Fall Into Me

Chapter 25

"Y/N!" Viv screams. I sit up along with her, Viv's voice sounding more concerning than just a 'dinner is ready' yell. She hops out of my arms and off the bed, rushing to the door. I follow suit, keeping my hand on her lower back.

As we walk into the kitchen, we see what she's screaming about. There's half an upper body hanging upside down from the living room ceiling. Wait, that's right where I fell from.

I put my hands on y/n's shoulders, silently telling her to stay there. As I look closer, I recognize the person dangling, her back to us. Brown hair, red jacket. It's -

"Claire?" I say aloud, walking over to her, circling around to see her face.

"Leon!" She says, a relieved look on her. "Oh my god, where have you been? Where.. is this?"

"Look, Claire, it's a long story. Whoever's holding you up there, don't let them let go. You can't go back. I'm safe here, I'm fine. Don't worry about me," I say hurriedly.

"What?! You have to come back, grab my hands, I'll pull you up!" She says, face getting red from the blood rushing to her head.

"Claire, please listen to me," I say. A hand rests on my forearm, and y/n is at my side, looking to both of us with a concerned face. Baby please, don't make that face, I said I wouldn't go anywhere. It hurts to see you like that. I lower my forearm away from her, placing my hand on her back. She looks to Claire, her face more relaxed.

"Hi," y/n says, slightly awkwardly.

"Uh, who's this?" Claire asks curiously.

"My..."

"I live here," she starts out. Girlfriend. "I promise, Leon is ok here. And also, you're a badass," she says. Not the time to nerd out, cupcake.

"Ah, thanks?" Suddenly, she's yanked back through the ceiling, disappearing out of sight. So, the floor of my house is... A portal? What the fuck.

"Oh my god, that was Claire Redfield." Viv says, mouth wide open. Ok, I guess it is time to fangirl.

"I know! Wow, I'm so confused. I was scared she'd be cut in half or something. Oh my god, could you have gone back this whole time? We never tried forcing you through the ceiling. How is this possible? There's no rules to this, nothing. I don't understand-"

"Y/n." I place my hands on her shoulders. She snaps her focus to me, her words coming to a halt. "Don't think about how it works, or about me going back. None of that matters right now. What matters is that I communicate with them that I'm alive and well, and that I'm staying here." She opens her mouth to say something, and shuts it.

Don't even think about asking to come back there with me. No fucking way. Too dangerous. I don't even like the idea of something from my world coming to infect hers. This is our safe place. Good God there is a lot going on in my head.

"Okay," She says. "I just wish everything was more clear. Sorry for freaking out."

"Don't be sorry. One of us just has to be the calm one sometimes. We'll figure everything out one step at a time. Contact with them has been made, and they can figure out their side of things." Her head nods yes, and I give a soft look to her. She returns it, taking weight off my shoulders.

"But Claire was a fuckin baddie," Viv says.

"Whatever you say," I tell her. Lingo is so weird these days.

∆∆∆

"Let me get this straight. Leon is alive, with a stranger, in her apartment?"