My first fic! Please read and review Chapter two will be up soon.

My region was unusually peaceful during that early fall morning and I took full advantage of it.

Miria had come to visit and 'borrowed' -as she put it- Raki for the day, thus I was alone.

And alone was good. My trip through the forest surrounding the current house Raki and I were using for once did not merit the companionship of my claymore- a broadsword that yoma slayers like myself used. Although I did wear my uniform: a long sleeve shirt and pants(both cloth), faulds(1), and sabatons(2), I chose not to wear the vambraces(3), spaulders(4) or the personal mark that I usually wore affixed to my throat.

I chose an oak, it's branches reaching for the heavens, as my post and climbed quickly, faulds clinking as I gained altitude. After a moment, I had reached the top, raining fiery leaves in my wake as I settled. Whenever I'm busy with yomas and such, it's hard to appreciate the beauty of my region, but now I actually had time to watch the way sunlight reflects off of the river that winds around a mountain to the west, how the trees form an impenetrable barrier of green (or rather red at the moment) nor had I noticed that flash of blond ...

Wait a second... blond?

Thinking perhaps it was Miria returning with Raki or just another warrior passing through, I ignored the flash and settled back, sitting in a crook where branch met trunk. My mind began to wander, as it often did these days, to the one person who I care for more than Raki. Maybe even Theresa. Then again, 'cared' would be more accurate for Jean was dead.

And I don't think It's the same kind of care either. Not the sisterly care I feel for Raki or the daughterly affection I felt towards Theresa. Every time I picture her in my mind's eye, I feel heat begin to build between my thighs: a throbbing reminder of the fact that I had never told her how I really felt, not that I was sure myself. Just thinking about her death made tears well up in my eyes.

But I don't let them fall anymore.

I have to be strong... for her.

I must have fallen asleep because, next thing I knew, my body was stiffening as my ears picked up the gentle sound of leaves being crushed underfoot. I was instantly alert- perhaps it was an attack?

Then, my breath caught in my throat.

She was dead-she had to be.

We had all seen her die; Helen, Miria, Deneve and myself. Although... the body had never been found in the aftermath. Deneve had chalked it up a 'got eaten by the enemy' in her usual crass way.

Yet there she was, humming gently as she strode past my perch in the trees. Clad only in a simple leather tunic and cloth pants, she glanced up, winked , then ran off before I could even call her name.

"... Jean!" There was no response and without another thought, I leaped down, landed heavily and wound through trees that shed in coats of gold, red and orange. "Jean!"

My run was purely instinctive as was my sudden need to prove that the blond female I was chasing was actually real and not a phantasm conjured by my want to see her.

I ran all out, following the occasional flash of golden locks that flashed tauntingly every so often, and yet, I couldn't seem to catch up with the female. Not wanting to awaken my legs once again, I pushed a bit harder, using physical prowess rather then yoma power.

Trees gave away to thigh-high grass and I lost sight of Jean.

Damn. Since when was she so fast? Faster than Miria even...

Panting, my mad dash slowed to a jog then a complete stop. I fell into a crouch, grass reaching the top of my hair as memories flooded in unbidden.

Pieta and it's region had been covered in a gray, chilled mass of snow.

We had separated onto five squads, our leaders: Undine, Veronica, Flora, Miria and Jean herself. Then, we went to work.

The first battle with the Awakened Beings of the south consisted of a team of only three of them and, amazingly enough, we had managed to survive it without any deaths. The only serious casualty had been the loss of Uma's arm. But she was a defensive type- nothing to worry about.

I myself had managed to make it out virtually unscathed after my fight with that turtle... thing.

Then, the second wave came. Made of quite a few Awakened Beings, each much stronger than the earlier three; they had rushed the snow covered town.

It was only three minutes into the battle and the death count had reached three Awakened Beings. And five of us.

That was when I had noticed a surge of incredibly strong surge of yoma energy: Rigaldo the Silver-eyed Lion, as Miria later told me.

Veronica had been the first to die, shredded to scraps before anyone could blink. Undine had fallen shortly after. And then... Jean had been injured. The half lion- humanoid figure's arm had gone straight through her stomach just as she had uttered, "Stay back! Protect Flora! This one is targeting the leaders!" She fell without even a gasp of pain.

I swear I saw red.

Yoma energy surging through my veins, I charged Rigaldo, claymore raised and ready to taste more blood. He knocked me aside easily as though I was a mere fly and slit Flora in two with a vertical slice from his claws.

That meant the only leader left... was Phantom Miria. The highest ranking out off all of us.

This was bad. Without our leaders, our precision fighting force became scattered battles in which losing was eminent. At this rate, we would be eradicated.

But none of these thoughts passed through my mind at the given moment. Two words pulsed in my ears with the same tempo of my heart:

Too. Slow.

Had I been faster, I could have saved the others. Had I been faster, I could have saved Jean. But there was hope, right? The sane and, therefore, smaller part of my brain told me that it was too late- that the wounds were fatal. The majority however, argued that, if I was fast enough, I could save her.

Proving that I was bat-shit crazy.

This time, Rigaldo launched himself at Miria and was met by the blades of Helen and Deneve, giving me the opportunity to strike... and miss. He broke free of their defense in an instant and thus, the game of cat and mouse began.

I probably should have stopped. After Deneve got wounded and Miria was forced to use her Phantom to keep up with Rigaldo, I should have recognized my limits and STOPPED. But being who I am, I continued pushing myself and in the instant that Miria was wounded and Rigaldo was about to preform the final blow, my last sane thought was:

'I could have helped Jean and Flora... If I was faster... Why am I so slow?!'

I felt a writhing sensation in my legs as though a million ants were swarming beneath my skin and suddenly, I was fast enough. With a satisfying 'Shluck' my claymore had met and sliced through the Awakened Being's arm. He stood for a moment saying almost to himself, "This can't be. In an instant, you dashed between us and took off my arm. So fast... I completely lost sight of you for a moment." Silver eyes widened ever so slightly, "Only your legs have Awakened? Amazing. I didn't think it possible."

So that's what this new power was. I could feel my self edging towards the abyss, but I was too far gone to call the transformation back. My next rush ended with me colliding with a building, reducing it to ruins. As did the next, and the one after that. I still could not control this god-speed of mine, but my body adapted quickly.

Careening wildly, my mind narrowed to one, single thought: More...more... I need more power!!

And in the instant before killing Rigaldo, my lust for blood had been impossible to ignore. Blade-like tendrils sprung from my arms and I killed him with my own hands.

Remaining on the very edge of the void, I had begged Helen to kill me while I had at least a sliver of humanity of left. That was when Jean had rejoined us. She had strode towards me calmly, unflinching when my blades sliced through flesh. "Our roles were reversed last time," she mused even as I begged her to leave me.

"Live, Clare." had been her last words.

Faulds- metal 'skirt' worn to protect the thighs. Sabaton-metal boots they wear. Vambraces- armlets. Spaulders-Shoulder pieces.