mya

Claire: So there never was an Alexia after all!

Steve : You mean, he thinks he's two people?!

“Moustache,” by Alfred Ashford | May 1987

For the rundown, in the manga Claire and Steve are chained up by Alexia in separate rooms, where the Ashford sets a Hunter on Steve, and Claire is forced to watch through a monitor.

Afterwards, Steve has been left severely injured [the Hunter swiped at his chest and broke both of his arms 🦴]

The Chinese version is read from Right to Left

What’s great about this scene in the original, is it establishes two things:

Claire’s feelings for Steve.

She is shown to care for him very platonically, to where she wants to welcome him as family. This resonates with something I believe Alyson Court said many years ago, about Claire viewing Steve as a younger brother. Mrs. Court got some heat for that. But reading this now, I genuinely believe that’s the direction Capcom gave her about the pair’s dynamic from Claire’s POV.

As a Cleve fan, I honestly find it so touching. It really appeals to Claire’s nurturing side, just like she was with Sherry in Raccoon City.

Setup for Steve’s love confession

Now, notice Claire speaks about a guy she never got to confess her true feelings for and being filled with regret from that. She then encourages Steve to confess his feelings to whoever it is he likes, but being clueless it’s actually her. Claire even tries to get him to promise he’ll do it.

The reason this is so important, is it adds more build up for Steve’s confession on his deathbed, so it’s not just coming out of nowhere, which is FANTASTIC in my opinion. Steve in the manga has an arc from a cocky kid to a genuine hero as the story progresses. You even see it in how he’s drawn in earlier volumes, where he looks very boyish, shorter hair, but by the end Steve is drawn more masculine as he is taking things more seriously.

But let’s go back to point one. Right after this conversation, Alexia returns and injects Steve with the T-Veronica virus. He thrashes about and almost seems to mutate when the effects die down.

During this Alexia mocks Claire that someone is coming to rescue her [Chris] before leaving the two teens alone again.

This picks up right after.

Again, there is Claire’s promise of family and welcoming Steve into it, which I find so heartbreaking. It really shows you Claire really did care about Steve, enough that she was willing him to be part of her and Chris’s family [important note, the Redfield’s parents are alive in the manga.]

Let’s be clear, Steve knows he’s done for. He’s infected. Claire does too and yet she still tries to give him the strength and hope to hold on.

But he can’t, the T-Veronica virus takes over. For a short time, it gives Steve an advantage. The bones in his arms have mended, his is fully healed, and now he has added strength. He busts his way out of confinement and frees Claire, shortly before running off to confront Alexia. But alias, he’s just a puppet to her will and quickly falls. Claire is later knocked out and placed in the cocoon. The events after mostly follow on from the game.

Now the pay off.

I’ll be cutting a bit here, due to a nude Burnside and much dialogue being the same as the game, but I’ll focus on the main points.

So this is right after Steve has been fatally wounded, and Claire tries to assure him Chris is here and they can leave together, but Steve knows that’s not going to happen.

You can see now, how the previous scenes works so well in with this.

Now this stands for the game too, but I think Steve knowing Chris is there on the base, it’s reassuring for him at the end. Because Steve dies knowing Claire is going to be okay.

I would LOVE to see Capcom tackle something like this in a Code Veronica Remake, where they do establish that relationship more between Claire and Steve: Claire’s being familial and Steve’s being romantic ❤️‍🔥