Chapter Text
Claire had just finished talking to the local police outside of the Wrenwood Hotel when she got a phone call. Quickly apologising and excusing herself, Claire walked towards the entrance of the hotel and answered, “Hey Sherry.”
“Hey, Claire. How’re you doing?”
With a deep sigh, Claire moved her jacket sleeve up, slightly exposing her blackened wrist. “Could be better. What about you?”
“Same,” came the soft reply, “I have some information though.”
With that, Claire drew her eyes away from her wrist and became focussed solely on Sherry, “Go for it.”
“Leon was able to follow Grace Ashcroft to the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Centre. He found Victor Gideon’s office with some of his notes,” at this, she stopped, “Claire, it’s the T-Virus.”
A beat. “Well shit,” Claire exhaled, closing her eyes at the long-anticipated confirmation, “Did he find anything else?”
“Yeah…” Sherry trailed off which didn’t exactly do wonders for Claire’s already frayed nerves.
“You’re killing me, kid. What else did he find?”
“Uhm, something called Elpis. Apparently, it keeps coming up so it’s definitely linked to Gideon and Grace. He found coordinates too.”
“Fuck don’t tell me…” it was Claire’s turn to trail off. She had a feeling she knew exactly where those coordinates lead to.
“They’re directly in the centre of Raccoon City.”
Claire closed her eyes again. Will they never be rid of that godforsaken place? “And let me guess, Leon’s already on his way. No backup. No plan.”
Sherry laughed slightly, “Well, he has me at least.”
Smiling softly, Claire ducked her head and replied, “That he does. How’s he doing?”
“Says he’s OK,” Sherry replied, “Which, as we know, is Leon speak for he feels fucking awful but is going to continue to ignore it.”
“Definitely sounds like him,” Claire chuckled, “OK, thanks for the update. I’m almost wrapped up at Wrenwood. Once I’m done, I’ll head to RC since I’m relatively close. Don’t say anything to him though, he doesn’t need to be distracted. Keep me posted.”
“Will do,” Sherry replied, “See you soon.”
Hanging up the phone, Claire tilted her head back and twisted her neck around, trying desperately to dislodge the deep-seated ache that had been there for who knows how long. Another lovely side effect of the T-Virus. And of dealing with Leon Kennedy’s self-sacrificial bullshit for going on 30 years.
“Damn you, Rookie,” she muttered to herself as she placed her phone back in her pocket and headed back to the police. She still had a job to do here after all. Sherry had Leon’s back.
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She was just about finished deploying TerraSave’s reinforcements to the affected town when her phone rang yet again. Pulling it out of her pocket, she answered, “Sherry, I’m about to leave, ju-”
“Claire! I’ve lost contact with Leon!” Sherry interrupted.
Her heart sank. “What do you mean?”
“He was heading to the orphanage! Remember the one that creep Irons held me in? Apparently the coordinates were for an underground bunker there and now I can’t get a hold of him! There’s no signal or anything!” Sherry was sounding increasingly panicked as the explanation went on.
“OK, OK,” Claire interjected, “Sherry, I need you to take a deep breath for me, alright? Leon’s been out of contact before, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
At this, Sherry interrupted again, “Claire, he was getting worse! He didn’t admit it, but I could hear it!”
“Fuck,” exhaled Claire, “Right, I’m on my way. Send me the coordinates. I’ll try and get in contact with Chris, see if he can lend me some resources. Keep trying to reach him, Sherry.”
Sherry took a deep breath, seemingly more at ease now that she knew Claire was on her way, “I will. I’ll let you know if he checks in again.”
“Thanks, Sherry,” Claire moved towards the lamppost where she’d parked her bike in her hurry to get to Wrenwood Hotel, “I’ll let you know when I’m there.”
She quickly hung up the phone and climbed on her bike, fitting her helmet to her head as she did so. Kennedy, you better fucking be OK I swear to God, she thought to herself, as she turned her bike in the direction of Raccoon City, the one place she swore she’d never go back to.
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Towering ruins filled her field of vision as she got closer and closer to the damned city. Her nerves were already shot between her concern for Leon and the nightmare she was returning to, not helped by the sight of Leon’s old jeep and her old bike still sat at that fateful gas station – the beginning of the end.
She crossed the city’s borders and stopped when she noticed a huge Porsche abandoned in the middle of the street. Leon’s. She pulled up next to it and quickly got off, realising in that same second why he couldn’t continue with it – the roads were blocked. Luckily, her bike should be able to get through most of the obstacles in her way.
Pulling out her phone, she quickly called Sherry, “Hey, I’m here. Think you can find me a shortcut to the orphanage?”
“Yeah, definitely,” Sherry responded, “Did you get a hold of Chris?”
“I did,” Claire said, recalling the phone call she’d made after setting off towards the city, “He’s sending the Wolf Squad in, they’ll get there before me with their choppers. Still no word from Leon?”
“No,” Sherry sighed, “I’m really worried, Claire.”
“I know, I am too,” Claire responded, the first time she’d truly let herself acknowledge just how anxious she was about Leon’s fate, “But he can take care of himself. He’s capable. And reinforcements are on their way. You’ve done everything you can.”
Sherry sighed once again, “Yeah, I know. I’ve sent you a route, by the way. Fair warning though, the only accessible way to the orphanage is through RPD.”
“Of course it is,” Claire responded, “Well, I guess now is as good a time as ever to open up some old wounds!”
“Sure,” Sherry scoffed, “Be safe. Please.”
Claire smiled softly, “Always, Sherry. Keep me updated.”
With that, she pulled her phone away from her ear and opened the link Sherry had sent. To be honest, she probably didn’t need it. Between her years visiting Chris and the ever-vivid memories of that September night, she could probably find her way to RPD with her eyes shut.
“Here goes nothing,” she muttered to herself, taking one last look at Leon’s Porsche before climbing back on her bike and heading towards RPD.
As she sped through the ruins, Claire couldn’t help but feel a stab of sadness pierce at her heart. She knew this city well, to see it in ruins was unexpectedly heart-breaking. She recognised the streets that she would wander around when Chris was pulled into an unexpected meeting. The café they would go and get coffee at. The shop that Jill would drag her into when she was determined to not let Chris hog all of her time.
Quicker than she wanted to, she found herself outside of the gate of RPD. Evidence of Leon’s presence could already be detected with the open gate. Claire braced herself against the handlebars of her bike for a moment, before steeling herself and getting off, putting her helmet on the handlebars. She walked through the gates and the open door of the station to see the ruins of the Goddess statue, half of her body still standing, guarding the secret passage below her feet. Flashes of meeting Leon that night, corpses roaming around, trying to snatch her as she desperately tried to escape the prison the RPD had become, the huge Tyrant relentlessly chasing her, little Sherry, scared and alone with only a 19-year-old college student to protect her, flew before her eyes. The image of Annette Birkin’s last, desperate attempt to save her daughter; having to kill Sherry’s father, or the monster that he had become. It all came flooding back in vivid technicolour.
Hands shaking, she reached into her pocket for her phone once again. After clearing her throat, she dialled Sherry who picked up within a second, “OK, I’m at RPD. Any word on Leon yet?”
“Nothing,” Sherry stopped, “You OK?”
Laughing slightly, she never missed a trick that girl, Claire said, “Not really. I see a hole at the back of the building. If memory serves me right, the orphanage should be close. If I hear anything from Chris, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks Claire, talk soon.”
With one last glance around the ruins of the main hall, Claire started walking towards the back of the building. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of blue. Curiosity over-taking her, she turned to see what it was. When she saw it, her heart sank. Welcome Leon.
Those bastards lured him here, thought Claire. Her heart went out to him. She knew what the sight of that banner would have done to him. Fuckers.
Claire dragged her eyes away from the banner and started towards the back of the building again, even more determined now to find Leon and get him home safe. Just as she was about to step outside, a huge explosion rocked the ground, causing Claire to lose her balance slightly and forced her to grab onto the crumbled building to stay upright. She could see smoke billowing in front of her – whatever had exploded, it wasn’t far. The next second, her phone rang. It was Chris this time.
“What the fuck was that, Chris?!” Claire shouted, knowing there was no way it was a coincidence that her brother had phoned her just as the explosion went off.
“Looks like it came from underground,” Chris responded, “I’m watching the bodycams just now, it’s caused a massive sinkhole in the middle of the city.”
“Fuck,” Claire swore, “Last Sherry heard, Leon was underground.”
“Fuck,” Chris echoed, “Leon’s a tough sonofabitch, Claire. It was probably him that caused the damn thing.”
Laughing shakily, she said, “God I hope so. Stay on the line with me. I need to know when they find him.”
“Claire…”
“No Chris, stay on the damn phone,” for the first time, Claire let some of her composure slip, her voice becoming shaky, “I know the odds, Chris. Sherry said he sounded worse even before they lost contact, but I need to know. Please.”
Chris exhaled a heavy sigh, aware of his sister’s stubbornness, “OK. I’ll send you the coordinates of the explosion. Start making your way there.”
“Thank you,” Claire then started making her way towards the explosion site, praying that whatever had happened, Leon’s luck hadn’t run out quite yet.
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Claire continued walked through the ruins of Raccoon City with her brother’s calm, steady breathing in her ear. However, she couldn’t tell if this was a true reflection of her brother’s mental state or if it was entirely for her benefit. She wasn’t clueless to the fact that her breathing was becoming shakier the longer Chris went without bringing her news. It also wasn’t helped by the fact that she was having to navigate this damned city with just her flashlight considering, well, no electricity in a bombed city.
Done with the silence, and trying valiantly to distract herself, she asked, “How’s Jill, by the way? And Carlos?”
“They’re OK,” Chris replied, “For whatever reason their infection hasn’t spread as rapidly as you, Sherry, and Leon’s. The blackness is still mostly contained to their hands. Jill’s going stir crazy though, she’s feeling the physical effects the most. She thinks it might be because of whatever vaccine she was given; that it’s making her react differently.”
“That’s a shame,” Claire muttered, carefully navigating her way through some fallen debris, “Hopefully this Elpis, whatever it is, can help.”
“Hopefully,” Chris said.
A few minutes went by before a startled sound came from him. Panicked, Claire said, “Chris! What’s going on?”
“Holy shit,” Chris laughs slightly, “Claire, they found him. He’s alive. I’m looking at him right now. It looks like the infection’s gone too! They’re bringing him and Grace up now.”
A staggering wave of relief coursed through her body, so much so that she almost stumbled with the weight of it. “Oh, thank Christ, I’m almost there. Thank you, Chris.”
Chris responded kindly, “Don’t mention it. What are brothers for if not to use them for your own gain?”
“Very funny.”
Chris chuckled before hanging up, but not without a promise that Claire would update him as soon as she got in contact with Leon again. She dials Sherry’s number but finds it occupied. The girl must’ve been spamming Leon’s comms ever since he went offline.
The crushing weight in her chest that she’d refused to acknowledge since Sherry’s frantic call hours earlier had started to ease up. Picking up her pace, Claire ran towards the site of the explosion, eager to see Leon with her own eyes. After that, she’d kill him for scaring her so badly.