Chapter Twelve

Morning dawned with a blush of red and pink across the western sky. Claire had returned to the campsite where she'd been turned into a frog – her hope was that somehow another frog would turn her human again. Instead she got there and crawled into a burrow, too exhausted to so much as twitch a webbed foot.

But now it was morning, and after a scant hour of sleep, she heard the murmur of a human voice. She lifted her head, canvassing the clearing.

What she saw made her heart sore. Leon S. Kennedy. His light brown hair was wind tousled and he was leading a black chocobo across the clearing. He appeared to be talking to the bird.

Then he crouched down, dusting his fingers across the grass. "Claire and that pointy-toed bastard came this way," he muttered. He cocked his head to the side, drawing his Desert Eagle.

Claire checked to see what the danger was, and saw – to her horror – three swaying frogs. Blast them! She thought. Quick, hurry.

"Just frogs," Leon muttered. "My spider-sense is failing me." He holstered his gun. One of the frogs darted forward.

Claire hopped out of her hidey-hole. Oh, no you don't!" she thought. She tackled the attacking frog, slapping it as viciously as she could. In response, it leapt backward, falling in line with the other frogs.

Leon looked over. "Frog-fights, that's just terrific." He put his hands on his hips. "Can't you amphibians take it someplace else?"

In response two things happened. One frog attacked Claire; another attacked Leon. And Claire turned into a human girl and Leon turned into a frog.

"I'm saved!" Claire squealed in delight. "Leon, watch out for the . . ." she fell silent, realizing what had happened. "Don't worry. It doesn't appear to be permanent. Although I've been a frog for the better part of a day –"

The Leon-frog was staring at himself incredulously. Before he got over his plight, the frogs attacked again. This time Claire was turned back into a frog. She let out a mental moan and attacked the frog, hoping that touching it would turn her back. No such luck.

Thus began a frog-fight. Claire and Leon alternated between human and frog form, and the Touch Me's devilishly attacked. And they were being joined by more of the frogs. Claire went from frog to human to frog to human more times than she could count. Then, in a near lull, both Claire and Leon were human.

Leon swung her onto the chocobo and mounted it himself, and they took off.

"Holy hell," Leon said when they were a good distance away. "I now have something I hate more than crocodiles, and if I see Rebecca in the not-too-distant-future, she'll go naked or change."

"Why?"

"She's wearing a frog suit," Leon said. Then he hugged her. His arms were strong and warm, but the embrace wasn't sexual in the slightest. It was a good-to-see-you hug, and it made Claire's heart stutter with a longing for something more.

She leaned back into his arms. "Thanks for the save, Kennedy."

He laughed. "Not so much of a save. I almost think fighting a Tyrant is easier."

"It is," Claire said. "But supposedly ribbons protect you from getting turned into a frog." She thought about Vincent and felt a pang of guilt for the comfort she was taking from Leon's embrace. She pulled forward, making it look like she was petting the chocobo. "So where did you get her?"

"Borrowed with intent to return . . ."

"Stolen?"

"Yep."

She patted his leg. "It'll be okay."

Leon cleared his throat. "Speaking of okay, how are you?"

"Good." She shrugged. "I got caught by . . . Vincent. But we found a town of zombies. Cleaned it out – you'll never believe how good of a shot he is – and then we came here to take care of Dr. Hojo. But he decided to go for help."

"And you didn't want to go?"

"Right. Umbrella can't be allowed to get a threshold grip on this planet." She quickly explained about the base and the security.

"I might have an idea on where the bolt-hole is," Leon said. He turned the chocobo around and they started back toward the beach. "I passed this weird hole in the ground when I was following your tracks."

"The Temple of the Ancients was there," Claire said. Then slapped a hand to her forehead. "Umbrella loves stuff like that."

They reached the Temple of the Ancients crater by mid-afternoon. Leon swung off the chocobo, scanning the area. "There don't appear to be any frogs, but keep your eyes open."

"Right," Claire swung off as well. She dusted off her pants and stretched. Leon appeared to be hypnotized, he stared at her, mouth agape.

"What?" Claire asked, suddenly freaking out. Had her time as a frog left some permanent disfigurement?

Leon shook his head quickly. "Nothing. You just look really good." He rubbed the side of his face. "Very Arabian."

Claire remembered that she was wearing Jasmine clothes and blushed. "Thanks." She checked the Griffin, suddenly thankful that she'd taken to carrying ammunition rather than waiting for Vincent to reload for her. "Vincent picked it out," she said. "I guess he likes red . . ." her voice trailed off. Ada Wong wore red. Suddenly she wished that the outfit was blue or pink. At least then she would be more confident that Leon liked it because it looked good on her and not because he might be imagining it on Ada.

Leon frowned. "What's the deal with Vincent?"

"No deal." She swung over the edge of the hole and started climbing down, using vines as support. Leon moved to another series of vines and started down without a word.

The soil was rough and rocky and the vines were old and sturdy. It wasn't hard to descend, although Claire had a sinking suspicion that going up would be much more difficult. Well, unless they were being chased by something. If that was the case, she would be able to climb really, really fast.

And hopefully there wouldn't be any frogs at the top when she got there. Although, now that she was thinking about it, it would be kind of funny if a Tyrant got turned into a frog. She laughed at the thought, caught a bad vine and fell ten feet before managing to get a good grip.

"You okay?" Leon asked.

"Uhh . . . fine, besides pride," she said. "At least Vincent didn't see me."

"Vincent again . . ." Leon muttered, voice darkening. Then his vine snapped and he fell several feet before gaining a new purchase.

"You okay?"

"Besides pride," Leon answered.

"Guess it's a good thing Ada isn't here then," Claire said.

"I'm more worried that you're here," Leon said after a second. "Ada already thinks I'm a bumbling idiot."

"You're not," Claire said. "You're one of the coolest, most talented people I know besides –"

"Vincent?" Leon hissed.

"Ahh . . . no, Chris actually. I don't think anyone is better than him when it comes to grace, poise, and ass-kicking ability. He'd never get turned into a frog. He'd turn them into toe-jam."

"Right . . ." Leon let go and dropped the last five feet. "No one can beat Chris Redfield."

Claire dropped, hit uneven ground and ended up on her butt. "Right. Chris is the coolest. Hands down." She pushed herself to a standing position. "Let's look around."

There were eddies of green lights seeping from the ground at points, like a mist. And glittering in one of the points was a silvery orb. Claire picked it up. "Materia," she said. "Supposedly with this stuff anyone can do magic." She stuck it into the slot on the Griffin. "And this is a materia slot, when you use it, it makes the materia grow and eventually it will divide."

Leon smiled, a small upward quirk of his lips that bloomed into a full smile. "I'll keep my eyes open for more."

"You do that," Claire said. She stepped forward just as a wave of green mist spiraled from the ground. The mist enveloped her, and she could hear echoes of a long past conversation. A man's voice, deep and forbidding. Images of a silver-haired, black cloaked individual flickered before her eyes. He turned, eyes mako-green. In his hand was an orb of black materia.

"So you're the one Hojo picked . . . I'd heard rumors through the Lifestream. Felt a quickening." A bitter twist of lips. "But I'd rather stay dead than be reborn as a hapless child."

Then the mist was gone and she was left blinking, staring into Leon's piercing blue eyes. "I'm okay," she said. She swallowed hard, chasing the visages of the nightmare away.

"What happened?"

She shook her head wordlessly. "Don't know, but I see the bolt hole." She pointed at a nearly completely obscured hatch. "Ready to visit Umbrella?"

"Yeah."

Without another word they pried the cover off (thankfully Leon had the foresight to bring a crowbar . . . )