Hi and thank you for showing an interest in this fanfic. The inspiration for this story came from an interesting chat I had with a friend late at night, back then, I had only watched half of Resident Evil Apocalypse and finished playing Umbrella Chronicles. I admit, this is the first time I've written a Resident Evil fanfic. Er... Actually, it's the first time I've fully completed a fanfic and decided to post it here... So please forgive my amatuer writing skills. You may find that some parts are better than the rest, well, that's because some parts of this story is written by a friend who has some experience in writing stories and fanfics. Enough of my babbling, I hope you enjoy this one-shot.
Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or any of its characters. Heck, I don't even completely own this story, thought up and co-written by a good friend of mine, all I own is the two OCs.
"Till Death Do Us Part"?
by Hyvamethyst & Kir Cullen
I always believed that I should give the one I love everything she wants, but what if the only thing she wants from me is death?
A sudden jerk of Saya's body brought my full attention to her. I pulled back and looked her over. "Are you all right? Does it hurt?" Such inane questions. Inside, I knew the answer to both of them.
"I'm fine Athrun, I can take it. You shouldn't stay so close to me, it isn't safe..."
I tried to speak but my heart had leapt into my throat. My entire world was collapsing around me, I wanted to scream. Why Saya, why you? I'd rather die a painful death than hurt you, but soon, I have to... I couldn't bring myself to think about it. Softly, I stroked her cheek with my fingers, trying to call out to her, but only managing a thick choking sound.
I guess you'll want to know how this came to happen, right?
With a deafening crash, the door in the front hall burst off its hinges as three undead, also known as zombies, charged into the hall. Saya delivered a roundhouse kick at the head of one of them, breaking its neck and severing the top of its spinal column. Even before it fell to the ground, she had already drawn her knife and sliced through another one's neck, destroying its brain's means of controlling the body. A Taekwondo black belt at the age of sixteen, Saya was always better at martial arts than I was. Just as the one left rushed at her back, I raised my Beretta 92 and fired a single shot, the bullet going through the skull and embedding itself deep into the undead's brain. At least I was the better shot.
"I could've handled it Athrun, we need to spare our ammunition if we're going to last until we can get extracted by the USS." Saya stated to me urgently as she swiftly lifted the door back to the frame and starting to move furniture in front of it as a barricade.
"We've got plenty of ammo to spare. And shouldn't you at least carry a gun?" I said in response as I threw her an MP5K. I didn't bother voicing my doubts that the USS wouldn't come, after all, it's the only hope we've got. Before she could reply, I was already rushing through the hall, "I'm going to do a check of the other side of the house."
As I ran through the house, I contemplated at how we got into this mess. Saya is, or was, one of Umbrella's top scientists, one of the youngest and a genius. A day ago, there was an incident where the top secret viral weaponry, the T-virus, was leaked into Raccoon City. Once infected by the compound, humans would die, but they don't stay dead. The infected turn into mindless, bloodthirsty monsters wanting only to feed, they are walking sources of infection: a single bite can spread the infection to other people. The Umbrella Security Service was sent to extract everyone of value to the corporation and their families, at least that's what Saya told me should happen. It seemed that either Umbrella deemed Saya not important enough, or they didn't bother with extraction at all. Damn bastards, and they said the missiles I designed were inhumane. Now, Saya and I are trapped inside our home, gripping on to the little bit of hope that the USS would come. Luckily, my interest in weaponry has had me "wasting money", in Saya's words, on multiple types of firearms and ammunition. I bet she thinks differently now.
"Athrun!" Saya's distressed shout brought me out of my thoughts and I rushed back to the other side of the house as the sound of gunfire rang through the living room. Bursting into said room, I was greeted by the sight of Saya snapping the neck of an undead before throwing it into another. Nine zombies had broken through the large window in the room and created an opening. Wasting no time, I gunned down the rest and ran to join Saya.
"Are you all right?" I asked, looking over her for any injuries.
"I'm fine, they didn't get-Ah!" Saya's own cry of pain cut her off mid-sentence. I looked down and my heart skipped a beat at what I saw; one of the zombies we thought dead wasn't quite dead enough, it had crawled over and bitten Saya's ankle. With a swift kick I pushed it away from Saya and put a bullet in its head, but the damage had already been done.
"Saya..." I couldn't think of anything to say. We both knew the consequences of being bitten; we had seen it happen countless times throughout the day. A sense of dread overcame me, I felt as if my gut had twisted into a tight knot at the thought of what would happen an hour or so later.
Before either Saya or I could say anything, the window next to us crashed open, as did the blocked door and another horde of undead came stumbling in, shuffling towards us. Raising my gun, I prepared to fend them off. It was only when all that came out of my Beretta was a click did I realize I had failed to notice an important detail: my gun was out of bullets. Throwing the pistol at the closest zombie's head in a futile attempt to do some harm, I picked up Saya's dropped MP5K, only to find that it too was out of ammo. Cursing, I helped Saya up and looked for an escape route. With all the exits blocked by the undead, I hesitated for a second before turning to the basement that housed an armored bunker, in which Saya's home laboratory and my weapons cache were. It was also a dead end with no way out.
"C'mon, let's get you to your lab." I said in what I hoped was a calm, steady and reassuring voice, but the look in Saya's eyes told me it was anything but. We quickly made our way into the bunker and bolted the door, cutting off the following undead. I put Saya down near the wall and made my way through the lab to the adjourning armory. Upon coming back, I saw Saya curled up at the edge of the wall, her head down and her long chocolate brown hair obscuring her face from view.
"What are you doing? We have to find an antidote for you!" I said in a panicky manner as I walked over to her. When she looked up and our eyes met, a chill ran down my spine as I realized, that there was no antidote, it hadn't been developed yet. The dead look in her eyes made it clear.
"We never found a solution to this... In an hour or two, I'll become one of them." Saya whispered in a hollow voice. After hearing her words, my legs gave out under me and I collapsed to the floor, eyes wide at the revelation. "No... No, this can't be happening! There must be a way!" I shouted to myself, my voice trembling, not willing to believe that the love of my life was going to die, and there was nothing I could do about it. Saya said nothing, and after a while of silence, she pulled my gun out from its holster and pressed the barrel against her temple.
"Saya! What are you doing?" I yelped in surprise, too stunned to even react. "There's no other option. I'm going to change soon, and...I don't want to hurt you when I do..." Saya replied grimly. At the last words, her voice cracked and she turned away from me, but she kept the gun firmly in place.
"NO! Saya, don't! Give me the gun dear... Please..." I begged with her, pleading her.
"There's no going back, and you know it."
"No, we still have time, there's still time... Just...Please, not now..." and after some hesitation, I mumbled in a pained voice, "And if it comes to that...I'll...I'll do it myself, I promise. Now please, put the gun down."
After a few tense moments, Saya dropped her hand down, "...I'm so sorry for making you do this." Taking the gun from her, I let go of the breath I had been holding. But now that that was done, a feeling of despair and helplessness washed through me as I realized that in an hour's time, I would have to kill the one I love most. The pain of it was unbearable, coursing through my entire being, deep into my bones. The wound on her ankle was taking away her life, seeping away what's dearest to me. No longer able to control myself, I pulled her into a tight hug and started sobbing, letting out everything I felt since the start of this whole ordeal, the hurt and fear. I felt Saya hugging me back, and her own tears drenching through my shirt.
While we hugged, my mind showed me the memories of Saya and I, pausing at the memory where Saya told me about her T-cell project. It all seemed so distant, but as I relived that memory, my heart ached, and my chest burned with guilt. I had the chance to stop this from happening. When Saya informed me about the side project, the T-virus, which was under development by another department, I was deeply concerned about her safety, but I refrained from voicing my worries when I saw how dedicated and passionate she was to her T-cell project. I always gave her what she wanted, as long as it made her happy. How ironic that now there's only pain and sorrow. With that thought, flames of guilt burned through me, eating away at me from the inside. What if I had insisted she left? Or if I had been more careful and protected her properly earlier? As the numerous "what if"s went through my head, I gradually sank into a pool of self hate, cursing myself for my incompetence.
So now you know what happened. I really screwed up, didn't I?
Once I was positive that I had regained my voice, I moved back slightly, watching the confusion that shone in her eyes. Smiling sadly, I took a small box out of my pocket, and said, "I was going to do this at dinner tonight, but..." I knelt on one knee and opened the box to reveal a shining ring, with a heart-shaped blood red ruby as its main jewel and diamonds embedded around it. "Saya Shirada, will you marry me?" For a minute, Saya just sat there in a daze before she lunged at me, pushing me to the floor and kissed me, but unlike the ones we used to share, this kiss had an edge to it, was more forceful, and had a touch of desperation. But of course, since we had less than an hour of time left, desperation was very understandable. I kissed back, doing my best to ignore the current situation and melt into the kiss. After exhausting her lungs' oxygen supply, she pulled back and her tears dropped down onto my face. "Yes, of course." Saya said, choking a bit from crying. "I've been waiting so long for you to propose to me, I thought that I'd never get to hear that question after I was...after I was bitten." Before I could answer, she had pressed her lips onto mine again, when I felt her tongue pushing against my lips, I gladly granted it access into my mouth and moved my tongue up to meet hers. We kissed passionately, exchanging saliva and fully savoring the taste of the other's, for we knew this would most likely be the last time we could share a kiss, our tongues engaged in a mock battle, pushing back and forth. Pushing deeper into the kiss, I let out a slight moan and stroked my hand softly through her long hair, enjoying the feeling of how they silkily slid through my fingers.
After what seemed like a nanosecond and an eternity at the same time, we finally pulled apart, faces flushed red from passion and the lack of oxygen. Brushing away a few drops of tears from her cheeks, I gave Saya a light kiss on the forehead and she rested her head down on my chest while I twirled my finger through strands of her hair.
"What happened to being too dangerous for close contact?" Despite the grim situation, I still managed to give a slight chuckle. "Don't answer that," I added upon seeing her serious expression and feeling her pull back slightly, "I like it this way, and I don't care about what could happen, Mrs. Saya Cullen."
Settling her head back on my chest with a sigh, Saya whispered to me, "Do you remember the day we first talked to each other?"
"Of course, we were in high school back then. I can't believe that our first conversation was that awkward…" I replied, smiling a bit at the memory.
Saya smirked lightly, "You were one who was all formal and businesslike, I was the same as always. Remember that time…"
With that, we started talking about everything that had happened to us throughout the duration of the time we've been together, the embarrassing high school drama, travelling together, working together, etc. The conversation brought waves of nostalgia, how I longed to return to the peaceful times when we could be together without a care in the world. But even God himself couldn't bring those times back. I could feel Saya was getting weaker, her voice gradually got smaller and her smile weaker. "I'd rather you never knew me Athrun," she said during a pause, "You wouldn't be so sad and hurt." Hearing this, my tears flowed freely once again.
Time is merciless, never pausing or even slowing for anything.
Quite suddenly, Saya jerked in pain again, this time much harder than before and she gave a gasp as well. Saya pushed herself up off of me and said, "Athrun... Do it, I...it could happen any time now."
A look of desperation crossed my face. "No, there must be some other way... You can't just die like this... Not you..."
Saya gave me a bitter smile. "I made this; I'm the one at fault here. Now do it quickly, before I get you killed."
I fell to the ground, shaking my head wildly, tears flowing uncontrollably down my face, "I...No, it's...I can't...How...I just can't do it! I'm supposed to protect you, not kill you!"
"You promised!"
"..." Once again, my pained mind could not form a coherent reply. I stood up shakily, my legs feeling like they could give way any second. I gripped my gun with both hands – they were shaking so badly - and slowly raised it, never before had it felt so heavy. Saya, I vowed to protect you, to be with you for all eternity, but now, I'm sending you to another world... Don't worry; I'll join you in a while. Steeling myself with that thought, I whispered to her, "I'll join you soon." And as the clock chimed, I squeezed my eyes shut, just after seeing her eyes widen slightly in shock and made my move. I didn't need to open my eyes to know I had done it, because my tears had stopped, when the bullet went into her body, my soul left mine. I opened my eyes and knelt down beside her in the silence. Raising a hand to her face, I gently closed her eyes before lifting the gun back up and pointing it to my chest. The sound of another shot rang through the room.
I could feel the blood flowing out, but there was no pain, only a feeling of peace and comfort, even relief, knowing that I'd see Saya again soon. Memories of us flashed before my eyes. I knew she wanted me to live on without her, the slight shock on her face proved it. But what has the rest of the world got to do with me? Sure, if I had waited I might have gotten rescued, had a chance to continue with my life and be successful. But without Saya, what would be the point of it? Everything I had done before, was solely because of her, so I could be with her, she was my motivation. Now that she's in another world, I have no business here. At this very last moment, as my vision faded and I closed my eyes for the last time, a smile graced my lips. Saya, I'm coming.
Well, how was it? Was it okay? Did I mess up? Please review or just leave a comment, criticism is welcome.
And thanks for reading!