Chapter 4: Before the worst.
~ Claire's POV ~
Yes, my memory is not back. No, I don't remember being with Alice. But, there's this soft feeling on my heart. This warmth sensation on my stomach, every time I caught her staring at me, with this slight smile she always portrays when she's looking at me.
Walking through Arcadia's hallways, I caught Alice's crestfallen walk. Is that a tear? I honestly hope not. She has something on her hand, twisting it, staring at it. I look at Chris, and he nods, starting to walk faster. I stop on my tracks and look at Alice. She glances back up at me and I smile softly "Hey." I say looking at her, with my eyes fixated on hers. She gulps and her eyes glisten with repressed tears. My heart skips a beat and Alice smiles a little bit twisting the elevating wheel of one of her guns on her hands. It's attached to a small silver chain, and she has it intertwined between her silk fingers. "Are you okay?" I say placing one of my hands over her shoulder as she's closer to me now. Shrugs and a couple of pierced lips respond to my question. "What is that?" I ask looking at her as she looks down at her hands "Uhm... Nothing, it's... Not important." She quickly slides it into her pocket and I sigh "You know you can trust me Al..." She looks away, biting her upper lip. Her eyes filled with tears. I drive her sight to mine by pulling her chin back really softly. On the spur of the moment, my heart breaks in tiny billions of pieces as Alice's tears fall slowly. My other hand drives its way to her cheek, cupping it and caressing her delicate, silky skin. She leans into my touch, closing her eyes as zillions of nerves' tips on her face go numb at my caress. I drive myself closely, my lips almost over hers, and my breath baths her face. I try to find her gaze with mine and I finally glance the big pools of bluish green I love to stare.
My lips rose hers, soft at first and needy at the end. My tongue softly parts her lips, finding the deep and humid cavity of her mouth. Her hands grab my elbows, pulling me closer and I hear her soft sobs under ourkiss, being repressed by our forbidden lips' dance. After what it seems a good amount of time she pulls away, her gorgeous eyes liketwo big falls, letting tears make their ways down her silken face. My brows furrow down and I can't help but feel like crying too. "What's wrong Al? Tell me." She stares at me, pressing her teeth together. Sucking in a good chunk of air, she finally opens her. mouth to talk "Today." She whispers. I frown, staring at her "Today it's our anniversary, Claire." She takes off of her pocket the small chain and holds it in front of our faces "I gave you this. It meantthat... It doesn't matter how, far we can be, I'll be always fighting to protect you..." She takes in more air and continues "This was the first tommy-gun's elevating wheel I taught you to shoot. You only shot with a ." She sighs and looks away "I found it on the beach before you attacked me." I gulp, looking at the familiar object in front of my face.
My hands make their way through the silver chain and I softly trace its way down the small piece of metal. I take it from her hands and place it on my palm. I look at it and then back at Alice. She stares at my hand, and I sigh. "I... I remember this. I was, on the beach. I was being dragged by these people when in the middle of the wrestling to free myself, it fell from my neck... I..." My eyes squirm together and I look at her "I remember this, Alice, feeling like I lost something really important from myself, like if I would-" I stop and look at her with tears in my eyes "This... I, I remember I was trying to find something that I've lost, and I couldn't. I couldn't find it because I didn't know what it was." I state looking at her, and her eyes get filled of hope and acute fainted smile gets drawn on her lips. I look at her unaware of the tears falling from my eyes. She wipes them and kisses my forehead soft and quick, taking in my scent.
I look at her and smile a little. "Alice?" She looks at me, nodding "Build me a home. When this is over... Build me a home... Let's... Let's have a life together." She looks confused at me "I'm not, quite following your lead here Claire." She says looking at me "My memory is slowly coming back, but I know it'll come back... slowly... But it will." She smiles and looks down "Claire... I don-" Her voice is cut off by Chris' footsteps coming closer. I sigh and look down.
"I found something, Alice... You might wanna come and see." His raspy voice cutting the hallway's deep silence. I look at her and she puts a hand on my shoulder and ghostly caresses it with her thumb "Turn around." She says looking at me. I obey at her and turn around, giving her my back. Pulling my hair to a side, she leans into my neck, pressing her lips against it really softly. I gulp, having a hint of memory back. I just see myself sleeping on my car, with someone behind me. But that's it. That's all I can remember. "Give me the elevating wheel..." She says with her voice filled of love, kindness and caring. When I hand it to her, she places it around my neck. I smile, looking down at it and roll it between my fingers. It feels good. I feel complete. This small but lightly heavy piece of gun's engine makes me feel complete again. Makes my heart beat fast and steady, almost stomping against my ribs. She kisses my cheek "We gotta go." She says starting to walk behind Chris, who is leading the way. I smile a little looking at Alice's back.
We hadn't seen it coming. To be honest, after Alice's fight with Wesker, I utterly thought Umbrella Corporation was over. But here we are again. Struggling to survive. I caught the glance of Alice wrestling with a blonde girl on the very other side of the boat. I try to run to help her, but I have to watch mine and Chris' back too. So I stand there, watching all the survivors & friends trying to escape of the rain of bullets and the surprising webs that Umbrella's military guys were shooting all around.
All of a sudden, I find myself trapped under a huge piece of metal. I stare down at it, when I recover from the numbness that this explosion caused. I look around and see one of the plane's falling and sliding all its way over the boat surface. My eyes caught a familiar human form, running away from it. With desperation, I look around and try to find Chris. He's unconscious a few feet away from me. "CHRIS! CHRIS!" But it's useless. The big metal engine explodes and Alice disappears from my sight. Between all the noises, and all the people screaming and crying around, the fear and the pain of losing Alice makes me go numb and I find myself shocked.
I have no idea where all of this strength had come from, but I manage to put this big piece out of my legs. I check on them, with a quick glance to make sure I'm complete. In one quick jump, I'm on my feet and running to the other side of the boat. Someone caught me midway and drags me "LET ME GO! PLEASE! NO! LET ME GO!" I kick and wrestle but it's useless. Chris puts me in front of his eyes "WE GOTTA GO CLAIRE. NOW!" I stare at him, shocked with my eyes burning with tears. "I don't know if she's alive Claire. We gotta leave before they catch us!" As I shake my head, he kneels down and grabs me by my legs as he throws me over his shoulder. I keep looking down, shocked. He runs to the basements, finding one of the helicopters remaining there. He puts me down and I see K-mart running to me. I pull her into a hug, holding her against me. I kiss the top of her head, caressing her long fall of golden hair. "We gotta leave girls, hurry up." I jump next to Chris, as a co-pilot. He starts the engine and K-Mart closes the back door. I stare down at my hands, holding back the tears.
The fact that I can't remember what Alice and I had, and that I just lost her overwhelms me. Everything is going to hell and I don't think I want that. Hell, I would rather die myself than let Alice die. I don't think this is something I'm gonna cope with so fast. Chris looks at me, once the helicopter is up and far from Arcadia's sight.
He gently places one hand on my knee and I broke down crying, bending over my legs as I grab my face to cry it out. I've just lost her, forever. She wasn't immortal anymore. She didn't have her powers. Therefore, there was no chance she was alive...
~ Alice's POV ~
Arcadia was easier to break into than what we actually thought. While we walk, I cannot help but to stare down to the small object between my hands. This small object is a piece of a tommy-gun's engine. An elevating wheel. The very first one I taught Claire to shoot. It's attached to a thin silver chain, turning this small engine piece into a cute necklace. I gave it to her 19 months ago. As a symbol of our love. "Hey" she says, looking at me, while a furtive tear rolls down my cheek. I wipe it away, scared of her seeing me cry. How's she gonna think I'm gonna be able to protect her when I'm crying at every corner? I mentally slap myself and look right back at her while she gulps at my sight. I look at her, fighting the urge to grab her between my arms and kiss her eternally. But instead, I just smile at her, feeling my heart break into a zillion pieces. Her hand lies gently over my shoulder and I fixate my eyes on the necklace I'm holding between my calloused hands. "What's that?" Her concern is genuine, but I can't tell her what actually this is. I think it's a very private thing of us she's not ready for. So I just shrug and pierce out my lip a little and place the small necklace on my pocket.
"You know you can trust me Al…" I look away, unable to answer to that statement. I know I can trust her, and I trust her with my own damn life, but right now, it's so hard to see her so scared and terrified at her lack of memory that my heart is unable to cope with that. But she has to be the sweet person I'll always love and drive my face to look at her by softly using three of her fingers on my chin to make me turn and stare into those pools of green. I stare into her eyes and realize her pain is being held trying to make me feel better. Her soft hand makes its way to my cheek, while thousands of my nerves' tips drive insane and send butterflies to my damn stomach. My eyes letting tears fall, while I lean into her hand's soft touch over my pale skin. She leans in, staring right at me. I could feel her breath bathing my face with its hotness. When our eyes meet, she roses my lips, soft and delicately, making this kiss really soft. Somehow along the way, Claire managed to turn this kiss into a passion dance between her lips and mine, her tongue parting my lips and sliding inside my humid cavity. I start sobbing, into the kiss. My heart is utterly broke right now. I can't cope with everything this is developing like, and it's out of my control. My hands find her elbows, trying to hold Claire on her place, while I suck her tongue into my mouth, moaning a little, unable to tell if it was an aroused moan, or a pain moan.
After a good amount of time, I pull apart, staring at her with tears falling through my eyes, right down to the floor. She sighs and I gasp for air as I look at her "What's wrong Al? Tell me" Her voice is begging me to confess the reprised feelings I have, but I'm not sure if I am even able to put voice for them.
I swallow for a good chunk of air, staring at her. "Today." I whisper, and she looks puzzled, but I nod, letting her know I'll continue. "Today it's our anniversary, Claire." Taking the small necklace out of my pocket, I hold it in front of our faces looking right at her "I gave you this. It meant that... It doesn't matter how, far we can be I'll be always fighting to protect you..." I swallow for more air, trying to find strength on every gasp "This was the first tommy-gun's elevating wheel I taught you to shoot. You only shot with a ." I sigh and look away "I found it on the beach before you attacked me."
She gulps, looking at the familiar object in front of her face. Her hands make their way through the silver chain and she softly traces its way down the small piece of metal. She takes it from my hands and places it on her palm. "I... I remember this. I was, on the beach. I was being dragged by these people when in the middle of the wrestling to free myself, it fell from my neck... I…" Her eyes squirm and she stares at me, trying to puzzle all of her memories together "I remember this, Alice, feeling like I lost something really important from myself, like if I would-" She stops and her eyes look right at me "This... I, I remember I was trying to find something that I've lost, and I couldn't. I couldn't find it because I didn't know what it was." She states looking at my filled of hope eyes. A cute fainted smile gets drawn on my lips. While she stares at me, tears begin to fall, and find their way down my cute lover's face. My hands reach them on time, and wipe them quickly enough for her to know I'm gonna be always here, ready to catch all and each of the tears her eyes are gonna expel.
She looks at me with a corny smile on her lips "Alice?" I nod at her voice, looking right at her beautiful face "Build me a home. When this is over... Build me a home... Let's... Let's have a life together." I look at her, puzzling her words on my brain. "I'm not, quite following your lead here Claire." "My memory is slowly coming back, but I know it'll come back... slowly... But it will." I smile widely and look at her "Claire... I don-" My voice is cut off by Chris' footsteps coming closer. Claire sighs and looks down as his interruption cut our corny & sweet future's planning moment.
"I found something, Alice... You might wanna come and see." His raspy voice cutting the hallway's deep silence. She stares at me, and my thumb ghostly caresses her shoulder as my hand is placed on top of it. "Turn around" She obeys me, and turns around. My free hand finds its way down her nape, pulling some strands of red hair away. I lean in, smelling pure Claire on my way down to her neck. When I finally reach my desired place, I softly let my lips press against her silky skin, like many other times I did before. Her breathing gets caught and right there I know she got a hint of memory back from all the times I did this to wake her up when we were sleeping together on her Hummer.
"Give me the elevating wheel..." I whisper with my voice filled of love, kindness and caring. When she hands it to me, I place it around her pale neck. I can tell she's smiling while she plays with her necklace. I lean in to kiss her cheek as my heart grows bigger on my chest after this small moment we shared together. "We gotta go" I whisper to her, while I start leaving. I know she's staring at me. She always does.
Seriously?! Jill Valentine under Umbrella's mental control?! This is unbelievable and quite shocking. The strong, honorable and stubborn Jill who didn't like to follow orders was now under mental control. Shooting all of my ammo's, I stare all around, looking for a solution for this. Or whoever's guilty. But there's no more than Umbrella's puppies doing what they're best at. Killing innocent people. I stare at the huge piece of shit trying to put me to sleep, and shoot one unerring release of my coins collection. Score! The pilot dies and the whole plane begins to fall and starts sliding over the whole surface of the enormous Arcadia's deck, coming right at me. My eyes go wide and I start running. My muscles are sore and I can feel my legs burning at the velocity of my run. My throat hurts as I desperately gasp for air while I run. I glance a sight of Claire on the floor, laying under a piece of plane, looking right at me. Her eyes are filled with pain and fear as she tries to move but it's useless. When I look back in front of me all I see is the blue deep ocean. But at the moment I'm about to turn to the other side, to run away from the imminent death that's anxiously waiting for me to fall between her arms, to drag me somewhere I'm not quite sure I wanna go to. But the huge plane explodes, and I fall to the wide and rough blue ocean. My back hits the water surface, and everything is black all of a sudden.
Claire images pass in front of my eyes. All the people I knew or once did, come to my mind and every memory I once jealousy kept on my the back of my system starts to show up in front of my eyes. Everything seems to be peaceful, and for a second I believe I died. But... All of a sudden I remember Claire. And her accurate way of making me feel the same way... But, is she alive? Is Claire fighting? Is she okay? Is she in utter pain and deadly laying under a piece of metal?
Claire... I hope you're okay...
A/N: Okay, I wanna say 2 things: 1- Don't hate me, I swear it gets better. 2- A warning, from this chapter further, there'll be plenty (and Literal) spoilers from Resident Evil Retribution. Which in my opinion was amazing, a blast, an exploding sensation of colors, action and badassness. So in case you had doubts on watching it; don't freaking hesitate AND GO WATCH IT! Although, I hope it was worth the waiting. It really took me quite a good piece of brain to develop all these ideas. But I got to do it! And it turned out the best way I could have ever imagined. Stay tuned! Will update as soon as I can if not Saturday. ;)