Chapter: 11
A/N: so I'm updating this right now since I probably won't be able to update this story again until next week, and I need to work some kinks out in the previous chapters, so please, bare with me guys. Gosh guys, I'm reading my previous chapters and the grammar is so poor, I don't know how any of you guys found my story to be up to par lol. There might be some changes in the plot from the previous but it's all so the story works out, hopefully in the end. If I do any major changes, I'll inform you guys :). I'm trying to get back my Wesker persona back at its fullest, played RE5 again so hopefully, it shows. As always, enjoy.
5 minutes into their continued journey, Claire felt defeated and sat down. The silence was cut every so often by the splashing of the sea water constantly reminding her of her current location. She sat cross legged on the floor, holding a small bag of almonds with a water bottle in her hand that Wesker harassed her to purchase at the airport.
"What did you first think of me?" Claire wondered out loud, popping almonds into her mouth after the statement, her eyes stared into space ahead of her and saw Wesker typing something on his phone, clearly unamused and seemed to disregard her question completely. She craved for a conversation in this deep hole of hell and frowned at him.
"What do you mean?" He finally hummed out.
"When you first met me, what was your impression of me?" He tapped his chin and was in deep thought. He sighed out, narrowing his eyes, digging deep into his brain for their first encounter.
"Well, my first impression of you, you seemed to be the one with much more maturity than your brother. Almost everyone described you to be very bright actually. You seemed more full of optimism than most people I've met in my life at the moment." He thought back, his voice low. He began to recall all the conversations he'd hear over of Chris drooling over his sisters successes and the constant achievements she'd have. Leaning his back over the counter he gave a short laugh at the memory. "Actually, more than anyone ever. Then I realized how alike you were to your brother in the sense of trying to be a hero on Rockfort island." His voice bitter with anger. "What got you thinking into going to some foreign place like that? All by yourself keep in mind." Claire tilted her head slightly to the right in thought and her brows furrowed. Her mind traveled back to her brother who would probably take a bullet for the girl before her ever getting in any trouble or hurt in any way.
"Chris is the only family I have left, I'm sure he'd do the same for me. I love him, so without a question, I'd risk my life to find him." Wesker nodded in deeper thought and leaned against the counter, looking down at Claire in pity.
"Love can only go so far." He had mockery in his voice.
"If you're ever capable of finding someone you love and can care for them as much as giving your life for them, you'll understand." Claire spoke to him in a soft tone, almost as if she felt bad for the man for once. Wesker scoffed and shook his head in disagreement. It was silent for 30 seconds until Wesker began to speak again.
"Why did you ask?" Wesker's eyes burned a bright red and his brow rose when he saw Claire's face brighten a glow with a small smile planted.
"I was just wondering." She paused and drank some more water before continuing. "When I met you, I thought you were the scariest guy I'd ever meet." Wesker smirked and shook his head.
"I wouldn't expect anything less." He gave a smug smirk, shaking his head once more.
"No but seriously, you're intimidating, even before the mansion incident. You've always seemed... Off."
"Just because I don't have pointless conversations with pointless people doesn't mean I'm off, Redfield." He bit out. Claire was taken back, confused, frowning at him.
"I didn't mean it like that Wesker." Her gentle innocent voice spoke, causing him to turn, looking at her in question. "I meant you just always kept to yourself, Chris would tell me how you would just do your work and be on your way, no talking, no interaction with anyone else other than work, and no social activities."
"Dear heart." He pinched his nose in annoyance and looked towards her, his face hard. "I wasn't at that establishment to make friends I was there to get my job done and so I did."
"But all by yourself all these years?" Claire asked, confused, tilting her head once again.
"When you've been accustomed to being alone, it's all you know. Attachment to people serves no purpose." He thought to himself how the only attachment he ever really had was with his late friend William Birken. He really never had the time to make attachments.
Claire leaned her head back against the wall and felt her eyes drift away looking at Wesker with a small smile feeling her eyes shut into a power nap only to be woken up by a small wave that hit the side of the ship. She awoke to see Wesker still leaned against the counter deep in thought looking at the ground, his jaw clenched tight and eyes cold. He almost looked like he was plotting murder.
"Something wrong?" His whole demeanor changed when she spoke and the air shifted to one that was less uncomfortable. He simply shook his head, not being much of a man with words and continued his philosophical session. "What happened after the mansion exploded Wesker?"
"You're a very curious woman." He commented. "Well, when something explodes, usually it leaves a trace of debris and smoke as well as-"
"And you're a smart ass." She snarked back, his eyes light with entertainment. Claire rolled her eyes looking at Wesker dull. "I meant with you, not the actual mansion."
"You should know this by now. Just like a magician, a master mind doesn't reveal his strategy." Claire sighed out and continued sitting across from the man, looking up at him every so often, picking at her shoes laces. "Redfield," Claire looked up to see his gaze fall on her, his expression was clear of any sign of malice and continued. "You're not stupid, when you get back to the states, go back to school. Given that you probably want to save the world and follow your brothers steps, as always, help the world by first educating yourself." He said gently, and it seemed too sincere. Claire, clearly fazed, looked at the man, the gears in her head were grinding to find words to use to respond.
"To be honest with you Wesker, it has came to mind, but I'm not so sure. Chris has pushed me to go back too, but I don't know. I don't feel like a degree is going to do much for anyone."
"You'd be smarter than half of the residents in America. And I'm sure the government pays for your tuition, no?" Claire thought back to her college years, her mind sparked with rigorous studying and the late nights that consisted of downing coffee drinks as if they were alcohol, cramming before a mid term or the week before finals.
"Yes, but that didn't include the loans I had to take out for my housing as well as coverage for my books. Whatever money Chris had left at the end of the month he'd send it my way." Claire smiled at the thought, recalling the small postcards attached, asking how college was, how much he missed her, as well as explaining how empty the apartment felt without her presence. "I had 2 quarters left to finish, the winter came and I got stuck in Antarctica. Seems like I just never got back into my routine after seeing what terror the world is actually in." Her voice was bitter, thinking to how her and Leon nearly escaped Racoon city and back to when Steve mutated before her, quickly retracting back to her current conversation. "I don't think I could ever live a normal life after seeing all of this."
"Of course, being exposed to such things can leave someone traumatized."
"You didn't hear a single word I was saying did you?" Claire shook her head, her voice filled with frustration. Wesker gave her a side glance and crossed his arms across his chest giving out a grim sigh. "I don't think I could ever go back to how things were before because I'd be living in ignorance. I'd be just as bad as you." A mirthless laugh came from Wesker's lips and rolled his eyes.
"Ignorance is a blessing to some. Maybe you'd be better off just living a simple life dear heart." Claire crushed her water bottle in frustration and threw it across the room. Wesker's eyes followed it as it rolled across the room swaying back and forth until it came to a complete halt."Don't hurt yourself. I'm just trying to look for your best interest in mind, my love."
"Don't you think I've tried living a normal life." She sighed out in defeat, remembering the sleepless nights she'd have in her apartment before deciding to move back in with her brother. All the hellish nightmares and constant waking up to the slightest movement left her with constant insomnia. Her face scrunched up and looked up at the blonde. "Stop telling me those things too. They're getting annoying."
"What things?" Wesker asked innocently, she rolled her eyes, irritated, ready to blow up in his face.
" 'Dear heart, my love' all those words!" She scolded, he simply gave a emotionless smile, one that did not touch his eyes. He enjoyed seeing her frustrations, it combated perfectly with his constant tranquillity.
"What do you prefer then?" He spoke softly to her. He gave her an option which was something that rarely happened, feeling foreign to the young girl causing her frown grew deeper.
"My name is Claire and that's what I want to be called." And he nodded his head and continued to hold onto the counter.
"Very well, Claire." He made her voice sound sensual and that cause her to turn red from anger and embarrassment. She much preferred dear heart or anything else other than her name now and shook her head.
"What the hell is your problem?" He laughed and sat across from her, being her equal now in a sense.
"I'm just following what you're telling me to do, Claire." He said softly, again the same sensual sound, causing Claire gritted her teeth. He knew exactly how to get under her skin and he seemed to be savoring every moment of it, relishing the reactions he was getting.
"Stop it." She spoke, her body burning with anger.
"Stop what?" He chuckled and leaned forward and stared at her curiously. She glared at him, biting on her tongue. "I can't stop what I don't know." She was beyond frustrated, angry and without thought she flung herself to push him to the ground and started releasing all hell on him, or what she had in mind. Instead he pinned her against the wall, having her hands above her head and legs pinned securely down as well.
"You're a real hot head, you know that, right?" He scolded, his heated breath glided from her ear to her neck, making her shivers coarse through her body. He leaned back looking at her with a frown in disapproval. "And here I thought we had gotten past this; moving forward. It seemed we were actually getting along. How unfortunate." He said in melancholy. She struggled against him only to get a tighter grip around her hands and saw a flash of red pass him, his eyes burning with a flame of distaste.
"Promise to behave for me, dear heart?" He smirked. Claire was clearly upset and made no movement to agree, her body convulsing with anger. He made a tch sound of disapproval and shook his head. "A beautiful girl, but no head on her shoulders. You really do enjoy to try my patience, don't you?"
"Let me go!" Claire gave an animalistic scream, scratching at Wesker's gloves.
"Not until you promise..." His calm voice hummed out. Claire stopped her struggle, narrowing her eyes on his.
"Fine." She spat out.
"Fine what?" Claire's hands started to numb from the cut circulation and continued to glare holes into Wesker.
"I'll behave." Claire's voice dripped with poison, but never the less Wesker let his grip loose on her.
"Good, now we can move forward," Claire rubbed her raw wrists and grimaced towards the blonde who simply stood up, shrugged, glancing at the red lining across both wrists. "And here I thought we would have built such a trust together with each other these past few weeks Redfield."
Claire shook her head frowning at Wesker. "Yeah I would have thought so too, if we were in hell." He chuckled darkly and shrugged once more.
"I could have done much worse."
"Are you saying I have a special place in your heart?" Claire said jokingly, giving a dry laugh, rubbing her wrist. There was a sting on contact which caused her to winch, standing up as well.
"Perhaps." Claire paused, her smile faded and eyes widened in surprise, looking towards the blonde tyrant who simply stood at the doorway waiting for her. This reminded her of the times she'd catch him staring afar from his office in her direction when she would go to meet Chris at the station. Her heart raced with the memory, and felt an uneasiness settle deep in the pit of her stomach.
"Wait, what?" She asked again just to confirm with herself that what she heard was true. Wesker glanced back at her, his face hard and a crease was planted I between his brows and his nostrils flared slightly, she knew well enough by now that this indicated he was beginning to get annoyed.
"Your brother shouldn't be far, dear heart. Shouldn't keep him waiting now should we?"
R/R