Author's Note:
Thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance for all chapters so far): random echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, diddly day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, Squall Leonhart, Mayaku, President Evil, ashford2ashford, The Elvish Vampire Seira, Felicia, Mayumi-H, Mossberg, Serena, Dragonchan, Lily, Reazher, Wesker, iMac722, Diamond Angel, Rayne18, Joanne Beverly, Neromancer 13, Misterbuu, Bloodlover, Steel Soul, Kenneth Sullivan, Agent X, kolld steel, tek, Silent Angel, Lotus, upchuck, Midori iro, John Damen, asian-regilante, and Rock Solid!
Thanks goes to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty-Five: Lotus, tek, Claire Burnside267, Joanne Beverly, SteelSoul, upchuck, BioHazard 101, Midori iro, John Damen, Diamond Angel, Serena, Squall Leonhart, asian-regilante, Rock Solid, and random echo!
On with the next chapter...
- Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You -
- By Brian Marcelo -
- brianmarcelo@hotmail.com -
- Rated R for certain mature themes -
- Reanimation -
- Chapter Twenty-Six -
***
She rubbed her eyes in confusion, wondering why everything she saw was in a blood-red color.
What the hell had happened?
Where was she?
And why was it so damn cold?
She slowly got off the cold metal table that had been her bed and looked around for a mirror, absently noticing that the reason she it was so cold was because she was nude.
As she picked up a hospital gown to cover herself she gasped as she saw her reflection in a mirror that she hadn't noticed before.
Her reflection looked so pale, and she had a huge gash on her abdomen that hadn't been there before. Moving closer to the mirror she noticed that the gash hadn't been cleaned; there was still blood, albeit dry, caking her ribs and stomach.
Then she saw it.
Her eyes...were different. Even though her vision was still shown in red she could tell that her eyes were not how they should be. She once had beautiful, blue eyes that sparkled no matter what the situation...
Now her eyes were lifeless, staring blankly at her with no emotion at all in them.
Just like all those zombies, no...people that she had killed during her time in Raccoon City and Rockfort Island.
She could still remember how empty their eyes had been before she pumped them full of lead, how they stared at her accusingly...
Without warning a torrent of memories started flooding into her head, one by one, piece by piece...
Chris...
France...
S.T.A.R.S...
Leon...
Steve...
Wesker...
knife...
cut...
pain...
hospital...
Leon...
pain...
lights...
pain...
surgeons...
love...
pain...
cries...
pain...
Steve...
Raccoon City...
Mr. X...
Birkin...
Chris...
betrayal..
hate...
Chris...
Alexia...
memories...
torture...
pain...
screaming...
love...
Alexia...
then silence.
Little did she realize that many of her memories were being twisted and rewritten as she stood there gazing at the mirror, dazed and confused...
***
"Chris? Wake up Chris..." Claire quietly said, with a hint of urgency in her voice.
"Wha..what is it..?" Chris said, yawning as he started to wake up.
"We're almost there...." she said softly, glancing out the window as she did so.
"Claire...? Is there something wrong...? We're just going to meet up with Jill and the others...you sound...sad though..." said Chris, a worried expression on his features.
"No...nothing's wrong Chris...I'm just...a little tired...that's all..." she replied, as a small smile appeared on her lips.
"Claire..." Chris said, staring at her, "Why are you lying to me?"
Claire let out a slight gasp, realizing that he was starting to sound...angry?
"I...I don't know what you mean-"
"You know damn well what I mean!" he replied back, as he grabbed her right hand roughly.
"Chris, what are you doing-"
"Something I should've done a long time ago..." he replied coldly, as he gave her a swift punch to her stomach, causing her eyes to bulge out in pain.
She whimpered as she tried to get her breathing back in place, finding it difficult with him still holding her hand roughly.
"Now Claire, I want you to stop crying over that Steve guy. I didn't go halfway around the world to rescue a whining bitch, alright?" he said, his voice taking a stern, brotherly tone.
Chris hated her...
She looked up at her brother, shocked at how he was now, but complied with his request. "Okay, Chris..."
Chris hated her...
"That's better..." he said, as he released his grip on her hand and patted her on the head.
Chris hated her...
Claire turned away from him as she looked out to the window, tears forming in her eyes, wondering what happened to her kind, caring brother that had never hurt her before...
Chris hated *her*!
***
Sighing heavily, she got out of bed, put on some decent clothes, and trying her best not to wake up her still sleeping brother, quietly crept out of her room...
Only to find that the hallway was empty.
Wasn't Leon supposed to open his door at the same time?
Leon was suppose to open his door in some big coincidence, slyly tell her that she looked nice, make her blush, flash his million-dollar smile at her, and offer to buy breakfast...and perhaps some French toast.
But right now Claire was standing alone in the hallway, feeling more embarrassed with each passing second.
After feeling a rumble in her stomach she decided waking up Leon would result in them getting some breakfast together, and maybe spend some quality time on the side.
As she was about to knock she heard a low groan followed by another, softer one, as if someone was in pain...
Could Leon be in trouble?
Did Umbrella find out where they were hiding, and harm him while they were all asleep?
Claire stopped her train of thought and let her instincts take over as she rammed the door in, preparing herself for an Umbrella soldier armed to the teeth, another nightmarish biomonster, or the possibility of being too late and seeing Leon half dead...
However, she did not expect to see Leon in bed with Rebecca Chambers crudely draped all over him, both of them looking back at her with perverse smiles on their faces, as if they had been expecting her.
She quickly backed out of the room in shock, unsure of what she was suppose to react or feel.
Didn't Leon love her?
What was he doing?
Didn't Leon love her?
Why were they staring at her?
Didn't Leon love her?
Claire had to place her back against a door as she slumped to the ground, a sharp pain suddenly growing in her chest...
Didn't Leon Love *her*...?
***
"You monster..." Claire shouted loudly, her handgun trained on Wesker, "Give me back Steve!"
To her surprise, Wesker laughed darkly, yanking roughly on Steve's chain as he did so.
"Why?"
Claire blinked; she did not expect to hear reply so simply. "Because you'll kill him!"
"So?"
"What do you mean by that?" she yelled back, growing angry with his replies, "He-"
"Hey Claire," Wesker said, sounding uncharacteristically chipper, "Didn't you already kill Steve before?"
There was a hush of silence as the words hit Claire like a ton of bricks. "I...wha-"
"Don't you remember, Claire? How you let him down? How you forced him to kill his own father, just to save you? How you let him get turned into a monster, while you managed to escape so that you could die another day?"
"I...I tried to save him..." she replied, her voice small and childlike, "we were both suppose to escape together..."
Wesker laughed at this with perverse glee as he yanked once more on Steve's chain.
"Did you notice that your precious Steve hasn't been speaking since you got here?"
Claire tilted her head as she gazed at Steve, realizing that he hadn't talked at all. Not even a single peep.
Why wasn't he talking?
To her surprise Wesker released Steve and pushed him towards Claire. "Why don't you take a closer look?"
Claire managed to catch Steve as he was about fall, holding him firmly in her arms. "Steve...?"
Her expression turned to fear as she looked as his face. His eyes were glassy, staring off far into space, as if he could see something that she could not. His mouth was moving, but the words that were coming out were barely audible.
What did Wesker do to him?
"Speak up Steve...I can't hear you..." she whispered to him softly, her fear growing by the second.
What the hell did that bastard do to *him*?
"Stay...away..." Steve quietly mumbled, as he pushed Claire away and curled up into a ball, "stay away from me..."
"What...?"
"Don't kill me again..." Steve whispered, his voice mixed with fear and anger, "don't kill me again...!"
Steve was blaming her...
Claire could only stare at Steve in disbelief as he continued his begging and pleading.
Steve was blaming her...
"Don't kill me again!"
Steve was blaming her...
"DON'T KILL ME AGAIN!"
Steve was blaming *her*!
***
She shuddered slightly, the familiar tightening of her chest coming back to her as she recalled those events from her memory.
Chris...her own brother...had struck her during her weakest moment. He called her a weak, whining bitch...
It didn't make sense...her brother had been so kind and caring and loving and protective and everything a brother was and more. The most dependable person she knew was Chris, but if he could suddenly strike at her maliciously, then who could she possibly trust...?
Steve...he blamed her for his death. The way he was acting...it was as if she had killed him. She had wanted to scream that it wasn't her fault, that he should stop staring so accusingly at her. He had kept on yelling, begging her to not kill him, all the way up until Wesker had stabbed her.
To her horror a deranged smile had appeared on Steve's face as he whispered "thank yous" when Claire had fallen to the ground, right next to him.
There she was, lying on the floor bleeding while Steve was right beside her, repeatedly thanking her for dying.
And then there was what happened in Leon and Rebecca's room...
She clenched her crimson colored eyes shut in anger as she thought about Leon and Rebecca...
How they stared at her.
How they smiled at her.
How they were *laughing* at her.
Of course they'd laugh, since she was the one foolish enough to believe his lies.
No one loved her.
Not Leon.
Did she love him?
Not Steve.
Or was it him that she loved?
Not even her brother, Chris.
He was disappointed with her...he had brought her up to be stronger...
It didn't matter though; she never needed love before. If it weren't for Steve, she would never be in the predicament she was in now. She wouldn't be so weak as to depend on love to make everything better.
She wondered why she cared when Leon whispered that he loved her...was it because she loved him back?
Love, a friend told her once while in college, was all a bunch of lies and pain. At the time she thought her friend was simply sad over heartbreak, but now...
Perhaps she had lied to herself by believing that she loved him back, only so she could soothe her pain.
Yes...it must have been a lie, since Alexia was all she needed.
It was Alexia who captured her and Steve when they tried to escape.
Even though she was just trying to go home...
It was Alexia who tortured her until she broke, breaking down all the barriers she had erected.
The pain was too much for anyone to endure...
It was Alexia who made her perfect.
As well as twisting everything she used to be...
She was stronger, faster, deadlier, and more powerful then she ever was before...
She never wanted any of that; she just wanted to live...
Claire Redfield was the ultimate tool of revenge for Alexia against Chris...
The brother who accidentally completed Claire's transformation into what she now was...
Claire smiled maliciously, still twitching from the effects of being revived so violently.
"Soon...they'll all be dead." she whispered softly, "I can't wait."
- End of Chapter Twenty-Six -
Sorry if the formatting is a little off, usually I only use txt as opposed to html but I needed to italicize Claire's memories so that no one would get confused.
Mmm, next I'll be writing an EVA one shot, featuring Shinji, Rei, lots of rain, and a box of milk chocolate cookies. *smile*
BTW, the italicized scenes are "reanimated" versions of previous chapters in this story. The first scene is from chapter one, the second scene is from chapter seven, and the third scene is from chapter thirteen. Just in case you didn't get it, Claire's memories are twisted because of Alexia, so no, Leon wasn't sleeping with Rebecca, etc.
In case some of you forgot, Claire has the T-Veronica virus because Alexia implanted her with it during their short time together in Antarctica. You didn't think that Alexia would simply glue her to the mansion with all that green stuff, did you?
I think this story is going to have about 20-25 chapters left to go. Scary, huh? In fact, I've already thought of a sequel to this story, since I have it all mapped out in my head. Time will tell, eh?
Once again, special thanks to Serena for being my beta reader. ^_^; She's a much better writer then me, I can assure you…o_o