8. You or Your Memory

"Chris," Claire Redfield yelled loudly down the stairwell. "You can't get her back this way." She ran down the steps, taking two, sometimes three at a time, looking like she was dressed for war. An automatic shotgun was in her small hands, a M4 carbine strapped to her back, and a pink bandana wove through her long red hair keeping it out of her face. Her blue eyes pierced with worry as she met her brother's.

Chris shook his head. His face was long and disappointment embedded itself in every pore. He had failed Jill Valentine. He had failed the woman he loved. He had frozen when he saw the monster with her, paused, dropped the ball—and now Jill was going to die if he didn't find her. "I will get her back." He turned his back to her. "I can't have either of you helping."

"Steve has her," Claire said. "I can reason with him. He meant to grab me." She winced as she said the words, realizing she'd spoken Steve Burnside's name for the first time in years. He really was back, but somehow, though she'd dreamed of this day a thousand times, it felt more like a nightmare.

"Don't personalize the monster. He's a Tyrant, that's what he is."

"He's a scared boy trapped in a mons—"

"Enough, Claire, just stop it," Chris said harshly. Claire bit her lip, looking at her brother, stung by his words and his inability to see her side. Steve Burnside could be saved, if he would just see her point. He was still a human somewhere inside, he had to be. He'd said her name. "I love you too much for this," he added.

There was a pause and then she felt Leon's presence behind her. "Leon," Chris said. "Don't let her come after me. She's safer here, with you."

"Are you sure this is what you want to do, Chris?"

"Yes, just make sure she doesn't follow me."

Leon nodded his affirmation and Claire turned to him in disbelief then turned back to her brother. He started to walk down the path into the dark night and she took a step before Leon Kennedy's strong arms wrapped around her entire body, holding her back and removing the shotgun from her hands. "I'll scream," she spat, struggling as he subdued her.

"I don't care," he said. As if on cue, she started clawing at him, trying to push him away, trying to get to her brother as he disappeared into the rainy city streets on a certain death mission. She sunk her teeth into his arm, but he was wearing Kevlar and it barely made a dent. Then she started shouting, sending her heel right into his shin.

Leon grunted, but held fast. "Let me go," she breathed, thrashing violently. "I can't bury him, I can't bury him like my dad and mom, I can't bury him, I can't, I can't, I can't bury him, too much, I can't bury him Leon!" Suddenly, with this proclamation, she stopped struggling and her shouts turned into loud violent sobs that overtook her entire body. Leon still held her close, listening to her heartbeat. It was rapid, jagged, alive; fiery, like her personality. Inhaling he realized she smelled of roses. It was a nice, soothing smell. He squeezed tighter as she sobbed and took a hand to her hair, removing her bandana and letting the red strands fall into her face.

"It's okay, we aren't going to have to bury anyone today," he soothed, rubbing his hand on her head. She was still crying but her breathing was regulating and she was calming down. Her heartbeat had also decreased and become steady in his arms. "We aren't doing what he says anyway."

She pulled herself out of his arms and turned to him. She looked up. Tears were staining her cheeks and the florescent stairwell lights reflected them brilliantly. "We aren't?"

"No. We're letting him think he's alone, but we're going to tail him," Leon said, smiling. "If there's one thing I learned in the last few years, it's that being alone never works out well." His smile disappeared as he thought of Ada Wong's arrival and how she'd saved his life countless time in Pueblo, when he had thought he'd been alone and just lucky. It seemed both his bad luck and good luck was mostly linked to Ada Wong. He wondered if she were here, too, in the city. He bet she was, knowing that woman's penchant for trouble and complex missions.

She could tell he was thinking of Ada Wong. She looked at him curiously as he fell into a silence. "What was it like?"

He looked at her, confused, unsure of what she was asking.

"When you saw Ada alive again, in Spain, what was it like? I just want to know, because I think I'm going to see Steve alive again tonight and I think I'm going to have to kill him and I just want to know what it was like when you saw Ada alive again, in Spain."

"It was a punch straight to the gut."

She pressed further. "Who spoke first? And what did you say?"

"She said, 'Long time no see, Leon.' She pulled a gun to my head and that's what she said."

"Do you love her?"

He was quiet for a long time. Miraculously, Claire was understanding and didn't press the subject. She just let him stand there with his hand on his forehead, eyes closed, searching for an answer somewhere inside. Finally Leon found one. "No, Claire, I love the red dress. I love the memory. If it's even possible to be in love with a memory, as intangible as they are."

Claire grinned sadly. "It's possible."

"In my memory, Ada is untouched by Umbrella, by Wesker. She's strong. She's beautiful. She's fierce. She's my equal and she never tells a lie. But…"

"But what?"

"That's just a memory. It isn't real. There's a woman in front of me now that's all of those and more and she's real. I can touch her," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I can touch her hair. I can run my hands through it. And that trumps a memory, no matter how lovely that memory is."

"Leon," she whispered thoughtfully.

"I have to make a phone call to someone at the White House who can help our situation," he said, moving up the stairs and away from her. "Come back into the house for a few. I put a tracker on your brother's jacket. We can track him while I talk to Hunnigan and think of a game plan."

Note: I didn't get much attention for the last chapter, I'm hoping people weren't too frustrated with the Ada-centric scene! Please feel free to critique me if you don't agree with the path the story takes. Anyway, this is mostly fluff, but character development is apparently good and I should do it, right:) Also, just a thought, Leon may just love her memory, but isn't that often the same thing? Could he love Ada and Claire at the same time, but not know?