1. Chapter 1 : Introduction (1/2)

disc : i do not own claymore.

that fic differs from the canon after the battle vs agatha in ravona. this is my first fic... sorry for mistakes, english is not my mother language.

chapter 1

that was the end. the monster, enormous sticky pile of flesh, was lying farther. he was pierced by a huge sword, the cloud of dust raised by the fight still floating upon him. in the falling darkness, the moon gradually entered the dark blue sky. in the soil, at the edge of the precipice, alice had fallen down, her face against the ground; her back, hurt by the claws of the awakened being, was nothing more than a gaping wound. the skin was torn to pieces, letting bared flesh and blood. and yet her left hand still firmly held her sword.

albane fell to her knees near the

oken body. in the heat of the fight, she hadn't seen her fall… she took a

ief look around her: another corpse was lying in the dust farther. the separated head excused her from checking if her other friend was still alive. and alice? what about her? she certainly sensed an energy coming from her, but weak, so weak… albane didn't dare to touch her, afraid that a simple contact might

eak into millions of pieces the wounded body…

the pulsation of her energy was irregular, tiny, as if it was

eathless; but certainly it was there. albane sighed of relief, but soon she was again filled with fear: did she have enough strength to use her own yoki power without any risk, enough strength to try and heal a little bit alice's wound? she took a deep

eath in the wind that was coming up from the precipice and tried to concentrate. she laid her hand flat on the gaping wound, so close but however not touching it, and she closed her eyes. weakened by the fight, she needed more time to get to her power, but she finally sensed the fluid spurt out of her vital point, going through her veins, filling them with life, and concentrate into her palm. then, slowly, meticulously, her hand went all along the wound, surrounding it with the gentle cloudy light that her power created in her palm.

she knew that she wouldn't resist a long time; attending to the most urgent things first, she tried to contain the flow of blood which couldn't stop running from alice's body. a moment after, the energy was holding back the red liquid; but albane felt like she was definitely worn out. the exercise had even made her

eathless; it was never happened since a very long time… since the organization was born, she was one of the few people who know how to use her yoki aura as some kind of "essence of life", strong enough to cure the deepest wounds; her power was as strong as it made the cloudy light that appeared just before.

now that alice could certainly have some rest, albane could take her

eath back and, when she became quiet again, she stood up. she passed near the dead monster without looking at him to join her other friend. as usual in that kind of cases, and with friendship too, she wanted the warrior to have a decent grave. it would be a basic one of course, but a decent one.

she stopped in front of the huddled up corpse; after a moment of despair, she softly took her friend in her arms and laid her down farther. for this she chose a clean area of soil, without any spot of monstrous blood. she laid her on her back, her hands crossed over her chest, hiding her unique symbol: a little triangle in the middle of a christian cross. albane came back where she had found the corpse and carefully took the head that was near fallen down. she pushed backwards the long hair – they were blonde, almost white, as each of them warriors'. she untangled them as she could and wiped away the blood and dust that covered the beautiful face. then she put it to its right place, with the corpse, and closed the silver eyes for the last time.

to finish she looked around for the weapon of the young woman: a giant sword, the claymore, marked with the same symbol. it had been thrown up at least twenty meters away from the place where she was fallen down; the loss of her weapon obviously killed her. she came back to the corpse and put the sword in the soil as a gravestone.

"at least" thought albane, meditating at the grave, "she died as a human…"

then she took a deep

eath, went right to the monster which she took her own claymore from and joined alice. she put her sword in the soil and sat, her back against the blade, cross-legged near her friend. she herself had a gaping wound on the lips, and blood slowly flew from her arm and her thigh; she could have drown on her yoki aura to cure herself but she didn't want to use it more that it was needed, and she found her wounds were minimal.