I guess you could say she saved the whole city too. Ever since then, Priest Vincent's hard work helped tame this city’s unreasonable boycott. But, we’re still not allowed to cooperate in public. Those soldiers back there were simply doing their jobs. Your clothes had clearly shown you were trying to hide your identity so I thought I’d lend you a hand.”

Clarice looked down at the ground thoughtfully at that. That was… relieving to hear. Very relieving. She let out a breath she had unknowingly been holding until that very moment; and just then, it was like a heavy weight had been lifted.

Miata just stood there. Doing nothing but hold onto Mama’s hand like the good girl she was.

Galk had taken that time to stand beside Sid.

“So tell us,” the sitting male spoke up, drawing Clarice’s attention to him. “Have you come here on a request to slay a youma?” he asked with a genuine look of curiosity on his face.

Clarice furrowed her brow in slight confusion, “Eh? N-no, this is a little different. I’m not really allowed to say… we’re just going to handle a personal problem within our organization. Speaking of which… do you know of any youma in town?”

The two men exchanged looks for a moment before they turned their eyes back to the claymores.

“Although we have no proof, people have been disappearing periodically within the past few months.” Galk said, with the corners of his lips pulling down into a deep frown, “Suspecting it was the work of a youma, we’ve upped the number of scouts. And now the two of you came along.”

Clarice looked at the two thoughtfully. “I see… so that’s what happened.” There was a long pause as she took a moment to think about the situation.

“Pretty much,” Cid replied.

Nodding to herself, Clarice decided to take advantage of this opportunity. “Although we’re not here to hunt down a youma, we’d be glad to assist you,” she said. “In exchange, though, we would like some information. You don’t even need to worry about paying for the kill if you agree to help us.”

That sounded rather nice, actually…

“What information is it you’re looking for?” Sid asked.

Okay, so far so good. Clarice decided to tell them a partial truth since if she told them the real reason why they’re here in the Holy City they won’t help or will purposely give false information. “To be frank, we’re looking for a fellow soldier, but there are too many people in the city. If you know of any woman who moved here by herself in the past couple of years, please tell us.”

“That’s a long time.” Sid replied with a slight frown, “There are far too many women who fit into that description. That’s extremely hard to investigate.” There were hundreds of women who entered the Holy City alone in the past two years and going further back and you would have close to a thousand. With a possible youma preying on the citizens and the patrols on the streets, they were spread too thin to be of any help until this problem they have is sorted out.

Clarice thought about it for a moment and had an epiphany. “Out of all of them, we’re looking for someone blind.”

Sid looked surprised at that. “...Blind?”

“At the moment, the two of us have taken a special medicine to change the colour of our eyes. But our eye colour is actually silver.” Clarice gestured to her eyes, the irises were brown and Miata’s were green. “It’s because we’re always suppressing our yoki. Even if we could completely suppress it, our eyes still wouldn’t change. I can’t imagine she had several years worth of this medicine to keep her eye colour normal. I think it’s far more likely she is acting blind by keeping her eyes closed all the time.”

“You don’t say…” Sid lowered his hand to the table and let out a bemused chuckle, “to think we’ve been letting a silver-eyed witch slip past us by playing blind. We’ve been far too laid back.”

Clarice visibly perked up at that. “Eh? Then...you mean…?” Did they finally have a lead to finding Galatea in this large city?

Sid rubbed the side of his nose with his thumb, “There is one. A blind woman who appeared a couple of years back.”

//

Sometime later, at the Cathedral in the middle of Rabona, several smiling children were seen leaving the place of worship, waving goodbye to the nun that escorted them out of the building with a fond smile. The woman had her headpiece tipped down so it was covering her eyes in shadow.

“Thanks, sister!”

“See ya tomorrow!”

The children in question called out as they waved their goodbyes.

“Not so fast, now! Be careful on your way home.” the nun called out to them, talking to them as if they were her children.

“Sorry!”

The woman stood in front of the doorway and watched them leave with a sense of accomplishment… and foreboding. They were here for her. She can sense them in the city, along with a third, more powerful yoki aura. If this doesn’t work out then this may be the final time she gets to be with the children.

The nun looked to her left when she heard footsteps. Stepping out of the Cathedral beside her was a priest, with short dark hair and a goatee. He had a smile on his face as he stepped beside her with his hands clasped behind his back.

“I say, they’re like this every day. Even the most zealous believers don’t come this often.” the priest said. “Still, ever since you arrived, they’ve all opened up/ All these orphaned children must think of you as their mother.”

“No, I should thank you. I’m forever in your debt for taking me in, despite being a complete stranger.” The priest’s smile grew a little wider at that and opened his mouth to reply, only for the nun to interrupt him, “However, I’m afraid today will be my last day here. I thank you for treating me so well, from the bottom of my heart. Although it was only a couple of years, being able to live as a normal human means more to me than anything.” there was resignation in her voice, and she wished she could live as a normal human forever; but, she didn't seem depressed.

“Sister Latea...?” the priest slowly raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes until they were wide open with confusion. “What are you saying?” His attention was taken away from the nun beside him when he heard the sound of plate armour approaching them with a purpose in their step, and was surprised to see Clarice and Miata standing in front of them with the former having her claymore drawn.

“Galatea, the former Number 3. We’ve got orders to take your head.” Clarice stated, loud enough for the nun to hear.

The priest’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Wha--? Claymores!?”

“Please get away from me Father,” the nun, Galatea, kindly warned the man, who snapped his head in her direction with even greater surprise. “They have finally come to get me.”

The priest could only mutter a stunned, “Eh?” before Miata dashed forth with her hand on the handle of her claymore. Galatea quickly hopped to her right just as the little girl pulled out her claymore and diagonally slashed at her.

The woman landed in a kneel, and Clarice was beside her, with her sword poised to take off her head.

“HIYA!!!”

Only for the woman to lean and duck under the swipe that was meant to take off her head. Brick shattered behind the woman as Clarice found her sword lodged several inches in hard stone.

“Eh… what…?” Clarice felt her eye twitch with irritation. That was the second time this happened! The brunette looked behind her to see Galatea tearing the side of her nun-attire from the hem all the way to her thigh, to give herself better mobility.

Miata dashed forward once more, the tip of her claymore aiming to impale the woman through the chest. Galatea, in a grand display that showed a lot of leg strength, backflipped up and over the sword and landed on the windowsill above. The woman narrowly missed the sword running her though, and the claymore sword instead shattered a small portion of the brick wall. Miata pulled her claymore out with a sharp tug and leapt after the woman. Galatea leapt back, shattering the stained glass behind her as Miata hacked and slashed at her, shattering the windowsill and destroying the wall around it.

Galatea leaned back, just barely missing a quick swipe that could have chopped her in twain at the waist.

“You are strong, aren’t you?” she complimented, smiling at the girl attacking her. Galatea’s stepped on the back of a bed, her bed, and with no effort at all, flipped it up to block Miata’s next swipe of her sword.

The edge of Miata’s sword cut through the wooden underbelly like a hot knife through butter… only for a metal CLANG! to ring out. Miata looked surprised when she saw a claymore sword stopping hers from taking Galatea’s head.

“If I get this sword into you, you’ll be able to sleep soundly on the softest bed, remember that.” The woman chided the child, much like a mother would to their disobedient offspring. Miata’s eye grew wide a slight tad when Galatea released enough yoki for her veins to become visible.

The next thing the mentally unstable child knew, she found herself being thrown clear across the room and out of whatever remained of the window. She righted herself midair and skid along the ground on her hands and knees like a cat.

Galatea hopped out of the hole in the wall and landed on her feet. The priest behind her gasped in shock when he saw ‘Sister Latea’ holding a claymore sword, the same one as Clarice and Miata are holding.

“Sister Latea! Y-you’re…!!”

“Please accept my sincerest apologies for deceiving you, Father,” Galatea told the man without taking her gaze away from Clarice and Miata. “If I may make one last request, I’d like the children to remember me as just a regular Sister.”

The shocked priest was quiet, but if Sister Latea were to fall to their blades, then he will honour her request to the best of his ability. The former Number 3 hummed and the corners of her lips quirked upwards into a slight smile. She...somehow knew that the Father would comply with her final request if she was to die to them here.

Then she focused her attention on Clarice, who was baring her teeth nervously with her claymore sword held up in front of her. “Hmm… compared to others I’ve met, your yoki is minuscule. Are you really a warrior?”

“You’re lying! There’s no way you can sense my yoki! You’re just saying that because of the colour of my hair!” the brunette yelled back.

The woman frowned and quirked her head to the side. “Hm? Your hair colour changed? Then that means...” that can’t be right, the Organization wouldn’t send out a defective warrior on a mission like this, not unless they were… oh. And just that Galatea understood and couldn’t help but feel disappointed. “Oh, now I get it. For them to send the two of you after me, the Organization must be seriously short-handed right now.”

She was honestly expecting some very strong warriors, a few single digits in fact, but considering the threat that’s hiding here in the city, she’ll take what she can get.

Her disappointment must’ve shown in her voice because the one with the very weak yoki aura snapped at her, “Don’t take us lightly! Miata’s far stronger th-”

“Stronger than me?” Galatea interrupted with a chuckle, “Well, at least her yoki surpasses mine. I’ll give you that.” then with a smile, the woman reached up with her other hand and pulled off the headdress and what Clarice saw shocked her to the core. “But ever since I lost my eyes, I’ve been able to read yoki like never before!”

Clarice saw a jagged scar across Galatea’s eyes… which were no longer silver but that of a blind woman. Galatea was… literally blind?! Her mouth dropped open in surprise at the revelation. “What?!”

Miata glared at Galatea and with a growl, the girl dashed forward with her sword poised to slash. Galatea’s blade met hers in a series of clashes, and the woman was forced to dodge and weave through Miata’s slash and hacks with her now vastly superior wide range yoki sensing. The woman effortlessly deflected Miata’s attacks and had a slight smile on her lips as she did so.

Clarice just could not wrap her head around it!

“W-why?! She’s really blind but Miata can’t land a hit!” The brunette paused as Galatea’s words finally registered to her. “Wait a second… to be able to read our yoki means… she must have known we were coming!?”

Miata bared her teeth and growled in frustration at not being able to land a hit on this bad lady. Why can’t she hit her?!

“Miata!!” she heard Mama call out, “Release your yoki!!”

Galatea narrowed her eyes and scowled with worry when Miata released her yoki… and then there was a loud scream. One that had Galatea very worried. Clarice gasped and reflexively looked in the direction she heard the scream coming from, and Miata just kept on going after Galatea as she was ignoring everything else except the target in front of her.

“Shit! I was almost close enough!” Galatea cursed aloud.

//

Meanwhile, in another part of Rabona, everyone in the vicinity of the scream had stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction the sound came from.

“Hey… you hear that? Someone’s screaming!”

With Sid and Galk, they immediately got to their feet the moment they heard the scream.

“Galk!” Sid shouted in alarm.

“Yeah,” the man had a knowing tone in his voice, “it’s just like seven years ago. That’s a youma’s voice.”

“No…” Galk looked to his partner with a concerned frown, Sid looked scared, “it feels like something far worse than that.”

Things were about to get bad. Very, very bad.