Three linked drabbles (Claymore, Clare/Jean)
Title: Before the Storm
Fandom: Claymore
Pairing: Jean/Clare (because with this prompt, how could I not?)
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: debt
Word count: 150
Summary: A chance to rest, and a confession
"Are you afraid," Jean asks her once, as wind whistles through cracks in the walls of an abandoned cabin, piling snowfall against the windows.
A strange question, Clare thinks. Jean isn't frightened - that's clear enough in the hint of a smile on her lips, and in the easy rhythm of her heart as she lies there, curled against Clare's chest with her eyes closed in the fading aftershocks of pleasure, a quiet beacon of warmth in the darkness. But then, she's faced death already, and war is only war - no loss of self, no hunger. After surviving that, perhaps fear itself seems like nothing.
As for herself, Clare doesn't know; she believed once that there was nothing left of her that she wouldn't throw to the wind, but it's different now, and she says, "I'm afraid of losing this."
You, is what she means. I'm afraid of losing you.
Title: A Gift Returned
Fandom: Claymore
Pairing: Jean/Clare
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: debt
Warnings: character death
Word count: 150
Summary: It's not, in the end, about what is owed.
It's not, in the end, about what is owed.
Jean grits her teeth against the pain and forces herself to stand, blood dripping through her fingers as the world narrows to a pinpoint focus. She's dying, she knows - but not too weak to stumble those last few steps, held up by youki and will, into the range of those blades and the woman held prisoner within. There's the sudden shock of agony as she feels herself pierced, pinned, but no regrets; Clare is still there, fighting for life and reason, humanity, and Jean is still strong enough to reach out, hold her tightly and pull her back.
It's no sacrifice. She would make Clare understand that, if she could - that all life is borrowed, only fragile flesh and blood, and those don't matter much.
What matters is the choice. That's what she was given, and what she's giving back.
Title: Snowdrops
Fandom: Claymore
Pairing: Jean/Clare
Rating: PG
Prompt: debt
Word count: 150
Summary: One way or another, life goes on.
Clare spends all that winter training, and by the time winter ends she's grown used to thinking about nothing outside the moment, the ache of a body pushed to its limit and the mission that now - now especially - she has no right to fail.
It's easy to believe that's all that's left, after Pieta's fall, but no loss is so absolute, and she's returning to camp one day when something in the shadow of a snowdrift catches her eye.
She kneels down to look closer, sees a patch of little white blossoms - resilient things, almost invisible against the melting snow, the first flowers to return after a long winter. Jean would have liked that, she thinks - would have understood.
She gathers them with care, then climbs the long, narrow path to the top of the rise and opens her hands, lets the wind take them.
"Don't think I've forgotten."
May I please have a Claymore fandom tag? Thanks!
Fandom: Claymore
Pairing: Jean/Clare (because with this prompt, how could I not?)
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: debt
Word count: 150
Summary: A chance to rest, and a confession
"Are you afraid," Jean asks her once, as wind whistles through cracks in the walls of an abandoned cabin, piling snowfall against the windows.
A strange question, Clare thinks. Jean isn't frightened - that's clear enough in the hint of a smile on her lips, and in the easy rhythm of her heart as she lies there, curled against Clare's chest with her eyes closed in the fading aftershocks of pleasure, a quiet beacon of warmth in the darkness. But then, she's faced death already, and war is only war - no loss of self, no hunger. After surviving that, perhaps fear itself seems like nothing.
As for herself, Clare doesn't know; she believed once that there was nothing left of her that she wouldn't throw to the wind, but it's different now, and she says, "I'm afraid of losing this."
You, is what she means. I'm afraid of losing you.
Title: A Gift Returned
Fandom: Claymore
Pairing: Jean/Clare
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: debt
Warnings: character death
Word count: 150
Summary: It's not, in the end, about what is owed.
It's not, in the end, about what is owed.
Jean grits her teeth against the pain and forces herself to stand, blood dripping through her fingers as the world narrows to a pinpoint focus. She's dying, she knows - but not too weak to stumble those last few steps, held up by youki and will, into the range of those blades and the woman held prisoner within. There's the sudden shock of agony as she feels herself pierced, pinned, but no regrets; Clare is still there, fighting for life and reason, humanity, and Jean is still strong enough to reach out, hold her tightly and pull her back.
It's no sacrifice. She would make Clare understand that, if she could - that all life is borrowed, only fragile flesh and blood, and those don't matter much.
What matters is the choice. That's what she was given, and what she's giving back.
Title: Snowdrops
Fandom: Claymore
Pairing: Jean/Clare
Rating: PG
Prompt: debt
Word count: 150
Summary: One way or another, life goes on.
Clare spends all that winter training, and by the time winter ends she's grown used to thinking about nothing outside the moment, the ache of a body pushed to its limit and the mission that now - now especially - she has no right to fail.
It's easy to believe that's all that's left, after Pieta's fall, but no loss is so absolute, and she's returning to camp one day when something in the shadow of a snowdrift catches her eye.
She kneels down to look closer, sees a patch of little white blossoms - resilient things, almost invisible against the melting snow, the first flowers to return after a long winter. Jean would have liked that, she thinks - would have understood.
She gathers them with care, then climbs the long, narrow path to the top of the rise and opens her hands, lets the wind take them.
"Don't think I've forgotten."
May I please have a Claymore fandom tag? Thanks!