Cleve

"Don’t worry, Claire. Your knight in shining armor is here."

- Steve, Resident Evil CODE: Veronica.

Cleve is the het ship between Claire Redfield and Steve Burnside from the Resident Evil fandom.

Canon
RESIDENT EVIL CODE: VERONICA

In December of 1998, three months after the Raccoon City Incident, Claire is still searching for her brother Chris Redfield. Her search takes her to an Umbrella owned facility in Paris where she is discovered and met with resistance. Claire attempts an escape, though is captured by Rodrigo Juan Raval, an Umbrella military commander and is shipped to the remote Rockfort Island facility. Hours later she awakens from being knocked out by a guard to the sound of explosions. Claire receives an opportunity when an inexplicable air raid on the island wipes out most of the island inhabitants and damages the majority of its structures. Unfortunately, the air raid also causes the accidental release of t-Virus samples and B.O.Ws, which spread quickly and wipe out the remaining survivors.

On the surface of the prison, Claire and Steve meet when Steve believes Claire to be a zombie. He fires a minigun at her, with Claire taking cover. She finds a handgun lying next to her and proceeds to fire at a spotlight, startling Steve. Steve throws his hands in the air, telling her not to shoot. Claire demands to know who he is, hearing her speak, Steve realizes she’s not a zombie. He tells her to wait and that he’s coming over. Claire keeps her gun pointed on him as Steve tries to explain himself, calling her “beautiful” in the process. The two exchange names, with Steve commenting that he’ll remember Claire’s name. Steve continues to explain that there’s an airport somewhere, once he finds it he can escape from the island. He suddenly ends the conversation and leaves Claire. Claire yells for him to wait and Steve tells her that he doesn’t want her following him, as she’ll only slow him down. With that, Steve leaves and Claire continues on her own.

Claire and Steve meet again when Claire finds him hunched over a computer, reading about Chris Redfield. Noticing that Claire and Chris share a surname, Steve asks if he’s a “relative of yours or something,” leading to Claire telling him that Chris is her brother. Steve informs her that Chris is under surveillance by Umbrella. With this new information, Claire makes the effort to connect Leon Kennedy, for him to let Chris know that he’s being monitored. Steve makes a lame joke about sending Chris the coordinates instead, with Claire snapping back that she will. Steve tells her that he won’t come, that Claire will just “end up disappointed if you relay on others”. Claire is sure that Chris will come to the island, leading to Steve storming out of the computer room. Claire is left there questioning, “What was that all about?”

Later, Claire makes her way for the Ashford Mansion, an Umbrella base, where she hears Steve’s cries for help. Claire manages to stop him from being crushed in one of the mansion’s traps. Steve emerges from the trap with two gold handguns, Lugers, and Claire wanting them. If Claire has something fully automatic, he’ll trade. Claire thinks, though after a moment of silence, Steve suddenly leaves again, with Claire yelling for him to wait.

Later, Claire is trapped in the mansion’s warehouse where Alfred Ashford unleashes a Bandersnatch on her. Once Claire successfully kills the first one, a second one jumps out and grips her by the head. Steve jumps through a window and shoots the creature, causing it to release Claire; he then proceeds to shoot it back against a wall, killing it. Steve turns around, telling Claire, ''“Don’t worry, Claire. Your knight in shining armor is here.”'' Steve reaches down with one of the empty golden Lugers, having unloaded all the ammo into the Banderstanch. In return, Claire gives Steve her also empty two fully automatic machine guns. Steve feels cheated when he realizes the guns are empty. Claire tells him where he can get more ammo, which has Steve allowing Claire to step on his back in order to reach it. Once the ammo is grabbed, Claire and Steve begin a decent into the B1 level under Alfred’s command.

Steve clears out all of the zombies from their path so Claire is able to go through easily. Once finished, he proclaims that the guns are “a lot more reliable than any person”. Claire is shocked, simply saying, “Than people?” Steve coldly turns away from her saying he “doesn’t want to talk about it” when Claire tries bringing up where his family is. Claire attempts to pry some more, which leads to Steve unloading a full round of ammo into a wall in frustration. Claire sadly looks on as Steve leaves for an elevator with Claire following moments later.

Steve waits for Claire to join him. Once she does, the walkway beneath them collapses, with Claire getting part way pinned beneath the rubble. As Steve is reaching for her, she warns him of a closing-in zombie. Steve turns to shoot it, though is stunned to see who it is, stumbling back. Steve closes his eyes and says he can’t. The zombie turns its attention to a still pinned Claire. It’s seconds from killing her when Steve finally moves; yelling, “Father!!” He unloads the remaining ammo into his father, saving Claire. Realizing why Steve had a difficult time, Claire is heartbroken to see Steve collapse onto his knees as he cries for his twice dead father.

Once freeing Claire from the rubble, Steve tells her of his father’s dealings with Umbrella, leading to him, his father and his mother being taken to the island where his mother was gunned down and he and his father are taken prisoners with his father becoming infected with the T-Virus during the air raid. Claire gently places her hand on Steve’s shoulder, telling him to rest as he continues coming to grips with his loss.

Moments
RESIDENT EVIL CODE: VERONICA


 * Steve calls Claire “beautiful”.
 * Steve saves Claire from a Bandersnatch.
 * Claire gives Steve her two machine guns.
 * Steve allows Claire to step on his back for ammo.
 * Steve kills his zombiefied father to save Claire.
 * Claire gently places her hand on Steve’s shoulder, telling him to rest.

Quotes
"Claire? Hmm, nice. I’ll remember that."

- Steve, after Claire gives her name, Resident Evil CODE: Veronica.

"Don’t worry, Claire. Your knight in shining armor is here."

- Steve, after he saves Claire from a Bandersnatch, Resident Evil CODE: Veronica.

Fanon
Steve is Claire’s first romantic interest of the series, the two having mutual feelings for each other. Fans were expectedly disappointed when Steve ends up dying during their only game together. With Steve being dead and Code: Veronica being an older game of the series, the ship itself as become less popular over the years.

On AO3, Cleve has 30 works in its tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Claire/Steve tag on FanFiction.net
 * Claire/Steve tag on FanFiction.net

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