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The call for Leon didn’t go through. Not that Claire expected anything else. He was on a mission and when he was on a mission, he rarely picked up the phone. Claire giggled at the thought, Leon telling a monster to pause mid battle so he could check up on what his wife wanted.
No, he was serious, and though he loved her, he still would never pick up his phone.
Instead, Claire dialed Sherry. The girl had been promoted to working with Leon on this mission. It’s unclear if it was because Leon and Sherry worked well together or the two were dealing with a similar situation.
As the phone rang, Claire glanced down at her hand. It was etching around her fingers, dragging down her knuckles and barely reaching her wrist.
Leon was the first to show signs. Claire spotted a weird black spot on his hand a while ago and though her husband found it strange, he didn’t think twice about it, simply stating he must have hit something or smudged something. A week later, Claire got a similar marking. Leon’s expression showed that he didn’t believe it was just a mere coincidence.
Then Chris mentioned something about it on his skin, Rebecca too. Already, it started to look really desperate, something they couldn’t exactly explain. Then, a day later, Sherry came up to them and showed them the same thing.
Then the first body dropped and Leon had been busy ever since.
It was just a normal death, as normal as a mysterious body could be, but it got worse. A second body dropped and the FBI got involved. Rebecca caught wind of it and did some research, realizing that the black marks the body had looked similar to the black marks showing up on their skin. Then the third body dropped and Sherry learned that all these people were survivors of Raccoon City.
Everybody started panicking after that. Well, to the world, they seemed perfectly content on the outside, but they all were worrying on the inside. Chris checked on Jill, but the woman was surprisingly clean. The rest of them started wearing gloves as they went about their daily lives. Leon had been assigned to investigate the deaths, Sherry tagging along as his navigator over the comms.
Claire hadn’t heard much from him since then, but Terrasave had her plenty busy on her own.
Like now, she was assigned to Wrenwood. The city had an outbreak of zombies that just suddenly appeared. Eye witnesses reported the people acting normal before they started choking and suddenly blood appeared and they were leaping onto victims.
As well, eye witnesses reported a man rushing through the crowds in the opposite direction of the stampede, not hesitating to shoot any zombie that got near him.
Claire didn’t even need a description to know who that man was. So, after the mess had been mostly cleaned up and Claire had done all she could, she dialed her husband’s number just in case he had a moment. Of course, he didn’t, so she went to the next person who would have an idea.
Leon was investigating mysterious deaths and all of the sudden there were zombies? What did he get himself into?
As expected, Sherry answered the phone. That meant Leon wasn’t in immediate peril, which calmed Claire down a bit. Though her husband could handle himself, it didn’t mean she couldn’t worry for his well being every time he was called out to a mission. Especially when that mission took a turn and now zombies were involved.
“Hey Claire,” Sherry answered. Her voice seemed steady to anyone else, but Claire had been beside this girl since she was twelve. There was hesitancy in that greeting, like she was scared to answer the phone.
“Sherry, what’s going on?”
“Y’know what’s going on,” the girl replied. She was dodging the question.
“Maybe.” Claire situated the gloves on her hand to make sure they were in place before she got onto her motorcycle. Leon had taken the Porsche out around the city to investigate the deaths. “It depends.”
“On what?”
“If you can tell me why there’s a party going on at Wrenwood. I’ve heard reports of a strange man running through crowds to shoot zombies.”
Sherry sighed, much like a little girl getting caught trying to take treats from the pantry.
Now that the truth was out, Claire had full access to the story. “Mind telling me what’s going on?”
Sherry sighed again, but the girl didn’t hesitate to hold anything back anymore. “While Leon was investigating one of the deaths, I got a report of a missing police officer near another. Leon went to check it out and while doing so, ran into a person of interest: Victor Gideon.”
The name didn’t immediately pop any flags in Claire’s head. The woman started her bike and sped off, keeping her attention to the road and the phone call. “Who’s he?”
“A former T-Virus researcher for Umbrella.”
Claire cursed. Of course it was all connected to Umbrella and the T-Virus somehow. When was it not? Despite that company falling apart over twenty years ago, they still seemed to be a pain in the present. It was like the company itself was injected with the T-Virus, unwilling to lay down and die.
“Yeah,” Sherry scoffed. “Victor had kidnapped a FBI agent who was investigating one of the bodies: Grace Ashcroft.”
That was something Claire recognized. “Ashcroft? As in Alyssa Ashcroft?”
Though Claire didn’t live in Raccoon City during its prime, she had hung out enough with Chris and his friends to see the newspapers floating around. There was a journalist who worked at the Raccoon Press named Alyssa Ashcroft. She was an incredible journalist, and an incredible survivor. She had made it out of Raccoon City when it all fell apart.
Claire also knew she died back in 2018.
“I think so? Apparently she had a daughter.”
“What’s her significance in all of this?”
“We’re not sure.” It seemed Sherry was perfectly fine with giving all this information to Claire. While the government was sometimes stingy about the confidentiality of the missions, Leon and Sherry practically didn’t care. They were family and Leon and Claire’s marital status helped protect them from any repercussions. “Leon found info connecting her to Elpis.”
Another thing Claire didn’t recognize. The woman shook her head. “Okay, you need to explain that.”
“Right, sorry. Victor had purchased a building after Umbrella went under, the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center.”
Claire scoffed. “I can only imagine the kind of care he was doing there.”
At that, Sherry chuckled. “Indeed. Leon had a fun time dealing with Victor and running around, but he managed to find his computer and give me the IP address. I found… I found some information on our illness.”
Claire nearly slammed the breaks in the middle of the road. Her heart stuttered and her breath left her. She glanced over her shoulder, as if expecting something to be there. She could’ve sworn her hand itched right where the black disease was spreading.
“What is it?” She had a feeling she didn’t want to know.
“It’s the T-Virus.”
Claire bit her lip before another curse could escape her mouth. She did slam her hand into the handle of her bike before quickly gripping it and continuing to drive down the roads like a normal person. She wasn’t planning on making such a detour, but she was already heading in the direction to Rhodes Hill.
This just got serious and Claire wasn’t sitting on the sidelines for it anymore. The freaking T-Virus was back? How in the world was it back and what the heck was going on with Elpis and Victor?
Sherry heard Claire’s frustration and the girl gave her a moment to collect her thoughts before she continued. “Basically, our bodies could hold it back, but then the virus mutated and now is rearing its ugly head.”
After 28 years. It couldn’t just leave them alone. All of them had survived that hell just to get attacked by it again. Some late comeback.
That explained why Jill wasn’t infected like the rest of them. Though she was in Raccoon City and though she was infected with the T-Virus, she was the only person to actually get a cure for it. Some doctor who had been working with Umbrella managed to make a cure. Jill had learned about it and was racing against some traitor in order to get it to the government so they wouldn’t bomb the city.
Obviously she wasn’t able to get it in time. The only essence of the cure now existed in Jill, but it was useless. Raccoon City was gone.
“Okay, what does that have to do with Grace and whatever this Elpis is?”
“On Victor’s computer, Leon found some classified documents. We can’t read them all, but they mentioned that something happened at Raccoon City for the sake of Elpis and then files about Grace showed up. She’s connected to Elpis, somehow, though we don’t know what it is.”
That was a lot to take in. A mysterious thing called Elpis which Claire assumed could only mean good things. Grace, a normal FBI agent being taken. Did her connection with Alyssa have anything to do with this or was that unrelated? There were a lot of variables Claire didn’t like.
First things first. “Something happening in Raccoon. Do you mean the outbreak, or the bombing?”
“That’s the thing, I did some digging and I couldn’t find records of anyone ordering the missile strike.”
Claire nearly paused again. “Then who did?”
Sherry chuckled. “Leon asked the same thing.”
“Well, it’s a viable question.”
“We’re not sure. There wasn’t much more information I could glean. After that, Leon had to leave. He ended up finding Grace in quite a situation and had to save her.”
“As that man normally does.”
Sherry laughed at that. “He does have a hero complex, doesn’t he?”
“A very handsome hero complex.”
“Oh please,” Sherry feigned gagging. “Do that with him on your own time.”
Claire smirked at the thought. Sherry was 40 years old and yet still acted like a little child whenever Leon and Claire openly flirted with one another. The first time they did it, she looked back and forth between the two of them before asking, with complete seriousness, if they had lied about being boyfriend and girlfriend. Leon blushed at the sentence, but it had Claire bursting in laughter.
“I totally plan to,” she stated, earning a huff from Sherry, “but I need to get to him first. Where is he?”
“Well…” Sherry cut off. “That’s the thing. Victor took Grace and Leon’s chasing after her.”
Claire’s hands tightened on her bike. “Sherry, where’s Leon?”
“Raccoon City.”
Claire’s head hung low. That was… out of all the places in the world. Sure, Rhodes Hill was close to the city, but Claire hoped it’d never come to this. Raccoon City was the place it all started for them both, the introduction into this nightmare that they couldn’t wake up from. Leon had lived with regret and guilt from that place for the rest of his life. Claire would see it when she woke up in the middle of the night and Leon was still up, just staring at nothing as his thoughts ran rampant. She saw it every time he checked his guns and made sure they were in pristine order, going to Kendo’s shop to order another custom design. She saw it in the way he would survey the house, making sure the doors were locked and the windows were sealed. He would come back from mission after mission and the dread weighed on his body like a crashing meteor. She would wrap her arms around him, pull him down for a kiss, and whisper comforts into his ear. She had to remind him where he was, that he was safe, that he had something to come home to. He didn’t fail, he was okay, they were safe.
Of course he would throw his own care out of the way, physically with the virus, and mentally with that stupid grave that Raccoon now was. He would chase after Grace, ignoring his own wellbeing so he could save her. He never felt like he did enough, he never felt like he saved enough people. The weight of those who died still dragged him down.
“Sherry-”
“I know,” the girl answered. Her voice was unsteady, but the agent took a deep breath to calm herself. “It’s hard for me and I was only 12.”
That didn’t mean she didn’t have nightmares about it either. The three of them were together when it all came apart. They escaped together, spent time in a crappy motel as they tried to figure out what to do next. They were close. That’s why, when Leon got Claire a ring when he proposed to her, he got Sherry a matching silver band. They were connected, a family of survivors from Raccoon City.
“How is he?”
“I… He’s going to Ark. We don’t know what it is, but it’s under the Orphanage and where they’re taking Grace. He was just leaving RPD last time I spoke to him.”
Claire shook her head. As if Raccoon City wasn’t bad enough, now her husband was trapezing through the RPD. She was going to make sure he forgot all about that trauma when she finally got to him.
After she scolded him for being so stupid first.
“I’m on my way.”
“Wait, Claire-”
“You know you’re not talking me out of this, Sherry.”
The girl sighed in displeasure. “We’re a family of sacrificing idiots.”
She wasn’t wrong there. Literally every single one of them didn’t know when to quit. While it was inspiring, it also pissed all of them off, but they couldn’t really call anyone out on it for they were all the same way. Leon called it the Redfield stubbornness, as both she and Chris would just keep poking a sleeping bear, but Leon showed enough stubbornness all on his own without being related to her by blood. And seriously, the jokes he popped whenever he was on missions were ridiculous. He called her stubborn, but Leon was another class of his own.
And Sherry had picked up on both of their personalities. She was basically a mix of the two and that was a disaster.
“I can send you the coordinates for the Orphanage, the same ones I sent Leon. Do me a favor and don’t die. Make sure Leon doesn’t die either.”
“That is if he survives me first.”
“Claire…”
---
The drive was long, but as soon as Claire got out of the city, she ignored all laws of the road and was pushing her bike past 100 miles per hour. The police couldn’t give her a ticket if they couldn’t catch her in the first place. Besides, any ticket she got could be disproved by Leon in some way. Having a husband that worked for the government worked wonders in certain situations.
Although, she hated how they would send him out on, basically, suicide missions. He had dealt with way too much for a normal human to deal with.
At first, she found him stupid that he would do such a thing. Why would he sign his life away like that? Sure, working to stop bioterrorism wasn’t a bad idea. She, Chris, Jill, Rebecca, and even Sherry signed up to save the world, but his situation just seemed awful. The government was pulling him back and forth and it was like Leon didn’t even have a say. He would come home from training and his entire body would be bruised. They didn’t delve too deep into their relationship back then, but she still was concerned.
Then years passed by and they got closer. One night, Claire had to go pick him up from the local bar. He was drunk out of his mind and honestly, Claire was so pissed she didn’t even bother being gentle as she forced him into her car and drove him home. She stayed at his apartment that night, mostly because, though she was pissed at him, she still cared about his wellbeing. She threw him in the shower, tossed clothes at his face, and angrily made him dinner. When he came out of the shower, he ignored the food she had put out for him and simply went to the fridge where he picked up another bottle of alcohol, like he hadn’t just spent the entire night wasting away at a bar.
Claire may have lost her temper a bit at that moment. She slapped the bottle out of his hand, causing it to spill on the counter. Leon yelled at her for doing such a thing and she yelled back. They probably woke up the entire building with their argument that night.
Claire called him stupid, stating that he was ruining his life by drowning it in alcohol. Leon yelled back that Claire had no right to judge him for what he chose to do with his life. He got up, did his job, got to drink himself half to death, that was his life.
They kept arguing, until Leon, still a bit drunk, said one thing that tilted Claire’s world: “It’s not like I can choose anything else! I don’t get a choice in my life anymore! The only thing I can control is how much I drink, so stop getting on my case about that!”
In an instant, all her fury was gone and she was staring at Leon with confusion. “What do you mean you don’t get a choice?”
He was obviously confused, clearly not remembering what he just said. He shook his head and waved her off. “Nothing.”
“Leon.”
“I said it was nothing!”
She could raise her voice as well. As she yelled out, “Leon!”, the agent froze and refused to make eye contact with her. In that moment, all the tension had broken like shattered glass and she saw Leon shudder before a tear fell down his cheek.
“I didn’t choose to join the government. I didn’t choose my missions. I didn’t choose this life.
“They came for us after you left. Somehow, they knew. They found out Sherry had the G-Virus in her, figured she could be important to them. I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t fight back, I just… I only had my life to give.”
“Leon.”
“I had no choice.”
That night, he cried in her arms as they laid together in bed. That night, the door that had blocked everything between the two of them before laid blown to smithereens. That night, Claire held Leon’s chin in her hand and pulled him into a kiss.
That night set forth the motion that came to this day, Leon and Claire, happily married. There were some hiccups in their relationship and moments where both Leon and Claire were idiots, but they were strong, they always came back to one another, they understood.
They had become so conjoined with one another, their lives practically revolved around the other. Though they got busy with work, they got mementos to hold each other close despite their distance. Claire laughed when Leon came home one day and showed off his very new, very expensive watch. He got it customized and now a feathered wing laid on the accessory.
“Just like your jacket.”
“You really like that jacket, huh?”
“Claire, you’re the one who wears it practically every day.”
She couldn’t argue with him.
The next time it happened, she rolled her eyes, but even she was honored that he was so in love with her that he embroidered his gun with a reminder of her.
Requiem, an aptly named Magnum gun Leon got as a reminder for why he did what he did. Not just because he was “asked” to, but because he could fight to protect people. He had to keep going on, despite the people he lost. If he could do anything today, he could fight the weapons that took peoples’ lives away from them. The gun was beautiful and excellently crafted. Only the best for the best. It was powerful, sleek, magnificent, and on the handle, were twin wings sketched into the metal.
Every mission he went on, he kept Requiem close to his heart.
She hoped it was keeping him safe now, that somehow she was there to protect him as he went on this dangerous mission. Who knew the kind of things he would experience.
Claire had made it to Raccoon City and, in the distance, she noticed a very familiar car. Leon’s Porsche was here, his second child after Sherry and second love after Claire, as he kept having to remind her every time Claire got jealous (jokingly, of course).
Claire stopped her bike for the moment, reaching up to connect a call to Sherry. Right as she was about to hit the button, her phone started ringing. Sherry was calling her, but Claire didn’t find it convenient. If Sherry was calling her, that meant something was wrong and Claire had every right to worry.
She answered the call, bringing her phone up to her ear. “What’s going on?”
“I lost contact with Leon.”
Claire flicked back the kickstand on her motorcycle and revved the engine and zipped past Leon’s car. He must have stopped here because the roads were out and his car wasn’t making any of these jumps. Luckily, Claire had her bike and didn’t need to worry about such things. She found a pathway through some buildings that had broken walls perfectly placed for her and made her way to a gate that looked like Leon had been nearby. It was blown to dust.
“Where was he last?”
“There’s a hole near Raccoon City’s center, underneath the Orphanage. It leads to Ark, some kind of base.”
“Umbrella?”
Sherry was quiet before she responded, “Yeah.”
“I’m on my way.”
She pushed her bike harder and prayed that there would be no disaster she had to deal with as she made her way past the highway. There were a lot of holes that proved no problem for Claire and her skills. As she rushed by all the parked and abandoned cars, she noticed fresh blood on the road and soon enough, she zipped by the culprit.
Some kind of dog looking thing, worse than the ones she had to deal with in Raccoon City. Bigger, harrier, and more organs poking out.
She passed by another one and laughed. Seemed Leon had an exciting road trip.
But her humor was quickly squashed by the reminder that Leon still hadn’t called Sherry and the agent couldn’t get in touch with him.
“Claire,” Sherry said. “I don’t want you to worry but… his sickness… He’s overexerting himself. That can’t mean good things for-”
“I’ll find him, Sherry.” She didn’t want her to finish that sentence, didn’t want to think about it. Leon would be okay, Claire would get to him in time. She wasn’t going to let anything happen to him. “I’ll find him.”
“Okay,” Sherry said. “I trust you.”
---
Ark reminded her too much of Nest. Claire hated every second of it.
She parked her bike outside this massive hole and entrance that looked like it was spelunking to the center of the Earth.
She found her way down and managed to come across a monitoring room that held cameras of the area. One, camera 99, showcased an elaborate room called “Pandora”. Claire would like to question what the heck “Pandora” was and who the sinister looking man who was pacing back and forth with a cigarette was, but she figured that was a story Leon could tell her once she found him.
He was here, he was alive, he was fine.
Claire scanned the rest of the cameras, finding bountiful bodies littering some zones. Leon had obviously been here and discarded some foes. That was good, that meant he was still in fighting condition and was still causing a racket.
Finally, as she was scraping the bottom of the barrel when it came to the cams, she found one where he and one other person were located. Some garbage dump, by the looks of it. Seemed the two couldn’t stay away from places like that whenever they were in Raccoon City. Claire’s just glad there weren’t any sewers involved.
Though she panicked when she took note of Leon’s position. He was on the ground, unmoving, while the girl with him simply rolled back and forth with her knees chucked to her chest.
That… wasn’t a good sign. Claire’s fingers clenched and gripped the metal under her, but she took a deep breath and controlled her breathing. It was fine, she was fine, he was just… resting his eyes. He made that joke a lot. He was okay.
Claire quickly scanned the map, learning the location of the dump and making her way there immediately.
---
The ground squished under her boots. They were a nice brand, but she couldn’t care less about them right now. She rushed forward, gun in her hand as she paid close attention to anything nearby. She didn’t think there would be agents in the garbage, but she wouldn’t put it past this place to have zombies or some other abomination lurking in the shadows. She saw Lickers (of course there were Lickers here) on some of the cams as she was scanning the facility.
She finally made her way to the location she saw in the camera. It was just off of the control room for the dump. Lying on the ground was Leon. Immediately, she noticed the black marks crawling up his skin. No longer did it just decorate his hand and his neck, but it had slithered up his arm, twisting around his chin, and grew just below his eye. He was out cold, breathing calmly in and out.
At least he was breathing, but her husband was passed out. That, by itself, wasn’t a good sign.
Claire slid down a pile of mulch and the noise finally caught the attention of the third person in the room. The blonde hair girl perked up, her eyes wide in a panic. She tripped over her feet and her hands shook by her side, but she quickly situated herself and pulled out some tiny handgun. It looked puny compared to the weapons Claire had on her. In fact, it reminded her of her first handgun she owned. It was nice for self defense, but barely did anything to the zombies in Raccoon City. Like Leon, Claire quickly upgraded upon leaving.
The girl’s hands were shaking and she glanced down at Leon quickly before rushing forward to situate herself between Leon and Claire. The redhead would be shocked, if she didn’t find it so endearing. If she had to guess, this was Grace Ashcroft and Leon had managed to make an impression on her already.
What was with him and being some type of girl dad? First Sherry, then Ashley, now Grace? It was like he couldn’t stop.
She found it cute.
Claire kept her gun in her hand, but she lowered it, hopefully calming down Grace. She didn’t need this FBI agent getting too anxious and pulling the trigger on her.
“W-Wh-Who are you?” the girl said, stepping back until her heel hit Leon’s arm. She glanced down at him again and took a step forward to recuperate.
“Relax, I’m not here to hurt you.”
Grace didn’t seem convinced in the slightest. She was scared, but she kept the gun aimed up and… somewhat steady on Claire. She may not hit anything vital if she pulled the trigger now, but she knew how to aim it.
“You’re Grace Ashcroft, right?”
Though she was attempting to be calm and collected, the information just seemed to scare Grace even more. The girl gasped and shook on her feet.
Okay, enough beating around the bush. Claire didn’t have time to calm this woman down and she practically didn’t care. Sure, she probably was living through horrible times, but her husband was currently passed out behind the girl and she didn’t want to waste anymore time saying simple things that just frightened Grace more.
“How do you- H-How do you know my name?”
“Listen, I would love to play twenty questions, but I came here to check on my husband, so could you please get out of the way?”
“Husband?” The information was so jarring that it caused Grace to lower her gun and take a step back in shock. Claire took that as her opportunity to rush forward and slide down beside Leon. She held his wrist, quickly checking for a pulse as she pushed his glove away from his hand. Black inched around his entire hand, only slight patches of peach skin were visible.
Claire cursed, reaching over to pull the collar of his shirt down. It hadn’t spread too far over his chest, but the fact that it was crawling up his arm in the first place was concerning.
His chest was still rising and falling in a constant rhythm and his nose was moving with each exhale. He seemed fine, all things considered. Still, Claire checked him over for any wounds. She pressed down on his chest and, as she expected, Leon made a grunt in his sleep. Probably bruised his ribs. What was she talking about? He definitely bruised his ribs.
There was blood all over him, but it was hard to tell if that was from him or everything he had killed. There were some scratches on his arms and grazes from what looked like claws, but nothing immediately life threatening. If Claire had to guess, Sherry was correct in her observation that Leon was overexerting himself. He probably was pushing his body too hard in order to get to Grace and passed out. Now, the virus was moving faster.
He was an idiot. He was her idiot though.
She was mad at him for being so sacrificial. No matter what, Leon would always risk his life for another. He never felt like he did enough otherwise. If he didn’t exhaust every option, work himself to the absolute bone in saving a life, then he failed. He would have it no other way.
She loved him because he cared, because he wanted to save the world, because, while he was incredibly handsome, he also had a beautiful heart. But sometimes… sometimes she wished he would be a little selfish and know that she wished upon every star in the sky that he would come home safe. She wished he knew how much it tore her apart when he would come home beat up.
She knew he was strong, she knew he was capable of defending himself, but she feared, one day, she wouldn’t be there to protect him, and if worse came to worse, she wouldn’t get to see him again.
She couldn’t live with herself if that was the case.
She reached up, brushing the hair from his face. 28 years and he still refused to change his hairstyle. She found it hot and Leon found it nice, so he kept it. “Leon.”
“Y-you’re his w-wife?”
For a moment, Claire forgot there was another person in the room with them. She felt mildly guilty for pushing Grace out of the way, but she couldn’t stand another moment not being next to Leon.
She turned towards Grace. The girl was standing up, moving back and forth on her feet. The gun was still in her hands, but she showed no hostility towards Claire. It seemed Claire convinced her she was good with her desperation to get to Leon.
“Yeah,” Claire said. “Claire Redfield.” She paused. “Well, Claire Redfield Kennedy.”
Grace glanced from Leon to Claire back to Leon again. “He… He never mentioned it.”
Claire chuckled. “He usually doesn’t.” Claire fumbled around his pockets until she found the correct one she needed. “He doesn’t like letting people know. In case something happened to him on missions, he doesn’t want anyone using it against him.” Like a golden ticket, Claire pulled out the ring from Leon’s pocket, holding it up with pride. She turned it towards Grace, the silver band glinting in the floodlights that lit this place up. Grace’s eyes grew wide and she once again glanced down at Leon like she couldn’t believe that he was married.
Why was it so hard to believe? The man was eye candy to any woman out there and with the way his muscles grew after his training, Claire had to try so hard not to jump on him every time he came home.
He was also strong mentally. He had a good heart, a strong conviction, and his jokes, although Claire made fun of them, were hilarious. She loved when he poked fun at things in serious situations. A bad guy could be monologuing and Leon would roll his eyes. She loved him so much.
Claire tilted her left hand, letting her own band catch the light. Their eternal bond, signifying their love for one another. Claire smiled at the memory. It was one of the only times she had seen Leon S. Kennedy nervous. All because he was trying to propose to her.
He attempted to do so sneakily, but Chris had to know beforehand since he would’ve pummeled Leon otherwise. Chris was bad at keeping secrets, so, to remedy this, he would simply shut up and not say a thing. Jill was too busy laughing at Chris’ expression because Claire would try to talk to him and Chris would simply keep his lips glued together, turn away, and take a sip out of his beer. Immediately, Claire knew something was up.
Then there was Sherry. While the agent was usually composed, she was all of the sudden giddy. She was gleaming at Claire like a madman ready to do their next psychotic thing. Claire had tried to avoid her until she got her expression under control, but the girl would follow her around, hopping like a bunny.
And then Leon was the biggest tell himself. He kept wiping the sweat from his palms and he was antsy around her the whole night. It didn’t take long for Claire to put it together and when Leon finally pulled her away from the party to be by themselves, she had already answered before he even kneeled down.
“Yes.”
“Excuse me?”
“The answer is yes.”
“I haven’t even asked a question.”
“But you’re going to.” She had gestured to his pocket which Leon was pointedly keeping away from her, probably to hide the box shape it had taken.
The man sighed, glaring at her as he took the box out of his pocket. “You couldn’t let me have this?”
“It was obvious.”
“You couldn’t let me ask the question?”
“Then ask it, Mister Kennedy.”
“The moment’s already ruined, Miss Redfield.”
“Ask the question, Kennedy.”
Her boyfriend rolled his eyes at her. “Well now it just feels condescending.”
Claire reached up, grabbing his shirt in her hands and pulling Leon down. “Ask the question.”
“Well now doesn’t feel like the right time to-”
Claire placed a kiss on his lips. “Are you going to ask the question?”
“You distracted me.” His breath was hot on her lips and she wanted to smother him right then and there. She smirked, glancing up at him.
“It seems you’re avoiding the question.”
“Claire,” he whined.
“Fine,” she said. “Leon S. Kennedy, will you marry me?” Before he could even reply, she pulled him down for another kiss and Leon greedily met it before he backed up.
“Wait, what?”
“I asked if you would marry me?”
He stared at her in complete befuddlement. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“But I-” Leon held up the ring box. Claire smirked at him.
“Is that a yes?”
“I am so confused right now,” he sighed. “I was supposed to ask you.”
“Then why don’t you and we can answer together?”
Her boyfriend stared at her with wide eyes before he simply rolled them with a slight smile. “Fine, you win. Claire Redfield, I could say a whole lot of things about how you’re the perfect match for me and how I knew you were the one for me based on our first date-”
Claire laughed.
“-But it seems planning these things are for losers and you won’t let me have my way, so I’ll just ask, will you marry me?”
“Yes.” She pulled him in closer. “And you?”
“Yes.”
Then they kissed and everything felt right.
It was so stupid. She had ruined his moment, but she didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy. In her eyes, the proposal that happened was so much better. It was unique, it was theirs.
“You love him,” Grace stated.
Was it that obvious? She probably had a lovesick smile on her face if Grace could see it. She tried to wipe it away, but she couldn’t help the blush that spread across her cheeks.
“Yeah, I do.”
Grace put her gun away, walking over and sitting down next to Claire. She glanced once more at Leon before she fully focused on Claire. “Where did you meet?”
Claire chuckled. “Here, of all places.”
Grace’s eyes grew wide. “W-Wait, you met at Raccoon City?!”
Claire nodded. “I came here looking for my brother. He was late on his first day as a police officer. We ran into each other at a gas station just outside of town. The place was infested and we were both just trying to survive. Got in a car and drove here.”
“Bet you regret that.”
It was a terrible night, yes, but Claire wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s what led her to meet Leon, it’s what led her to meet Sherry. It’s what gave her purpose in life, gave her the strength to do something to help the world.
“No,” she said. She turned towards Grace, taking in her scrunched eyebrows and confused expression. “Even though it took a lot from me, it gave me a lot more.” She gestured to Leon. “A husband. A family.”
Grace glanced down at the ground, her face narrowing in thought. Something had happened to her this journey, something significant to impact her. No doubt, the Grace that started this journey was not the same one here right now.
“Hey-” At that moment, Leon decided to interrupt their conversation. The man started coughing and all of Claire’s attention was on him as he woke up.
He groaned and squinted his eyes before he fully opened them. He quickly turned over, glancing at Claire with squinted vision. His head fell back to the ground. “I’m dreaming,” he said.
“As much as I love the implication that you dream about me, no, you’re not.”
Leon’s eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head to stare at Claire again. “What?” It seemed he came to the realization because his eyes grew wide. “Wait.”
“I’m here,” Claire said, reaching up to wrap her hand around his head and pull his forehead to hers.
Leon grunted and sat up. He stared at her in bewilderment. “You can’t be here.”
“You can’t decide that for me.”
Leon was breathing heavily, holding his side, but he was staring at her with a slightly open mouth. He simply closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’m not winning that argument.”
“No, you’re not.”
Leon turned his gaze to the other woman in the room, noticing Grace standing to the side awkwardly. “You okay?” he asked.
Claire sighed. Even though he’s on death’s door, he couldn’t stop caring about everyone else first.
“I-I’m fine, but you…” She gestured towards his arms. Leon glanced down at them, sighing in disappointment. Claire didn’t say anything, but she grabbed his fingers and separated them, allowing room for her hand to perfectly slot with his. Leon glanced down at it then up into her eyes. He was so handsome.
“It’s T-Virus,” Leon told Grace.
“Why are you here?” she asked. “If you’re so sick.”
Leon shook his head. He glanced once more at Claire before turning away in shame. No matter how many times she told him, he would never get over it. “Raccoon City was where it all started for me. When I was here, I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t-”
Claire wrapped him into a hug, helping pull him up. “Leon,” she whispered. He shook his head. He wanted to say this to Grace.
“I couldn’t make a difference,” he stated, and Claire felt her heart shatter. He did make a difference, every day. He just never realized it. “So I am here now.”
Grace shook her head. “I… we can’t stop Zeno.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Leon was now back onto his feet and though he was a bit wobbly, he still pulled out his gun, Snappy Alligator, and checked its magazine. “I’m going back.”
“I’m with you.”
Though Leon would rather she stayed out of harm’s way, he also knew there was no way he was going to convince her otherwise, especially when she could throw him to the ground with a simple shove. Claire pulled her own gun out and checked the magazine. She had rushed out of Wrenwood earlier without fully preparing. She didn’t have a lot, but she bet Leon had double the amount of bullets he needed somewhere in his bountiful amount of pockets. They would make it through and Claire would make sure her idiot of a husband made it back home.
“I’m coming with you!” Grace declared.
Leon glanced over his shoulder in shock before shaking his head. “No you’re not.” This was his way of keeping her safe, of protecting her. Claire glanced back at the blonde once more, feeling deep guilt. She didn’t deserve any of this, no one ever did. People got scarred after experiencing stuff like this, not everybody could simply adapt. The best way to keep Grace safe was to keep her away.
But Claire saw a fire in Grace’s eyes that reminded her too much of herself. There was determination, a strive to fix things. Claire was right, Grace had obviously experienced something, and she was ready to fight back.
“I don’t want anymore regrets! Whatever it takes, count me in.”
She didn’t understand the impact of her words, but Claire had frozen in shock and even Leon stopped walking beside her. Her husband glanced over his shoulder, looking at Grace before turning to Claire. She remembered those words. Leon had told her his experience with Ada, how the woman claimed to be FBI and was on a mission to go after Umbrella. She had stated that Leon had to leave and the rookie, at the time, simply told her, “Whatever it takes, count me in.”
She saw Leon’s facade crumble at that moment.
“If anything happens to me, promise me, you’ll finish this.”
Grace nodded solemnly. “I promise.”
Leon turned to Claire. “Claire-”
“Don’t you dare.”
He sighed. “Listen, I-”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Are you going to let me get one word out?”
“If it’s about that doubt in your mind, then no. You’re getting out of here.”
Leon sighed. “Roger that, Mrs. Kennedy.”
---
Claire felt a smile spread across her face as Grace smiled. It was infectious. Whatever Leon had told her had lit her up like Christmas. She seemed okay after everything she went through, but there was still a regret there. Though, whatever Leon told her, it seemed to fix it up.
Leon walked away, letting Grace sit there with a new plan in mind. He made his way to Claire, walking perfectly well on his own. There was no limp, no groaning, he was simply himself again.
Claire was so happy he was well.
She reached up, a circular, silver band in her hand. Leon smirked at her, plucking the ring from her fingers and putting it on his own.
“Thank you for coming.”
“Sherry was concerned.”
“Just Sherry?” He raised an eyebrow at her and Claire had to quickly turn away.
“I wasn’t concerned.”
“Oh?”
“I was terrified.”
Leon’s joking exterior crumbled in a moment. He glanced at her with sorrowful eyes. “I’m sorry. You know I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I do.” She sighed. “But sometimes your hero complex gets you into so much trouble.”
“Well, I’m here now, and I’m okay.”
“You almost weren’t. If Elpis wasn’t a cure, you-”
Leon cut her off with a hug, turning her body to mold into his. Before she could get her thoughts in order, he cupped her chin and pulled her into a kiss. His lips met hers and Claire was reminded of how long she’d gone without this feeling. She missed it and it had only been two days.
Two days too long.
“Seriously?” a gruff voice asked. Claire and Leon split to glance over at Chris as he made his way up to them. “This is what I get greeted with?”
“Oh, shut it, Chris.”
“I wouldn’t argue with her,” Leon stated.
“Trust me, I know.” Chris rolled his eyes. He looked over at Leon and nodded. “I’m glad you’re alright.”
“Thanks.”
Chris then turned to his sister. “And you… are an idiot.”
“Wow, no expression for how your sister is alive and well?”
“You openly rushed into an active bioweapons trading facility! So no.”
“Leon went there too!”
“Why are you dragging me into this?!”
“Leon had a reason to be there,” Chris argued.
“I had a reason too!”
“I got a call from my niece because she was worried about the two of you! You know how panicked she was?!”
“We were fine!”
“Claire!”
Leon took a step back. “I’m going to let you two handle this. I have to go pick up my car.”
Claire couldn’t even spare him the moment to roll her eyes. She simply turned back to her brother. “Don’t try to turn this on me!”
“Claire!”
In the background, Leon laughed.
He was alive. She was alive. They were together. Now, they could go home.