A/N: Just to forewarn you, I am going the shippy, Claire/Kaia route with this. I hope you guys enjoy it!
Claire has watched people she loves die before. She had held her mom as she bled out in Claire's arms; she had watched her father's body walk out the door with another being stuffed inside it.
(She knows Jimmy Novak didn't die until long after that moment, but she likes to pretend he did. It's easier that way.)
Being a hunter means death - for you, for your loved ones, for the people you can't save. That's the way things are, and Claire was fine with it. For a long time, she was fine with it. She always considered death as inevitable for someone like her, but damn it all if she wasn't going to go down fighting. That's what being a hunter is about. You fight, you save, you die. It was fine.
And then.
Patience's vision made it all real, and suddenly Claire was afraid. Maybe she had always been afraid, but she had been able to push it down before. But things were different now. She wanted to live, wanted to make amends with Jody and with Alex. Wanted to spend more time with Kaia. More importantly, she didn't want to see anyone else she loved die, not again. She couldn't lose someone else.
(She couldn't, but she would)
Kaia was different. Special. She was unlike anyone else Claire had ever met - beautiful and smart and funny and amazing. She was perfect.
(And isn't that the point? Kaia was)
Claire dreams about Kaia, sometimes. Occasionally, it's just nothing. Her smile, her laugh, the light in her eyes when they'd compared scars on Jody's porch. Things that fade as soon as she wakes, and Claire feels all the more empty for it.
Most of the time, though, her mind isn't that kind. She sees the bad place, the spear in Kaia's stomach with her blood bubbling up around it, and all Claire can do is hold Kaia's hand and watch the life slowly drain out of her. Her eyes are pained and resigned and you swore you would protect her - until they're not. Until she's dead.
Claire wakes up with tears in her eyes, but she refuses to let them fall. Not yet. Instead, she turns to her wall, completely covered with research and lore on alternate dimensions, and smiles. Whoever killed Kaia, wherever they are, she will find them. And she'll make them pay.
A/N: This is a lot shorter than I intended, but I kind of like where it ended so I'm going with it. Thanks for reading, and please leave a review if you have a moment. Bye!