Shattered Hearts

Chapter 3: Remembrance Part 1

Author's Note: I've read everyone's reviews, thanks to all. I went on ahead and made some changes to previous chapters, so I hope everyone is happy with my story.

Oh, one more thing this chapter is what Claire is thinking / remembering (whatever). And it explains what happened and why she came.

Disclaimer: Same as always, I don't own Resident Evil, it belongs to Capcom.

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Silence beckons across the empty land, as Claire Redfield watches the sunset.

She's been home for half a year since that incident on Rockfort, but she can't get what happened then out of her head. When the sun finally goes down, she gets up and walks back inside the house. Turning on the lights in the living room, Claire sits down on the couch, sighing to herself.

To be honest, it has been real lonely around the house, since everyone was busy. Chris was out on some kind of trip somewhere, and wouldn't tell her where he was going, or when he'd get back. Jill, Barry, and Rebecca were working together with their own little things, probably deciding what to do next. The only thing Claire didn't know was what Leon was doing all this time; she hadn't heard from him in 2 months, and it was really starting to worry her.

Claire leaned back on the couch, and shut her eyes. At least when its this quiet, she could rest peacefully without any noise. When she was just about to go to sleep, the phone in the kitchen starting ringing loudly waking her up.

'...What is it now?' she thought while walking towards the phone.

"Hello?"

On the other end was a brief silence, which worried Claire. It reminded her of those horror movies, where the killer was watching the victim through the window as they freaked out on the phone, scary.

"H-Hello?"

"Ms. Redfield correct?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"That is not of your concern, at this moment Claire..."

The voice was somehow familiar, as if she heard it before but just couldn't tell from where. It was a strong and deep voice, which sounded like it had some power behind it.

This was making Claire very nervous.

"What do you want from me?"

"Nothing really, just wanted to inform you about a certain friend of yours who might be in grave danger, that's all."

"Who!? You had better not do anything to Sherry!"

"That girl is another matter, the Birkin child is under close surveillance"

"What!!?"

"There's no need for worry Ms. Redfield believe me, she's in good hands. On-"

"That's bullshit!"

"Such language, Claire do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"My mom's dead"

"Pity, your partner will be too if you don't hurry to Paris."

"What- who?"

Just then the phone went dead, and Claire was left to think about what action to take.

She stood there for a moment, deciding what to do, then hung up the phone. That guy scared her, but also gave her some information that she needed. Not thinking about it anymore, Claire rushed down the hallway to her room.

Opening the door, she ran towards her closet and rummaged through it. Finding the case she was looking for, she turned in sideways and opened the locked box. Pulling a handgun out of the case, she throws it back in her closet. She walked over to her dresser and pulled the top drawer open. After digging in its contents, she grabbed out a couple magazine clips and placed them in her pockets. Claire then opened the drawer below the top; reaching inside it she pulled out a knife and bullets to another gun. While running down the hall, she slipped them into her side pack, taking a left turn down the stairs towards the garage.

Entering the garage she quickly looked around in the dark, spotting her motorcycle. Climbing on she started the engine and opened the garage door leading into the outside world of the small suburbs of southern Beauvais. The hideout was almost directly on the border of Beauvais and Paris, so it would be a short drive, considering how fast she drives. The road was damn near empty; there were a few cars but not many, which made it easier on Claire to get there.

Upon arriving to the mansion's barred fence, Claire shut off the engine, and climbed off of the motorcycle looking at her options. The fence before her was tall with sharp points at the tips and seemed to surround the mansion. Being made of steel and iron, she knew that if she was to climb over, she might risk an injury and if one of those iron points were to puncture her skin it would become infected; in which she didn't want it to happen.

Claire began to look around the premises for anything she could open the lock with. Walking a few feet from where she stood, she noticed one of bars off of the fence lying on the ground. She picked it up and examined it; the rod was basically still intact, only a little rusty, it still had the sharp point just duller than it should be. Wiping the rust off her hand, Claire lowers the rod and drags it across the ground making tiny sparks.

'... Sure... like I'm going to just bang this against the gate and it'll open.... Not goin' to happen...'

After dropping the useless iron rod on the ground, Claire walked back towards her motorcycle and opens the compartment under the seat, then closes it knowing there is nothing in there she needed. Sighing, she turns around glaring at the locked gate barring her path to the mansion. Claire then noticed that on the side of the fence there were enough bars missing that she could fit through. Pulling her gun out of her pack, she took the safety off, readied it and began to walk towards the opening.

For the moment, walking through the tall grass, which looked as if it hadn't been cut in months, Claire didn't seem scared, just nervous. The tiny noise her feet made while in the grass made her feel uneasy, so she quickened her pace to get to the patio. When she heard the familiar sound of boot on stone, she felt better knowing what a human sounded like. Claire now stood in front of the mansion facing the door, which led in, and paused for a brief moment, steadying herself.

She reached out her hand to grab the knob firmly. '...It's just an empty house... there is a slight eeriness to it but nothing more...right? ...' Claire thought to herself, she had been in these situations before, one quite unpleasant experience in Raccoon city and another taken-prisoner-escapee type one on Rockfort island. Both times she was looking for her brother, and now... she had almost the same objective; she was looking for someone.

Opening the door, she looked around noticing that inside was in the same condition as the outside: old. The air in the room was thick and humid which made breathing just a little bit difficult. '... What a dump, it's still in one piece even if its held up by rotten wood...' she thought. Stepping forward in the dark caused dust to unsettle and begin to disperse. Claire slightly coughed fumbling blindly to find a light switch. After finding it she flicked it on and glanced around. At first it appeared broken down in the dark, but with some light shown on it, the room looked richer in a sense.

'... I guess darkness really does manipulate things... still, I don't feel comfortable here...oh well, I have to move on...'

After searching every room on the first floor that she could open without manual labor, Claire stopped in front of a door that seemed out of place. It didn't have any dust on it, and looked as if it had recently been used. '...That's odd...' she thought smelling the air. She grabbed the doorknob. Not really paying attention to the blood smear across the door, Claire opened it and was face-to-face with a familiar walking corpse reaching out to grab her.

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To be continued in Part 2

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