Disclaimer: I do not own any Resident Evil characters, places or names.
A/N: Okay, so this is just a little dream I have about Billy and Rebecca, and how they say goodbye. It's right there on the hilltop at the end of RE0.
Just Goodbye
She had granted him his freedom. Lieutenant Billy Coen is dead.
The sun was spilling over the trees above the forest, when he sensed that she wasn't quite finished with him. He turned back. He could see the small smile playing at her lips as she saluted smartly. A symbol he recognised- one that still held pride for him, despite the chaos it had caused in his life. He could feel the watery sunlight on his back as he contemplated her. She was only eighteen years old, and already she had seen things that he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.
It was foolish, to entertain it. But for some reason, he couldn't help it. The sun washed over him as he raised his own hand in a returning salute. Recognition, to her, that she had done okay after all. She didn't know then that that day would soon be something much larger; in fact, that it already was much larger, than she had ever anticipated or ever imagined.
The sun behind him made his facial expression hard to see, and she squinted as though looking harder could force her gaze through the hazy light. Later on, she knew, the sun would blazon through the sky, burning and searing through Arklay. She had a feeling, though, that she would never appreciate it as much as she did in this moment.
As the sun passed through a small but significant cloud, the heat simmered and lessened. Light faced and shadow progressed. She could finally see his face, and he could see hers. She turned to leave, not wanting to recognise the grimace in his eyes and the harsh set of his jaw.
"Rebecca."
It was one word, but it almost made her shiver. Maybe it was the sudden cold from the suddenly scarfed sun? For some reason, she felt sad to leave. Why? At the end of the day, she had known him a day, nothing more, maybe less. How could you become so attached to someone? She shook her head and despite herself, she turned back.
"Yeah." It sounded a little harsher than she had intended. But she knew that Billy would know why. She was thinking. Whenever she thought, as he well knew, she was impossible to deal with, because all her concentration was focused elsewhere.
She noticed him walking softly toward her, and she noticed a thing stream of light seeming to follow him. The sun was once again beginning its blazon down on Earth, pulling out of the confused mess of the golden tinged clouds. She blinked, watching the colours flit along with his shoes, and suddenly he was in front of her.
"Rebecca." This time it was softer, but somehow full of intent. She looked up at him- how come she had never noticed how tall he was? -and smiled slightly.
"Yeah?" she said again. This time though, all her attention was focused on him. His dark hair, the muscles in his left arm, and the light shining from behind him as the day truly dawned over Arklay. She found herself forgetting the night's events. With the warm, comforting heat of daylight, she felt a small sense of accomplishment swell within her. She had gotten out alive. The breath caught in her throat as she finally took on board the fact that there was no space whatsoever between her, and Billy.
"Rebecca, I..." words seemed to fail. "Thank you." He said, his voice full of functionality. He just.. wasn't sure of what else to say to her. He couldn't banish the thought from his head that she was, above all else, a child. Nonetheless, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "I think it's safe to say that I owe you one."
She smirked a little. "For sure."
He was unsure of what to do. He felt protective of her, and knew that, in time, he could really come to like her, to spend time with her, maybe to love her. But it would be wrong of him and he knew that too.
Though he didn't realise it, Rebecca was thinking the same things herself. She had S.T.A.R.S. , and she didn't need any baggage. This was a disaster that needed averting, not aggravating. The best thing to do would be to walk away.
"Billy.. I. I think you'd better go. The team are due here to meet me. I can't explain this to them. It would only cause trouble."
Head rules, she thought, and heart begins to convalesce, to heal, to get over it.
He nodded resolutely, and gently left go of her hand. He needed to leave her with a parting gesture, and before either of them could think about it, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly- the only time he had ever really and truly opened up to her –and she hugged him right back, her arms tucked around his torso.
They squeezed tightly for a brief moment, and then he was gone, evaporating into the horizon at the cusp of the forest. She heard his last brief "goodbye", and she felt a smile on her face once more. Sunlight followed his every step, and then again the bowl of gold was attacked and dimmed by a revolting cloud, determined to have the day as dull and lifeless as it could.
With a smile, she returned to the edge of the cliff where they had just sat, and waited for the sun to fight it's way back to the surface again. Goodbye, that was all he had said.
Just goodbye.
She shrugged.