Author's note: I like sticking in my fics between events in games. This one takes place right after the duo fight in stage 5-3 in RE5. That fight turns into a boatload of bigger fun once those melee moves are activated! Great animation, there.

Unerring Trust

"Chris, you all right?" Sheva seemed to be asking this a lot lately. They were on their way to defeat a superhuman --if Wesker could resemble human at all anymore-- while leaving behind Jill, Chris's companion from his troubled past. He had a difficult choice to extricate himself from Jill's side, but here he walked with his African BSAA colleague.

Dwindling rays of the red setting sun lit their rocky and dirt scattered path. There was a half hour of light remaining at best.

When her partner did not respond, Sheva's hazel eyes glanced at his sun-drenched profile. Distraction was apparent in his furrowed brow and grim mouth. It didn't take a master detective to deduce what bothered him.

In a low tone, Sheva added lightly, "I'm secretly having a fling with a martian."

Nothing. Chris definitely was not here with her. Big body, yes, but without mind and soul, it was just his shell traversing with her.

Sheva pretended not to notice when he fell behind in step for the second time. They had to hurry and she had reminded him of this before his current daydreaming. She couldn't blame him for zoning out. Seeing his partner who was assumed to be dead for years was a shock.

In the arena where they battled Wesker and Jill, the aftermath of those fights was positive. Freed from the dogged influence of her P-30 contraption, Chris supported the fallen Jill in his strong arms. Their eyes locked on each other's.

Too many seconds and days and months to catch up on. Unable to say all the words they wanted. So instead they watched.

"I'm sorry." Jill's hushed words to Chris weighed heavily as iron. Those words reached beyond hurting him during their fight between her possessed self and the evasive Wesker. Sheva sensed it in their melding gazes.

Apologies for leaving you, the pain you endured, the endless agony of uncertainty about me gone from your life. I'm so sorry. Sheva imagined sentiments similar if not exactly like this mentally passed from their minds to one another. Jill disappeared from Chris's life when she leapt through the huge window with Wesker those many years ago. But Chris also disappeared wholly from Jill's life; he couldn't be where she was to save her or scold her or even to merely utter a final goodbye if it were the brutal case.

Fortunately for them, this reunion became their reward.

Then Jill was standing and she hurriedly explained that Sheva and Chris must stop Wesker from releasing the deadly Uroboros virus on the public.

The sorrow rushed back onto Chris's face once more. He pitoned at an internal crossroads: Stay with her where he knew exactly how and where she was, or leave to prevent a madman from destroying this precious world and its denizens.

Chris protested for a fraction of a second, despite knowing full well the disastrous effects of leaving Wesker on his own. For a fraction of a second, Chris Redfield did not care about ending Wesker's reign of world destruction. He did not consider the potential agony inflicted on innocent people if Uroboros leaked and invaded their central systems. The obligation of a BSAA member's goal, his duty, and his honor to uphold what he understood was good and right; all of these things were thrown away the instant he began his objection to abandon Jill.

Jill grabbed his shoulders when his disapproval began. The woman wouldn't hear of it. Her move snapped Chris out of his reverie of staying. His dream was postponed.

Now, as sunset preempted twilight, he and Sheva maneuvered their way around a rocky cliff which would lead to the docks where Wesker and his sneaky partner Excella escaped. Sheva caught the preoccupation clouding Chris's face for the umpteenth time despite his continual assurance that he was fine and Sheva had nothing to concern herself about.

There was plenty to be worried about. A purely prime and logical reason being if Chris was distracted during a confrontation with the Majini or Wesker and Excella themselves, Chris might get himself killed. That would put a tiny damper on stopping the outbreak of Uroboros.

Nothing to fret about. Right.

Further away, the rubbly dirt trail they were on merged to a long metal bridge where the docks awaited. Sheva wondered if Josh was still in one piece. He was so invaluable, getting them out of deadly jams of gatling gun fire with his skillful boating maneuvers. His flying fingers as he typed passwords to unlock electronically barred doors was worthy enough for a musician. Sheva prompted herself to tell him her gratefulness once this Uroboros nightmare was over.

Chris began to slow further than Sheva liked for the third time. Sheva, figuring chiding him as she already did would do no good, slowed her pace. She matched his heavy steps, then casually timed herself to drop off and fall behind him. Chris spun his scenarios, unnoticing his lead as he gazed off at some far point over the choppy sea.

Clutching her stomach, Sheva dropped heavily to her knees. "Ugh, it hurts!"

Her outburst immediately registered as urgent on the Chris Redfield Partner Save scale and the dazed man spun around. Concern washed out the moodiness from his face. He dipped onto his knee in front of her. "What's wrong?"

Sheva raised her chin to look slyly at Chris. She poked her index finger at his forehead and startled him. "You're awake!"

Chris sighed in relief, then it tapered to an embarrassed laugh at falling for her clever trick to get his attention. "Oh, Sheva, I didn't think I was so out of it. Sorry. I am ok-"

"You're not!" Sheva retorted firmly. "Stop saying it." Empty consolations weren't fooling her.

The tenacity continued. "No, really, I'm good-"

"Redfield, you're not fooling your partner so far in this game." Sheva quirked a reproving brow at him.

Silence. Surprised, Chris tilted his head. "Game?"

"The partner one. The one where you rotate and get a new one every few months." Sheva said this lightly, as if Chris switched partners on a regular basis. His extraordinary battle techniques must have meant constant switching after his missions. He was always needed in various regions as Sheva recalled reading in his portfolio before meeting him.

Chris securely took a hold of her elbow and stood with her. He didn't release right away. His dark eyes never wavered from hers. "I don't do that."

"Don't you trust your partner?" Jill's weighty insistence to Chris fell upon Sheva then.

Did Chris trust her? Did he believe she would persevere to the end? The caught look he had shared between the two women in the monarch room was swift, but meaningful. Time gave him two partners and none were substantially exclusive to him. Each one was valued in their own unique ways. Sheva assumed this, but she couldn't really know. He had abstained about Jill a good deal into their mission in Kijuju.

"I am your partner, aren't I?" Sheva questioned steadfastly. Chris was going to be straightened out right here.

The offended frown which crinkled his forehead seemed encouraging. "Of course. You said so yourself."

Sheva lobbed a direct question in hopes for a truthful answer. "What do you want from me?"

"Huh?" Chris seemed slightly bewildered.

"Being your co-pilot, clear goals are essential." Sheva tried not to openly chuckle at his alarm at her personal proximity mine she just plunked down. Sheva pointed to her chest. "This partner is ready to take on Wesker. This one," she jabbed her fingertip at his chest, "is not."

"I am!" Chris debated hotly, as though he couldn't stand her accusation.

Take it for him to get riled up over some flimsy prodding. Maybe it was all Sheva required to complete her secret mission. She inwardly gloated. "All the way. I need you here all the way. Jill is fine. We smashed that strange device affecting her, so there won't be killer mood swings." Sheva smiled in what she hoped was encouraging. Chris could use a dosage of support.

Chris's shoulders released its tension at hearing Sheva's assessment. "Yeah. The thing was almost super-glued to her chest. It was tricky removing it."

He noticed his partner was still awaiting a response to her question and he rubbed the side his neck to think. "What do I want from you?" The half lazy glance he passed over her face ignited curiosity in whatever meaning it held. Sheva blinked and Chris was speaking.

"Your integrity. You'll remind me of what I'm fighting for when I forget." Chris's eyes closed and a quirky grin appeared. "Plus your knockout somersault against those Majinis."

Awed at his humble honesty, Sheva suddenly truly felt honored to be paired with Chris Redfield, not simply an elite BSAA member with the tactical prowess of a professional mercenary, but Chris Redfield, the man who fought through setbacks and disappointments to claim whatever goals he believed his whole heart in. Forging a virtuous path never was easy, simple, nor clear cut. He endured.

"We can't have anyone dying during this mission." Sheva sounded stern, pretending as if Chris needed the reminder.

"'cept Wesker," Chris noted dryly. He checked the number of rounds left in his pistol's magazine.

"It goes without saying." Sheva nodded in affirmation. She stared hard at Chris. Just a bit farther they had to travel before the denouement to this viral terror began. "We'll make it through this. Are you with me?"

Those steady dark eyes of Chris's cleared its doubt when they contacted hers. The assuredness Sheva had spotted on him at the start of their mission thundered back.

Nodding surely, Chris swept a fleshy gloved hand in front of them. "Ladies first?"

Sheva smirked. Chivalry was always welcome, but today she made an exception. "Together. We'll go together."

-- THE END --