AN: I do not own the song used in this chapter. It belongs to the writers and performers of this song and I make no profit using the lyrics here. I also make no profit from using a similar idea as the video that is from the game (FFX2) with this song, and it is purely used for inspiration even though some parts could be considered identical. No need to sue or flame me, this is only for fun and nonprofit. If you would like to find the song to listen to for yourself, you can find it on YouTube. The song is 1000 Words and is the full version. I came across the short version of this song for the first time when I played the video game Final Fantasy X-2 so you could probably find the song this way as well.
-No Future-
She was surprised by the number of people gathered in the theater. At least a hundred, maybe twice that. Ada tried to recall the population of the town. It was an impressive turn out and she had to push her way to find some standing room at the far back. The dozen or so tables scattered about were filled, leaving most of the growing crowd of people to stand. In her search for a place to watch the show, she found Wesker and Krauser leaning against the back wall.
She smiled inwardly. Figured the two superhumans would beat her vehicle on foot to the theater. It helped that both men were capable of moving faster than bullets. According to reports, Wesker could. As for Krauser, he definitely could move faster than humanly possible at any rate.
Ada found Wesker briefly distracted, his eyes following a person coming in through the main doors. He wore his usual black sunglasses but the dim lighting in the auditorium made the red in his eyes glow lightly through the lenses, enabling her to observe where he was looking. The red glow was causing a couple of people standing nearby to glance repeatedly in his direction, exchanging quiet whispers as they debated if they were really seeing a guy with glowing red eyes or not.
At present, Wesker's eyes were fixed on a woman with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, her eyes shining with interest at seeing him here. The woman was wearing blue jeans and a red shirt with an auburn colored jacket over it. For a brief moment her jacket was pushed back by a man passing by and Ada caught sight of the police badge and holstered gun attached to the belt. The woman was a cop and she was returning Wesker's gaze now. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments and Ada swore the two exchanged some sort of significant glance. But then she was moving on through the crowd and was gone from sight.
The room became quieter all of a sudden, a few hushed words spoken by someone to their friend, and then complete silence. A man in his late fifties had come onto the center stage, cordless microphone in hand. He proceeded to welcome everyone and thank them for coming. He started to list the performances for the night. Ada tuned him out. She wasn't interested in any performances except for Melody's song.
A momentary glimpse of a guy with boyishly cut, light brown hair and a brown jacket like the one she remembered seeing Leon wearing earlier, made her think of the government agent. To say the relationship between Leon and herself was complicated was putting it simple. They had history, pure and simple. The more complicated part came with how their history pretty much amounted to a lot of almost dying, dangerous situations, and secret missions. In the midst of all of that, Ada made a personal connection with Leon when the two helped one another survive in Raccoon City.
In different times, easier times, maybe they could have had something together, some semblance of a future side by side. That would never be. Too much happened in between the time spent in Raccoon and now. Ada knew it was one big complicated mess of crap but she was okay with it being that way. Well, maybe not okay with it, but used to life working out in unexpected ways.
Like at present for instance. She was so close to completing what she'd come here to do and yet she was hesitant to take the final step. This was especially true after running into Leon. The agent probably had no idea how right he was when he accused her of having dual objectives. If the man had any sort of notable effect on her, it was bringing out her conscience and what she knew to be the right thing to do.
For the second time that day, she cursed Leon for showing up and throwing her off center. He was gone, the female operative reasoned, so she should return to finding the best moment to make her move. Her eyes landed on the man whose back resembled that of Leon Kennedy once again.
He really looks like him. Wow. Could be the guy's twin.
The man turned partly to his right to speak to a woman. The man didn't just bear an uncanny resemblance to Leon. He was Leon.
On closer examination, she identified the woman he was conversing with to be Claire Redfield. The pair were a few feet in front of Ada to her left. With the room mostly quiet to hear the man on stage talking, she knew they would be able to hear her fine.
She's supposed to be headed for the airport on her way home right now. Chris is not going to like this...
"Claire! Leon! Chris isn't going to be too happy about this."
They snapped their heads around and located Ada where she was leaning against the back wall near Krauser and Wesker. Claire peered sheepishly over at her looking very guilty, and Leon fixed his eyes on her like he was going to say something. However, the room felt as though it'd gone still and she realized not a single person was talking anymore. Everyone was watching the stage as Melody came walking on wearing her absurd array of mismatched clothing. She had to admit, the bio-weapon managed to make the outfit work.
The man-made creation had observed the host using the microphone. There was no hesitation when she put the mike close to her lips and began speaking to the crowd of viewers.
"The song I will sing came to me in a dream. They are the feelings of my friend. Her name is Eva, and this is for the man she loves, who is also my friend."
Melody said something that left the audience a little puzzled and it made Ada concerned for the meaning behind her words.
"I wish things could be different."
Following those words, music began to play. Ada quickly took in the confusion going on with the tech guys at stage left, who were in charge of the music. They hadn't done anything. This wasn't their music. Judging by the confusion on their faces, they had no clue where the music was originating. She stopped worrying about the sound technicians or anything else for that matter when Melody's beautiful voice filled the entire theater.
"I know that you're hiding things, using gentle words to shelter me. Your words were like a dream. But dreams could never fool me. Not that easily."
Melody's eyes closed for a moment as she let the music and words flow through her. When she opened them again, the blue irises were glowing bright in the mostly darkened theater. There were a few gasps of people in the audience surprised by the eyes lighting up, but most of them didn't react. Ada reasoned they probably thought it was a special effect.
"I acted so distant then, didn't say goodbye before you left. But I was listening. You fight your battles far from me, far too easily."
The shock coming across the audience was unmistakable this time when images of buildings began to appear, passing through the crowd as though they were ghostly apparitions.
"Save your tears, cause I'll come back."
The images were shaky and not solid, clearly not actually there. To Ada, it seemed almost like a holographic projection beyond where technology was currently at. Beyond technology she was aware of anyway.
"I could hear that you whispered as you walked through that door."
She was becoming aware this was what Melody did. Images were appearing of the bio-weapon's dream. Everyone in the auditorium was about to witness a scene of the future. Ada eagerly looked on, listening to the words Melody was singing while following the image of the most prominent building closely.
"But still I saw, you'd hide the pain, when I turned by the pages."
The other buildings vanished and the one Ada thought stood out above the rest remained. It came into clearer view directly behind where Melody was standing on the stage. The words "Murphy Pharmaceuticals" was in block letters over the main doors of the building.
"Shouting might have been the answer."
Ada's eyes grew wider when she saw, without a doubt, Chris and Eva's images standing in front of the building.
"What if I'd cried my eyes out and begged you not to depart?"
Chris and Eva refrained from drawing their weapons and Ada figured it was because this Umbrella facility was within a city, other businesses right next door. They looked in every directions before entering with clear caution.
"But now I'm not afraid to say what's in my heart. Though a thousand words, have never been spoken. They'll fly to you."
A darkened hallway replaced the exterior view of the building. Chris and Eva were racing down the hall, obviously running from something.
"Crossing over the time and distance holding you, suspended on silver wings."
Eva's steps faltered as she tripped and fell to her knees. Chris skidded to a halt and turned back to pull her to her feet.
"And a thousand words, one thousand confessions, will cradle you."
Chris led her to a dark gap in the hallway and seemed to be talking Eva into hiding there. He urgently coaxed her into kneeling back there, out of visible sight. He continued to run on down the hall alone.
"Making all of the pain you feel seem far away."
A brief flash of an image of a different but similar dark hallway showed three..four..seven men. Seven men decked out in Umbrella Special Forces gear was moving quickly, assault rifles in their hands.
"They'll hold you forever."
There was a short pause before Melody went on to sing the second verse.
"The dream isn't over yet."
The dark hallways disappeared and a bright image of daytime, location possibly a desert somewhere, had Chris looking in rather poor condition. He appeared like he'd taken a pretty good beating, one eye swollen shut, blood all over him. The injured man was propelling a narrow sword down as Eva stepped in between him and a second man with faded whitish hair. The sword cut through both of them and the BSAA soldier looked positively shocked at what he'd just done.
"Though I often say, I can forget. I still relive that day."
Chris held her as she died in his arms. Huh. Interesting.
"You've been there with me all the way. I still hear you say."
The next image showed her alive, though covered in blood. The blonde-haired girl was hurrying to kneel beside Chris, who was now the one dying, held up only by Wesker. A group of others she didn't recognize were gathered around, staring down at the scene.
"'Wait for me I'll find a way to save you.' I could see how you stammered with your eyes to the floor."
Eva was drawing her own blood from her arm with a syringe and injecting it into Chris's chest.
"But still I swore, to hide the doubt when I turned by the pages."
Those images disappeared, replaced by a room in an apartment where Chris and Eva were, in good health. The girl was staring up at Chris with her exceptional green eyes, perhaps genuine flirting, certainly genuine admiration. Oh yes, it was real. Eva was leaning up and planting a kiss on the man's lips. The image vanished entirely.
"Anger might have been the answer."
A large, towering machine materialized behind Melody's actual form on the stage, appearing to reside in a dark room. An unidentifiable man was looking up at it from the shadows.
"What if I'd hung my head and said that I could see the truth? But now I'm strong enough, to know, it's not too late."
The unidentifiable man staring up at the machine started toward it, face coming into view for the first time. It was Chris.
"Cause a thousand words, called out through the ages."
The image shifted and changed to Chris on the top level of the machine, pushing his hands onto identical square panels. The panels began to glow under his touch and the machine flickered to life, the center circle lighting up with a red hue. Around that, a pattern of white lights lit.
"They'll fly to you."
Eva ran into the very dark room lit only by the machine. She looked upward with a worried expression.
"Even though I can't see, I know they're reaching you, suspended on silver wings."
The girl's mouth was moving. She was calling out to him, arms raised as though to emphasize her concern in getting his attention. Chris heard her finally and peered down over the edge of the machine, his eyes showing surprise at seeing her there. The next image appeared on the right side of the theater and it was of the seven fully geared up Umbrella forces operatives, complete with their worn gas masks, running down a hallway.
"Oh a thousand words."
Chris and Eva ran to meet each other in front of the machine, the teenager wrapping her arms around him in a loose embrace. He pulled away from the hold partially when bright security lights snapped on, illuminating the entire area surrounding the machine.
"One thousand embraces, will cradle you, making all of your weary days seem far away."
Chris turned to the armed soldiers, Eva doing the same. He gritted his teeth, glaring with great hostility at the Umbrella agents. Aforementioned agents took positions, three of them going down on one knee, the other four taking standing stances in the spaces between them. They aimed assault rifles in the direction of Chris and Eva.
"They'll hold you forever."
The final gun clicked into place, pointed at the two standing in front of the machine under strong lighting. Music filled the air as Melody took a brief moment of silence, her eyes closed, body swaying to the beat. The images of Chris and Eva standing there grew brighter and perhaps larger as well. Eva's eyes were wide with fear and were searching her companion's eyes for something. He turned his glare away from the operatives and met the girl's gaze, giving her a small smile of comfort.
Ada knew that kind of smile. He was trying to reassure Eva everything would be okay and she believed him. She returned his smile with a weak but true smile of her own, tears filling her eyes. Ada's stance grew tense, her posture straightening. They knew what Ada was only realizing now. They were about to die.
She saw it coming but flinched when the bullets were fired from the Umbrella operatives' weapons. Chris and Eva's heads whipped around to look at the squad of agents and numerous bullets passed narrowly or hit them. They spun and fell, Chris landing on his stomach while Eva fell on her back. Melody started to sing again after this happened, the bio-weapon seemingly unaware of what the audience witnessed.
"Oh a thousand words, have never been spoken."
On her right, Ada saw Wesker as still as a statue, hands tightened into fists, jaw visibly clenched tight.
"They'll fly to you. They'll carry you home and back into my arms, suspended on silver wings. And a thousand words."
The image enlarged further on the pair lying on the floor. Chris was clearly in a lot of pain as he tried to reach for Eva lying a few feet away. She laid facing him, too far gone to do much but shift the fingers on her left hand resting near her head. The young woman's eyes glazed over, her fingers ceasing motion, and a single tear escaped her left eye, trailing down over her nose and other eye, hitting the floor silently.
"Called out through the ages. They'll cradle you, turning all of the lonely years to only days."
An expanding pool of blood surrounded their dead bodies on the floor before the machine, as the operatives moved in to clear the area. Ada looked on in horror at the blank, lifeless gazes of two acquaintances of hers. The machine was shutting down, room growing dark as the images waned.
"They'll hold you forever."
The images vanished and Melody finished her song.
"Oohhh... A thousand..words..."
Melody sank to her knees as the music faded and a tear leaked from one of her eyes. It seemed she knew what everyone had seen despite her not witnessing the multitude of inexplicable images that appeared to the audience. She did say she dreamed these predictions.
The words Melody said before she sang, about wishing things could be different, now made a whole lot of sense. That was when Ada was reminded this was a future event, which meant it hadn't happened. Chris and Eva weren't dead, not yet. There was time to stop it.
A black blur moving through the crowd caused a few startled gasps from various people scattered about. She knew Wesker likely reached the same conclusion as she had and was on his way to ensure the two remained back at the cabin. Another blur, slower than the first, passed close by her and she knew Krauser was on the move too.
A hand closed around her wrist and she turned to find a scared looking Claire Redfield right in front of her, Leon just behind.
"Ada, where's Chris? Where's my brother?"