Chris clung to the rock face, cold, wet, alone and, worst of all, forgotten. It's dark and raining, he can hear thunder in the distance, but so far there's been no lightening to light up the dark cliff he clinging to like a limpet to a whale, to show him the way up again.
His team mates are long gone, probably thinking him dead or dying. All they saw was him falling from the helicopter as it flew over the cliff and murky sea, over the burning Umbrella facility, over the undead and worse.
All he could see was Jill's horror-stricken expression when she couldn't grab him, all he could hear was her anguished cries, Rebecca's tormented yell of denial, and Barry… Barry hadn't moved, had known the moment Chris's grip had slipped, had known his friend was doomed. Chris has seen the sorrowful look in Barry's eyes and known it was over for him.
As he fell, it was sheer luck that his vest had torn and caught on the rock face, slowing him enough to grip it and come to a stop. His fingers were bleeding and slowly going numb from the cold rain. When they went, he'd fall. He was only prolonging death, and he knew it, he knew it and was glad that at least it wasn't at the hands of the one he'd once trusted with his life, the one who had held his trust, his faith, his devotion, his life…the one he'd thought of as almost a friend, or the silent older brother.
What pained the brunettes heart most was that he'd never gotten to take it further with Jill. That night…Chris shut his eyes against the wind, his salty tears mixing with the rain…that night he'd been planning on asking Jill to marry him. With all they did, there would never be a chance for a date, but they both knew what the other felt and Chris felt that the time was right…but now…now he would die, alone and forgotten on a seabed as water flooded into his lungs.
Another explosion rocks the labs above him, shaking his very bones and almost causing him to lose his already fragile grip of the slick rock. He riskes a glance up and sees flames licking the sky, almost in greeting to the flashes of lightening from the dark clouds. The orange-red light it casts doesn't reach him so far down the cliff.
When lightening flashes close enough to light up the cliff, Chris almost lets go of the rock in sheer terror. There, in the dark, almost invisible for the dark clothes, another limpet clings to the whale. This limpet stares at him with eyes that burn through the darkness, through the black shades that hide them. The monster has come to finish him off, to laugh at him, at the one person who'd been a thorn in his side, as he clings to a rock face, alone and forgotten.
Chris closes his eyes and holds back his tears, refusing to cry in front of his old Captain, in front of his enemy. Clinging with bloody fingers, he waits for the cruel laughter to start, and for the finishing blow to land, to send him to the water depths below…But it doesn't come. Instead, the cool voice of the Human BOW descends over him.
"Christopher…"
The voice is teasing him, taunting him, laughing at him behind the cool façade.
"Christopher, you look like a drenched rat."
An almost laughable comment, since the BOW doesn't look as dry as he could have been. The blonde hair is slightly mussed up with the rain and wind, the clothes rippling slightly, dampened by the rain. He isn't clinging so much as hanging around quite happily. He has a good hold on the rock, his fist and foot digging into it as easily as Rebecca could push her finger into butter.
"Perhaps I should call at another time, I can see that your busy-"
"What do you want Wesker? Something else to humiliate me with? Beating me up isn't good enough for you, you have to add insult to injury too?" Chris opens his eyes and glares heatedly at his ex-Captain, knowing he would undoubtedly pay for being so arrogant but since he was already on the verge of death, what did it hurt to throw a few choice words at his adversary?
"Now, now Chris, stop acting like a spoilt child." Wesker chides, shaking a finger. "I merely saw you fall from the helicopter and came to see if you were alive or not. Now that I see your alive and…" Wesker glances over his subordinate with a hawks eye, taking in the bleeding hands, the battered and bruised over all look of Chris Redfield. "…evidently nearing the end of your life, I just wanted to -"
"You just wanted to see if you could finish me off, isn't that right?" Chris spits out, glaring at Wesker. "Well too late Captain Wesker, you're not going to get the chance." He casts one final glare of hatred at the blonde before using all his strength, what little remained of it, and pushes himself off the cliff, laughing inside at the look of shock on Wesker's face.
Instead of hitting the cold waters below, Chris feels himself slammed into the cliff again, and a pained groan escapes his dry lips. He looks up and sees Wesker, holding his arm.
"What are you-"
"Doing?" Wesker chuckles. "I'm sorry Christopher, I can't let you kill yourself. It would be…a disappointing end. You're the worlds hero, Chris, and without you, well, just think." Wesker smirks. "I'd have free reign. Surely you wouldn't want your sister to live in that kind of world? Would you want Jill to bring up your child in such a world?"
"My…child?" Chris stares at Wesker, lost.
"Poor Chris, you didn't know? Then again perhaps she doesn't as well. I could sense it a mile away." Wesker shakes his head. "My point being, Chris, that several people need you, and it would be selfish not to live in that case. And…" The blonde BOW pauses to fix his sun glasses. " I rather enjoy having someone to beat about the place when I feel like it…I have a proposition for you Chris."
All through this, Chris has been trying to absorb the fact that Jill is pregnant. The thought is so absurd, it makes perfect sense. And as much as he hates to admit it, he couldn't leave Jill to bring it up, alone or with the others, there is still Wesker to consider. He would undoubtedly go after the child and harm it…unless he was there to stop it. When Wesker mentions a proposition, it's all Chris can do not to have a confused expression on his face.
"Join me, and I'll make sure your child lives to know your face and remember it. You'll be able to give it the world and more, Jill also…just, join me." Wesker waits to hear Chris's answer, knowing his future projects depending on the marksman agreeing. After all, there were only so many people that had that perfect genetic makeup...How lucky Christopher Redfield is that he is one of those few...
One word escaped Chris's mouth, one word so quiet it was almost lost to the storm that was brewing around them.
"…Yes."