A/N: Written on my phone. Excuse any errors until I can get to a computer to fix it. Thank you!
Orphan
Part Three:
-Something Wicked This Way Comes-
Chapter 18:
Phoenix
2005
"He's not dead." The truth echoed softly in the sad dreary sky.
Of course, it wasn't news to either body that stood beneath the miserable mire of murky gray light. They both already knew that. It was part of being involved with him. You just knew he'd survive.
The drizzling rain was beneath the arch of an umbrella. The face beneath was cool and calm, catching enough light from the flickering neon bar sign in the distance to reveal the gorgeous bone structure of something that spelled years of conquering people to claim their culture. The expression on that beautiful face hid the anger inside of it.
The voice trembled, "...you liar."
The redhead facing that angry expression remained unflappable, "...whose the liar? He's the liar. Wesker is his father!"
The beautiful woman wearing red laughed with ire, "That's not his fault. You planning to condemn him for it? You won't be the first. You won't be the last. Hell, your brother has already written him off as guilty and executed him."
Claire shifted in her seat facing Ada Wong. They held gazes over the bustle of people hurrying through the rain to shelter. "...I know he left Chris and Jill alive."
Ada smirked slightly, "Of course he did. He's Leon, not Wesker. He wants them to vindicate him, not murder him. Fuck your brother."
Claire winced at the expression as Ada continued, "We do this without him. I'm cut off because that goddamn Wesker made sure to burn me at every turn. Simmons, the jealous fool, has made sure I have a target on my back bigger than that goddamn eyeball on Birkin's shoulder."
Claire nodded, glancing around her, "So what? What do you want from me?"
Ada gave her a cool look, "You know he's innocent. You know that girl with him isn't there because she's his prisoner...she's his lover."
Claire's whole body tensed. She shook her head, "...he wouldn't do that. He wouldn't touch her that way. She's a child."
Ada arched a brow, "Spare me the jealousy...clearly you don't need me to explain the way a dick works. She's beautiful. She's eager. She's devoted. He's fucking her...he was fucking me once too." She tilted her head at the hurt on the redhead's face and mused, "And clearly he was fucking you as well...that's our boy, after all...he does love a good fight and a good fuck."
Claire sighed heavily, "...what do you want from me, Ada? Stop trying to hurt me and just get on with it."
Ada laughed lightly, "You can move in circles that are cut off from me. I need you to find out about Alex Wesker and Project W. I need to know where she fled to when Spencer died. I need to know what Wesker wants with Leon. If we want to clear his name, we need to find out why Wesker helped burn him to begin with."
Claire tilted her head, "Why Wesker? Why not Simmons? You said Simmons burned him out of jealousy over you, right? Why include Wesker in the equation? Maybe he's the one getting burned as well."
Ada laughed again, "You Redfield's...always looking for a chance to restore faith in even the most irredeemable of villains. Albert Wesker has one agenda - Power. If he thinks he can get that from his own son, he would cut out Leon's heart and piggyback it over his own...don't begin to believe anything else or you'll wake up in a bathtub full of ice missing your own."
Ada's eyes scanned the voluptuous body of the girl Redfield, "I don't think you'd enjoy what he'd take from you either...would you?"
Claire shifted where she stood and snapped, "...fine. I will dig around on what I can...but what are you going to do in the mean time...? Or is it just my neck on the block here?"
Ada laughed again and backed up in the rain. She winked and returned, "I will do what I can to make sure your secret stays safe. You? You should prepare yourself for what happens when he finds out what a liar you are...maybe you shouldn't judge him so harshly, Claire...I mean...we all have our secrets right?"
Claire watched the red and white umbrella bob away. Clearly, Ada had a sense of irony and humor about it. It was the symbol of a corporation that had made sure they were all still paying the price for that one night so many years ago.
Claire sighed heavily and shook her head. Apparently, she was about to do what she could to save Leon Kennedy. It would seem his time had come to play damsel in distress. Firstly, the hardest part was about to come to pass.
She had to find a way to make sure her brother never found out about it. If he did, he'd stop at nothing to block her on her quest. He simply would never believe that anyone sharing Wesker's blood could be good.
She wasn't sure how she knew...but she still knew in her bones that Leon was the boy who'd fled that city with her. She'd known him then. She knew him now. Maybe they had there differences, maybe they weren't the best of friends, maybe they almost loathed each other sometimes...but the respect she carried for him would never end.
Even if he was fucking the entire United States Army, she'd still know he was a man who'd never have willingly served the wrong side.
She just had to find a way to prove it.
After all, Ada was right. They all had their secrets. She wasn't even going to pretend her's were any worse than Leon's. Right now? She didn't have a leg to stand on. She just needed to get moving to make sure Leon still had his when it was all said and done.
She was about to see how much a ghost she could be while the man with the moniker was held in chains by the monster who'd made them all in the blood of a burning city.
Alex and Sherry sat together in a small library alcove sipping tea. The older blonde was watching the girl read with a kind of intelligence that was nearly palpable. When Sherry couldn't take it anymore, she lifted her head to face that beautiful gaze.
"...you need something?"
Alex smirked softly and crossed her legs in the leather armchair, "Hmm...more than a few things, I think. You've heard, I'm sure, that I'm...dying."
Sherry lowered her book, turning to face the other woman completely. They locked eyes as Sherry finally answered, coolly, "I have. You're here, I'm assuming, to ask me to submit for testing to see if I can cure you."
Alex smirked again, "Something like that. Will you?"
Sherry shrugged and lifted her book again, "Why not? You can poke me...just once...and never again."
Alex laughed lightly, "Just like that?"
"Why not? We're here. We're trapped. You could, if you wanted, make me do it. Seems more conducive to agree. Leon agreed, I heard, when Wesker put the question to him. So why not follow suit?"
Alex's eyes twinkled, "You'll do it for him? For the boy?"
Sherry snorted, "He's hardly a boy...but he's the reason- absolutely. I'd do whatever it took to protect him. You leave him alone, you can have anything you want from me."
Alex's teeth flashed, "...loyalty...it's so hard to find these days. I understand the compulsion. I have the same for Albert. I would, it seem, die for him. I might still." She seemed unconcerned with her own demise, "Impending doom is boring, after all. I prefer life...and love."
Sherry arched her brows over her book, "...meaning?"
Alex grinned, "Meaning...I saw you in the woods."
Well...Sherry felt her face flush pink. She cleared her throat and tried to look nonchalant. "...so?"
Alex laughed lightly and patted Sherry's knee, "Good girl. Don't let passion embarrass you...it's natural. It's part of living. It's mating, you know, in a way that no one can understand. The Wesker blood...it's potent. It runs through you and runs into your groin to make you...surge with a sexual need that's nearly crippling."
Sherry looked so uncomfortable that Alex laughed again, "Don't be embarrassed, darling. It's all part of humanity...and the evolution of what you both are. You realize, of course, the only way to sate the urge is to get with child."
Sherry's face paled and the other woman urged, "Don't be frightened. You're safe here. I know, we all do, that Albert would never let anything happen to your child with his son. You saw what he was willing to do for his son...imagine his ferocity of fatherly devotion to a grand child."
Sherry was terrified at the idea of Wesker's possession of a grand child. The thought made her want to run away into the bathroom and slit her wrists in a tub full of blood to make sure he never got the chance. Would he kill them if he got their child? Would he simply make sure they were disposed of? Would he breed them again, and again, and again...and make an army?
Terrifying.
As if she'd read her mind, Alex soothed, "Don't fret now, sweetheart. I think...we will surprise you. Don't forget that once, not long ago, we were just people too. Someone experimented on us..it wasn't a choice. I held onto greater pieces of who I was...but Albert...he was always harder, darker, and a little more lost. He came from a place where no one loved him. I think, I still believe, that he was experimented on in that orphanage long before Spencer brought him to the fold. I don't think he had much hope of being just a boy."
Sherry felt a twinge of sympathy, "...I know the feeling."
Alex smiled gently and rubbed her knee, "You do, of course you do. You were just a child born to build up another. You poor thing...some people will never understand the gift of having a child in their womb...I-" Alex sighed sadly and rose, shaking her head, "...well...enough of that melancholia. Perhaps you'll join me later for a game of croquet?"
So polite. The thing about life in this slaughterhouse? Somehow, it was the politest place Sherry had ever been. It felt like high society inside of a place where carcasses used to dangle and drip blood. Surreal.
Sherry nodded as the other blonde left her in the library to think. Was it as simple as Wesker seeking absolution for himself through his own bloodline? Was he looking for...family? Was he looking for connection in a world where he'd always been alone?
But what of all the rumors? What of the things she'd learned about him? He was the most hated man in their world...was he really hoping they'd believe he was simply misunderstood? It was too far fetched, it was too big of a leap of faith to trust in that. She needed proof to believe him.
How did she find it locked inside of these walls?
She rose and hurried from the library. Leon had been careful to avoid her. It was, after all, for the best with the mating thing hanging over them. Alex had seemed encouraged at the idea of them mating. What happened if they both just gave in and let it happen?
Could she raise Leon's baby locked in the walls of a place filled with lies and madness and memories of a lost city?
Sherry shook her head. She was losing it here within this place. She needed to get out of here and clear her head. She needed to figure out what was lies and what was the truth. She needed to know what the world was doing with the death of Leon Kennedy.
She was hacking into an outside signal easily enough and digging through media feeds to see about what the press knew when she heard the clatter of a sound in the library below her. Shifting, Sherry caught sight of Leon beneath the balcony, tossing through books and flipping through pages of some big black leather bound journal. She studied him, feeling her heart trip twice. Should she call out?
The computer beeped and signaled that she was hooked into the B.S.A.A.'s archives. She had minutes before they detected her breaching their firewall. Sherry worked like a demon, slipping through data until she could plant the worm she'd created into the hard drive on their main frame and escape through a back door virus out before they could find her. She started the download of their files concerning Leon, Wesker, Project W, and the entire Raccoon City debacle.
As she sipped on her tea, watching data fly across the screen, she heard Leon curse in the main chamber down below her. Sherry peeked through the bars like the girl had done once spying on him in that train station. He slapped the book off the desk. He kicked it over with a roar of anger. Her heart slapped and slid and her mouth went dry.
So angry.
Why?
What was happening to him?
He was turning into something she didn't understand. She was afraid, desperately, he'd begin to turn into her father. She was terrified she'd saved his life only to lose him to the virus inside of him.
She must have made a sound, because he spun and zeroed in on her watching him. She felt her throat close up. She scrambled back from the railing like he'd aimed a gun at her. Without thinking, she hurried from the desk and the computer she was on and went deeper into the archives of shelves and old books. She slipped through a few shelves and waited, breath held.
She didn't think he'd pursue her, after all, he wanted her to stay away from him.
She was almost positive he'd left when a hand snaked through the books behind her head and looped over her mouth. She squeaked and he pinned her to the shelf at her back, voice brusque and rough, "...you spying on me?"
Sherry shook her head - no. She felt a flutter of panic as he demanded, "Alex send you to spy on me? I know you were with her. I heard she visits you sometimes. You best friends with the enemy now, Sherry?"
She tugged his hand off her mouth and gasped for air, snapping, "Me?! I saw you in the courtyard with Wesker. I know you're training with him. How could you let him teach you anything!? He's a monster!"
With a laugh of anger, Leon let go of her and she heard him back off on the next row over, "Please. He's just a guy trying to survive. Who am I to judge? You know how many fucking people I've put in the ground, sweetheart? I'm no angel."
Jesus.
He was spending too much time with Wesker. He was starting to think like a guy without a conscience. He was starting to make peace with all the people he'd killed. Urgently, Sherry demanded, "Listen to yourself. Listen...do you believe that? Do you believe you're anything like him?"
Leon's laughter scared her, "Of course I am. So are you, kid. We all are...just most of us are afraid of what it means if we stop pretending. Wesker...he doesn't pretend. He is, what he is. It's refreshing. I need to know what he knows to stop Simmons. I need him to clear my name."
Sherry denied that, "You don't. I can help you. I will help you...forget him. Ignore him. Please."
Leon's voice was rough, "I can't, Sherry. I'm being framed. I'm being used. You think I'll let Simmons scape goat me because I'm too cowardly to fight back? I'm gonna stop Simmons, and then? Then I'll deal with the Weskers."
Jesus.
He was planning to what? Stage a coup? Was he thinking he'd take out everyone in a big blaze of glory? Did he think Albert Wesker would be out smarted by his attempts at paternal affection?
Sherry turned around the shelf and warned, "...don't be stupid..please don't...if he think you'll turn on him -"
Leon laughed, "He expects me to. Don't you worry, kid. I know how to handle myself."
He turned to leave the row of shelves and Sherry hurried after him. She called, "...can you? Because I watched you die a few days ago. I held you while you stopped breathing and watched your goddamn eyes fix and dilate. Can you handle yourself, Leon? Or are you just as stupidly arrogant as the man who spawned you?"
He turned back toward her. She watched the anger on him. Her heart kicked twice as he swallowed the rage that beat around them like butterflies wings. His voice snapped, "...I might have been dead, kiddo, but I ain't done. Don't sell me short because you think bravery means stupidity. I know what I'm doing. Either help me, or get out of my way."
When he started to leave, she grabbed his arm and slung him around toward her, "You might be able to talk to everyone else in the world like that, Leon Kennedy, but you won't dismiss me, you won't reject me, and you won't shut me up with arrogance. I won't stand by and watch you court your own death again... I can't. I won't survive it if I lose you. Do you understand me? I won't make it."
They glared at each other until she finished, "I love you...stop trying to test me on it. It won't change. You can be the biggest dick in the world, it won't change anything. I would rather die than stop trying to save you."
He didn't understand that level of devotion, but it made his blood warm. The second her hand slid against the bend of his arm and touched over his bare biceps beneath the sleeve of his black t-shirt, he forgot anything else but her anyway. His right hand caught her face, her hands went right for his belt. It happened in that way that was indescribable.
He threw her down on the table in the library. They coupled fast and hard, Sherry bowing in his hands while he took her. It was like he was removed from himself to witness it above. He could see his hands on her breasts. He could see his mouth on her body. He could see her bowed on the table with his face buried between her thighs.
She tasted, in his mouth, like hot, wet, woman.
When he filled her up, she squealed softly and grabbed for his hips to hump him through his possession of her. They lay curled together on the heavy leather sofa in the dreary light of the rainy day with their arms and legs wrapped around the other - a naked octopus of flesh and feelings.
Their kisses were wet and slow, sucking, tongues and trembling hands. The soft patter of rain on the windows accompanied their lazy touching. Passion sated, they simply explored, like limpid lovers might with nothing but the other in the whole world. The rain made a cocoon around them somehow.
As his hands cupped and stroked her bottom, Sherry traced her tongue over his left nipple. He was watching the rain on the windows that half surrounded their little alcove in the library as she mused, "...this is why we can't be around each other."
Leon simply grunted.
She dipped her hand down his belly to stroke his dick. "We should focus on what's happening to you."
He grunted again.
"You want me to leave?"
His hands caught the backs of her thighs in answer. He lifted and she settled over his lap to ride him. Lazy, he laid beneath her on the couch and played with her breasts while she took him into her. He seemed insatiable, as if he could cum in her until she simply spilled down her thighs in completion.
Stupid.
It was all so stupid.
Fucking her here, now, with nothing to protect them from the outcome. Fucking her at all. Fucking her bare and unprotected. Fucking her harder and faster and softer and needier. Fucking her when he knew it ended with him in love with her.
He didn't want to love her like that.
Love was stupid. It was wasteful. It ended with somebody broken.
Love was for the books that horny housewives read and used as shower nozzle masturbation material.
Love was finite.
It wouldn't save her, to love her...but power might. What if he could leverage what power he could take and find a cure for her? Would he risk his own humanity to save hers? Sherry leaned down to kiss him while she fucked him.
His balls tightened in pleasure of being inside of her.
What if he fucked her until she was pregnant and simply kept her? What if they stopped fighting for the truth, and just lived here...like this...and became whatever the viruses in both of them wanted them to be. He was still Leon, he could feel what he'd been inside of whatever he was becoming. He was still him.
Did it matter who he'd been?
The world thought he was dead.
What if he stayed dead and stayed here, inside of Sherry, forever?
Voice gruff, he commanded, hands on her face to hold her to him, "...tell me what to do here."
Her body rolled. Her hands caught his over her face and she gasped, "...love me."
Right.
That's all she wanted.
Love.
He started to answer and she added, "...trust me."
He did...didn't he?
And she finished him off with, "...and let me keep you safe. Let me protect you, Leon...say yes. Please? Say yes."
Her voice was high now, higher with need. She rode faster. He held her to him to kiss her. He watched her face and simply gave her what she wanted as he answered, "...yes."
She came. Her body bucked. He drew her done to hold her to him as he fucked her through her release and came in her with a grunt as his dick erupted and bathed her beautiful womb with his feelings for her. It cost him nothing to say it.
He'd never let her protect him.
He'd never let her go.
Damnit.
He wanted to keep her.
Now he just had to find a way to free them both so he could.
The answer to both of their happiness was embracing what he was becoming. It was understanding he was the son of the devil. It was believing he could take what he was learning to leverage it toward some kind of life for them.
He wanted to stand in the rain and love her.
He couldn't love her until he deserved her.
To do that, he had to burn his past and rise again from the ashes. If he played the game here, and worked with the Wesker's, maybe they could give him the keys to his own power...maybe they could offer him the ability to be the kind of man who could protect her, save her, keep her, love her, and conquer her.
Conquer?
Yes.
She was a woman he had to conquer. She was still starry eyed to the boy he'd been. He wanted to be the man who'd done more than die in her arms. He wanted to be the man who killed anyone who hurt her.
He wanted to avenge her the same as himself.
First Vera...then themselves. First one love, then another. He was going to show the world what it meant to murder Leon Kennedy and watch him come back from the dead like the city they'd tried to bury him in.