#-marrying him. thats the kind of queerplatonic-esque lavender marriage i see them in. they dont love each other normally

[that-darn-clown]

thought about Claire in the Rewrite...haunts the fucking narrative if you think about it (she was effectively the first domino of William's downward mental spiral, and while Elizabeth's death was the death that started the chain of events in the Rewrite, you could technically count Claire's death as being the catalyst for all of this).

like. she and William met in college, just a week after William realized he was bi. Claire herself, though she didn't know it, was aro, but wanted a relationship because A) she wants kids (like genuinely), and B), she believes it's what's expected of her. she's also, unknowingly, transmasc. which technically makes her a gay aro trans guy, but she never got a chance to really...realize that. she always felt this odd envy of Henry. she was one of the first few people to find out, after all. but she never understood why.

(insert the "gee, Rewrite!Will, why does Dandy let you have two (technical) transmasc love interests?" meme here)

(also, isn't it interesting how the animatronic William made to represent her was an ambiguously gendered, but more masc-leaning, fox that was a comedian? a dream of hers? a career that she was practically barred from chasing?)

this isn't to say she didn't love William, not at all. just not...romantically. she viewed it as just being legally bound to a friend (as well as a way to be a mother. because William was also very interested in having children).

she also eventually believed that, in a sense, they were in a Lavender Marriage. mostly because Will was not at all being subtle that he was still in love with Henry. like not even remotely. (fun fact for you: neither Claire nor Annabeth were mad about this, surprisingly! Claire due to the fact that, as mentioned before, she viewed Will as a friend more than anything else, so she didn't really feel like she was being cheated on or anything. Annabeth was more because A) she's a lesbian and so she was never attracted to Henry like that in the first place, even if she didn't realize it until later, and B) she was more upset that Henry was that oblivious. like. Henry. he's asking y'all to discreetly ship your fursonas together, and his fursona's just basically him...just to name one of the biggest things here)

and so things are going well. business is booming at Fredbear's, and Claire gives birth to four beautiful children: Alexander, Michael (named Michel at the time), Evan, and Elizabeth. it looks like things are only looking up for the Aftons.

then Claire gets pregnant with Cassidy.

at first, everything seems fine. she gets morning sickness, they find out they're having a fifth child...why wouldn't they get excited?

but then she starts getting weaker. something that hasn't happened since she got pregnant with Alex. but even then...it had turned out to be nothing. she had gotten over it after Alex was born. so, that's what she and William assume it is. when doctors express concern over it, she brushes them off. she was fine last time, why wouldn't she be fine now?

then it starts getting worse over the next few months. the doctors deliver the bad news: it's not good. they've pretty much passed the point where they can help her in a way that would allow both Claire and her son to live. there's a high likelihood that if she carries Cassidy til the end of the pregnancy...she likely won't live to watch him grow up.

but there's...a small problem. Claire had been raised to believe that if a woman got pregnant, she had to carry that baby until it either died naturally or was born. and even though she knows, logically, that Will likely wouldn't judge her or anything if they had to terminate the pregnancy to save her life, that belief that she'd be fucking horrible for even so much as considering this is deeply ingrained in her. so she decides that she'll see this through. if she makes it through, then she'll make it. if she dies, she dies.

she doesn't say a word to William about what the doctor said. she keeps getting weaker and weaker, enough so that William's family points it out on (what would become) their last visit.

and then Cassidy is born. the next day and a half is rough.

then it happens. William takes Mike to see his baby brother. Evan and Liz are staying with Henry and his family, waiting for their family to get home from the hospital. Alex stays by his mother's side the whole time. he was always a Mama's Boy.

his mother, dying, tells him that she loves him and that she's proud of him, and to look after his siblings. William is alerted of the fact that his wife is dying, and he rushes back to the room. he gives her a kiss on the head, and she tells him, too that she loves him.

Claire takes his hand and kisses it, telling him one final thing:

"Look after the kids for me, will you?"

and that was it. she passed on.

(and William took her final request a tad bit too seriously)

Bonus Scene for you, bestie:

Claire, in the afterlife: Oh, Charlie! Everyone's been telling me about Cassidy and Will...where are they? I'm a bit surprised I haven't seen them yet...are they lagging behind a bit?

Charlie:

Charlie: Dad, I think I'll let you handle this one-

Screaming crying and throwing up in the club at this. Rip Claire you would've loved hrt