Uroboros: Resident Evil V
Chapter Forty Eight: A Lucky Man
As with everything involved in organizations that were supervised by the United Nations, the debriefings and mission reports took forever, that is once Chris had recovered enough to even give a report. Even though he had done nothing wrong, and the overall outcome had been the best one possible given the severity of the outbreak in the whole Kijuju region, it still felt like he was a kid being sent to the Principal's office as these ridiculous bureaucrats questioned and criticized every decision that he had made in the field… God, it was as if these pencil-pushing morons thought they knew what it was like on the ground in the middle of an outbreak… none of them would've lasted three minutes in Raccoon City, that was for sure.
In the end it was case closed, and after saying their goodbyes Sheva and Captain Stone returned to the BSAA's West Africa division, while the Agent finally got to go back home to America for the first time in two months. He was used to this kind of thing, with different assignments keeping him away for a little as a few days, or as long as four months one time, but it was always nice to get to go home, especially ever since there had been someone there waiting for him. Chris couldn't wait to put his arms around Amelia, but… but Wesker's words suddenly flashed through his mind as he stood there in front of the door.
To tell the truth, they had been playing on a constant loop ever since getting on the plane to leave Africa once the briefings were done, and hadn't let up for one moment between landing in JFK Airport in New York City, the cab ride that followed, and even during the long elevator ride up to the luxury penthouse apartment that his wife owned… along with the whole building… God damn, Amelia was rich. But had she really gotten all this money from killing Umbrella's board of directors? Had Chris really been so blind that she could've really been Alexia Ashford all along?
Feeling nervous at the thought of this being true, the Agent tried to keep calm while putting his key into the door, even though his hand was shaking a little as the lock opened, but he had to keep himself under control, just in case the blond man's accusations were true. Maybe he could be smooth about it, and just kind of snoop around without Amelia knowing what he was looking for, allowing everything to turn out fine no matter what the truth was. But then again, what could Chris really do if… if he had been with Alexia this whole time?
Closing his eyes for a second, and then pushing the door open, the Agent tried to be cool as he walked into the lavishly decorated apartment with its hardwood floors, granite countertops, and sliding glass doors that offered a spectacular view of the city, even during daylight hours like it was now. However, as his eyes scanned across the whole place, the one thing he didn't see was his wife. She must've gone out somewhere, he thought while heading toward the hallway… good, that would give him some time to look around and see if there was anything that could link her to…
Suddenly an arm came around the corner and grabbed him, startling Chris as he was pulled into one of the smaller bedrooms, and then he was pushed up against the wall so that Amelia could give him a kiss. Even though this took him by surprise, his wife was a great kisser, making him forget about Wesker's warning as he put his arms around her, making out for a little while before those words once again flashed through his mind. The Agent didn't want to believe it, but the doubt was enough to ruin the mood, and like most women, the brunette immediately picked up that something was wrong.
She asked him about it, and now Chris had a choice in how to proceed; he could play it off and say that he was just tired from the mission, which was true, or he could just bluntly confront her with what his enemy said. If those two pictures hadn't looked so identical, the Agent would have ignored it completely, and if she was Alexia, he would have to confront her eventually, right? Hopefully she wasn't, and they could laugh about the whole thing, but Chris was terrified about how Amelia could possibly react to her cover being blown in that scenario.
"Baby, I have to tell you something." He said, swallowing hard while his mouth ran dry. "When I was on my mission in Africa, I ran into Wesker, and he's dead now, but… but he told me, uh… he said that… shit, you're gonna think I've gone crazy."
"Chris, it's all right." Amelia replied softly as… as her southern accent vanished completely. "From the look on your face, I think I know what he said… but the last thing I want is for you to be afraid of me."
Oh no… no, no, no, no, no… no, this wasn't happening. This was a dream, yeah… he was still asleep on the plane, because there was no way Wesker was telling the truth. His wife was at home waiting for him, and definitely not speaking in a British accent… but if this was a dream, then why was he sweating so much all of a sudden, and… why was his stomach all knotted up? For a few seconds he tried to deny it, saying that she was joking with him, but then Amelia held up her hand and snapped her fingers, causing a tiny bit of flame between her fingers as a fire ignited in the fire place… and her hand took on a familiar green color for a few seconds before fading back to normal.
"A… Alexia?" Chris asked, failing to keep his voice from breaking. "But… you… what… but I… killed you."
"No silly, I just let you think you did." The brunette replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I faked my death, and created a new identity so I could build Terragrigia with Umbrella's money, but then you came back into my life… and I wasn't about to let you go a second time."
Holy shit, everything Wesker had told him was true, and now Amelia/Alexia was freely confessing to everything she had done since 1998, including killing the board of directors and even roasting Jessica Sherawat like a Christmas goose after having Tobias Liquid track her down. She admitted that it might have been a bit excessive, but the brunette had been really angry at the time for the how many perfectly viable experiments got ruined in the attack by Il Veltro, on top of the loss of the city itself and all those cruise liners… but starting up again was easy when you were as rich as she was.
"Wait, you're… you're still experimenting? On people?!" Chris stammered, intensely angry and frightened at the same time. "Why… why are you doing all this? Why would you tell me these things?"
"Chris… is it really so hard to believe that I love you?" Amelia/Alexia asked. "I'm doing this to make the world a better place, and I'm telling you because there's nothing you can do about it. Everyone who is an actual threat to me is either dead or on the payroll, and… brace yourself, my love, but… this is not the first time we've had this conversation… it's the sixth."
The Agent was more confused than anything because of that last bit she said, and just stood there stupidly while the brunette described how she had bluntly told him who she was back when he was living on Terragrigia, and then the second time she had dropped little hints so that he could figure it out for himself. According to Amelia/Alexia, Chris had actually attacked her the third time, when he figured it out all on his own… but that was fine with her, since they just ended up having sex on the floor.
But that was impossible, he thought as she described the fourth and fifth times that her identity had been revealed, the Agent would have remembered something like that, but there was just nothing that he could think of for their entire relationship that even gave him a hint about who she really was. Part of Chris was thrilled, because he had fallen madly in love with Alexia back in Antarctica, and killing her with that experimental weapon had broken his heart… wait a minute, he had seen her explode with his own eyes, so… how was she standing there at all?
"No, you only think that, my love." Amelia/Alexia explained, giving him a kiss on the lips. "The same way that you don't remember me saving you from all those Hunters on Terragrigia, or when I ripped Jack Norman's heart out with my bare hands on the Queen Dido. I can change your memories to be anything I want, but only as long as the new ones fit with your personality… or else your mind won't accept them, and that nearly killed you last time."
"So, you've been, what… hypnotizing me?!" The Agent exclaimed. "I can't… I can't believe this… you've been alive this whole time, pretending to be someone else right in front of me, and now… now you're gonna break my heart again. I still love you Am, er, Alexia, but no one's gonna believe I didn't know… this is gonna ruin my career, or I could… I could end up in jail… I mean, you killed…
His words were interrupted as the brunette moved forward, pressing her body up against his while they kissed, and this went on for quite a while with their arms around each other, before Amelia/Alexia once again reassured him that everything was going to be all right. Again insisting that she loved him more than anything on Earth, the brunette claimed that she would never force him to choose between the BSAA and her, because she knew that fighting monsters and whatnot was what truly made him happy.
"Chris, I promise you that everything is going to be just fine." She said as they hugged. "You're going to keep your career and me, and you won't have to compromise your morals for even a second… so, let's rewrite history."
Suddenly the brunette put her hands on both sides of his head, and the Agent's vision scrambled like an old TV that had gone to static after losing signal. For a moment he couldn't move, speak, or even form a conscious thought, but then the interference vanished completely, and his eyes snapped open to reveal that it was dark outside. All the lights were off, allowing the lights out in the city to be seen through the window, and that was when he realized that he was lying down in his own bed at home.
God, the jet-lag from the plane ride home from Africa must've still been affecting him, and it didn't help that he just had the weirdest dream… a dream that involved Wesker's warning, and now the Agent felt like such a fool for even considering them for a second. Now that the sleepy fog was clearing from his mind, Chris remembered walking through the apartment door, and being greeted by his beautiful, provocatively dressed wife, who led him into the bedroom… and they hadn't left that same room since.
"You havin' trouble sleepin', sugar?" His wife asked, yawning a little as she rested her head on his chest. "I swear, you come back havin' more bad dreams every time you leave."
"No, I'm fine, Amelia." He replied, holding her closer. "Facing Wesker again, you know, it just… it just brought up some real bad memories."
Yeah, he should've known that his old enemy would have a way of fucking with him even from beyond the grave, but now that Wesker was dead, the Agent could move on with his life. All of his old scores from the past had been settled now, by a fight to the death inside a volcano, of all places, and now hopefully there would be a decline in bioterrorism so that he could spend a little more time at home. Chris would never give up the BSAA, not so long as the threat of BOW's remained, but it was sure nice to be rich… rich, and married to the most wonderful woman in the world. He sure was a lucky man to have all that happiness in this crazy world… yeah… he really was a lucky man.