How We Survive
A Resident Evil Fic by ChronicLegCramp-Since'99
Pairing: Chresker
*Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to Capcom and Shinji Mikami, respectively*
Chris Redfield was sweating, his fingers sticking uncomfortably to his well-worn gloves and he was sure he was wounded, bleeding probably but with the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he couldn't feel it. He was pushing against the third of four pillars, close to the sealed exit while Captain Wesker held off the monster that was the late Lisa Trevor, with only his STARS issue beretta. The bullets were all but ineffective against the hunched abomination but it was buying Chris time and that was all that mattered. Just as the pillar toppled over the side, he saw the virus-stricken thing swing its grey arms round and knock Wesker, who had been reloading, back against the next pillar. The blond slipped down, his legs falling over the edge of the platform as his arms scrabbled for purchase on the ledge, hanging on with one hand as the creature approached.
"Captain!" Chris ran forward, pulling his magnum from his holster and fired three powerful shots into the creature, aiming for the head and torso. It staggered backwards with a shriek, considerably enough for Chris to drop to his knees before his captain, setting his gun down and reaching forward. "Your hand, Captain!" His voice cracked slightly in his urgency, blood pounding in his ears. Wesker thrust his hand up to grab a hold of his marksmen's forearm as the latter's free hand reached to grip under his shoulder. He hauled Wesker up, his wide, deep blue eyes darting at Lisa Trevor's advance. The blond, half lying across Chris' legs with his own still dangling, swiftly took up the magnum and fired amazingly precisely from his awkward position. Chris relaxed fractionally as the creature wailed, flailing its sickly body around. He didn't have time to blink before Captain Wesker was forcefully pulling him up onto his feet by his forest green kevlar vest.
"Go," the blond ordered firmly, stepping towards the monster to give him room to make work of the last pillar. He didn't need to be told twice, throwing his weight against the sandy stone, palms braced. Behind him, Wesker kept the creature at bay one lethal magnum round at a time. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, disliking having his back to the enemy but he refused to risk a glance over his shoulder, instead concentrating on his own task. He had faith in his captain. With the gun thoroughly emptied into the monster, Wesker was instantly beside him, helping to shove the pillar home. They both turned at the sound of the large tomb in the centre grounding open, followed by the raising of the portcullis. Chris was yanked back a step as Lisa Trevor slumped past them, stopping at the head of the tomb.
"Mo-ther-" It called out in a scratchy, sombre voice that sent icicles up his spine, despite the comforting presence of his captain's hand still fisted in the back of his vest. They watched mutely as the creature picked up what was most likely Jessica Trevor's skull with its imprisoned hands and preceded to step off the ledge with a final, hoarse scream. To meet with death, Chris hoped. He immediately felt his stomach knot with guilt and sympathy for the poor girl and her parents, pausing in a brief moment of reflection.
He and Wesker were both panting- Chris more so- and the echoing sound was the only thing breaking the eerie silence for several seconds. He thoughtlessly retrieved his captains handgun as he spotted it forgotten about on the floor. When he turned back to Wesker, the older man was already regarding him with a faint crease at the bridge of his nose. As they swapped weapons, Chris pulling a handful of magnum rounds from a pocket on his cargo pants to reload, he wondered for the millionth time how Wesker could retain his calm facade. For it had to be a facade, he decided, no one could realistically keep a steady pulse in a situation such as this. It bothered him that even in the face of this nightmare with just the two of them here, his captain wouldn't let his guard down an inch; not even to reassure Chris that he wasn't the only one seriously spooked by it all. Then again, that's probably what made him such a faultless leader, he supposed.
"You're bleeding." Chris glanced up at Wesker's matter of fact statement, holstering his magnum. It was the first time he'd noticed that Wesker's ever-present black shades were missing as he looked into intelligent, icy blue-grey eyes.
"Huh?" He murmured vaguely but he looked down at the wound Wesker was probably referring to. Lisa Trevor had landed a long gash on him, running from his shoulder, over his collar bone and down his chest. With the adrenaline still mildly coursing through him, he couldn't help but feel more perturbed by the clean tear in his vest. Before he could shrug off any concern, his captain had pulled a first aid spray from his belt and begun to apply it along the messy wound, pushing aside the frayed material of his vest as he did so. Chris hissed faintly at the sharp sting but his attention was soon drawn to the sorry state of Wesker's navy STARS shirt around his shoulder. "What about you? Is your arm okay?" He asked with a worried frown, recalling how painful the blow that had sent Wesker flying into the pillar had looked. He was sure the blond's arm and back were already bruising up. Wesker spared his shoulder a glance before pulling out a strip of gauze and tape from the front pocket of his black vest to cover Chris' wound temporarily, until the brunette found somewhere safer to properly patch himself up.
"It's nothing I can't handle," the blond muttered in a detached tone, causing Chris to grit his teeth in response. He knew it hadn't been said in arrogance but even so it grated on his nerves, his instincts screaming for his captain to take his injuries more seriously in this precarious situation they were in.
"It would put my mind at ease if you checked over your wound, Captain," Chris said simply in a tone that suggested he knew Wesker would ignore it anyway. The blond looked Chris in the eyes once he'd put the medical tape away and the brunette was a little shaken by how much of a different person his captain looked without the damned shades. It was strange, as if now that his eyes were visible his face was more open, and yet at the same time his expression remained reserved, unreadable. Chris was angry at himself for having to drop his gaze, but it felt disrespectful somehow to look his captain in the eyes so directly. As if he was questioning his judgement- as was in his nature to do with authority figures- rather than showing his concern. He heard the blond release a short sigh and gradually lifted his gaze to see that his captain was shrugging out of his vest. Chris wordlessly armed himself with Jill's handgun, which he had found in the mansions main hall; sliding into a protective stance with the gun raised, he felt like he was doing something other than standing idly by.
Wesker had set his vest down and undone only the first few buttons of his shirt so that he could push it off his shoulder and arm to assess the damage. Chris had turned away slightly, eyes and ears sharp but he stiffened when he sent his captain a sideways glance. The majority of the blond's arm was already sickeningly dark with bruising beneath the surface grazing which thankfully, wasn't bleeding freely but was probably throbbing horribly. In their normal day to day setting, seeing his captain so badly hurt wouldn't have got to Chris- Wesker was strong and he could take it. However, here, in this graveyard of a place with Jill and Barry still missing and it having been far too long since last seeing Rebecca, Chris was filled with a hot fury that had his fingers gripping the gun in his hands so tightly they were going numb. Any one of his remaining comrades could be dead by now- practically the whole of Bravo had been given up for dead, if not actually found mauled and mutilated. All but Rebecca- and whose to say one of those reptilian, hunter-green monsters hadn't got her? Chris squeezed his eyes shut, wondering what could have possessed him to agree to splitting up with the petite rookie. One thing he knew for sure, those bastards, the ones that had caused all of this- including that snake of a traitor Enrico had warned him about- would pay for everything they'd done. They'd pay for each member of Bravo who had lost their lives, and they'd pay for Joseph too. And if Brad didn't get his chicken-ass back here, he'd better keep running! Chris' blazing blue eyes had wandered back to Wesker's injured arm, glued there during his inner-tirade but he glanced away now, sensing the blond's piercing eyes on him.
"Chris," Wesker spoke, all business and no-nonsense. "Calm. Down." He tried to comply, forcing a shaky breath out between his clenched teeth and loosening his grip on the gun minutely. He shook himself, breathing in and out through his mouth a few times. He needed to stay strong, focused on the task at hand, the investigation, staying alive. Frown still fixed in place, he returned to Wesker's side, taking the roll of gauze from the latter's hand and replacing it with Jill's handgun. Wesker didn't say anything as he bandaged up his arm as quickly and efficiently as possible.
"Jill and Barry...?" He asked lowly while he worked, not looking up to gauge his captain's reaction- if there even was one.
"No sign of either of them," Wesker answered without hesitation, voice giving away nothing but seemingly more careful than usual. Chris' face remained tight with worry but he hoped it wasn't as obvious as it had been moments before. He didn't want his captain doubting his stability or capability. He'd made it this far, he wasn't going down now. "Jill and Barry are still alive, Chris. I don't need to question it because not only are they members of STARS, they are members of Alpha Team, our team, and we don't die easy. We never stop fighting, not until our dying breath. That's how we survive this. Do you understand?" Chris had tied the bandage and just been holding Wesker's arm, eyes staring down at the white material as he listened intently, taking in his captain's every word. To say he was surprised by Wesker's resonating pep talk would be an understatement. He knew the gratitude towards his captain was shining in his eyes even though he didn't look up, but in that way at least Wesker would know that his words got through. The blond always knew what to say at exactly the right time and Chris was always thankful for that.
"Understood, Captain," he replied softly. He caught himself then, just as his thumb had moved to stroke over Wesker's gauze-covered arm, his habit of physical affection on the verge of extending to his captain, in the same way his lips had automatically reverted to curling up at the corners in response to the encouraging words. He reigned himself in, glad that whether or not Wesker had noticed the subtle caress, he wasn't showing it. Having promptly released his hold on Wesker's arm and taken back Jill's gun, he opened his mouth to inform him about Enrico's dying words, face growing serious again. Something stopped him, however. He dismissed the odd drop in his stomach and wrote it off as the unease of staying too long in one place, a feeling that he'd fast grown accustomed to. The blond had slid his arm back into the sleeve of his shirt and was doing up the buttons, but his gaze was still on the brunette, expectant, waiting to hear what he had to say.
"I found Rebecca Chambers," he told him instead. "Bravo's new medic- she said she'd catch me up."
"Good," Wesker commented, tone once again inscrutable whereas it had held almost the barest hint of passion previously. "I'll investigate this area a little further."
"But-" Chris clamped his mouth shut at the warning look his captain sent him as he zipped up his vest and reached for his own beretta. Chris did not like the idea of splitting up- he had already done so with Rebecca and she had clearly fallen behind or got lost along the way. Although, thinking of the spunky girl, he realised that having one of them stay and search the area may not be such a bad idea after all, assuming she wasn't too far behind. Better to have Wesker covering her back than his. He nodded in affirmative and made his way to the mouth of the tunnel.
As he was passing by Jessica Trevor's tomb, he glimpsed something shimmer in the dim lighting of the cavern. It was a family photo sticking out from folded note paper; a letter addressed, 'To My Lisa'. Chris skimmed the first couple of sentences before tucking it away for safe-keeping- they'd need all the incriminating evidence they could get. With his gun at the ready, he walked under the archway and along the rickety, metal walkway, which creaked and whined under his army boots. He was standing on a cylindrical lift about to activate it into motion when he heard the echo of steady but swift footsteps. He spun round, aiming his gun but soon straightened up, waiting for the blond to reach him. Wesker gave Chris a nod of approval and the slight smile gracing his face for once held something that the brunette could have sworn was pride.
"For someone who has survived this nightmare since before our arrival- and where her team mates have fallen- I'm not worried about Rebecca Chambers," his captain stated smoothly as he boarded the lift in front of Chris. "We stick together from here on out. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir," Chris returned without missing a beat, his weary smile widening ever so slightly. Wesker was right; Rebecca had more than proved that she could handle herself- or at the very least, make a run for it. And as the lift stuttered and began ascending, carrying them who knew where, the brunette couldn't help but feel relieved to have his captain at his side.
Hope you enjoyed reading!
This is my first attempt at Chresker :'D I'm hoping to keep this going but I should warn you that chapter updates might not be consistent and could end up few and far between.
I'm basing this on a mixture of REmake and RE- when the idea came to me it was a what if Wesker didn't stay and 'investigate' the area and went with Chris, watching Chris' reactions to the experiments and all that while at the same time keeping his status as the traitor hidden for as long as possible. But other than the whole involvement of Lisa I'll probably base the entire lab on RE because that's what I'm more familiar with- I only just clocked REmake for the first time (as Chris of course ;) ) so I'll stick with the RE layout.
I decided not to start this with Chris and Wesker already involved, so this chapter focused more on their platonic relationship and Chris' respect and admiration for Wesker. But it'll go along the lines of their feelings/attraction for each other making itself known- rather, more undeniable- at the same time as being something they've always felt was there but left unsaid because well, Wesker's the boss and has a lot more on his mind than getting laid lol
This is getting a bit long so I'll leave it at that- You'll just have to wait and see how the story unfolds :P