Fic: All the Wrong Places (Alice/Claire, Resident Evil: Extinction)

[fembuck]

Title: All the Wrong Places
Author: Janine
Fandom: Resident Evil: Extinction
Rating: PG
Pairing: Alice/Claire
Disclaimer: I don’t own them. I’m just borrowing them for a short while.
Summary: The sky is dark, and all is still around her, but Claire can’t sleep.
Note: I don’t even know what this is really. I wrote it while my brain was wasting away presiding over an exam, which is a fresh kind of hell every time I am forced to do it. Hopefully it doesn’t suck. 

---

There was something beautiful about the desert at night. Under the blanket of darkness, when the eye saw sheets of twinkling stars stretched out for miles instead of desolate wasteland, the arid landscape was actually breathtaking.

Sleep didn’t come easily to Claire. It never had really. Even as a child, it had taken her a while to fall into sleep at night. When she was little it was because her mind was racing, whirling with thoughts of what had happened during the day, or what she wanted to happen the next day, or how she could get back at Chris for some horribly not-at-all-amusing prank he had played on her.

Now, with the world rotting and decaying around her, Claire’s mind still whirled with restless thoughts, but they were no longer pleasant, excited or hopeful. These days she worried about whether she was going to be able to feed her caravan, or what they would do when all of the stations they hit were out of gas. Instead of counting sheep, she counted down the days until they’d be forced to fight off the infected with sharpened sticks and stones.

Instead of her thoughts leading her gently into a peaceful slumber, she found herself rising in the dead of night like some nomadic vampire, stalking between the trucks and wandering into the sand to try and bleed what beauty and comfort she could from the familiar stars shining above. She raked the sky with her eyes hoping that perhaps, just maybe, the dancing light might lull her into a dreamless slumber for at least a few hours before it was time to paint on a smile, pull down her hat and lead her people further into the barrenness that surrounded them.

“They’re the only things that have stayed the same.”

The voice drifted out of the darkness, crashing over Claire like a rolling wave.

Alice.

Her mind whispered the name of the mysterious stranger who had emerged from the dust to burn the sky and save them all like a prayer.

“Not exactly,” Claire murmured, still looking up. “They’re clearer now. The earth is dying, but the sky has been given new life.”

Material rustled behind her as Alice approached, falling in place beside her.

“Something always prospers.”

Claire said nothing. It was true. In the life span of the Earth, humanity would be nothing more than a blink of an eye. When our ingenuity had torn us all to shreds, and the birds and the sand had worn away the diseased flesh we left behind to nothing but bone, the planet would find itself again, and free of the human plague it would prosper. In millions of years, squid would swing from giant trees at the top of the world and the masters of the earth would be nothing but black ooze lying long forgotten under layers of earth, rock and water; the true lords of time.

“What do you look for up there?”

“Hope … maybe,” Claire breathed out, “Something to believe in.”

Alice was silent for a moment, looking up at the pale, shimmering orbs; taking in light that had died thousands of years before.

“You won’t find that up there.”

Calloused fingers brushed against the back of Claire’s hand, and the redhead turned from the sky to look into the bright, clear eyes of the warm, living, breathing woman beside her, and pale, life-worn fingers slipped between Alice’s own. 

They walked further into the night then, until the trucks were lost, like the world around them. Alice kissed her lips, and dropping her heavy jacket so that it was spread at their feet, she returned Claire to the earth and covered the slim, starved body with her own.

Their lips fell together once again, and for the first time in years the desert was alive.

When their bodies stilled, slick sweat cooling in the dry night air, Claire closed her eyes and listened to the steady pounding of the heart beneath her. The steady, rhythmic sound began to lull her, and just before sleep finally claimed her, Claire thought that perhaps Alice was right and she had been looking for hope in the wrong place all along.

The End

Comments

[hamimifk.livejournal.com]

I've been a long time lurker and admirer of your work, who's never left you a review before (mostly because I've been too shy ^^; ), but this was absolutely gorgeous. o___o I love your writing so much! <3 You always know how to give life to unappreciated pairings.

[arkeis07.livejournal.com]

fantastic. I desperately love this pairing. Perfect. I loved it, as usual.

You're dialogue always comes across as inventive and ingenious to me. I'm always left in awe of it.

[ijemanja.livejournal.com]

Lovely. I love this pairing and I love this!

[concorddawn.livejournal.com]

Love it so bad it hurts. I can't get enough of this pairing, and this was so well written. Love.

[ladyvictory.livejournal.com]

I haven't read a Resident Evil fic in a very long time. Thank you so much for posting this! It's perfect, it captures Claire wonderfully. Hopefully it's not just a passing fancy?

[carpesomediem.livejournal.com]

I adore these two and wish we would've had much, much more of them than just one film. This was beautiful!

[novak_fan]

awwww *hugs fic* this was awesome, love RE fiction. Thanks for this one!

[jt4702.livejournal.com]

Delurking to leave feedback. I have been a fan of your writing for as long as I remember stumbling into the world of fanfiction. You were responsible for introducing fandoms I would have never considered. Thank you. Ever since I saw the last RE movie, I have been a huge fan of Alice/Claire fics, but most people don't write them. I loved the story. You managed to capture the essence of both characters in a very short story, something most people can't do even when they attempt a multi-chapter story. I am glad I am not the only one that has seen the endless possibilities that are Alice/Claire :-) Thank you for writing and thank you for sharing.

[madndizzee.livejournal.com]

nice! i like how philosophical you can get in your fics. :)

there definitely should be more RE fics out there. Milla has chemistry with all her female co-stars, just amazing and amusing and such a pleasure to watch. you're making me want to have a RE marathon...

[sinandmisery.livejournal.com]

OMG MOAR ALICE/CLAIRE. i swear to go alice/any female is my otp and there is not enough re femslash out there! obviously people love reading it SO WHY IS NO ONE WRITING IT?! milla and ali both have fantastic chemistry with any girl they're near.

fantastic as always; yours was the first alice/claire i read (from the porn battle forever and ever ago) and i still go back to them occasionally when i'm looking for something to read.

[zearbear.livejournal.com]

okay after reading your fic and the comments i must go watch all the RE
and once again i love all your writing bc you are a freaking goddess at writting ^^

[pure-ecstasy6.livejournal.com]

Lovely<3

[djshiva.livejournal.com]

Just saw RE4 and oh the eye sex!

Had to go back and find all the Alice/Claire fic I could.

This one is just lovely. :D I love it when people can really sum things up with very few words.

[giacomplex.livejournal.com]

I know that I’m ridiculously late to the party (I don’t find it fashionable at all) but I just felt that I had to leave some form of feedback because whenever I’m itching for some Resident Evil fics, I just have to look to your journal. This particular one almost made me cry, honestly. I’m not sure if it was how Claire referred to Alice as a prayer, how desperately obvious it is how much they need each other, or just how vulnerable Claire is and how Alice embraces that. Maybe its a cumulation of all of those things plus more I can’t quite verbalize. But I loved it very much.

Is there ANY way I can bribe you into writing more Alice/Claire? There are others (like 3 =[ ) out there but none of them even come close to matching how you capture these two. Pleeease? =] I’ll do anything!

[cwwitchkyobi.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed this very much! After watching Afterlife, I've been trying to find fanfic of these two, but there aren't many! So thank you for writing this. Short, but enjoyable.

[xwarriorbardx.livejournal.com]

I watched RE: Afterlife and for the first time saw something more between Alice and Claire, and ever since, I have been searching like mad for any scrap of fanfic I can lay my hands on. I'm really glad I ran into yours. It was very well written and it was really sweet. There seemed to be a secrecy about their relationship that intrigued me. If you can point me in the direction of anything you have read that you think is worth reading I would be very grateful. Thanks for sharing :)

[pandora-007.livejournal.com]

I so liked it this.. really great.. i think these 2 are just great together.. even between all the dark between them its great to see how perfect they fit together..

[orange-creative.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, it looks like I'm not the only one that watched Afterlife and had a huge urge to read Claire/Alice afterward. I'm shipping them so much harder than ever. It may or may not have something to do with them saving each other all the time and looking like they're getting off while doing it. Aside, I love how your fic reflects how much they've come to mean to each other.