AN: This was my entry for the "Safe" challenge on Paire Challenge over a LJ. FINALLY got around to posting it here :)
Peter/Claire drabble - WARNING! CHARACTER DEATH!
Enjoy!
Nothing is safe anymore. There is no light, no joy, no hope; only fear and anger and regret. No safety in numbers, no safety in love. Just the looming threat of capture.
Peter knows this when he finds her. He knows she's probably been set as a trap to finally capture him. He knows this but doesn't care, can't bring himself to care when his Claire Bear is in front of him like this. She doesn't notice him at first when he steps behind her – only looks around when she can feel his breath on her neck and his arms around her waist.
"Peter..."
It's a whisper on her lips, a plea; she says a lot with that one word, more than even Peter realises. She turns in his embrace and presses a soft kiss onto his lips.
"I'm so sorry Peter. So, so sorry." Another kiss, deeper this time; longer. When they break away she smiles at him, emits a small laugh as she traces the scar across his eye. Peter smiles down at her before taking a look at their surroundings.
They're in a parking lot somewhere in New York, he guesses about 5 blocks from Kirby Plaza. Grey stone mixes with graffiti-clad walls behind them and in front of them is the now familiar painting of the Earth; ripping and cracking and dying. Peter shudders and clutches Claire tighter to his chest.
"I know Claire Bear. I know." He feels safe when he's with her, safer than he has done since Homecoming when he first found her.
The safety is short-lived, however.
He guesses that's why she's finally let him find her, to break his safety zone, take him whilst he's vulnerable (even if he's only vulnerable when he's with her). So he's not really that surprised when she pulls out a gun and holds it to his head.
"I'd waste my time with words but I have to sort this out. Once and for all." She trembles slightly now, afraid of something that Peter will never know about, never need to know about. He looks into her eyes for a brief second before trying to speak.
"I never stopped lov-"
BANG.
He falls to the ground, a trickle of blood crawling down his face. His last smile, the one Claire used to love so much, is etched onto his face in death. Claire lowers the gun and turns from her former lover for the last time.
"I'm so sorry Peter. So, so sorry."