Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil, the characters, the environments or anything like that, blah, blah, blah. That's property of Capcom. But I do own this fic.

A/N: This is supposed to take place right after Claire and Steve gets to Antactic in REC:VX, in case some of you are wondering. So SPOILERS for those who haven't played and finished that game!
If it really bugs you with a couple of grammar/spelling errors, then DON'T read. I'm a Swede and English is my second language. I'm writing this and posting it here to become better at writing in English, so I want all the help I can get. Thanks in advance!
Constructive criticism is welcome, but flames are not!

Is Black Really A Colour?

There was no electricity.

Claire had to try to use the last light from the floor above to descend the stairs. She had to walk carefully, knowing that one mistake inside of an Umbrella facility could be fatal. Power cut? Maybe. She didn't really care. She was just very tired, feeling sore everywhere and suffering from a throbbing headache from the crash. And, on top of everything, she was so pissed off at that cross-dressing Alfred. When I find him... For a moment, she was so busy thinking about what she was going to do wih him that she took a wrong step.

"Shit!" she hissed, dropping her handgun as she tried to regain her balance.

Claire's heart pounded wildly in her breast when she once again firmly stood at one of the steps. She noticed that what she saw in front of her was entirely drowned in darkness. She looked around for any movement in the shadows, trying to calm herself down. Jeez, you're paranoid, her mind whispered. You haven't seen a lot of this facility yet and you haven't seen any sign of a threat. She shook her head. Sure, she hadn't seen any zombies or monsters yet but she hadn't seen any people either.

She took another cautious step. It was first by then she noticed that she had dropped her gun. She silently cursed, feeling frustrated. It must have ended up under the stairs. She tried to hurry up as she fumbled down into the darkness.

Everything was so black around her. She actually didn't notice the difference between having her eyer opened or having them closed. Darkness. Just darkness. Everywhere. She didn't even see her own hand, even if she held it right before her eyes. Oh god. Couldn't they pick another day to get a power cut at? She let out a deep sigh.

Suddenly, Claire wished she hadn't agreed to split up with Steve. They had decided that she would go down here while Steve examined some doors on the other floor. She would have felt so much safer with Steve backing her up. You can still turn back. Or maybe not. Not before she got her handgun back, at least.

She groped for the next step, stepping down on it. She realized it wasn't really a step. She had actually reached down to the floor. Claire looked around for a potential threat of some sorts, seeing only blackness. So instead, she tensed her hearing but heard nothing. She sighed with relief. Finally. She had never in her whole life appreciated the floor beneath her feet as much as she did now.

She reached out with her hands, letting them guide her to the side of the stairs. The only sound was that of her own terrified heartbeat. She found what she was looking for, crouching down. She let her fingers dance swiftly over the floor, which was covered with a thin layer of frost. Come on, come on!

Claire didn't like this. She didn't like this at all, feeling so exposed. What if something creeped up behind her and... She shuddered. She didn't even want to finish that thought. She quickened her search for the dropped gun.

She closed her eyes – not that it actually mattered – feeling more desperate for every second that passed. It did seem to be completely deserted but she didn't want to take something for granted.

When she opened her eyes again, the only thing that met her was the colour of black. It felt like she was inside of a huge void somewhere, all alone. The more she thought about it, the more frightening the thought felt. Is black really a colour? she wondered. The word "black" had just gotten a new meaning for her. It meant emptiness, solitude and fear and nothing else than that.

Please, please, please...

There it was!

Claire heavily exhaled, wrapping her fingers around her handgun. The weapon felt so familiar in her hand. Relief washed over her. She started to feel much safer now, thank god. She let her fingrers slide across the well-known shape of the gun, thinking that she had never held something as wonderful as this in her life.

Somewhere behind her, something moved.