Regeneration

Chapter 1: The Surface

AUTHOR'S NOTES

I've done my best to make the opening chapter as realistic as possible, because let's face facts here: there are a dozen different perfectly plausible ways that Capcom could have ended RE6 with Piers on top, they just chose not to. Now that I've already abandoned this fic at Chapter 17, I realize there are better ways I could've written it.

Chris Redfield

Haos screamed, his body being torn apart by the electrical blast. I watched through the glass as his guts and blood and brains flew in a thousand different directions. That electricity, I knew, was Piers. Piers had just given me his last goodbye in blowing that thing to smithereens. I already knew I was hallucinating again. I had to be, because that massive blast...

...had seemed to come from my direction. It had barely missed the shuttle when it tore through the monster. I guess that was a good thing.

I felt the shuttle slow and come to a stop, floating up to the surface of the ocean. The door unsealed itself, and I opened it. The sun was setting on the horizon, giving everything a red and gold glow. I tested my footing, seeing if the shuttle would flip over if I tried to get out and swim anywhere. To my surprise, it held firm. Of course, it would have to. The shuttle wouldn't float to the surface without an air pocket inside. But, I couldn't hold back thoughts...of what Piers had done for me. He could have come with me, could have saved himself. There had to be a cure somewhere out there, and if he had just joined me...but then that enormous monster, Haos, would have attacked us again. And we'd both be dead. I wondered if he'd stayed for that reason.

Ripples in the water caught my attention. I saw a small school of fish investigating the giant hunk of metal I was sitting in, then swim off in a hurry. That's strange, I thought, given the disturbance that had just happened. But as far as I was concerned, they were fish and didn't really matter, not having any sort of thought as to what had just happened. To the man I had just left behind.

But the ripples kept coming. I looked over the edge of the glass. There was something green floating in the water under the ship. Kelp, algae? Had something gotten stuck on the bottom when it came flying through the water? Or worse, some stray arm from Carla's monstrosity?

It wasn't algae or kelp. It was a scarf. A green scarf. Slowly, a tentacle came into view. As fast as my heart had sunk minutes earlier, it had shot into my throat. This wasn't fair.

That...couldn't be right. I had to be suffering long-overdue post-traumatic stress. Right? But he had snapped me out of my dreamland once. Was it possible that...?

It was.

Piers broke the surface. He climbed onto the shuttle pod, shaking water off of himself, and grabbing his scarf out of the water. He looked like the depths he'd swam up from had been Hell itself. He spat out what must have been a gallon of water. Piers Nivans was alive.

When I finally came up from that sense of emptiness I'd been experiencing, even as Chaos shook the shuttle, I reacted. "Piers!" I yelled, launching myself at him, but he fought off my embrace. "N-Not just now, Captain. I still don't know whether this virus can spread through touch." Past the mess of veins and the cataract taking up the right half of his face, I could see that he didn't look happy. He looked miserable in fact, and he had every right to.

"What?-How? I saw you-you stood there and watched this thing launch!"

His frown turned into what I thought might've been a half smile. It took him a second to get speaking again, and it was long enough to get me to worry that the virus was spreading faster than I thought. "When that monster broke through, It caused a huge surge of water. I got swept out, and got just close enough to grab onto the bottom end of the shuttle. Actually...w-well, it was hard at first, but it looks like I can breathe water now." He spat out another mouthful after announcing it.

I was so shocked. It was just so...incredible. "You...you'd...you were... You might be the best soldier I've seen in my lifetime, Piers." I said with complete honesty. He just grimaced again when I said it. "Captain?"

"What is it?"

"About this virus..."

Reality struck. The C-Virus was going to make him lose his mind, soon enough. I looked him over, and he was breathing pretty heavily. "Don't...don't worry Piers. We'll find you a cure. You're gonna be fine, I promise."

"I'm not sure this virus is the same one I thought it was."

Again I was taken by surprise. Not the same virus-?

"W-what? What are you saying?"

"I think...well, I'm not sure, but I think the virus is stabilizing, at least for now. I can't really make sense of it."

I put a hand on his shoulder, despite his protests. "Let's get you to the BSAA Outpost. We're gonna work 'til you're back to normal, Piers. I'll do it if it takes me a lifetime." I said.

"You know that's not a promise you can keep."

"I can try. And I am gonna put everything I have into it."

"It won't work, Captain. They haven't found a cure for these viruses in all the time they've existed, they're not going to find one now just because of one soldier."

"But we have two soldiers." I said, a ridiculous smile breaking out on my face. "One of them is Chris Redfield." He didn't respond. "And the other one," I said with determination, "is Piers Nivans, you hear me?"

I got a sigh for an answer. "Loud and clear, Chris."

I pressed the button to radio Central. It was time to get my second-in-command, my best friend, home.

Months Later

Jake Muller's blood was a miracle. It wasn't just an immunity vaccine; it was the cure that I had been trying to find for the past fifteen years. Piers had been right, the virus wasn't the same strain he'd thought. It was a different one entirely, one we hadn't seen before. According to the research, Piers had infected himself with an "Enhanced C-Virus" that had been made using Jake Muller's antibodies after he'd been kidnapped. The virus was the same type that had infected Derek Simmons, and allowed him some control over his transformations and what little sanity he'd had. The virus had temporarily stabilized due to the massive amount of bioenergy Piers had expended killing Haos. And while we had no guarantee that this development would cure other viruses, hearing the news that Piers would not go insane, and wouldn't have to stay in his condition was like waking up from a nightmare all over again. Jake really was a lifesaver in more ways than one-though a part of me didn't forget that it was a result of that Muller kid that Haos had come into existence. They'd found material on the shuttle from Piers's attack, and determined over the months that Haos had been a project originating in the initial C-virus strain, and later affected by the Enhanced C-virus.

I was sitting at my table in the BSAA CHQ lounge. I had come back here a few minutes after they'd dismissed me to run a few more tests on Piers. Soon enough, the door opened to reveal him standing there, naked from the waist up, his lower half clothed in thick jeans. They had tried to get shirts on him before, but found that the giant tendril claw on his arm prevented it.

"Piers! How's it holding up?"

"Got a few free hours, they said." he grunted. Looking at him, not much had changed so far, but I could see that less of his face was infected and that his right eye seemed to be healed and working again. It usually drew a lot of eyes when he walked around sporting half the Green Giant on his right side, but he never gave it a second thought, another thing I admired about him.

"Great! Are you feeling okay?"

"Better than I was. Um, Captain, have you got a minute?" Piers asked.

"Sure. What did you need?"

"Well, I was wondering if you might walk with me over to the bar across town."

I raised an eyebrow. "You can't go out yet. Not looking like that, you'll cause a panic."

"I've got nothing worth hiding. But I've got a coat three sizes too big to try with."

"That's a nice try, but it's still not going to convince security. I'd prefer you let me bring you back something."

He let out another sigh. I'd gotten familiar with those. "Thank you, Captain. I only have a few hours before they want me back in the infirmary. Will you?"

"Come on, you know you can call me Chris. Have you really gotten so used to 'Captain'?" I asked.

Piers smiled. "It was my impression I was supposed to."

I laughed. "Well, I'm on a well earned rest—" Piers' eyebrow lifted, and I was reminded of how he'd wanted me to stay in the BSAA, "—and so are you, so it's Chris for the next six months. Got it?"

"Yes sir, Chris, sir." Piers answered, grinning at the ground.

Later, after Chris returns from the bar.

I'd come back with a bacon sandwich and a small beer, and iced tea for Piers, something I knew he preferred. He sat across from me at a small white table. I resisted the urge to pull a pack of Newports out of my pocket and instead rested my chin on my knuckles. "What did you have in mind? Or did you just want to get a decent meal?" I asked.

For whatever reason, Piers winced. "I thought I'd take a little break of my own, you know, talk about things."

"Shoot." I offered.

"Well...The thing is, Chris..." he paused. "Up front, I was wondering...If I really had died, Chris...would you have stayed in the BSAA?"

I didn't immediately answer. That was the kind of question that needed a lot of thinking on. I didn't really care to imagine if Piers had really died. I had already had a taste of that, I didn't want any more. After a long while, I answered, truthfully: "I...wouldn't have wanted to think about staying in the BSAA, Piers. Not the way things went. It's time I retired anyway. But I would have. To...to honor what you wanted."

Piers's face was still oddly blank, but I thought his eyes softened. The words felt awkward coming out of my mouth. We were surrounded by people, some of whom were eyeing us. I felt more uncomfortable than I should have. Piers had a way of doing that that I really didn't like. He was a marksman for that too, I guess.

"Thank you, Chris...That means a lot." Piers said.

"Yeah...but you aren't dead. And I'm still working, for some reason." I said, trying to make him smile. Piers laughed, which was a good sound to hear after all the months of stressful testing and vaccinating. "Piers, really though—" I started, but he cut me off.

"But nothing. You are the BSAA, Chris. It needs you."

"What it needs is someone who can lead it well, who isn't heading for his midlife crisis." I said, feeling old even as I said it.

"But can that person do what you can?" Piers asked quietly.

"He can do more." I said, taking a sip of my Coors. "Piers, I want you to carry on what I started." I said gently.

Piers looked down. "I'm just not ready, Cap-ah, Chris. I don't have the kind of qualities that you do. I can't lead."

"You can. And you are the best damn soldier I've ever seen, and being modest here, maybe even better than me." Piers looked up. "I'm not. I have good aim, that's all."

"You saved my life and thousands of others. The BSAA needs you, Piers. And there's nobody I'd rather have take my place."

Piers was quiet for a moment. "Nobody? Is that really true, Chris? I'm sure you can think of one or two people."

"Nope." I said, putting as much pride as I could into my next few words. "And believe me, soon as you're healed, your getting promoted. Speaking of which, what have they said about the virus?"

Piers stirred his tea with a straw. "It's receding. My eye's better, if you noticed." I nodded.

"Your head okay?"

"It will be, soon. It's my arm I'm worried about."

"What did they say about it?"

"It's...healing very slowly. Barely, but it is. I mean, it's a new arm, really. I had to use it after most of the original was ripped away. It isn't just going to go away like that."

"How long?"

Piers was silent. "Piers, how long will it take?"

"Well...I can either go with the bionic arm, or..."

"Or what?"

"...or wait a few months."

"A few months? For it to completely heal?" I asked.

"Yeah." Piers said, a little defensively. "By that time, all traces of the virus in my body should be gone. And my arm will be back to normal."

"That's great news! You had me worried! I thought you were going to say years! That's incredible!"

Piers was still silent. He was looking at his feet, sipping more and more. His glass would need refilling soon. "Either way, I still might not be the marksman I was before."

So that's what it was. "I mean, I might just take the bionic arm and try to get used to it now."

"Don't." I warned him. "If-when your arm goes back to normal, it'll just need a little time to get used to itself. Once it does, you'll be dead-eyeing birds again in no time."

"Do you really, honestly believe that? Tell me the truth, Chris."

"Yes." I said gingerly. "I do. I swear I do, and you should too." I answered, though I was only half sure. Anything was possible today in the world of biology, I told myself, and as long as I continued to tell myself that, I had something resembling hope for Piers. I cut my bacon sandwich in half. "Here, you need to eat. Think about other things." I told him. He took the food tentatively at first, but then started eating hungrily.

"Thanks for that. And you're right, I'm starving." he answered around a strip of bacon.

"Easy there, last thing we want is for you to choke." I said, reaching over and patting him on the back.

Wow. It felt like our positions were reversed. Every time I would explode, or get angry or distracted, Piers had drawn me back in to business. Well, now it was my turn to do the same for him. And I would be there, the whole way for him.

What do you guys think? Did I do a good job? As a note many months (a year or two) after this fanfiction was quit, I should let readers know I've done some editing on mistakes I've made. That, and I'm working on the fanboying I did in the author's notes. -Chris