-When the Brave Man Falters-
"Chris Redfield? Do you remember me?"
He remembered the face, not the name. Jill ambled to a bush in front of a window, collecting empty beer bottles. Looking at him disappointed, her attention strayed to the female agent in a pants suit. She was sweaty and the jacket was unbuttoned, pants wrinkled.
"Piers Nivans? Military branch of the DSO," the guy guessed at his uncertainty. "This is my partner, Helena Harper, police branch."
"Go inside to talk," Jill said. "Claire and I will go buy more beer for the party."
Chris studied the man and woman presumably there to see him. Would they arrest him? Lock him away for the rest of his days? Which would be..eternity. He didn't age. That's what Wesker told him all those years ago. Or they could be here to get information, and they'd leave him in his unusual state of freedom under surveillance.
"Chris?"
He met her unwavering stare. "Yeah?"
"It's tomorrow."
He internally flinched by her obvious concern for his state of mind and ability to remember. He wasn't helpless or that sad. Chris smiled and started for the door.
"I know, Jill."
"Okay." She passed him into the house to find Claire.
They entered the house but stood just inside. Clearly they weren't looking to stay. He pushed past and thought about where to stand, settling on the hall and rotating to face them. Slipping a hand into his pocket, he stuck gum in his mouth and chewed noisily until it was soft.
"Captain Nivans, do you know a weapons dealer named Arias?"
Their eyes found Wesker standing in the hall. "Arias? I think I've heard of him..."
"What is he to you?"
He shifted to a tighter stance, adjusting his tactical vest. Harper on the other hand, relaxed a little. "Informant. Nothing for you to worry about. You of all people."
Her disgust with him was palpable. Wesker hummed and sauntered back the way he came. Claire and Jill appeared, heading for the door with purses over shoulders. It was sunny and warm today, so they were opting to go without jackets. He almost never saw Claire minus her favorite red jacket, no matter the weather. She was dressed nice, a cool looking fabric button up shirt and black jeans. Heeled boots as normal. She smiled and hugged him when she reached him.
The two women left out the door and Nivans closed it behind them, taking it as their cue to begin talking.
"We came by to check on you since Leon hasn't been available to observe and report your status as agreed in our deal. Once we discovered someone forced you to commit crimes, attacks... It..didn't sit right with us, you know. We wouldn't hear of not finding a different solution than imprisonment. So..how are you?"
"Right. Well I'm fine."
Everybody needed to leave him alone on questioning his health or what he was thinking. He'd get better in time. He needed the time though. Chris was tired of the sympathetic looks. He was simply tired.
Harper kept peering through the narrow window pane beside the door. She seemed nervous. It was probably his fault. He might scare her because of the things he'd done as Legend. She couldn't wait to get of there.
"Look," Nivans said, drawing his attention from the distracted woman. "We had to check in, but also, I really wanted to meet you."
That surprised him and although he heard Renny start chattering in the dining room to somebody, he blocked the sound. "Why?"
He stuttered a moment before saying what he wanted. "Uh, I want to be like you. Your work in the BSAA inspired me. I dreamed of joining up, hoping to one day work with you."
Chris blankly stared. This younger man was praising him like he was some hero. He was not a hero.
"Wanted to be like me, you mean, right? Who would want to be like me now?"
Awkward silence permeated the atmosphere. He didn't hear Renny either and a quick glance informed he was standing by the hall in the dining area watching them. Nivans glanced at his partner who barely returned the look before shifting from one foot to the other impatiently. She checked her phone screen and pocketed it.
"You're gonna be that guy again, aren't you? Fight bioterrorism?" The kid was gushing. "People would say how the percentage of a successful mission outcome improved vastly when you were sent in. Alone, in a team, didn't matter. You're good. In the field..." He shrugged. "It's where you belong."
He smiled, bewilderment winning. "Sounds like you're gonna be a good role model for future soldiers."
"Let's get going, Piers."
"Alright, Helena. Start the car. I'll be right out."
She practically ran out the door to leave. The door was left open and Nivans gripped it, preparing to go too. He met Chris's eyes.
"It's an honor meeting you."
Chris shook his head. "Your partner seems upset. You seem responsible. Don't let her down. Copy that, Piers?"
The other grinned, appearing happy. "Roger."
Watching him go, he closed the door and turned round. Avoiding the section of the house he knew there were people, he trudged down the hallway. Bored and itching to drink, he had to resist. It was always a battle in his brain and the human brain was weak and stupid. It was easy to give in to bad things.
He stopped in his tracks, noticing he'd walked to the bedroom on auto. It was the only room he cared to spend time in for the majority of his time. They usually gave him privacy if he was in there. Eva must not want him in her bed. They hadn't shared one in a long time. He was different now. She was different now. No wonder she refused to be inside her home.
Chris switched directions and began pushing open doors as he went. There were a couple extra rooms if he was correctly recalling. He would find a different room to sleep in and maybe she'd come see him.
The door swung inward. What the hell?
He very slowly wandered into the room. Beds fit for children. His wide gaze scanned terribly slow, feeling as if he couldn't absorb what he was seeing. Toys and books suitable for children surrounding him. Eva had kids with someone. Did she remarry while he was dead to the world at large?
"Chris."
He walked out of the room, ignoring Wesker standing next to a wall hook holding small backpacks. She was with her new boyfriend or husband. She had a family. Chris was the odd man out. A boy and a girl from the looks of things. He should move out to let her feel comfortable with her new family. He didn't belong.
"They're your kids, Chris. No one thought it a good time to tell you."
His? His. Liar.
He whirled to glare at Wesker exiting the room to join him in the hall. "What are you saying? How is that possible?"
"She was pregnant before you were taken."
So nonchalant. It pissed him off. "Why didn't anyone tell me?!"
"We-"
"Shut up! Excuses. False reasoning. You're a liar, Wesker! I don't believe a goddamn word that comes out of your mouth."
"Denial is unattractive, Chris."
"You are unattractive, Wesker."
He winced. Wasn't his strongest moment. Somehow it was enough. Wesker growled and attacked, compelled to it. The fist hit his cheek and he grunted, falling. On the carpet, he traced the softness beneath his fingers. Gentle things like this still made him almost cry. He took so much for granted.
Spinning around, he lunged for Wesker's legs and brought the bastard low. Chris crawled up his body and hit him in the face twice. He was just lying there. He attacked him.
Chris grabbed the sunglasses and removed them, looking into those inhuman eyes. Alex shared those exact eyes. But they weren't the same person. Wesker wasn't particularly vengeful or cruel. He had a cold indifference to him too often. He hated the world and wanted to do something about it. Chris spent most of his life wanting to do something about the trouble in the world. Like most of humanity, it was a constant war against insanity in an insane world. And he knew Wesker allowed him to put him on his back, vulnerable.
Wesker yanked him down and he thought he'd smack his head on the guy's nose. He didn't and they kissed, firm and desperate to taste. The man set him at ease when he was released from the shackles of his tormentor. The person who understood the nightmares out in the world on every level, who lost his wife as he did, and who had strength to combat evil. It felt like protection, reluctant as he was to share that with anyone else.
They removed and undid only what was necessary and then he was being lifted and penetrated from below. Wesker dragged upward to lean on the wall and returned both hands to his waist. In spite of his shock this was happening, it felt inevitable too. Maybe they danced around this for years, never realizing what they were doing. Hate. Violence. Love. Sex.
Exhaling rough a few times, he leaned in to put their foreheads together, moving along with Wesker's thrusts. It kinda hurt and it kinda was pleasant. Recently having sex helped and the thought crossed his mind Wesker had to know what he'd been up to over there. Thinking was no good. He didn't get that kind of emotional with this man. Defiant, absolutely.
Chris put their mouths together, wrapping his arms around strong shoulders. He had to be strong but he was weak. He'd have to work on that. He had a lot to prove.
The minutes ticked by and he was pulled firm into the lap. Groaning, he struggled to even his panting breath. A wet substance dribbled in him and he realized Wesker wasn't wearing a condom. He held on when the pace quickened another minute and then he was climaxing, spurting deep inside. Chris's orgasm burst from him at the feel of it, coating Wesker's shirt.
"Whoops," he uttered, unapologetic. The bastard was not short or thin. He'd be sore and feeling it for a while.
He separated them and fixed his clothing, tugging at Wesker's soiled shirt. "Trash this."
Stepping back to give space, Wesker stood to fix his own clothing and pulled the shirt off. Sex was a temporary distraction. Contemplation enjoyed leaking in during the moments in between, specifically immediately afterward. The time machine incident, a might have been lover and future in Amy Cross. He doubted anyone else remembered what only he saw.
"I can never forget what she'll never remember."
"Chris?"
He sighed. "For me it always comes back to July 24, 1998. Everything I do comes back to that night," He looked at Wesker. "And to you."
"You shouldn't worry so much."
Chris laughed. "You remember the time machine, don't you? You're my constant, you stupid son of a bitch! Not flowers. You are what pulled me out of time back then. Do you ever think about someone else? Do you ever care?"
Laughing. The two of them found Eva standing at the start of the hall. She was laughing but actually crying. Chris stared, not knowing what to do.
"Do you remember me, Chris?" She waited through several seconds of silence. "Do you remember me at all?"
"Yes."
"Then what the hell are you doing?"
"I-" He hesitated. What did she mean?
"He's my dad, Chris."
She sounded like she knew. He prayed she hadn't seen any of it.
"I know he was always there, Chris. I recognized when we were a team, when we brought Umbrella down. You guys zeroed in on each other like magnets. It happened repeatedly. It could be significant. I knew that. I never thought this though. This is-" She cut herself off and swallowed, swiping across her eyes to dry them.
He wished she would quit using his name.
"What the fuck were you guys doing?" she suddenly yelled. "What's wrong with you?"
Chris was overcompensating, that's what this had to be. He drank, had ill-advised sex, and hardly slept because of the nightmares. He was a mess. How was he supposed to act like a husband? How was he supposed to act like a father?
"How could you keep from me that I've got kids?" he demanded in turn. "You think I shouldn't know that?!"
Eva squared her shoulders, hands on her hips, staring angrily. "I'm not the murderer!"
"Eva, don't."
"Keep out of this!" they shouted at Wesker simultaneously.
"Melody's dead! I know it's not your fault but-"
"Yeah right. You're blaming me. And you're right. It wasn't my mind but my body committed the act. It makes me have a responsibility. I'm sorry for what I did."
She pointed at Wesker. "You sorry for what you did?"
Offended by the accusatory tone, he stared her down. "I do what I want."
The laugh was loud and forced. "Great! You really lost your mind when you lost Mom. No conscience in sight. Must make life so easy."
"Your husband made the vow, not-"
"Shut up!" Chris and Eva again yelled at the same time, dismissive of the asshole.
"Eva, I'm not sure what I'm doing," he confessed, thinking on how to calm her. "Getting raped, a male partner just felt needed. The others effectively get physical how I can feel close to normal. I didn't know where you were. Sorry. I am."
He couldn't do anything without hurting somebody.
"Others? What others?" she interrogated. "Don't tell me this isn't personal. It's always personal with you, Chris."
Since he couldn't calm her, he calmed himself. "Okay."
She crossed her arms. "What?"
"I don't want to fight. Let's talk about you instead."
"I don't think so! There's no-"
"Eva, how long do you have?"
Her rage began to recede. "Nobody knows for sure."
He was glad she didn't play dumb. One of his memories as Legend was to bypass and care nothing for her. He sensed corrupted DNA. The drugs heightened every ability and also created new abilities.
"How do you feel?"
"I could use a saline drip," Eva joked.
"Not well, huh?"
Her face fell. "Sometimes."
She turned away. Chris put his hand on her shoulder to encourage her to turn around. She gave in but wouldn't look him in the eye.
"I share the blame. I wasn't here for you. I was afraid of you." He recoiled, drawing his hand back to hear her confirm what he suspected. "It was difficult to come home knowing I could feel that way about you. I was ashamed."
"Right." What was he to say?
"I screwed up." Eva's conciliatory expression sharpened. "Nah. This isn't real. No way. Where's Claire?"
He and Wesker watched her walk off to another section of the house. They did not pursue and went their separate ways. Chris sat in the room where his actual fucking kids spent their nights sleeping. He fell asleep on the too small mattress of his boy. He woke in the morning, no, afternoon.
Stumbling to the bathroom to piss, he discovered there were guests. Jake waved, Billy greeted with a scolding look, and Renny offered the finger but a smile afterward. It was safe to guess word of his infidelity had spread.
Trying to exit the bathroom, some guy who said he was Josh, a friend of Eva's, informed him he was supposed to shower and handed him the clothes Wesker bought. After dressing in the freshly laundered clothes, he padded into the kitchen wearing only socks on his feet. His shoes eluded him for the moment.
Josh was in the living room with Krauser and Barry, chatting with the television on. He listened to Josh admit fear of a new large-scale outbreak. Billy moved off to join them in the other room, beer in hand. Renny grabbed Jake's wheelchair handles despite his protests and pushed him into the area to sit by the gathered men. Chris couldn't be sure if he was the cause of the evacuation or Wesker. The guy strolled in and seated himself at the head of the table, putting his back to the adjoined room. Arias followed but chose to veer off to the crowded room.
He wondered where the women were hanging out. Cereal sounded like a good idea. Chris scavenged for the sugary kind: retrieving a bowl, spoon, and milk from the fridge. He sat in a chair facing the hall and front door, to Wesker's right, and focused on his food even as a blender started up in the kitchen. A house teeming with people and he desired solitude for rumination.
/
"It's just such bullshit," she exclaimed. "Two people who thought it was meant to be, doomed by fate or circumstance. You know, whatever. Of course life had to pull it so I have not one, but two children. My dad and husband are in love with each other. And me? I've got a fatal disease. Fuck me."
Sitting around on Eva's bed or on chairs or the floor, Diedre returned holding a blender full of margarita. She filled her own tall glass and passed the blender to Sherry. Sherry filled hers and passed it to Rebecca, who declined in favor of her spiked coffee drink already at hand. The blender passed to Claire. Janice nearly spilled her beer and chuckled at her clumsy self. At least she didn't laugh at Eva's ridiculous family matters.
Jill mulled over her depressing speech, setting her whiskey aside on the bedside table. "What do you really believe?"
Eva had plenty to say, spurred on by copious amounts of alcohol. "I should have realized they had some weird attraction to each other. My dad running away from him, hiding, probably avoiding what he felt. Chris searching for him, supposedly for justice and for his betrayal in 1998, but Dad delayed killing him whenever they met. And their time working on the same side Chris wished hadn't ended."
Her cup was empty. She held her cup out and Jill added the last of the whiskey bottle into it. She looked almost regretful, like she'd hoped the remainder would be for her consumption. Eva drank every drop.
"Chris loves you, Eva," Sherry reminded.
She scoffed, sucking on the rim of the plastic party cup. "Chris loves Wesker."
"Yeah, but he hates him too."
Eva looked at Claire. "He used to hate him. Now..." Her head was all tingly. Everything was lighter this way. "I think he loves Wesker..but he'll still have sex with the other two."
"Those idiots won't admit it," Rebecca derided, in a cheerful manner she alone could manage.
"Whatever he feels now, Eva, you have to remember he loved you."
Her eyes narrowed in a criticizing glower. "Yeah, loved."
"I meant, well..."
She put him on a pedestal, then learned he wasn't the perfect man. Perfection was a lie. It didn't exist. Eva idolized him, especially after she thought he died, and there were repercussions for that. She laid awake most of the night accepting her reality.
"I thought we could be something for real," she murmured.
"We should get more drinks," suggested Diedre. "These girls are thirsty."
Eva scrambled off the bed, giggling for no good reason. "I'm not getting hung up on what could have been or what could be. I'm gonna embrace Chris however he is, whatever he needs. Now let's get more booze!"
"Bipolar Eva..." She heard Claire say, and someone replied, "Drunk Eva."
The seven marched on to the kitchen and dining areas. They assembled, spreading out at random. Eva waltzed in, aided by her liquid courage, and sat in the seat directly opposite Chris.
"How come all the good-looking guys end up gay?" she asked the room and connecting rooms as a whole. "What will be left for us women?"
Deafening silence. Eva wished she had a pin to drop. Laughing in her head, she glanced around for liquor and when she didn't see any, gave up. Diedre stood between the living and dining areas, looking back and forth. She took the time to study three men in particular.
"So do you gentlemen go for either gender, or are you gay..?"
No response. Janice got herself a beer and sat at the table across from Chris too. She sat sideways in the chair, facing Wesker and two specific men seated near the TV. The lady didn't stop.
"Did you ever have sex with men? You know, besides Mr. Redfield."
Krauser grunted. "Nope."
Arias glanced her way. "No. I like women..ordinarily."
Wesker had been staring at the older woman all the while. Eva almost started tapping the fingers of her usable hand on her leg, but didn't. She set the good hand on the table before slipping it into her lap. She finally looked at her father.
"No," he answered, elongating the O a bit, denoting annoyance and an end to that questioning.
Janice hummed thoughtfully, looking at Chris. "Ah... Then it's not men, it's the man."
He lifted his head, staring at the three men one by one, wide eyes revealing his puzzlement. When they took note of his staring, he dived back into his cereal, stuffing his mouth rapidly. Grown-ass men. Sheesh.
Sherry decided to get in on the fun. "Do all the bad men go good for Chris? That's a twist."
Claire giggled a little at the idea.
"You do have an adorable quality to you," Rebecca said, walking in from the hall to stand beside Chris. She ruffled his hair and he flinched. She flinched in response, lowering her arm and looking guilty. "Sorry."
Jill tried to add levity. "I can kind of see it fitting Chris would go for the bad boys."
"So is it like the reverse?" Sherry asked. "You know, the bad boys go for the good boy?"
Claire put on a "totally innocent" expression. "You mean Chris is going to attract the bad boys and turn them good?"
Diedre couldn't help herself. "Saving the world..one dick at a time."
A euphemism. Wonderful. Sexual or perfectly innocent like they have dicks or they are jerks. She would have laughed, but Chris laughed, full and rich. It was a real good laugh. A laugh she doubted anyone heard since they got him back. She smiled, overjoyed to hear that coming from him.
Chris stood. "Thank you," he told Diedre, and walked away down the hall leisurely.
Eva watched Janice and Diedre watch him go, the former overtly gazing at his butt. She made an appreciative noise. The front door opened and shut. Standing, she strode down the hall after him. She was beginning to cry and wanted to hide it. Chris came inside and she stood in place, looking at him as he walked up to her.
A hand on her shoulder, he brushed her hair back. She was feeling lost and furious and hurt about his infidelities and the time they could never reclaim. Eva was barely keeping it together and Chris nudged her beneath the chin, indicating she should keep her head up, not literally. She melted. Her man was here. He was still him. He just..required more help than she could give.
Hugging her, she sobbed out of her control. They weren't okay. They did still care about each other though. Chris was alive and working to move forward. She hoped he could live for his family and get better.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to keep letting you down. You've been so tough and I was afraid I'd get in the way of whatever life you built."
"I was never that strong, Chris," she said. "I was just good at pretending."
Pulling away, she sank to the floor wanting him to go away and let her weep in private. Which, she realized in her inebriated state, she forgot there was an entire audience straight ahead. Wonderful. Eva laughed softly, wiping at the tears. Chris slid down the wall a couple feet from the door she was pressed against.
She vocalized surprise when he lifted her into his lap, confused and not exactly wanting that. But he wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her close to kiss her forehead sweetly. She couldn't resist accepting what he was offering, and sobbed into his shoulder and neck. Eva curled to the side to peek at him a moment and saw how he kept his head level, stare empty of emotion. No tears. She'd call it determination. For what, she couldn't decipher.
"You have a future, Chris. It's yours to choose. Don't forget."
Dipping back into the curve, she drew comfort from him. Her head swam. She was pretty exhausted. It was nice to know while they felt entirely separate, their connection endured.