This Story is a Little Experiment of mine and I don't know if I will finish it but I still hope you will enjoy it.

The Need for Strength

More! I need MORE!

She had the upper hand in this fight against the silver eyed beast but it wouldn't last for long. He might have lost an arm but he was beginning to adapt to the situation. Soon enough he would turn the tables and she would be on the defensive end. She could not allow that. She had to end it as quick as she could and to do that she needed more power. She needed to release more Yoki!

GIVE ME MORE!

Her prey- that's what he was to her, not an opponent- was just ahead of her, waiting patiently for her to attack. He would try to counter her and finish her off because he too could not afford to stall the fight. But she would not allow him to get the upper hand. Strong he might be but under no circumstances would she allow their roles to be reversed. She would not be killed by her prey!

With that in mind she bent her horse like legs, ready to pounce on him. Her prey- some part of her brain found this situation humourous, that the hunter had hooves and the hunted had claws- shifted his stance and waited. Then she leapt forward towards him. Everything became a blur when she moved. One moment she was he was in front of her, the next she crashed into a building. She snarled as she turned to face her uninjured prey, the swing of her blade had missed. Damn, if only she could control her speed.

MORE! I NEED MORE!

The sudden spiking in her prey's Yoki alarmed almost enough to forget that she was the hunter. But it was hard to still think of herself as that when the great silver eyed lion beast held an enormous rock above his head, ready to fling it over to where she stood. And she was stuck in the building with the only exit blocked by him. She wouldn't be able escape unless she got more strength.

MORE!

She suddenly felt something. Awareness, her senses were sharper than they have ever been. The adrenaline, it coursed through her veins strongly, making her feel better than she had ever felt. Was this strength? Is this how it felt like to be strong? This feeling, she never wanted it to end.

He hurled the rock. Its motion was surprisingly slow. It was almost stationary as she ran towards it. She ducked as it went over her head and hit closed the gap in the building caused by her collision. The result of it brought dust into the air. It didn't affect her senses though, she could almost see clearly through it, though her vision had reddened. Her prey began to turn his back, believing her disposed. That worked in her favour, it was easier to hunt prey when it was oblivious. However, as she got ready to pounce he turned back to her with a shocked expression. She pounced anyway. In less than a second she was a foot from him swing her sword where he was or rather where he had been because he had managed to avoid her sword by jumping. She snarled as she jumped after him, shocking him a second time. However he managed to kick her before she could take another swing at him. She was sent about thirty metres away, into the ground. She immediately got up and pounced on him just as he landed. Again the gap between them was closed in less than a second. This time her blade met flesh, though it was hard flesh. He had blocked her with his arm. She pulled back for another strike. He blocked again, causing her to stagger this time. He was now snarling at her, raising his arm to strike her. She flashed him her sharp teeth, her intense yellow eyes burning with hatred. With a growl she leapt for him, meeting his clawed hand with her blade. They stood there weapons locked and she was not happy. A stalemate was not wanted she wanted when she was facing her prey. The power in her veins felt good but she needed more.

GIVE ME MORE!

With a scream of rage she pushed him back, making him stagger. She didn't wait to follow up on it, raising her blade force a final attack. As she swung her claymore a red light bathed her increasing strength to unimaginable proportions. YES! This was power, so good, so raw, so pure. The light had cleared to reveal her changed physique. Blades now protruded from her sword arm, metallic like her hoofed legs. Her left arm had disappeared, revealing more of the same blades forming an enormous claw. Not stopping to think about this change she brought down her sword arm, and subsequently all the blades. She bit into his flesh in a dozen places at once. Her eyes were almost glazed over as she did this. The thrill of drawing blood from the prey, of tearing him apart, no form of pleasure could ever compare to it. She kept hacking at him with her multiple blades (was that a smile on his face?), ripping him into hundreds of pieces.

She felt so happy as she turned away from him, so alive. Her comrades' deaths had been avenged. Miria and the others would be glad to hear that.

"Clare! You did it! You defeated that son-of-a-bitch lion!"

She turned to face the approaching prey, a slight growl escaping her lips. Did it really believe a sword would make it a hunter? She would show it the error of its ways. She waited until it was within striking distance before she struck with her sword.

"Clare, that was amazing- What the fuck! What's wrong with you Clare?"

Her attack had only managed to scratch her pre- no, not prey. It was Helen, her comrade. She had tried to kill her own friend! It's not her. Helen doesn't smell like prey. Yes, her prey was playing mind games with her. She had to kill this creature. Stop, she screamed to herself. Don't do it! She's a friend! She willed herself to stop, but her body wouldn't respond. It was moving on its own, to strike down Helen! NO! She would not allow it. Helen was one of the people she had let herself go for. Her strong will kept her body from moving towards her friend (When did she start smelling so edible?).

"Clare what's wrong?"

She looked up and saw that Helen was still approaching, only cautiously this time. The other Warriors had come out of their refuge and were watching her. Some were lifting their claymores as if expecting an attack from her. She turned back to Helen and gave her a pained glare.

"No! Stay away from me. If you come any closer I can't guarantee your safety."

Helen looked dumbstruck. "What are you saying Clare? I don't understand!"

"I'm too far gone. My body won't respond to me anymore. I-I-" she thought about her next words. They were the most difficult she would ever tell anyone. "I need you to kill me while my heart is still human. Please, you're the only one who can do it Helen."

"NO!"

Helen was not the only one who had uttered the word. A Warrior approached Helen slowly while her hand pressed against her open gut. Clare's heart gave a leap as she recognized her. Jean. Thank god she survived. But why did she look upset?

"No! I will not allow you to get killed," the number 9 said. "No one is going to kill you. Whoever raises their blade against you will feel the wrath of mine."

"It's too late Jean," she said with a voice full of agony. "You don't have to protect me anymore. Go live your life the way you want to. I've released too much Yoki. I need to- Stay away!"

But Jean was ignoring her and approaching.

"What I want..." Jean said as she got into her striking range "...is for you to live."

"But-"

"I can bring you back," Jean said as she took another step towards her (No Jean. Stay back, please). "We can synchronize our Yoki, like you did with me."

"NO!"Absolutely not. "Get away Jean. You need your Yoki to heal yourself. If you use it to bring me back you'll die"

Jean had already started the synchronization process. Clare resisted though.

"Dammit Clare," Jean growled. "Do it. You have so many dreams, so much to live for. Do you want to die and live your dreams unfulfilled?"

"What about you?" she asked. "What about your dreams?"

Tears appeared in Jean's eyes. "My only wish is for you to live."

Still, she resisted her friend's attempt to bring her back from the dark side of Yoki manipulation. I want you to live Jean.

"Dammit just do it Clare!"

"NO!"

She swung her claymore at Jean. The hilt of the sword hit her friend's temple, making her drop without a struggle. She turned her gaze on the rest of her comrades, who now had their blades raised to defend against her. So they thought they could take her. She snarled at their arrogance. She would show them what happens when sheep try to kill a wolf. She would- no, she would not kill her friends.

She ducked just as a sword wielded by a long arm was about to make contact with her. Helen's arm retracted while the other Warriors were about to attack. At that moment she knew that she wouldn't let them kill her, but she didn't want to kill them either. That last thought was slowly fading with a new one involving spilling the blood of her prey replacing it. All these sword wielding- no, they were comrades. She had become what she was because it was the only to protect them from the silver eyed lion. She would not let it go waste. But what could she do? She was losing her humanity fast. How could she prevent herself from killing them?

By concentrating on killing someone else! This thought came as a surprise but she took it up fast and continued the train of thought. Yes, there was someone she wanted to kill very bad, someone she would give up everything to kill. She would give her very soul if it meant defeating that person, the most dangerous prey. Just thinking about her was driving her mad with anger. Thinking about her name was driving her crazy.

Priscilla, Priscilla, Priscilla, Priscilla, Priscilla. "PRISCILLA! I WILL KILL YOU!"

She bent her legs and pounced, this time it was towards the horizon, away from Pietta, away from her friends. They were calling her name. One of their voices was closer than the others, chasing after her. Miria. She moved faster to get away.

Miria and Jean didn't matter anymore. Neither did the others. She had found a new prey, one worth hunting.

Jean woke up with a huge migraine. It hurt so much. She opened her eyes and examined her surroundings. The room was bare except for grain sacks stuffed in a corner. She quickly got up and tried to figure how she got there before the memories everything that happened before she blacked out came to her.

Clare!

She dashed for the door and used all her force to open it, staggering into the next room. Unlike the one she came from this one was lit with a candle with the surviving Warriors all gathered there. The moment she stumbled into the room all their eyes turned to her. She ignored them- most of them actually. Her gaze fell on Miria.

"Clare," she said in a hoarse voice. "Where is she?"

The Organization's number six didn't say anything, but the look in her eyes was all she needed to see to have her darkest fears confirmed.

"No," she said as she turned to the gaping hole in the side of the building. She ran towards it, only to fall to the floor while grasping her gut in pain. She had forgotten about the wound. It had reopened when she tried to run. She growled as she got to her feet. This wound was not going to stop her from getting to her friend. "CLARE!"

She was about to run, but someone grabbed her hand. She turned her head and found herself face to face with Deneve.

"Let me go!" She yelled. "I have to save Clare."

"How?" Deneve asked with the serious demeanour she always had. "She ran off hours ago. We couldn't trace her even if we had God-Eye Galatea's sensing ability."

"I will find her somehow."

"In your condition? In case you've forgotten we're surrounded by multiple awakened beings. How will you handle them? You don't even have your sword."

She was shamed by the number 15's statement; the truth of it embarrassed her even more. She had rushed so fast with the thought of finding Clare that she forgot everything else. Unable to think straight, she fell to her knees. I let Clare down. I'd promised to protect her, now- now- I'm so pathetic! If I hadn't been so weak I would have been able to prevent her awakening. Tears threatened to overwhelm her but she kept them back. Calm yourself Warrior. Get your shit together first. Then you can figure out a way to save Clare.

A hand grabbing her shoulder made her look up at Miria. There was a determined look on the highest ranking official's face.

"I am to blame for Clare's fate. If I hadn't been so weak Clare would not have had to take such drastic measures to save us," Miria looked away and muttered softly, "if only I had been stronger."

"There's still hope for Clare," Jean said spoke softly. She began to repeat that statement in her mind, hammer it into her sub consciousness to make herself believe it. "If she were already taken over by her Yoma side she would have cut me down, not knock me out."

"Yes, you're right," Miria said. "But it would be foolish not to assume she's already been taken over by her Yoma side."

"We will find her," Helen said, walking up to the three who stood near the exit. "Clare is our friend. We find her and save her, or release her from her burden. I promise you that."

"But right now we are no match for her," Deneve added. "She'd rip us to shreds if we went after her. I was kind of relieved when she turned tail,"

"You're right," Miria said. "If we want to bring her back we will need to get stronger, way stronger than we've ever imagined. We need to get stronger, for Clare's sake."

They all agreed. Jean was the most determined. She would do anything if it helped her save her friend, and getting stronger was the most logical thing if she was going to accomplish it.

The Phantom continued speaking, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Before we can go to Clare however, we need to find a way to get out of this predicament the organization put us in," she said, turning to the rest of the team. "I have a plan, but I don't think you'll like it but it's our best chance of escaping."

-To be continued-

Most of the events before the time-skip will be the same, except Jean's survival and Clare's Awakening. I don't know what will happen after the time-skip but that's a bridge I'll cross when I get reach it.