K.L.K- Well, I'm branching out into Resident Evil. Bleh to those of you who say ney.

TITLE: Things Left Unspoken Finally Said

RATING: T

SUMMARY: She still loved him. Even from long ago, in that chilly place where he died. Steve...His name shook her to her core and she missed him every day. She could only think about the things left unspoken to him.

PAIRING: Claire/Steve

AUTHORESS'S NOTE: Hai, Hai I know, I love wierd pairings, but I was really sad when Steve died. So here it is, my tribute to the "Sore-ey" guy. And I wrote this as soon as I saw that heartwrenching scene, so this is a Oneshot I'll get yelled at for because I didn't watch the end of the game. (sweatdrops) Sorry!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own RE: Code Veronica X!

The woman with shoulder-length auburn hair was stony faced as she got on the plane to Antartica. It had been ten years since her brother had saved her there, in Umbrella's base. Ten years since she had shot a gun there... Ten years since Steve had died.

She couldn't believe it. Ten years went by so quickly in her eyes. She still loved him. His accent was somewhere between french and canadian, but his voice had said sorry to her too many times to count. She still missed how he'd apologize for nothing and then call himself her protector; her knight in shining armor.

she scoffed. Nobody was a knight in shining armor to her, not anymore. Her brother was still galavanting all over the world, trying to take down the 'Plagas', or whatever they were called in that country. Not to mention he was still hunting down Wesker.

She looked to her clutched hand she had rested on her knee. All that she had left of him was a shred of his dark, short-sleeved shirt. All that had been left after he'd transformed due to Alexia's meddling.

That blonde pshycopath had turned her into a cold-hearted and depressed individual for the following two years. But that was when she'd learned to hide it well under a cold, uncaring mask when she needed, or the shell of who she used to be- Claire Redfield, protector of children in a zombie apocolyptic event, helper, sister of the ledgendary Chris Redfield and survivor of Racoon City.

There were still zombies about. You were authorized to take guns into this part of Antartica, due to the fact that the virus had managed to survive in the Zombie's bodies, and a few might have survived the blast after wandering outside.

She'd packed the guns he used to use... Subautomatic machine guns. The ones she'd traded for those golden pistols so very long ago.

She let her mind slip into obscurity as she knew when she woke up... She'd be nearly to the place he died.

-
"Miss... Redfield? Oh, great work you brother's doing, but I must ask why you are here." The burly guard asked the slightly shorter woman, who was bundled up in a black parka and ski pants, along with the fur-lined boots and wool socks, goggles resting on her forehead.

"I'm here to..." she nearly choked, but recovered. "To see the grave of an ally that died during the Code Veronica scandal."

he scratched his head, then his eyes brightened. "Oh! you were here during that, I presume?"

"Yeah, Yeah I was here during it." she snapped. He was bringing up painful memories with his slight canadian slur.

"Oh, Okay. Let Miss Redfield through, Garvis!" he called up to the person working the gates, and the other short and burly man nodded then opened the gates, letting Claire through.

"See you in about two hours, okay?" he asked, then the gates slammed shut, metal banging against metal. It was dark outside, but she had goggles. Even without them, she could see the lone gravestone placed in the exact spot of his death, somehow they'd found the ashes left and buried them under the ice.

"Oh....Steve." she let herself sob when she got to the grave marker, and fell on her knees, hot, stinging tears she was unaccostomed to feeling running down her face. "I...I was so stupid back then... I could have saved you... if only you'd stayed with me after the crash... If only Alexia hadn't found you...If only I'd told you that I...That I-I..." she broke down, leaning onto the stone. The engraved letters that spelled his name rubbed against her cheek, burningly cold but she didn't care. Her tears ran onto the stone, freezing when they had rolled a tiny way.

"Claire," a voice called, sounding muffled; like through cotton if there was some in her ears, but there wasn't- and faraway. "Claire....Claire Redfield..." it got close, until it was right behind her. She reached for the scrap of cloth in her pocket, running over it with her fingers to calm herself down. She'd been through zombie hazards too much, she was too jumpy, much, much to jumpy- and she slowly turned after a breath, and her facade she had put up splintered into a million pieces.

There stood a ethereal glowing figure. It's warm smile and reddish brown emo-ish haircut made her want to cry again, and she let the tears flow. His beautifully brown eyes were curved with happiness at seeing her, and he had his clothes on- a part of which she held clutched in her slender fingers at this moment. "I'm back, Claire, but not for long..."

She scrambled up from her knees, taking a small step foreward, arms clutched to her heart. "S...Steve..."

"I'm sorry I couldn't hold on any longer, Claire." his eyes did look sorrowed. "But I've been waiting for you to come back... I missed you."

she let out a choking noise, but she smiled through the immense pain and joy she had at seeing him, even if he was a ghostly image. "I...I missed you too... Listen...I...I always wanted to tell you that I...I...I love you. I still do."

he moved foreward after giving a smile, and wrapped his arms around her, surprisingly enough they were warm, not at all what she was expecting. "I love you too, Claire...but... You need to let go. I see how much pain I've given you, and I'm sorry. It's my only regret, not even that I never got to grow older. I only think about how I never got to kiss you, to tell you long before I died so I could've left this mortal plain with my heart satisfied... but..."

she touched his face, his skin was smooth. Just like it was ten years ago. He had been so cold now, but now he was warm. "I...Steve, I'm sorry...I'm sorry I never got to tell you before you died, never got to do all those things and save you before now. I just wish things unspoken could be said long before they hurt this badly."

he smiled, then tilted her head upwards. "I can only fulfil one, and then I have to move on... Claire... I...I love you so much, I will always love you." He then pushed them together, and his lips met Claires. He started to turn cold, and they slumped into the snow with each other.

he held her hand up to his face, propped against an invisible wall that was no longer there. "Claire...You're so...Warm." and then he faded away into nothing, leaving her with her hand still where his face had been, a second ago and ten years prior.

She let the tears flow, wetting the fur surrounding her parka's hood which had been down for quite some time. she sat there as she had been a decade ago, and let the pain flow down her face, letting out howls of joy that her heart was now free of it's chains.

The auburn Redfield had no regrets now.

She could finally say, that the things unspoken had finally been said.

K.L.K- This is probably WAYY overdone but oh well, I love this game! I've only watched walkthroughs, but feh...I still love the games!

Claire- Jeeze. Angsty romace, and it would never, EVER happen. And... You didn't watch the end of Code Veronica, did you?

K.L.K- yup. and no, I didn't, I was foolish. This is probably so overdone, XD oh well... PLEASE REVIEW!