Claire - The Beginning of the End
She had known something was wrong the second she'd entered Silent Hill. A nagging at the back of her mind, a
voice that wouldn't seem to cease. It only got louder and louder with each new nightmare she faced.
It was the source of her conflicting memories, whatever
it was. It coached her when she was at her worst; It reprimanded her whenever she made a mistake; It kept telling her at every turn that
she was the only one that mattered.
"If anything, you should be thanking me! Killing off that idiot will do you more good than you can ever hope to grasp with your low level of comprehension!"
Claire didn't accept this, of course. The voice had told her to stop seeking out her brother and that he was not worth her time. That was wrong, Claire knew that, but she couldn't make the voice go away, no matter how hard she tried to shut it out. It sometimes felt like the voice... was her, at times. She'd be still one minute, but moving the next, her body moving involuntarily. It didn't take her long to associate the voice with these strange actions.
"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Didn't they teach you not to waste an entire clip on a target you can't hit, Valentine?"
She thought she was going insane. She honestly did. It had been a complete haze at first, but eventually the pieces began falling into place. The puzzle that had become her life became ever-so-slightly clearer. That voice that felt like her-- It
was her. A her from another life. A Claire Redfield that had been in a similar situation once before. That Claire had even met some of the same people that she had met here. That Claire's brother had survived the Raccoon City incident, only to be killed by her in a fit of what present Claire could only think of as madness.
"It's simple, really, I allowed myself to follow a path that was much more rewarding and much more worth my time. If you actually understood what logic was, you would choose it over a petty connection to someone simply by a surname."
It had disgusted Claire to know she was capable of such things. Even if it was some alternate universe version of her, she had to wonder if she herself was capable of such cruelty and hate?
"Please, if you're trying to fight me like you would fight Wesker, take a moment to reconsider. I'm in an entirely different league from him."
She supposed she had her proof now.
There was nothing she could have done. She was so desperate to save her brother, and with that
other her pushing her along, Claire couldn't stop herself. It had begun to meld with her, prompting her to think things she would have never thought otherwise. Hateful thoughts about not only the people around her, but her very own brother. The only person it seemed she could think tolerably of was--
"Is this really what 'normal' humans do? Just fight against superiority, or a new outlook, simply because they don't understand it? How disappointing..."
Wesker. The thought of him made her retch. And yet...
God, that other her had
revered him. She hated him with every fibre of her being, and yet at the same time, she adored him with every fibre of her being. She felt like a prisoner of her own body and mind, unable to escape from this ungodly hell.
"Oh, you're just Wesker's bitch..."
No. No, it was too much. It was all too much. Twin Claires vied for dominance within her, and she was scared that the
other her would win. She had tried desperately to hold on to herself, to put up a front around the others, but it was starting to feel like the weight of it all was beginning to snap her in two.
It was already looking to be too late. She had filled her traitor role admirably. It was one of the few things both Claires shared.
"I have a feeling that the end is near..."
Aiden's voice brought her back to reality. Everything else faded away as he pulled her into an embrace. She had met him before as well, though he had been a traitor along with her that time. Sometimes she wondered if his conflicting memories were similar to her own; That he was going through the same hell as she. She wanted to ask him, to finally break this charade she had been playing, but with his voice in her ear and his arms around her, Claire was forced to hold it in for just a little bit longer.
Until--
"Please stop, Aiden." She pushed him away roughly, unsure which Claire was in control this time. She felt something snap inside her head, and she wobbled on her her feet slightly.
"I don't need you. I've never needed you. Not in any life." Her words were cold, but her face conveyed what she hoped was a
sorry. She didn't necessarily want to do it, but she pulled out her gun anyway. She didn't aim it at Aiden, simply holding it up as a sort of threat.
Claire - Uhhhh - Aiden
