Resident Evil: "Remember Heaven"
Prologue:
"They're going to take Sherry away…" whispered Claire over the phone. Leon bit his lower lip as he was still struggling to let Claire's words sink in. It was three in the morning after all, and it was no doubt a surprise as to why she called from Stoneville city all the way to Manhattan, where Leon was.
"What?" he finally managed to blurt out after a bit of a stutter. He sat on the side of the bed, still in his gray boxers.
"…I…some people, they…they came here and…"
"What people? Claire…please calm down…"
"How can I be calm!?" suddenly snapped the voice from the other line, catching the young police officer off guard.
"…Claire…"
"Sorry, I'm sorry, this was a mistake, I shouldn't have bothered you…"
"No wait, don't hang up!"
"…"
"I'm going there, as soon as I can."
"No!"
"What?"
"I…no, I mean, I'll deal with this myself." She said, her voice still trembling.
"Then why'd you call me?" Leon weakly asked, running his hand through his caramel colored hair.
"…" she didn't answer, but he could still hear her heavy breathing from the other side. Without any other word, Leon heard the other end click. "God…" he thought to himself as he slammed the receiver back onto its cradle.
He hadn't heard from her in two years now, and in those two years, plenty of things changed. Claire shut herself off after an incident in the Antarctic, Chris and Jill are now part of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, and the others just got out of sight.
"…Who was that?" groggily asked a woman who leaned her chin on Leon's shoulder. She slowly embraced him from behind, cradling him in warmth. It was only a few moments ago that they were entwined in each other's grasp.
"…Uh, just a friend, sweetie." Replied Leon, leaning his head back to give her a soft kiss on the lips.
"Then get back to sleep."
"Okay." Leon turned and hid his body underneath the white blanket, and placed both his hands underneath his head. He could feel the cold ring against his skin. "…And honey, tomorrow, I'll be looking for my wedding dress." She said as she snuggled up to her fiancée. "There goes my bank account." Tried to joke Leon, which apparently worked.
"…Don't worry, there's still enough for college plans."
"You think that much ahead?"
"No, I'm spending the college plan anyway."
"Oh. That's nice"
"I love you."
"I love you too, Rachel."
Chapter 1: "Questions""Yeah, is Chris there?" Leon asked over the phone.
"Uh, maybe?" replied a feminine voice, clearly in the mood for teasing the young survivor.
"Come on Jill, this phone bill is going to kill me."
"You sound serious."
"It's about Claire."
"…"
"Jill?"
"We send her money sometimes, but…"
"Send her money? Why?"
"Don't you know? She's…"
"She's what?"
"Everything was stolen from her by Umbrella. Before they were brought down, they hit us legally…code violations, stuff like that."
"Yeah, I remember, but…"
"You got off because you had a steady job, while Chris and I pretty much did too."
"Claire…"
"She got laid off because the company she worked for didn't…want the trouble."
"Claire…she…never told me."
"I thought everyone knew."
"…What about Sherry?"
"Her relatives have, I don't know, surfaced or something, and they are fighting for her custody."
"…How long have you known about this?
"Three months now."
"She told everyone but me." The sudden realization pierced right through him like a poisoned arrow.
"What about you, us? I…can't we…help her?"
"…"
"Chris, where's Chris?"
"He's still in Somalia."
"One of the things you guys forgot to mention to me?"
"…"
"Claire…she's still in Stoneville right?"
"Yeah."
"I…uh…bye."
"Bye."
Leon hung the receiver back on the cradle, wondering how all of this could have happened without him even knowing. "That's simple, she doesn't give a shit about you." Came the pessimist in his head. Of course, he never did forget about her. It was easy to see that he still had feelings for her, and that was why he decided to move away. He couldn't live seeing her depressed, with the only person she'd ever talk to being her big brother and Sherry. Whatever he did, she never let him in. Claire shut him out, and he never knew why. Manhattan didn't erase those thoughts of what was she doing those very seconds, but for at least a few moments, Rachel did.
He wore a green, long sleeved shirt, and faded jeans that were of the same color. Leon was the guy that girls would have wanted to shove in their parent's faces. The type of guy good enough for a drunken mother-in-law, even. He didn't bother checking himself in the mirror; because he always felt uglier each time he looked. That wasn't true, of course, as he looked like a cover model for GQ.
"Come on Leon, we've got some retail stores to mug!" shouted Rachel from downstairs, making the young man not help but chuckle. "She reminds me so much of Claire." He thought, he always thought.
"On my way." Responded the weary boy as he jogged down the stairs.
The front door was just few feet ahead of Leon, while to his immediate left was the entry leading to the dining room. A few feet to his right was the way to the den, and connected to it was the kitchen. Rachel Joyce, soon to be Kennedy, was standing beside the half-open front door. She had soft, pale skin and long brown hair that fell evenly from her face. The young woman wore a black shirt that reached a few inches beneath her elbows, and was zipped down to reveal her more sensuous attributes.
"You…don't look Leon-ish today." She quickly said as she eyed him.
"Hmm? What do I look like?"
"A lawyer growing a conscience. Spill the beans, what's wrong." She said, gently pushing the door to a close. "…It's nothing." His words were as unbelievable as they come. He quickly jogged up to her and gave her kiss on the cheek.
"Okay, first off, you never sound like an ellipse is going through your head when nothing is troubling you. Second, the dress can wait." She said as she gave him a look riddled with concern.
"Why doesn't anyone listen to me?" he asked jokingly. "I said, I'm fine, I just…had this weird dream."
"Dream?"
"Yeah, I dreamt that I…was the Vampire Slayer."
"You…dreamt you were blonde, aerodynamic, and female?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, that settles everything."
"…Hey, there's this great place, uh, 'Oodlys', they've got killer noodles there. Wanna give it a try?"
"…Sure…"
Claire Redfield never thought that her life was going to be this way. But then again, she never thought of a lot of things that had happened to her. For one, she wasn't a Redfield anymore. It was a way for Chris to protect her in the final stages of the war between the S.T.A.R.S. and Umbrella. She was too deep in her own pit of despair to put up an actual fight, and before she knew it, the others had already moved on to fight the company.
"The money is going to your education Sherry, and that's that." Claire sternly told the fifteen year old girl. Both of them sat on a small, round, plastic table that came with the apartment they were currently in. The kitchen was right in front of Claire, behind where Sherry sat. To Claire's right were two windows, one was cracked, and while to her right were the other rooms. She wore a green, collared tank top, while Sherry wore a blue shirt. Both of them had dark jeans on.
"…High School…College, those can wait Claire, I mean, if they don't…"
"If they don't, then they are going to take you away."
"If they do take me away, they'll still have me doing those things, Claire!"
"…"
"We need the money to…to help find you another job."
"I can't. We already talked about this."
"…It'll blow off."
"It will never blow off, Sherry."
"What is it with you? Two years ago, you were this…this girl who managed to survive a-"
"This discussion is over."
"No."
"This discussion is over." Claire repeated, this time with a more imperative voice.
"You can't do this Claire! You can't just let his death eat you up like this! It's been over a year since he died! Get over it!" suddenly snapped the little girl.
"…"
"…"
"…You'd better go, you're going to be late for class." Claire said, breaking the silence as she rubbed her temples with both her hands.
"No, I won't."
"Yes you will." Claire stood up and fished a crumpled three dollar bill from her wallet.
"But…"
"There is nothing left to discuss Sherry. What would the court think of you if you didn't have an education, hmm?"
"…I…"
"Here." Claire handed the girl the three dollars for lunch money. "…But…"
"Please, just…do it for me okay?"
"…If you can go a whole afternoon without eating, then so can I. You'd better save that for finding a new job." Softly said the girl. Without waiting for Claire to reply, she grabbed her backpack and took off, leaving Claire to her usual marauding on the yellow pages.
"Leon…God…why did I call him!? I'd rather die than have him…see me like this." Claire thought to herself glumly as she washed her face on the sink. "I miss him. I…I'm suffering from Cinderella complex- snap out of it! I…should have never let him go."
Author's note: Okay, so romance isn't my genre, cuz' I'm not to keen on writing without a gratuitous layer of violence vomited all over it, but I've been tinkering with this idea for some time now so well, tell me what you think.