Don't know what else to say owo Bare with me while I figure how to organize how I'm doing these.

Short Ficlet of the young Redfield siblings.
The prompt for this was a cute bit of fanart of Chris and Claire as children.
(If anyone in the future would like to give me prompts and/or a set of characters, I'd love to work off of it.)

Sub-Title: N/A

Characters: Chris Redfield, Claire Redfield

Genre: General/Angst


The teen sighed, looking at the youngster surrounded by fallen leaves. How she'd managed to get this far into the wilderness was unknown to him - given her bravery, she was most certainly a Redfield.

The camp councilors were useless. They'd given up trying to locate his little sister after a mere half hour, while it took him only ten minutes to find her trail.

It helped that she responded to him calling her name, when she appeared to have completely ignore the older members of authority pleadingly yelling for her.

She'd been crying. The tearstains down her cheeks were still fresh, and her eyes still red. Even looking up to him, she sniffed every so often, trying to wipe her nose with the back of her hand each time.

"Can you walk, Claire?"

His younger sister stayed silent, looking down to her feet with her arms crossed over her knees. Chris knelt down in front of her, resting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Claire, I'm not mad at you, okay?"

Worried sick, yes, but not mad. Given the events of the last few months, and the own problems he was having trying to adjust...

This whole summer camp was part of that. Despite his best efforts, Chris himself couldn't control his own emotions, snapping over the smallest things. Even though just in his teens, he'd been in such a rage at one point he'd broken one of the doors off its hinges.

His little sister had become withdrawn and quiet with everyone except for him. He'd spent countless nights holding her as she cried, begging for him to get mum and dad to come home. He knew she understood it was impossible, but her naive heart still tried to convince her they had just gone on a long vacation because she'd been bad.

Their Aunt and Uncle had sent them both to this place at their wits end. They loved their niece and nephew dearly, but the two broken children were currently just too much for them to handle.

He wanted to grow up. He wanted to be able to look after her, fend for them both. She was all he had, and the accident only made him more protective of his little sister. He had to be papa wolf. It was his job to protect her.

Everyone else was... Useless. He thought she'd be safe here with so many eyes, but she'd slipped out from under their supervision as easily as she could tie her shoelaces.

"I don't want to go back."

He grimaced. "Why'd you run off, sis?"

Claire glanced up to the trees. The branches were covered in leaves and buds fully in bloom, blocking out the glare of the harsh sun. Only small rays of light peaked through the canopy, coursing over the ground in intricate patterns.

"If I stayed..." She began slowly, lowering her gaze as she continued. "I was gonna punch Meagan's face in."

He snorted. That was his little sister alright. Although before all this her nature was well tempered and sweet, her heartache had brought out something simply dubbed as the 'Redfield Rage'. "Why's that?"

"She's a bitch." She hissed, slapping the leaves beside her.

"Claire!"

"She is!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, balling both her hands into fists. He leaned back as she swung violently at the air in front if her. "She was saying things about mum and-!"

"You're right, Meagan's a bitch." He cut her off, seeing new tears begin to form at the corner of her eyes. He smiled, grabbing her wrists and bringing her up to stand. "You should have stayed back and punched her, I could have held her for you!"

Her giggling eased the tension. She at least remained easy to amuse. She threw her arms up, wiggling her fingers to ask to be carried. "Wanna when we get back?"

He laughed, kneeling back down with his back to her. It took her only a moment to hop on his back, more than appreciative of the offer of a piggyback ride. "Better not," he supported her legs, quickly mapping the trail out in his mind. "They'll suspect us! But I'll catch a frog later and put it in her bed. Does that sound better?"

The little Redfield kicked her legs happily, continuing to giggle. "Yes!"

She tightened her grip around his neck, resting her chin on his shoulder and humming as she continued to swing her legs gently. "Love you, big brother."

"Right back at ya, sis." He smiled, keeping a close eye out for the trail path that was somewhere around here. His little sister was unfazed, having complete faith in his navigation skills. "No running off again without me, okay?"

Claire nodded. The two began talking about all of the plans they had for when they got home, hoping to take full advantage of the remaining holiday they'd return to after this annoyance of a summer camp.