Claire 10:37 a.m.

I was sitting on the couch in Aaron's house. He was pacing back and forth and there wasn't anything I could do to calm him down.

"I just want my sister back in the house! I swear, I'm going to kill this lunatic!" My boyfriend thought out loud.

"Aaron, please," I got up and put my hand on the base of his neck. He sighed and cupped my face in his hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm just worried about her." He explained and then bent down and kissed me softly.

Is this how Chris acts whenever something is going horribly wrong? I…I never realized that someone could care this much about another person…

But, at the same time, I guess I did. I'd seen Chris horribly on edge when Leon was in Spain. He'd been so worried when the connection had been cut off by that psycho—I think that ordeal had been harder than any confrontations with Wesker.

I returned to my current situation.

Aaron had his face against my neck. He sighed and started to pull away, but I kept him there.

"It's going to be alright. You said the guy would bring her back, right? Helena's a feisty girl, and why would they save her just to…to force her later?" I asked him.

The doorbell rung, and I let Aaron go so he could answer it. The door opened to reveal Helena standing there, a man a head taller than her behind her.

That man…his eyes instantly found mine. They looked familiar, like I'd seen them before, but not quite in person. Like a picture…

"Hi," Helena said softly, holding an army coat closely around her. Krauser was embroidered on the breast pocket.

Krauser…Why does that look familiar? I know I've seen that before…

"Helena!" Aaron embraced his sister, holding her close. "I was so worried about you," he told his sister.

She patted him on the back. "I'm alright Aaron, Jack made sure of that."

Jack Krauser… Wait…

Leon was on my couch, looking down at the floor. Defeat was written all over his body language.

"He's gone." My friend told me.

I walked in from the kitchen. Leon had come to me a few days before, slowly slipping into depression. The government was helping him at all after one of his friends had apparently died in a helicopter crash.

"I'm here if you need to vent," I reminded him.

"You know, he didn't like me at first. It was Manuela who brought us together, I guess. And then…and now he's dead." Leon told me.

"Leon, I'm so sorry." I responded.

He scoffed. "That's all people can say, isn't it?" He asked me, getting off of the couch. He walked out of my apartment before I could stop him. I ran down the hallway after recovering from the shock. Down the flight of stairs because I knew it was faster than the elevator.

I could find Leon in the parking garage. But I was scared. Scare that he would do something completely and utterly stupid and Chris would hate me if he knew I could've prevented it. Hell, the government would probably hate me, too.

"Leon! Leon, please! Come back!" I yelled throughout the parking garage. I thought I saw a flash of black leather out of the corner of my eye. I turned around and ran after it, just to collide into a near solid wall of muscle in a faded blue denim jacket.

"Watch it," the man growled. He had blond hair, and crystal clear grey eyes.

And he looked exactly like the man in the picture of Jack Krauser Leon kept in his wallet.

"Oh, god. You're alive? Tell Leon!" I slammed my hands into his chest, which I think hurt me more than it did him.

He looked at me. "I can't do that, Ms. Redfield. This is for Leon." He told me, after helping me up. "Keep an eye on him for me, alright?" He asked, his back now to me.

I took a deep breath. "You could do that yourself, ya know. Just tell him whatever the truth is," I begged this man I didn't even know.

Silence for a moment; cold, steely silence. "I can't, Ms. Redfield. I have to leave. I have to get fixed." He walked away then, and it felt like he was leaving Leon in the dust with every step he took.

I snapped back to present day, in Aaron Harper's house, with his sister just returned and her savior, Jack Krauser, standing mere feet from me.

"Thank you," Aaron told him, his arm around his sister's shoulders. "If you hadn't saved her…"

Who knows what would've happened to her. I finished in my head.

"Anytime. Helena, if you ever need me, just give me a ring, you have my number." He told my boyfriend's sister.

I looked at Aaron. He was just absorbed in fidgeting about his sister.

"Air, I'm just going to leave now, alright? I want to give you two some time." I told my boyfriend.

He looked up at me. "Okay, Claire. I'll see you later, alright?" He came over to me and gave me a kiss on my cheek. "Thank you for being here with me," he whispered into my ear, causing me to shudder.

I smiled at him before I grabbed my bag from the coffee table. I opened the door and let Krauser go out first. I closed the door behind me as I stepped out.

"You," I said simply. "Again? You faked your death again?" I asked him.

He turned around and looked at me, recognition not in his eyes. "Excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb with me! You have to know…you faked your death in a helicopter I guess four years ago now. And you died last year in Spain! I mean, you have to be dead. This is a dream that I started having at the restaurant, and I'll wake up, and you'll still be dead." I told him.

Still no recognition. His mouth opened. "Claire, I don't know what you're talking about. I honestly don't. I barely remember anything. I just remembered you last night."

I could tell by the way he looked at me that he was telling the truth.

"So… you don't remember Leon?" I asked him.

"I don't think so. Does he have blond hair?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't really help you, does it?"

"Does he wear with gel or loose?" Krauser asked me.

"Loose? I don't know, he doesn't put…" gel? Blond? "Are you talking about Wesker?" I asked him.

His eyes went wide. "You know him too? I had a dream with him in it…I just can't remember anything." He explained to me.

My cell started ringing; I pulled it out to see that it was Leon calling me. "Just give me a sec, alright? I have to take this."

"Hi Claire!" Leon said on the other end.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked him.

"I have some news for you—are you sitting down?" He asked me.

"No, but I can take it." I told him.

"Sherry's with us. She's in the hospital." Leon told me.

"WHAT!? How long has she been in there? What the Hell, Leon? Why didn't you tell me? Is she alright?" I asked him, getting furious. No, I was already visualizing beating Leon to death with a baseball bat.

"She's stabilized now. We're taking her home in a few days; I'm sorry for not calling earlier, it's just so hectic and I was worried about her…"

"It's alright, Leon, I understand." I told him. I did. I just didn't like it.

"She'd really like to see you. She's actually been asking for you." Leon explained. "Do you think that you'd come to D.C.? I know your brother would like to see you, too."

I heard said brother say something in the background. I smiled a little bit.

In a much softer voice, "he was upset when you didn't say hi after Harvardville." Leon told me. "Alright Claire, talk to you later!"

"Bye, Leon, I'll try to book a flight," I told him.

"Thanks, bye!" He hung up.

I sighed and closed my cell.

"Leon…I know that name," Krauser told me, sounding so desperate. He put his hands in his hair. "Why can't I remember? Claire, what happened?"

"I-I don't know." I told him truthfully. Leon had never told anyone much about Krauser being in Spain. Just a bit about he'd been the one to kidnap Ashley in the first place. Other than that, we (Chris, Jill, Ashley, and myself,) knew nothing.

He didn't say anything. "It's…it's maddening; not knowing what happened. Not remembering who you really are; what you've done. How different you were before." Jack sighed and checked his watch. "I have to go…I hope your friend gets better." He told me. He turned to walk to his pick-up truck, but he hesitated. "What's your cell phone number?" He asked me.

I told him the number, and then he left. I had this hard, almost painful feeling in the pit of my stomach as he walked away.

Manuela 11:30 a.m. (Massachusetts.)

I stretched over my legs as Steve sat down on my bed.

"So what happened to that Nivans kid?" He asked me.

"Piers? Ms. Chambers patched him up." I sat up. "She asked me why I was there…she recognized me and…and that scared me. Of all the people, why her? Why was she there?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "The world has a funny way of working."

"Or the person controlling everything that goes on in our world just really sucks." I suggested.

"Have you ever realized that you and being a pessimist don't go hand in hand? Lighten up." He told me. "We only need so many bringer-downs in this house."

I looked up at Steve. His knee was up to his chin and he was looking down at me with his multi-shaded green eyes. His brown hair was still (and would forever be) slightly in his eyes.

"What are you thinking about now?" I asked him.

"Sherry," he answered. "It's not fair; that she had to leave and we get to stay."

I was silent and went back to my stretching. My thoughts wandered to my memories with Sherry. We hadn't always gotten along. I knew that Sherry was more liked; more cherished; by, well, everybody except Krauser and Kollin. Though, it's possible that that is even debatable.

Maybe not though; Kollin never liked Sherry. He tolerated being in her presence when Kate was there. Other than that, he treated Sherry with something close to cold disdain. It depended on the day.

"Sometimes that's just the way the ball rolls," I told Steve. "It goes under the stairs where it's hard to reach."

"But it's not impossible." He responded.

"Nothing is ever impossible." I got up and grabbed my purse from the top of my drawer.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked me.

"I'm going back to Ocean City. I want to go check on Piers," I explained.

"What? Weren't you just saying you were nervous about Chambers?"

"She's probably not there. It's been a few days, hasn't it?" I reminded him. "See ya 'round." I told him.

"Ella, are you seriously leaving?" Steve had gotten up and grabbed my hand. I turned and looked at him.

"Yes, actually. Do you have a problem with me leaving for a few days? Remember, it's to check on the guy you nearly killed!" I told him, poking him in the chest.

"Right…carry on then. I'll tell Wesker." He offered.

"You can if I don't see him on my way out. Bye Steve," I hugged him. "I'll be back in a few days."

"Be careful," he muttered into my hair. "If something ever happened to you…" he began, but stopped.

"I'll be fine." I told him, and left my room. My bag was already in the Jeep I shared with Steve.

I was about to go out the front when I felt a hand grab my wrist. I let out a yelp and turned to see Kollin.

"Where are you going?" He asked me.

"On a trip," I said cautiously.

"You shouldn't go anywhere; Wesker isn't back yet." He told me.

"I know. But here's a surprise—I'm old enough to make my own decisions." I placed my free fingertips under his, trying to pry his hand off my wrist.

He let go. "I'm sorry, Manuela." I looked into his eyes; he rarely said my full name. "Before Jack left, he made me promise to watch you."

I never knew that they had been friends like that. For Krauser to ask Kollin to watch me…he must've had an inkling that he wouldn't be coming back…

That almost made me stay. But something about Piers…that made me leave.

"Bye Kollin, I'll call later." I told the much older man. I walked out of the house, got into the Jeep, and left before I could change my mind.

Author's Note:

I think I might've made Manuela a bit out of character, but I haven't played the Darkside Chronicles nor am I energized enough to look up game clips. A thousand apologies if this is the case, and you don't like her that much.

Please, please, please review! I know people are reading, and I really do live for reviews!

~HolleringHawk65