A Fleeting Moment

Disclaimer: Welcome one and all to my first ever...*NAH-NAH-NAH*...CLAIRE AND WESKER PAIRING! This will be a M only for the violent scenes and language. Maybe some romance if you stick around and review. Hehehe. No, there will be, I promise you that. The title came from listening to Nightwish's song "Nemo". I dunno. After hearing the lyrics and thinking about it, I came up with this pairing for the first time. It is brief and in all honesty, was because I lost the magic for it. I may continue in another part.

"Not one or two, Subhuti, not one or two, but all the beings - men, women, animals, birds, trees, rocks. All the beings in the world. One should create such a determination that `I will lead all of them into nirvana'."

-Buddha

"'Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel."

-William Makepeace Thackeray

By: VampireQueenAkasha

"There's no point in hiding."

-Wesker, Resident Evil 5

Chapter Six: Snake in the Grass

Arklay Mansion

"I won't tell you again..."

Wesker's voice was roaring like a train through Enrico's ruptured ear drums. Despite having his ribs crushed in from the kicks and his face beaten in, he was sure that Wesker was not finished with him yet. Despite all of it, he was still left wondering why the other Captain was doing this. He had his ideas, but his brain couldn't form any kind of thought right now because of the brutal ringing sensation and the hot roaring through his ears.

"W-Wesker...S-Stop..." Enrico begged, softly, "I would never..."

Wesker's figure blurred in the dim light of the mine's lanterns. He chuckled quietly. "It's a shame, Enrico. I didn't plan this. But they have their orders. S.T.A.R.S. must go down, I'm afraid. You have all come so close to the truth. It has to happen."

Enrico groaned sharply with pain before a sound to the right caught Wesker's attention and the man bolted from his spot, fleeing from a potential enemy. It was Jill. Wesker stayed hidden behind a rock surface and watched as Jill walked forward to Enrico.

"Stop! Are you with anybody, Jill?" Enrico panted, his eyes wandering about worriedly. It seemed that he didn't see Wesker from his hiding spot. Good.

"Enrico, who did this?" Jill asked, surveying the damages to Enrico's body. "Who did this to you?"

Enrico coughed up a bit of blood before he looked weakly up at Jill. She looked so frightened, so terrified that the gaze forced him to look away. "S.T.A.R.S...it's finished..." he rasped, "It...it's done...We've been betrayed...Umbrella set us up and we-"

Suddenly, a gunshot filled the air and Enrico's eyes widened. He felt a sting, followed by a heat that slowly became more and more unbearable. He would have screamed out a warning to Jill had his lungs not filled with his own blood and choked him. He watched her eyes widen in horror and her hands reach out to him before his world slowly blackened.

"Enrico!" Jill shouted, shaking him with two hands, despite the man already dead, "Enrico!"

Wesker smiled and disappeared from view. Now to deal with Chris. The man was being held in a prison cell just below the mansion, so there was no way of getting through to the others in his position. Wesker could use Chris' sudden disappearance to his advantage, of course; the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members had already narrowed down their suspicions to only two individuals: Chris and himself. He would make sure that all eyes were diverted from him.

Hmm... I wonder how dear Claire is fairing...

Wesker grunted and mentally kicked himself. Why was he still thinking of her at a time like this? She was Chris Redfield's baby sister for one thing and Wesker couldn't stand Chris with an inch of his life. They had that one moment and he hated himself for that. What had compelled him to do something so impulsive? Wesker had never been so reckless like that before. But Claire had something that he had never known. Something that intrigued him. He did not like that.

So why had he sent her that gift? He was going to use it for his own purposes should he need it, but why had he given it to her?

Wesker's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of raspy moaning. The rattling of chains followed and he knew immediately who it was. That damned Lisa Trevor was after him again. He had dodged her on the way down here, but just barely.

Sure enough, her hulking, shadowy form appeared from around the corner. He recognized the rags around her deformed body and the layers of dead, sick flesh that hung from her head. All of which, of course, were the faces of her victims.

"Lisa..." Wesker hissed, knowing full well that she could understand him, "Leave my sight, otherwise you're going to be in for trouble."

Lisa didn't seem deterred by his words because she tossed her bound arms back and let loose a bellowing, unholy scream. She moved toward Wesker and he grimaced, quickly staggering from her. He had counted on Lisa's deterrence of his threat, but when she decided to go after him again, he knew that he was in for trouble. His ammunition was low and Lisa seemed to be able to take a lot more damage from just a simple hand gun.

Shit! he thought, as she swung her hands and he barely missed the attack, the blow taking a chunk of stone away from the wall.

Lisa bellowed again and moved forward after him. Wesker turned tail and sprinted down the long tunnels, hoping that he could avoid the fallen Trevor woman before someone else could catch on to his scheme and that it was HE who shot Enrico. Jill was a bright bulb indeed, so it was only a matter of time. Dammit. If Barry could have just gotten rid of her like he was told, he wouldn't be running like this down a damp mining tunnel!

Wesker stopped in front of the elevator doors and took a moment to catch his breath and he looked back to see if Lisa was still pursuing him. It didn't seem that she was, so he took a sigh of relief and stepped into the elevator, pressing the appropriate keys. Now he could check on his project. His newest creation. Surely it would give the S.T.A.R.S. a run for their money and more or less, his chance to make a break from Umbrella. After all, he had the appropriate means to do so with William's "cure". They would think him dead and it would give him more leeway to do as he pleased in the darkness, out of Umbrella's watchful eyes.

Wesker smiled to himself. He had it all figured out.

Meanwhile

Claire had spent all day working on her studies while still paying mind to the bullet that was sent to her, resting neatly on her desk. She fingered with the tip of it, letting it roll back and forth on her desk in an absentminded gesture.

"Claire, you haven't been able to do any work today."

Claire chuckled and turned in her chair toward her roommate, Donna Burke who had her face buried in a book entitled "Long Division for Dummies". She was a calm, laid back woman which of course, was total contrast to Claire's tomboy, wild nature. Claire actually got along pretty well with the other girl.

"What's his name?" Donna asked, knowingly, as if she had gone through this charade before.

Claire stiffened in her chair. "What are you talking about?"

"Claire, I have a sister who's just as obvious as you are," Donna said, skeptically, "I know when a man is on someone's mind."

Claire smiled slightly and held out two hands. "It's not like that, Donna," she told the other woman, "We were just...confused about each other, so there's nothing going on. It was a mistake. Never happening again."

"Uh-huh..."

Donna didn't sound convinced as she continued to look at her book. Claire frowned at her before staring down at the bullet onto the table. She furrowed her brow and thought hard about it, but something just didn't seem right.

Arklay Mansion

Jil struggled to keep Barry in her grip, but he was falling over the edge and he was just so heavy. A part of her, as shameful as it was, wanted to let him go, to let him fall into the chasm below and to his death, but something stopped her. Oh, that's right. She wasn't a murderer nor was she willing to be the traitor. When she stared down into his terrified, sorrowful gaze, she knew that he felt nothing but remorse for what he had tried to do.

"Jill, please, don't let me go...!" he begged.

Jill groaned and she felt her arm almost popping free of its socket, but she applied the strength in her legs and pushed back, pulling Barry onto safe ground. She groaned weakly, catching her breath as he took a moment to catch his wits.

"Were you going to let me die?" he asked, staring at her.

Jill wasn't too sure how to respond, but she did. "I guess not."

Barry stared at her for a few moments more before looking down into the darkness where that...thing had fallen. He watched it just jump off of the edge, after seeing what was inside that stone coffin. What in the hell had made it do that? As he was thinking, he didn't see Jill pick up the fallen photo that he had dropped just as Lisa had smacked him over the edge. He watched a look cross her features and knew just what she was thinking.

"I get it..." Jill said, softly, "You only wanted to protect your family..."

Barry nodded and took the photo from her hands, standing. She stood up with him and they both looked down at the chasm again.

"I have a small hunch that thing survived the fall," he said, turning attention away from his own shame, "Hey, why don't you go on ahead and check the area while I give this place a quick glance-around, okay?"

Jill frowned at him suspiciously. "O-kay..."

Barry chuckled and there was a bit of nervousness there. "What?" he asked. "Come on, Jill. Don't you trust me to do this one thing?"

Jill squinted at him before she turned and walked out of the room, still very uncertain.

Chris groaned and came to, but he really wished that he hadn't.

He was in a prison cell of some kind and he remembered exactly how he got there too. Wesker. That damned bastard brought him here. Chris vaguely remembered a sucker punch and before he knew it, he was unconscious and in the dirt. Although he hadn't woken up until now, he remembered seeing a flash of glasses and the color of a S.T.A.R.S. patch in the moonlit night, so he couldn't deny who it was. The traitor.

Chris groaned and covered his face with two hands, feeling so very stupid because of this. How could he not have known that something was wrong with Wesker? He was always a little odd, suspicious and strange to him. Barry had gotten Chris this job for him because no other asshole would hire him given his military history and problem with superiors. But dammit, Chris should have known all along! He should have trusted his instincts.

"Chris..."

The voice chilled his blood. He looked up and found Wesker standing on the other side of the cell door, staring in at him through the bars. Chris jumped to his feet and surged at the door with a ferocious yell and tried to reach at Wesker through the bars; the man had calmly stepped back, watching Chris violently swipe at him.

"You son of a bitch!" Chris shouted, hysterical, "I'll get out of here and kill you, do you understand! You killed them all! How could you do something like that? They trusted you with their lives, goddamn it! THEY TRUSTED YOU!"

Wesker stared at him from the tops of his glasses, unfazed. His blue eyes flickered with irritation. "Are you finished?"

Chris panted heavily and gripped the bars of the door, glaring out at Wesker with pure rage and hatred that was no where near empty. "No! I am so far from finished, you asshole! SO GODDAMN FAR FROM IT!"

Wesker slapped his hand against the door so suddenly and drew his face close to Chris' that it startled the man a bit. He pursed his lips into a thin line and made a sound that resembled a growl before he calmed and spoke gravely. "Careful what direction you tread in, Chris," he said, severely, "I am keeping you alive right now only for one reason; to see just how well you will fair against my newest creation."

"What creation?" Chris spat. He tugged on the bars of the cell. "How long has Umbrella been slipping you a goddamn paycheck?"

A cold smirk slithered onto Wesker's lips now. "Heh. You seem to be highly mistaken as always, Chris," he told him, "I've always worked for Umbrella from the very beginning. S.T.A.R.S. was made after that fact for you to be used as my little...guinea pigs. The Tyrant virus leaked through the mansion, polluting this whole place into a living dead nightmare from hell...and unfortunately, I had no choice but to give up my precious S.T.A.R.S."

Chris looked horrified at first before he clenched his teeth and snarled. "You bastard!"

Wesker closed his mouth and sighed through his nostrils. "Come now, Chris," he said, as if he had heard this all before, "If you wish to threaten me, do so with some originality." He turned to go. "I don't think you want to die just yet." He chuckled coldly and walked away.

Chris leaned as far as he could against the bars and reached out uselessly with one hand. "Wesker! Come back here! You can't do this! Goddamnit, you can't!"

Wesker's cruel laugh echoed throughout the hallway, leaving Chris to himself with a furious scream in response.

The sound barely reached Jill's ears and she frowned, standing beside the elevator doors. The sound almost resembled laughter, but it was too distant to tell. Oh well, she had other things to worry about than a possibility of that. Just as the doors squeaked open, Barry came running up to her from around the corner. She instinctively drew out her weapon and leveled it at him, thinking that he may have been one of those undead.

Barry held out two hands. "Just me, just me." he assured her.

Jill lowered her weapon and fitted it back into her holster. Barry chuckled softly and gave her a playful punch on the shoulder. "You could've at least waited up for me, ya' know."

Jill nodded her head, but she still seemed doubtfull about having Barry with her. Yeah, everything seemed in the clear and she got some info out of him about why he was doing what he was, but that wasn't enough to satisfy her. Something else bothered the woman as the two stepped into the elevator and it slowly began to descend. They were standing silently together, weapons close at hand. Neither one said anything.

Barry watched her face. "Jill..."

"Don't say anything, Barry," she told him, her voice coming out harder than she wanted, "Just...don't."

His mouth closed with an audible clicking sound and he glanced away. Once the elevator stopped, the two stepped out and could make out the sounds of computers and machines whirring across the hall toward another room. They slowly approached it; Barry trailed behind Jill, watching her with a concerned look mixed with regret, frustration and sadness. She didn't seem to notice it because she was too focused on her destination.

She stopped at the door for a few moments before shoving it open. The room was filled with tubes full of green fluid and computers. She spotted Wesker leaning over a keyboard and typing something quickly. Slowly, Jill started to advance.

"Wesker!" she spat.

Suddenly, she froze when she heard a click and felt cold metal against her cheek. She looked back at Barry, who had his Colt Python aimed right at her. His eyes were filled with the deepest regret and his lips trembling with pain. She stared back at him angrily, furious that he had duped her yet again.

"Thank you, Barry." Wesker said, smiling.

The smile made Jill want to punch him in the face. She continued to glare back at Barry. "Well, well, well, isn't this a shock..."

"Now, now, don't put it all on Barry, Jill," Wesker said, not looking up from his keyboard and the man digital readings on the screen, "His family is in a bit of a tight spot. If he does what I say, perhaps nothing will go wrong with them..."

Jill couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Wesker, how could you do something like this?" she hissed, "You're pathetic."

Wesker paused in his typing for a brief moment. "Well, la-de-da." he said, snidely, "But I wouldn't worry so much about it anyway, Jill. You're going to be set free from this trouble very shortly. Once I take care of this."

Jill scowled at him. "Can I ask one thing though?"

"Ask away..."

"Why would you go through this elaborate scheme of getting rid of all of us?" Jill asked, her features still furious, "Why would you kill the people you've worked with for so long?"

Wesker shrugged his shoulders and spoke with an irritating calm and arrogance. "I know you may not believe this, but it was Umbrella who wanted you dead, not I. It's nothing personal, my dear." He chuckled dryly.

Jill scoffed. "Okay, and I'm supposed to believe that load of crap!" she snapped, "You're just Umbrella's little play thing."

Wesker's hands paused in his typing and he lifted his head slightly. "Heh. What a smart little thing you are, Jill, but don't misunderstand my intentions here. Those sweet little ideas that you have running through your head just mean nothing to me." he snapped his fingers and waved them through the air, indicating to the other S.T.A.R.S. member. "Barry, I want you up on ground level and wait for me, got it?"

Barry nodded and turned, giving Jill a shame-filled grimace before he left. Jill watched him go angrily before she turned back to Wesker, only to be face-to-face with his handgun. He smiled at her, a thin malicious grin.

"Ah, poor, poor Barry. He must be so terrified of Umbrella..." he sneered.

Jill licked her lips with anticipation before she suddenly remembered something. Something important. "Wait!"

Wesker tilted his head with a smirk. "Last words?"

"N-No. Not last words," Jill told him, "I just remembered something. Something to do with you."

Wesker seemed intrigued. He continued to smile. "Go on."

"Claire. Claire Redfield."

The smile vanished. "What about her?"

"What do you mean 'what about her'?" Jill asked. Her voice was quiet now, somewhat shocked. "Don't play that game. I saw the both of you. I saw how she reacted whenever she talked about you. I saw it, Wesker. Don't pretend that it was nothing."

"I'll have to disappoint you, then."

"You felt something for her, I know you did!" Jill insisted, watching an angry grimace touch his lips.

"Tck. Whatever you feel or thought you saw means nothing to me." Wesker sneered, returning his attention to the computer, "I played her like toy, that was all. The Redfield's are certainly quite gullible, aren't they?"

Jill didn't believe that. There was something in his expression, despite not being able to see his eyes. She watched as the protective shell on one of the tubes slid down, revealing a monstrous form floating inside. The flesh was sickly white, covered in scars and ugly mutations. It possessed a massive, clawed arm, proportionally larger than the other. There was a large, pulsating heart beating outside of its chest and ribbons of veins extended from around its face.

Slowly, the water inside the tank began to drain.

Wesker chuckled softly, staring up at the creature with admiration. "The ultimate life form...Tyrant," he sighed, "Isn't it beautiful?"

Jill scowled sourly. "It's disgusting. You've experimented on all of these people, just for the sake of this test-tube freak!"

Wesker slowly turned to her. "You'll never understand," he sneered, aiming his weapon at Jill's head.

Suddenly, a shot rang out and slashed right through the tissue of Wesker's hand. He howled in agony and dropped his weapon to the floor, gripping his bleeding hand with the other. Wesker snarled and looked up at the sight of Barry standing there.

"Barry, you useless pile of waste!" he shouted, "What do you think you're doing?"

Jill seemed relieved to see Barry standing there. "Barry, had a change of heart, huh?"

He lowered his head with shame. "Forgive... me..."

Jill nodded and patted his shoulder gently. "Already done..."

Wesker panted weakly and staggered backwards toward the Tyrant. "You think this is over?" he spat, venomously. He didn't see the Tyrant moving behind him. "Do you think for one second that I can lose to you?"

Jill and Barry's eyes widened and they stared beyond Wesker, horror on their faces. Wesker frowned angrily, confused before he slowly turned toward the Tyrant case. His eyes widened behind his glasses when he realized what was going to happen. The Tyrant plunged its clawed arm completely through the glass and before Wesker could even think of avoiding the attack, the claws pierced completely through his body. His eyes snapped wide in shock and pain; blood gushed from his gaping mouth and splattered across the Tyrant's emotionless face.

Jill and Barry cried out in horror and staggered back, listening to the horrible sounds of Wesker's screams. They were silenced when the Tyrant flung his body aside and stepped out of the tank. It stared down at the immobile form of Wesker before leering toward the other two.

"No!" Jill shouted, "You disgusting freak!"

The Tyrant's teeth gnashed and it began to move toward the two...

What...What's happening...

Wesker's body couldn't move, but he felt every layer of his skin burning and the bones about to rupture. His chest felt as if something was crushing it into dust and his head a ten gallon weight. He knew that he must have been dead and William's little experiment a failure, but...he didn't really feel dead. He felt that he was burning, that the very sun itself was scorching down upon him with no end in sight. It was burning him and tearing him apart all at once.

William, what have you done...

Wesker felt shapes and shadows dancing across his vision and before he knew it, everything seemed to form into a clear, visual perspective. He could see the crackling computers and even the tiny sparks that danced across ripped wires from claw slashes. Wesker could see dust balls that fluttered uselessly across light fixtures in the ceiling and even smell a heavy trace of blood. When he looked around, he noticed that the Tyrant was gone.

Hmmm...so they've managed to be rid of it, eh?

Wesker stared down at his chest and gave himself a quick patting down, noticing the rips and tears where the Tyrant had run him through, but no blood and no damage. He grinned to himself, delighted. Ahh, so William hadn't screwed up after all! He was alive! If he could, Wesker would absolutely kiss the man for his skills.

Just before he could continue to savor the happy moment, he could hear an electronically altered voice blaring out a warning above.

"THREE MINUTES UNTIL DETONATION."

SHIT! Wesker had only three minutes to get out of the mansion and to a safe distance. Wesker turned and sprinted from the room, racing madly down the hallways and toward the elevator that would take him to the garden. He could escape through there. He continued to run, sprinting through several undead without even a second glance or a moment to spare. He hurried into the elevator and quickly pressed a few buttons.

"TWO MINUTES UNTIL DETONATION."

Goddamn it! He had to get out of here. The stupid elevator was taking too damn long!

It finally stopped on the top floor where the stairway of the small Koy pond had been outside the mansion. He fled up the stairway and could still hear the sounds of the computer voice sending out the warning.

"ONE MINUTE UNTIL DETONATION."

Wesker snarled and turned tail, racing into the forest as fast as his legs could carry him. He had to get out of the blast zone and for all he knew, he was still a good bit in it. He could hear the sounds of the computer voice in the distance as it began to count down.

"10...9...8...7..."

Wesker ducked beneath a massive rock surface and braced himself against it, squeezing his eyes shut.

"6...5...4...3...2...1..."

The entire estate shuddered and finally, erupted into an enormous ball of debris and flame. The resulting blast shook Wesker where he was and nearly threw him from his feet. He could still feel the heat of the flame, even at such a distance that he was. He peered carefully over the rock's surface and scowled at the sounds of helicopter blades just over his head. He kept himself hidden as he observed the S.T.A.R.S. chopper passing just over the trees.

They survived, huh? Well, live to fight another day, Chris. Wesker was sure that this wouldn't be the last time he would see him.

He chuckled softly with pleasure and his once blue eyes now burned with gold/red.

Farewell for now...Chris...

THE END