Darkest Hour

by: diddly day

Disclaimer: Okay, nothing is mine, Resident Evil isn't mine, they all belong to Capcom. I pray that you won't sue me.

A/N: Since my last story is only a chapter away from ending, I thought I'd get started on a new one for ya. All idea's come from inspiration, right? I was watching a few movies, reading a few books, and playing a few video games, when this idea popped into my head. I hope you guys will like it. If you are a lover of sad things, I think you'll like this.

This is in no way related to "Sometimes they Come Back."

Chapter 1

Her hand was freezing. So cold. She lay there, in the small room. Blood still soaked in her beautiful clothes. The periwinkle blue shirt he had bought her for her birth day was ripped open. Buttons had flown off in the attempt to stop the bleeding.

Her face displayed nothing but peace, instead of the pure agony that was once conveyed in her sharp features. The once deep, blue eyes stared at the ceiling, at one time holding life, now empty. Blood smeared on her neck from where he had held her in the last few minutes of her life.

He stood over her. She was gone. They had told her that she had slipped away a little more then half an hour ago. But he knew that she had passed away long before that. He still couldn't believe it. Why wasn't he in aguish? Why wasn't he weeping on the ground by her side? He knew. He couldn't believe it.

Dead shock.

Five years. Five years she had been by his side. Now, in the blink of an eye, he was alone. Well, not completely alone. Closing his eyes, he tried to remember what had happened in the last few minutes.

I I I

"Mister Kennedy?"

The doctor walked slowly down the hall. There was something in his walk that Leon didn't like. He hoped against hope that it was not bad news. Oh please, anything but bad news. Nonetheless, he had to know.

"Is she all right?" He stood up abruptly. They had been working on her for awhile. Hell, he didn't know, it could've been ten years. The doctor shook his head.

"Your wife-" he paused.

Leon held his breath in anticipation. Was the doctor going to tell him what he desired, or what he dreaded? Whichever it was, Leon knew that he could figure out what to do. But only if Claire was okay. The doctor took a deep breath.

"Mr. Kennedy, your wife was brought into the ER with a gunshot wound. It was sustainedinher stomach."

"I already know all that," Leon sputtered out in desperation. "Any news?"

"We tried to operate, but. . ."

No. There was a but. The one word he hoped never to hear.

"But?" his voice cracked.

"There was internal bleeding."

The realization was now hitting Leon. This was just a dream. He'd wake up. It was just a dream. A horrible, horrible nightmare.

"Bleeding," he repeated. He knew that too. There had been so much blood. So much. Every time he closed his eyes, he could still see that dark crimson.

"Your wife died, at 5:43pm"

Died.

That couldn't be true, it couldn't. Some horrible trick that the doctor was playing on him. Pain shot through his brain. She was dead. Air escaped his lungs. He couldn't breath. He couldn't move. Everything went numb. He shook his head in confusion. He wasn't going to listen to this. He wasn't going to hear this man's lies.

"I'm very sorry." The doctor looked as if he were about to burst into tears himself.

"Claire?" His eyes filled with tears. "She's dead? My wife. . . Claire is dead?"

Sadly, the doctor nodded. The terrible truth was now tumbling like rain into his body. These weren't lies he was hearing. The words that were falling from the doctor's lips weren't a tale. Claire was gone. Putting forth a hand, the man awkwardly patted Leon's shoulder. However, Leon didn't notice him walk away. His legs gave out under him as he collapsed back into his chair.

He had been sitting in that same spot no less then five minutes ago, filled with hope, now, nothing. His life was nothing. Nothing without her.

A sob irrupted deep in his soul. Staring at his hands through his tears. She was dead. Her life had been taken from her. Stolen. Claire had been robbed. Robbed of all the things she could've done.

He cried for her. For all the birthdays she would miss. For all the holidays they would miss together. He cried for every joy that had failed, every hope that had fallen. For all the things that she wanted to do, but never did, and now never would.

He loved her. He couldn't go on without her. Nurses and doctors walked by briskly, going about their business. Leon could feel their eyes on him, but only for a minute. But he didn't care, he just wanted her back. His nose ran and his throat hurt with all of his cries.

Why had God taken her? What had she ever done wrong? They had only gone out to get some milk. If only he had waited. At that moment, it was indeed, Leon Kennedy's darkest hour.

I I I

He was standing there. Staring at her. Claire stood in the corner of that cold, dark room. Her husband gazing at her body with the most heartache that she had ever seen. His hansom face was now creased and red in pain. She could see love and pain. The mixture of emotions that burned in his face made her want to die.

But that wouldn't have done her any good anyway she reminded herself.

No.

Considering the fact that she was already dead.

The emotion's then melted away leaving Leon looking empty. More empty than when Ada disappeared after the underground lab explosion. Softy, he reached out to touch her hand. His touch. She wished she could feel it. His hot skin on hers.

She had followed him from the waiting room after he had received the news of her death. He wept in the chair like a infant, and it stung because he was so close. So close, but so far. She couldn't tell him she loved him, or that she was all right.

Now he stood over her body in the empty hospital room. On the operating table, still in her clothes that she had put on this morning. When she was putting them on, it hadn't occurred to her that it would be the last thing she would ever wear. Looking down at herself, she could see the mirror image of her clothes, only they were untouched and clean, not bloody and ripped like the ones on her dead corpse.

She couldn't feel her legs, but she began to move over to Leon, swiftly, until she was facing him on the other side of the table. Her lifeless form between them. She felt as if she were gazing at herself through a window. A window to the past. Perhaps a dream. But this wasn't a dream, and she couldn't wake up in the middle of the night, roll over in her soft, warm bed, and tell Leon how much she loved him.

He gazed at her body with such. . . she couldn't describe the look he was giving her. Eyes were the windows of the soul, and his eyes were like looking into an empty room. Almost no emotion, no sorrow, no pain. Just shock. She couldn't blame him, she was in shock herself. She had been ever since they had walked into that convenient store. It was then, that the memories began to flow.

I I I

"Pull over there Leon," Claire pointed over in the passenger seat.

The rain was coming down hard, andthey could hear the heavy thuds of water droplets on the hood of their car. He looked at her swiftly.

"Do they have our kind of gas?" He was already pulling into the 7-11. Claire squinted through the sheets of rain.

"Yeah. See, am I good or what?"

She could see Leon's smile in the dark car.

"You do have the sight of an eagle." He pulled up next to the gas pump. Turning the engine off, Claire could suddenly feel how cold it was. With one last glance before he got out, he threw her a warm smile.

"Wait here," his voice was soft, with a little bit of humor in it. She smiled and watched him as he got out.

Her head turned to look at the little store. It stood, illuminating it the fast rain. The lights glowed and reflected in the wet pavement in the quiet parking lot. She racked her brain, trying to think about anything that she needed. After all, they were at the store and she didn't want to get home, remember, and then go all the way back.

Just then her eyes met a young man coming out of the store, drinking out of a milk carton. That was it. They needed milk. Leon went through that stuff like she went through bubble gum. Pulling the door open she got out. A gust of wind hit her, chilling her to her soul.

"What are you doing?" asked Leon, his hand on the gas pump.

"We need milk. I'm going in to get some."

Leon nodded.

"Oh okay. Are you sure? I can get it."

"No, it's fine. I'll pay for the gas while I'm at it," she said as she shrugged.

He flashed a charming grin at her. She would've swooned it they hadn't been standing out in the pouring rain.

"You're the best," he smiled ashe slid his wallet over the hood of the car and she caught it.

"Be right back."

Pulling the hood up over her head, she jogged across the lot, giving the double doors a good hard tug, she entered the store. She was quite surprised at how full the store was. She hadn't been able to tell with the shelves blocking all of them. Pulling her hood of her sweatshirt down, she spied a man over reading a magazine staring at her.

She knew that if Leon had been in there with her, he would have yelled at him saying something like 'get an eye full?' or ' get a good look know because women like this only come in your dreams.'

He continued to stare at her, and when she made it plainly cleared that she could see him, he looked away quickly. She blushed herself and walked away. She didn't like strange men gazing at her. Not like that. It made her feel as if she were a bug under a magnafying glass. Briskly she walked to the end of the isle, looking past the beer, soda pop until she spotted the milk.

Bending down the pick it up, she hadn't thought anything when the doors opened up, but what she heard next made her blood turn to ice.

A gunshot.

"Everyone get down on the ground!"a gruff voice shouted.

There was a woman next to her who shrieked and Claire could feel her knees hit the floor in obedience. The woman next to her was now crying uncontrollably. She could hear hard boots walking up behind her.

"Shut up bitch!"

A bullet whizzed by her head, crashing into the freezer full of milk. Claire closed her eyes to shield her eyes from the exploding glass the flew by her face. The man walked away.

"Fill the bag!" he yelled.

Two shots fired. Claire looked around quickly to see the two holes that he had fired into the roof. She prayed that Leon would hear the shots. Her eyes found their car, only to see Leon in the front seat, he glanced at his watch and looked out into the rain.

"Come on, hurry up!" the man with the gun said.

She looked at him to see he was not very tall, less then six-foot. A black ski-mask covered his face and a big brown coat made his probably scrawny image rather big.

The cashier was shaking. She could tell that this had never happened to him before, he was a young kid, no more then twenty. Sweat was running down his face. Claire saw him blink, trying to keep the sweat from his eyes. Fumbling like crazy, the cashier opened the bag. The weeping of the woman next to her was now earthshattering.

"Shut up!" the man shouted.

He walked over to the broken woman, and with the end of his gun and struck her across the face. Blood spurted from the woman's mouth and Claire threw her head sideways to keep from it splattering on her. The man turned around, she could feel his eyes on her.

"Aren't you a pretty thing?" his rough voice held the slightest hint of ice.

"Go to hell," her voice was surprisingly strong. His breath stopped.

"What did you say-"

The door opened once more. Bells that were attached to the door let of a jangling noise that sent an alarm off in the back of her mind. Before the man could turn around a booming voice filled the room.

"Freeze! This is the police! Put the gun down!" It was Leon's voice.

No, he must have come in to see what was taking her so long. A hand grabbed her by her hood of her sweatshirt, locking her so she was in front of her captor but facing Leon who looked scared shitless.

"Don't move! Or I'll kill her!" She could feel at gun in the side of her temple. Leon's voice didn't waver.

"Put the gun down or I'll shoot!" he stepped closer to her. Leon's shiny, black gun that he carried everywhere was pointer at the mysterious robber.

"You so much as twitch, and you'll see her blood spilled on your clothes!" The gun dug deeper into her head.

"Leon," she didn't know what she was going to say. The man looked at her and then Leon.

"You know each other?" his harsh breath was on her ear.

"You so much as touch her and I'll kill you," Leon spat.

The kid didn't say anything for a moment. "I don't want to kill anyone," he muttered quickly. "Put the gun down, and she'll live."

Leon's face trembled.

"You can't hurt her," he whispered. The robber was breathing faster now. "Please don't cause her pain," Leon pleaded softly.

The man laughed bitterly.

"You don't know anything about pain," he snarled. "You know her?" Leon's lips pressed together and all the features in his face stiffened.

"I've never seen her before," he lied. Claire felt the tip of the gun digging further into her temple.

"Please don't lie to me," the stranger muttered madly. "I hate liars."

Claire couldn't stop her shaking. Her legs were growing numb, and she felt that her bladder would let go if she had to spend one more minute with this insane man.

"She knows you name," the robber declaired.

There was silence.

"Tell me!" he shouted.

"She's a friend of mine," Leon babbled, his brave mask falling off, only to reveal his true horrified face. "You don't want to hurt anyone, right?"

"No," her captor's voice was quivering. "But I need to do this. And she's not your friend is she? You two are lovers."

Leon's expression was more than telling. And the masked man knew who he was holding in his arms.

"Please, let her go. We can just talk about this," Leon was on the verge of begging. "You can get out of this. Without anyone getting killed. Without her getting killed."

His tone must have softened the robbers heart, for Claire could feel his grip loosening.

"Okay, but put the gun down first," the stanger ordered

Leon's eyes moved from him to her, he seemed to be trying to read her thoughts. Sending her subliminal messages.

"NOW!" Leon's head snapped up and looked at the man. Very slowly, he began to gently put the gun on the ground.

"Okay, okay, just don't hurt her. Please," his voce was calmer, but still shook. Within the instant that Leon slid the gun away from him, Claire could feel him shove her away. She hit the ground hard, knocking all the wind out of her.

"Claire, honey, are you okay?" She stared up at him, but couldn't respond, all she could do was nod her head.

"Don't just stand there, fill the bag!" the masked scoundrel shouted again.

"Look," Leon began rambling, "this doesn't have to end this way. All you have to do is just walk out that door, and we'll pretend that this never happened."

That was a lie. As soon as he made it about a block, the police would pick him up faster then he could say the word "robbery." The man looked scared. His face was hidden by the mask, but his eyes gleamed with unmistakable fear.

"Really?" His gun trembled slightly. Leon started toward him slowly.

"Just give me the gun, no one has to know," Leon whispered

Claire wince on her knees and to her feet. Maybe she could kick him, or grab his gun. But that would only get Leon killed. If she missed, or didn't hurt him, she could say good by to both of their lives.

He looked like he was going to give into Leon's words. His hand reached forward slightly but carefully. She felt an undoubtable wave of triumph. They would get out of here. She slowly stood next to Leon, her stomach doing flip-flops.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of cop cars echoed off in the distance. The man's hand stopped, and Leon frowned, now that his cover was blown. The man's cold eyes shot up and looked at Leon with utter betrayal.

"You called the cops?" he hushed. "You son of a bitch!"

He raised his gun to Leon. And from there, everything happened in slow motion.

She couldn't lose him. That was the bottom line. She saw Leon's brow crease in panic and his blue eye's go wide. And before her brain could detect what she was doing, she was standing in the way of her husband and the bullet. She hadn't even heard the gun go off. Losing all feeling in her lower body, her legs gave, and she crashed onto the ground.

"Claire?" Leon's voice echoed off somewhere. Far. Distant. As if he were miles away. He sounded petrified.

Placing a hand over her stomach, she felt something moist. Touching it, she looked down, only to find her hand smeared with dark, almost black, crimson. Her eyes traveled up to the man who had pulled the trigger. He looked shocked, the gun suddenly dropped from his hand and he knelt down beside her, just staring with an unspeakable expression of shame.

"Claire!"

Strong arms grabbed her, and she fell into them. Pulling her so that she was on her back facing the ceiling. She could make out the two bullet holes that he had made earlier. Leon's eyes meet her, everyone disappeared. His pale face desperate.

"Leon," it was hard to talk.

All she could do was speak a whisper. She could feel him pulling her sweatshirt over her head rapidly, but with great care. Next she could feel his hands on her shirt, ripping off the buttons to her blouse as he had done so many times in the past, under different circumstances.

"Hold on Claire! Please, please," he begged.

Pulling her shirt wide open, his hands found her wound. Putting pressure to stop the bleeding, he began to scream for help. Her body was now starting to become numb. She could no longer feel the pressure on her stomach.

The double door flung open again. This time police stormed in telling everyone to put their hands in the air. Two of the officers hauled the intruder off his feet and out the door, while a few other ushered everyone out. But all Claire could look at was Leon's face. His eyes were glued to her stomach.

"Don't you leave me, Claire. Don't you dare." Her eyes trailed down to his hands, which were now soaked in blood up to his elbows.

"I need an E.M.T. in here now!" One of the police officers shouted once he saw the couple on the floor with Leon rocking her back and forth.

The coppery taste of blood was in her throat. She said: "Leon." She wanted to tell him she loved him. His eyes found hers, and his bloody hands stroked her neck and face.

She didn't have to say anything. He knew.

"Shhh. It's okay. Claire, you're going to be okay. You have to hang on, for me, for Grace, for us."

She tried to move her lips, but no avail. It was getting hard to breathe, and she suddenly felt very tired.

"No! Claire, honey. Don't fall asleep. Stay with me! I love you. Please!" he was beginning to cry. His voice breaking like glass.

Her eyelids were drooping. Everything around her was becoming hazy. The throbbing in her throat was becoming less, and less. A burning pain was ignited in her belly, and like a wildfire, it spread. Her eyes snapped open as she tried to make the pain go away. Her teeth clamped down, biting her tongue, blood trickled from the side of her mouth.

She was on fire. It was difficult to breathe. Her burning skin brining tears to her eyes. The dark blood dibbled over her chin. Leon was sobbing harder now. She inhaled deeply. Trying to take in all the air she could. Choking on her swollen, cut tongue, she coughed and sputtered blood in fine bits. The droplets hit Leon's smooth face which was now enlarge with tears. Feeling her heartbeat slow in her ears, she tried again to breathe, but couldn't. Everything was getting darker. She could barely make out his bright blue eyes.

Lava was flowing through her veins. It hurt so bad. A thousand knives were plunging into her stomach. . . .

. . . .And then it stopped.

The pain was gone. Before she realized what was going on, she was standing on the ground, like she had never been shot at all. Her clothes were intact, and there was no more burning or bleeding.

Then she heard it.

Leon's wails. Spinning around, she saw him on the ground, his arm holding an incredibly white figure. Her breath caught, and she would've began to shake if she could've felt her nerves. Bending over, she looked into the face of the body that Leon was holding on to so desperately.

Staring into the cold eyes of herself.

Stumbling backwards, she backed into one of the shelves without knocking it over. A man ran past her wearing a windbreaker that had MEDIC written across it.

"Sir, let me see her," the man told Leon.

ButLeon ignored himand forcefully rocked her dead body.

"Sir,you're going to have tomove if you want me to help her," his hands shot out and grabbed Leon. It took two of them to pry him away from her corpse.

It was then, that Claire knew her life was literally over.

I I I

"Oh Claire," he whispered.

His hands traced her pale face. He almost pulled back at the coldness of her, but couldn't. Tears were starting to cloud his vision again, and she was becoming nothing more then big blur. Bending down, as if being pulled by some magnetic force, he placed a soft kiss on her pink lips.

He couldn't stay in there anymore. He had to get out. Away from the death, away from her. Running out, he opened the door and dashed into the hallway of the hospital. Not knowing where he was going to run, he soon found himself in front of the men's restroom.

Walking inside, he made sure that no one was in there. The coolness of the water did very little to clear his head as he splashed it on his face. The water on his face soon became mixed with tears as he started to realize how his life was going to change. He was on the verge of telling himself that he and Claire had decided to just go home and get gas later, that they were on their way to a completely different future.

He looked at his sad image in the bathroom mirror. He hated what he saw. He was a man who's wife gave her life to save him. He was just as much to blame as the man who pulled the trigger. If he had not just gone in, if he had just called the cops, if only they had just gone home, everything would've been alright.

Pulling his fist back, it came crashing into the mirror, shattering it to pieces. He didn't feel anything. His nerves had died right along with his wife. But sooner or later he had to go back out there, put on a brave face, and take on the world. When all he really wanted to do was curl up in ball and die.

He was surprised when he found Chris waiting for him in the lobby. His face was streaked with tears, and he realized that the doctor must've told him. Chris looked up with his red, puffy eyes and pulled Leon into a tight, desperate embrace.

"She's gone!" Chris bawled into Leon's shoulder. Claire was all Chris had left. The only other living Redfield member was now dead and lying in some cold room in a hospital they had never been in

For some reason, Chris's rush of emotions washed through him. The cool, composed look he was trying to parade slipped and he lost it again. Weeping loudly for his loss. For both their loss.

"Five years," Leon cried. "Five years she was my wife."

And the two men just cried. Then Leon pulled away from Chris. Hiccuping and whipping his eyes with his sleeve.

"Where's Grace? I need to tell her."

Chris nodded and pointed to the soft chairs in the waiting room. There sat the four-year-old girl. Slowly, as it felt like an eternity, Leon walked toward the small child. She looked up and saw him coming toward her. Her eyes held understanding. He sat beside her.

"She's asleep, isn't she?" Grace said. Leon did nothing but nod.

"Yeah, Mommy's sleeping."

Grace peered down at her hands again.

"And she's not going to wake up, is she?" Leon shook his head. Grace frowned.

"No. She's gone, honey," Leon whispered.Grace's face broke out in sorrow and Leon enveloped her in his arms.

"I loved her Dad," she sobbed into his neck.

"I did too," he choked out.

To two sat there. Leon rocked his daughter back and forth, the same way he had with her Mother before her death. It was so thick, it felt as if Claire as in that room, watching the heartbreaking scene.

To be continued. . .

A/N:Man, this story reallyis depressing. I didn't realize it at the time. When I wrote it, death seemed like such a far away thing.Maybe it's just because I've gotten older or something. I've realized that I'm mortaland that I will die someday.That's too freaky to think about right now.

I've had so many idea's flying through my head. It's hard to pick one. Yes, I know it sounds a lot like "GHOST," but it has a twist that'll come in upcoming chapters( if you want them) So, please, read and review if you enjoyed this. I always thank my reviewers.