AN: Yo. Story number 12. Had to try it out. This is my attempt at a Claymore crossover fic. Hope ya like it.

Chapter one

"…no…"

A heart beat…

"Your times are not yet up…"

Another heartbeat…

"Heaven…has no place for you three yet…"

A finger twitches…

"You three have…a new destiny…a greater one."

A slender, feminine hand cups the cheeks of three different young men in a loving, motherly fashion and a tear drops from…somewhere and lands on the forehead of the blonde…

"You still have so much to learn, my children…so much you can accomplish…"

The hand fades away and a soft glow encompasses all three still forms.

"Live again…live and save this tormented new world…bring salvation to the poor people of this world, destroy the taint and the corruption… find love…"

The glow intensifies until it is too bright to distinguish the three men and the sound of the humming of a thousand female voices cries out a message, "Live again, mighty warriors." Then the glow stops, the light fading away to reveal that the men are gone.

They woke up at the same time. Three pairs of eyes snapped open and widened as the sheer shock of the dream they just had hit them full force. Then they noticed each other. They stared at each other in shock for a few seconds, silently assessing one another and taking in the details of each other.

It was obvious right away that they were from different lands. Their clothing styles were all so different; then again, they had been dead for who knows how long. Any of the other two could have been from either a past or future era…or a different world all together. There was really no way to tell really.

Finally, one of the men snorted and stood. Without a word he began to move, taking the massive halberd that was stabbed into the ground and resting it on his shoulder.

The other two men exchanged glances. They knew nothing about each other…but that dream was very much still vivid in their minds. They shrugged and hurried after the third man, each grabbing their respective weapons and strapping them to their backs.

The weather here was cold and dreary. He honestly hated this type of weather. Snow was damned inconvenient and the winds cut right through to the bone. It made fighting so much more difficult.

He didn't even stop to look as the other two caught up to him and took positions on either side but he did take note of the giant swords they each carried. The blonde's weapon though…

It looked like multiple blades combined into one. How interesting.

He suppressed a snort when he saw the brown haired one. He was wearing no shirt, only a strap that held his weapon to his back. He didn't look at all bothered by the cold which was odd. He wondered what type of warrior he was in his past life, where he grew up and such.

He suppressed a grin. He knew nothing of these two and he could guess they were in the same boat, but he was willing to work with them if they proved to be more than just show with those swords. Perhaps they could even give him a decent fight every once in a while. That voice from the dream said they were to save this world. He didn't really know how he felt about that. He wasn't a hero, he wasn't noble and he sure as hell wasn't a person to help others he knew nothing about. He cared for little really save for his comrades, comrades who were all dead now, and he doubted he was just going to change to suit the whims of a voice in his dreams. But at the least, he was willing to travel with these two, and whatever owned the voice was real enough to have resurrected him so he wasn't going to completely disregard it.

He turned to the blonde first and nodded. "I guess I should introduce myself, if we're going to be travelling together we might as well start by knowing each other's names eh?"

The brown haired one chuckled. "Heh."

The blonde eyed the one who had spoken before with a sharp intense gaze before he said, "Cloud Strife," rather emotionlessly.

The brown haired man spoke next chuckling again. "Zabuza Mamochi."

The last one grinned, large and toothy. It was a look that probably didn't belong on the face of a human. "I'm Bonkotsu. Sorry, no fancy sir name for me."

Zabuza chuckled again and the three continued on in silence once again. It's not like they had much to talk about anyway. They could probably talk more about the voice and the dream and what they were resurrected for but that was pretty much pointless. The message was clear really. They had things to kill. It suited them all just fine.

They walked for an hour. The weather seemed to get a bit more intense until Zabuza finally shivered and growled out a quiet, "Gonna need a damn shirt before I freeze to death," causing Bonkotsu to laugh.

Cloud also looked faintly amused but said nothing.

They emerged from the forest and spotted a sign of civilization at last. They would start their journey from there after stocking up on the proper supplies and whatnot. It was a city partially built on hills and cliffs, surrounded by a large defensive wall. They stood there for a second examining the city.

"Heh, doesn't look so different from a shinobi village," muttered Zabuza, causing Bonkotsu to raise an eyebrow. "A ninja village eh?" he said. They eyed the city again before they began to move as one.

"Whatever. I'm freaking starving," Zabuza chuckled again. "Well then let's go." He paused. "How fast can you two run?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow before he said, "Fast enough."

"Ditto," said Bonkotsu. Zabuza shrugged. "Alright then." Then he was gone faster than normal eyes could see, zipping across the land at amazing speed. Cloud tensed and leaped up and forward, seemingly flying while Bonkotsu whistled. "Damn that is impressive." Then he too was gone.

They raced across the land, closing in on the city at and amazing speed. At this rate they'd be there in thirty minutes. Zabuza was very impressed, especially with Bonkotsu. The young man was using no chakra or any other source of energy. His speed was purely his own…natural body. What sort of era did he live in that allowed a humans to grow as strong as this guy was without the aid of chakra?

Cloud was strong too. He didn't run; more like hopped from place to place but his jumps were extremely fast and extremely far. It was like he was meant for flying but just never grew wings. And he could feel the strange energy coursing through the blonde's body, enhancing his natural abilities, perhaps even beyond his own.

His senses exploded to life, causing him to skid to a halt and look to the north at a cliff off in the distance. Bonkotsu skidded to a halt next to him while cloud landed next to Bonkotsu.

"What is it?" asked the blonde.

Zabuza, his eyes still narrowed pointed at the cliff. "Something's there…feels like a demon of some sort." He closed his eyes but Cloud beat him to the next sentence.

"There are…three of them."

Bonkotsu chuckled. "Whaddaya say? Warn the city or kill em ourselves?" he asked, while tightening the grip on his halberd. Zabuza chuckled as well. "Warning people has never been my style," he said

"No wait," began Cloud. "There is something in the city as well. There are numerous presences some are very strong. Others are weak…they are like the three scoping out the city yet they are…different."

"Hmm? Different you say?"

The blonde looked up in thought. "I can't put my finger on it," he said. "But I'm not entirely sure they are enemies."

However any more speculation was cut off when the tainted energy assaulted the senses of all three of them and they looked back towards the cliff to see one of the monsters rush at the city silently and quickly, several tentacles lashing out as he leapt to the city, followed by the other two who had yet to transform.

"Looks like our decision's been made for us," said Cloud.

"Let's roll," said Zabuza with a grin. The three men shot towards the city, anticipation upon their faces.

"Number 14 Cynthia, number 13 Veronica's team,"

"Number 15 Deneve, number 11 Undine's team,"

"Number 17 Eliza, Number 9 Jean's team,"

"Number 18 Lily, number 8 flora's team,"

"Number 20 Cuinee, number 6 Miria's team,"

"Number 22 Helen, Veronica team,"

"Number 24 Zeruda Undine team,"

"Number 27 Amelia, Jean team,"

"Number 30 Wendy, Flora team,"

"Number 31 Tabitha, Miria team,"

"Number 35 Pamela, Veronica team,"

"Number 36 Claudia, Undine team,"

"Number 37 Natalie, Jean team,"

"Number 39 Carla, Flora team,"

"Number 40, Yuma, Miria team,"

"Number 41, Matilda, Veronica team."

"Number 43 Juliana, Undine team,"

"Number 44, Diana, Jean team,"

"Number 47, Clare, Flora team."

"My team has four people, meaning the rest should have five. Is there anyone who does not have a team yet? Good. Spend today to get to know each other. The operation starts tomorrow, rest up as you are no doubt fatigued from such a long journey."

The 24 warrior women all exchanged glances before the spilt up into their formed teams. Things were a bit awkward and a bit tense. This many warriors gathered together was never really a good thing. There are many different personalities that clashed, not to mention not being used to working in groups. There was also the prospect of facing their opponents real soon. Awakened beings, a large group of them, these odds were…impossible, yet they had no choice but to do this.

The day progressed, the woman slowly began to get used to each other and the citizens were blissfully unaware of the danger they were in.

As five people talked and got reacquainted with each other and stories exchanged, the attack began. The awakened being landed right in the town square and with an almost respectful tone said, "Hello, citizen of Pieta…and farewell," as he shredded the civilians in an instant.

The fight was on. The warrior women mobilized instantly with Miria taking command of the troops.

Flora and her team attacked the cloaked one who had yet to transform, this was all for nothing as he proved to be able to control the bodies of his enemies by taking control of their yoki. Carla fell victim to this and was forced to attack her comrades, a look of pure horror on her face as she tried to get them to run.

However the intervention of Clare freed them up and allowed for Flora to nearly flay their foe. However he escaped and laughed as he transformed, stating, "This is why I just can't stop being a monster."

Jean's team was utterly defeated by the bald one as he transformed into a monstrous bug like yoma, taunting the number 9 because she had attempted to protect them.

It was then that Helen arrived…

The three men arrived at the city's wall just in time to watch the monsters get utterly destroyed by these…women. All three of them watched with a sense of wonder as these women, dressed in skin tight bodysuits and armor all wielding identical claymore swords with different symbols engraved upon them utterly annihilated these beasts. Sure some of them were heavily injured but they seemed…fine. It was…astounding.

"Heh, Guess we weren't needed after all," said Bonkotsu, sounding very disappointed. Zabuza too was displeased but his displeasure was utterly blocked out by the fascination he felt while examining these women.

"Those women…are like the monsters they just killed, but only so," Said Cloud. "It's almost like…they had monster flesh implanted…" he trailed off. Such a method, so like, yet so unlike the methods used to create SOLDIERs for Shinra. What the hell is this?

Bonkotsu raised an eyebrow. "You okay there man?" he asked. The blonde waved him off. "I'm fine."

Bonkotsu didn't bother any further and looked back towards the city, watching as the woman took their injured comrades into a broken building to heal and recover. He contemplated before he turned to his two companions.

"Well…sheez. Looks like the battles over…or maybe that was just an appetizer."

"Indeed," said cloud.

"What do you two want to do?"

Zabuza tore his gaze away from the women below and shrugged. "I personally am tempted to just head down there and introduce myself; however there are numerous advantages to the element of surprise. If something shows up that they can't handle we can catch it completely off guard."

"Hmm, true, true. Ok fine. I'll forego meeting them for now as well. Though spying was never my specialty, I can manage."

"Same here," said Cloud. Zabuza shrugged. "Alright then, we'll simply observe for now, but the second it starts looking bad for those women, I'm jumping in."

Bonkotsu laughed. "I'm not even sure I can wait that long but alright."

"Besides, we might be able to learn more about these women if we observe them for now."

"Agreed."

The day progressed once again. The three men stayed in the shadows and kept their presences completely suppressed. They separated as to make it harder to be detected, exploring the city and observing the twenty-four women stationed in said city.

Zabuza watched as two women met out in the woods late at night and tested their unique power attacks against each other. It was a very interesting thing to watch, quick sword…and wind cutter eh? He'd have to look into that.

Bonkotsu watched a confrontation between the one called Undine and the apparent supreme commander of this mission. She expressed her distaste for the weak and the fact that said commander even allowed them to fight. It was a clever ruse but he saw right through her. He himself was similar after all. This woman cared deeply for her comrades and it tore her up to see any of them get hurt.

Cloud himself stumbled upon the conversation between one who had confronted the supreme commander and one of her own subordinates. Apparently Undine was a frail, timid one, hidden underneath a visage of vulgarity and muscle, scared of the fact that she was forced to nearly go past a limit of some sort and distraught. He found her story tragic and he felt for her…for both of them.

The three learned quite a few things while observing. First and foremost was the fact that this…organization purposely sent them here, knowing they had no chance to survive this mission. And they had been sent here due to slight problems with authority or some other such mundane issue. Such a blatant disregard for their subordinates utterly disgusted all three of them. If this…organization didn't change their ways, then they would be among the first to be destroyed.

Cloud was very familiar with groups like that. Dabbling in experiments and using others to accomplish their own means, treating everyone else as fodder or supplies or disposable ingredients. Groups like this had no place in the world and he'd see to it personally to destroy them. He'd be damned if he let them to their own devices so they could end up unleashing some kind of hellish undefeatable monster he really didn't feel like fighting all over again. Sephiroth had been enough thank you very much.

Watching them heal had been quite a thing to witness as well. Entire limbs were regenerated. Wounds that should have been fatal turned out to be a mere inconvenience and other such things pointed them out as beings designed to fight for as long as possible. The prospect of fighting one of these women made both Bonkotsu and Zabuza grin. Perhaps after this whole ordeal they'd get a few spars out of them.

Eventually though, it got late. The three men abandoned their observations for the first time and settled in to get some sleep. Zabuza, tired of being cold, started a fire with a snap of his fingers. He made sure to make it small enough to where they weren't to be detected but large enough to warm up his freezing torso.

"Fuck I'm never coming to this shit hole again," he muttered as he wiped snow from his shoulders and head. Cloud snorted while Bonkotsu laughed. Wordlessly the three men settled in for the night, each one of them placing their massive blades near the flames knowing that metal absorbed heat in spades. They didn't say anything as they drifted off to sleep. They perhaps had questions they wanted to ask each other but they honestly couldn't really find a way to ask. It was too…awkward. Hell they were still getting used to the fact that they had been resurrected in a new land and thrown together with the task of saving said land. The questions could wait for now.

...

They awoke with a start when the wave of malice hit them like a freight train. Their eyes widened and they sprung to their feet.

"Holy shit!" exclaimed Bonkotsu as he grabbed his halberd and cast a look down at the city. There were around thirty of them, massive monsters of all shapes lumbered into the city towards the twenty four warrior women standing at attention.

Zabuza eyed both groups as they neared each other before his eyes narrowed. "Be right back," he muttered before he sunk into the ground without a word.

Cloud and Bonkotsu looked on in confusion until they themselves felt the two presences hidden well within the territory of the women. They observed with more interest.

The two Yoma that were hidden under the ground preparing to kill a couple of the weaker warriors never saw what hit them. Suddenly the ground seemed to shift and crush them in before something cut through them with brutal efficiency. As they died their last thoughts were along the lines of. "S-something else…is here!"

A little ways away, silver eyes napped open in shock when he felt two of the life energies of the beings he sent in get abruptly snuffed out. "What?" he said in shock. That was…far too fast. What the hell was going on down there? He tried to focus on the area, trying to determine what had ended the lives of those two but he couldn't find anything. It didn't even seem like the battle had even started yet…so what…?

Another life was snuffed out, this time by one of the warriors. The battle had begun. Still though, he couldn't shake his unease or his excitement. Perhaps there was a warrior down there who was more than just an annoyance.

As Zabuza rose out of the ground next to Cloud and Bonkotsu, grinning like a shark, the battle began in the city.

"Well, that was my good deed for the day," he said in a joking matter even as he cleaned the purple blood and dirt clods from his blade. "Those cowards woulda killed at least three of those babes before the battle even began."

Bonkotsu eyed the Ninja and said, "I dunno what the hell that was, but damn that was impressive."

Zabuza chuckled. "I'm an assassin. I have numerous ways to kill something without them even knowing I'm there."

They watched as a woman with short slicked back hair with a few bangs tore through a monster with a rotating arm move. It looked like she wound it up like a rubber band. And judging from what they had learned, he wouldn't be surprised. They also saw the two women who had the speed techniques quick sword and wind cutter reduce another monster to bloody chunks of purple flesh. The three men felt their worry begin to lessen as they watched the battle progress, so far none of them had been killed. They were doing pretty good.

However something changed in an instant, another being arrived, with power that surpassed every woman there. The three men snapped their gazes to the city in an instant and found the source of this incredible aura. It was a raven haired man with a rather emotionless look upon his face. He seemed to be contemplating as he rested his hand on the severed head of one of the monsters. He was speaking to himself and eying five particular women with more interest than the others. No…he was completely focused on those five and no one else.

He was going to kill them. They hadn't even noticed him yet.

This was it. This was the instant things were looking bad. It was time to move. The man began to transform, his aura exploding outwards and freezing every woman there in shock, fear and astonishment.

"N-no way! That's…Rigaldo," began Miria, a look of horror on her face. "The silver-eyed Lion King! W-what's he doing here!"

The man finished his transformation, becoming a bipedal dark furred lion with intense beautiful silver eyes. He paused for just a second before he abruptly vanished in a burst of speed unlike no other.

Time slowed down at this instant as he appeared before Veronica, looking right at her.

"One," he said then struck.

The attack…it was so fast. Veronica's eyes widened in horror.

CLANG!

Then widened again in shock as she fell on her ass…unharmed.

She gasped at the sight of a…human man as he held his blade in between Rigaldo's claws. He was tall and imposing. His naked torso was covered in lean, rippling muscle and small scars. His lower face and neck were covered in white wrappings and his forearms were covered by black, white and grey camouflage arm warmers. His pants were a rather plain design of black coloring that had a few pockets. He also had a holster of some kind attached to his left leg and a pouch on his lower back.

He was holding his blade edge out towards Rigaldo and the tip at the ground. He could swing upwards at anytime. The silver eyed lion king's claws had been stopped cold by the blade.

He grinned and looked back down at Veronica.

"Hey babe you got a shirt? I've been freezing my nips off out here and its starting to get to me."

She could only gape…

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AN: Ho was that? Like it? I hope so.