Alice Abernathy sat with her back to the camp, her dirty blonde hair whipping across her face from the wind. She looked out towards the dark, barren expanses that had once been bustling with people from all over the world, all full of life.
All she saw now in the night was sand. Emptiness and sand. Not a soul, dead or alive.
Her instincts forced her body to tense up as she heard movement, but her mind went with her better judgement that, for the moment, she was safe. There was no one around that could hurt her.
Not bothering to glance towards her new companion on the dune, she could sense who it was without even trying.
"It's sad, isn't it?" she whispered, her voice raw, her emotions nearly crushing her chest. She wanted to sob, to scream, to lay down and rest forever, but instead, she just kept looking.
Claire nodded her head silently, mesmerized by the swirling dust-devils and seemingly endless expanse of nothingness before them.
"It makes me tired." she cleared her throat, "tired of all of this. The running, the fighting, the killing." Now Alice looked at Claire, showing her the sparse tears running down her face. "It's all my fault. None of this would have happened if I had just done my job correctly the first time. If I hadn't fucked everything up." the tears fell a little faster now, the salt burning her cheeks.
"Alice," Claire started as she shook her head, "you didn't create the t-Virus. You weren't the one who spread it. Hell," she turned even more to look at the other woman, "you nearly died trying to stop this from happening. This isn't your fault, it's Umbrella's."
Not wanting to scare her, Claire gently brushed her hand on Alice's shoulder, taken aback when she moved to lean on the younger woman. Never had she seen Alice rely on someone, seen her use someone at a crutch. She was always pushing herself forward without any assistance.
"You don't understand." Alice started, on the verge of sobbing.
"Yes, I do. Some pricks made this thing, and when push came to shove, they couldn't control it. That is not your fault. It's not more your fault than it is mine, or Carlos', or K-Mart's." Knowing how uncharacteristically Alice was acting, Claire decided it wasn't out of the question that she needed some actual human contact. No fighting, no death, just people. Pulling her into a hug, she let her scream and cry into her shoulder, closing her eyes to stave off the tears of her own. How must it feel to have such a heavy burden on your shoulders, especially when it isn't yours to bear?
After she was done, Alice pulled back, wiping her face with the back of her hand.
"I.. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have.." she mumbled, embarrassed of her actions. She was stronger than this, she knew it."It's alright." Claire soothed, wiping her own face. Alice gave her a truly puzzled look.
"I don't understand, why are you crying?" she whispered, brow furrowed.
"It's just that.. If someone as strong as you can't do this, how can I? It breaks my heart to see you hate yourself so much." she stopped, taking a breath. "What I saw in your eyes was pure disgust. You can't do that to yourself, you're so much more than that. You are the most amazing person I have ever met, and you have nothing to be sorry for. I'm sorry I can't stop you from crying." Claire stopped, realizing she was saying too much. She closed her eyes, then opened them to find brilliant green orbs peering at her.
Alice stared at her for what felt like hours, her gaze the most intense thing Claire had ever felt, but she couldn't break the contact, no matter what. After a brief eternity, Claire felt pressure on her cheek and absently realized that the other woman was wiping away a tear. Still, neither could look away. Before it could even register in her mind, Alice's lips brushed Claire's with a whispered 'thank you'.
Neither had noticed exactly when their hands had become tangled together, nor did they care. Alice drew her head back slightly, unsure of how the other woman would take this, but Claire Redfield answered with a kiss. Perhaps chaste, brief, but exactly what they had both been waiting for.
In the relative security of the camp, perched on the brink of desolation, both women had found what they needed most; hope in a dying world.
So, this is unbeta-d, and was written quite quickly at two in the morning. I was inspired by Metric's Blindness and fueled by Maxwell House French Vanilla coffee. Pretty sure it's a one shot, but who knows. Reviews make my world go round :)