Disclaimer: Resident Evil belongs to Capcom.

XVI

heartbroken

As she rode in the back seat, Claire couldn't pinpoint what was the deal of Leon's relationship with Ada Wong. She held back a sigh, deciding to look away and make sure no cars were following them. The paranoia was still creeping up in her mind, so she decided to keep it busy with other thoughts.

However, her brain worked oddly, because everytime she tried to recall these "other thoughts", it always led to that night in Racoon City. She fought it, trying to kick the horrible event to the back of her mind. During the years that followed the tragedy, she did this constantly. But things kept surfacing, and she found that thought to be the only constant thing in her life.

If it weren't for the events in Racoon City, she wouldn't have had met her friends. She wouldn't have started working in Terra-Save. For Claire, helping others seemed like the only good thing to do after everything she had lived.

Claire's eyes shifted to Leon, or rather, the back of his head. He seemed to be confirming the contents of the suitcase Ada had retrieved. The Rookie Cop turned Special Agent, she thought. She was also sure Ada had the same train of thought—even if Claire had heard from Chris that the two had already encountered in Spain.

That's pretty much what their relationship is like, encounters.

It was like fate was tired of keeping track and she just made Leon and Claire bump into each other once in a while. Any form of constant interaction was soon to be broken, interrumpted—to be continued.

.

.

"Leon, are you alright?" Claire rushed to him, focusing her flashlight and catching a glimpse of the bandaged wound over Leon's R.C.P.D. Uniform. She wouldn't have noticed him if it weren't for the pained grunt he made as she passed.

He was disoriented, trying to pull himself together. The bandages appeared to be recent, but the blood was already seeping through.

"Ada," Leon slurred, still trying to get adjusted to the darkness. He could not see Claire raising her eyebrow. She had only met the spy hours before they had to separate. "She helped me, but..."

He was slowly coming to his senses. Claire helped him push himself on his feet, then she left out a sigh as she looked at their sourroundings.

"I guess she's on our side then."

She tried to sound relieved. Tried is the keyword. The tinge of her voice gave it away, though. Leon dismissed it; he was still waking up from whatever Ada had injected him with.

They exited the sewers together, ocasionally leaning on Claire for support. Or was it her that held onto him?

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"Claire!" Leon turned sharply at her shriek, followed by the sound of scrap metal becoming nothing as it came into contact with the lava. He ran to the edge of the platform, holding his breath and pushing his body down to look for the redhead, "Claire" he called again.

He barely could hear her confirmation. Claire's assurance was drowned out by the monsters gutural sounds. Leon's body was thrown to the opposite side of the platform, followed by a loud and painful thud. Claire stepped away from the hot liquid, dragging herself. When she got up to her feet, she became frantic, running around the center pillar to find her way to Leon. "Please hang on", she thought as the pulled her body to reach the ladder.

An explosion startled her. She looked up, but dark smoke began to fill the room from whatever that was fired. She hurried herself to reach the upper platform, but her climb was cut short by another screech and a gunshot. The Redfield glued herself to the ladder as the creature they had been fighting fell into it's demise, meeting the scorching lava.

Finally, another breath escaped Claire's lips. She was already back to where she had fell from. She looked around, spotting Leon holding a body. She could recognize the raven-haired woman: Ada Wong was limp in Leon's arms. She was the one that saved us? The words didn't sound quite right in her head, then again, that woman had drugged Leon to get away from him.

Her heart broke at the sight of Leon. He was looking away, and his body seemed to be boiling with rage. He felt a hand over his shoulder, gazing up to meet Claire's solemn face.

"We need to go," she mouthed. Leon had turmoil written on his face. Claire bit her lip and squeezed his shoulder, then let go. "Sherry still needs us, Leon."

The rookie cop had a hard time leaving the spy, Claire could tell. She looked over her shoulder while they left the room, half-hoping Ada would move and save Leon the grieving. But her vision was blurred from the smoke again, indicating that the place was soon to blow up.

.

.

They sat in what was left of the wagon. Sherry clung to Claire while Leon checked his ammunition. The screams of William Birkin's deformed body still echoed in the tunnel, even after he was consumed by the explosion after his defeat. She kept glancing at the darkness that crept as the train kept advancing. The Redfield couldn't falter now, not with Sherry so close to a breakdown. Meanwhile, Leon found confort in reloading his gun, many times.

No words were exchanged until the wagon stopped. They got off in the desert, where the rail road seemed to go on forever. The emptyness was filled with Sherry's tears. Leon had fulfilled Annette's wishes: tell her daughter that she loved her, despite everything that had happened.

A strange calm followed and Claire knew it was time to say goodbye, to continue her search for Chris. Her eyes couldn't leave Leon, whose features had hardened some. So many losses in one day, she felt.

She remembers words were exchanged, but she slowly forgot them as the years passed. A familiar feeling always made her way to her heart when she recalls it: Leon and Sherry were her family for a short span of time.

It broke her heart to walk away from them.

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Time had been kind, in a way. She had met Leon again, and she now knew Sherry was safe. It seems that same kindness had reached Ada, as she was alive and breathing.

She now wondered if Special Agent Leon still had room for these kind of thoughts. The haunting ones, the one that make you zone out like she did. He only appeared to be preoccupied with the task at hand: the mission in China.

It was not the time to ask these kind of questions, not when the car came to a violent stop, followed by a sharp turn. Just like that, they were going in reverse through the highway. Claire returned her glance to the road-two cars were tailing them.

"It's time we make a run for it," Ada explained while she sped up. Leon was unphased, and he prepared his weapon.

They creeped on to us while I was distracted! Dang it. Claire screamed to herself; shecould tell by the spy's smile that she was more than amused by this mistake. She shifted on her seat. No more reminiscing. So much for talking about it in the way, Claire huffed in her mind as she remembered Leon's "long story". She took out her gun, this was going to be a long chase before she could ask any questions.

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Author's note: I had a different, more literal idea for this promt, but I felt it wasn't fitting. I suppose that getting the hang of the story after the 4 years is a bit difficult, haha! I hope you guys still enjoy this. Do feel free to leave comments and suggestions in the reviews, thank you!

X

Fabi.

Edit: Corrected some typos and sentences!