This one is a fun one lol lots of setting up building blocks and with that, there are a few time cuts and this is going to be a Charlotte-focused chapter rather than a ship-focused chapter. As a fair warning, We are entering the RE8 timeline. lets gooo /o/
Song Suggestion: Riot by Three Days Grace
Disclaimer: I own nothing and Resident Evil belongs to Capcom, I'm just borrowing their toys.
A little over a month had passed since Alex's trial. It was now midway through September and Summer was giving way to the beginning of fall. He was long since dead now and it still stung. Charlotte hated when she had kitchen duty and was all the more grateful for the fact that she never had to work during lunch or dinner because of her schedule.
"Charlotte!" The horrid woman's voice shouted as she made her way down the halls.
"I'm here Ma'am." Bitch. Charlotte thought angrily.
"We're being summoned for a meeting. You'll be using the servant's exit so make sure you hurry so you're not late this time" She instructs and Charlotte nods.
Charlotte made her way down the stairs and out through the servant's exit again. before picking up her skirt enough that she'd be able to run without tripping. Lady Dimitrescu didn't want her to be late? Fine. She'd get there first and make her look bad instead. It took, honestly more effort than it was worth, but Charlotte did make it there first and a good 10 minutes ahead of Lady Dimitrescu who was the last to arrive.
The giantess frowned as she realized she was the last to enter the meeting hall and glared at charlotte as she took her seat.
"Now that everyone is here, I have blessed news to share," Miranda says, clearly in a very good mood.
Charlotte nods quietly. That was weird, Miranda usually didn't stick to the holy speak when working with the lords.
"I have just been made aware of a potential lead regarding a suitable host for Eva," she says still smiling contently. "An old Co-worker of mine from the Evaline project has given birth to a little girl and she is potentially susceptible to the megamycete. I'll be taking the next week to Check this lead. as such, I'll be placing each of you in charge of your own Fiefdom while I am gone."
A child?! Charlotte thought horrified. It was one thing that Miranda was taking people from the village but, now she was starting to consider taking people from the outside? She was going to start kidnapping babies?!
"You're leaving us alone?" Moreau asks sadly.
Miranda nods "Yes if this lead proves fruitful I'll be announcing an extended leave."
"Oh," Moreau says still frowning at that thought.
"Now then, before I take my leave, do any of you need anything?" Miranda asks.
"The village is running low on supplies. I'm not sure how much work I can do without another supply run." Charlotte admits hoping to push for at least one more run. "There are several women about to give birth in the coming months," she adds hoping that might incentivize her.
"I see..." Miranda says with a slight frown. "Your request will be considered after I return."
"Cans I have more test subjects?" Moreau asks hoping to impress his mother.
"I'll allow you access to the next 5 corpses," Miranda agrees. "Anything else?"
"I want more fabric," Angie demands with a pouting tone.
"Your request has been noted," Miranda says and looks at the remaining two who say nothing. "very well. with that taken care of, you're all dismissed. we'll reconvene once I am sure that the subject is or is not viable." After saying as much she quickly dissipates into the ground to take her leave.
Charlotte remains quiet as she leaves with the lords and heads back to the castle. she finished up her chores for the day before heading to her bed in the shared maid's quarter and digs her hiking bag out from under it. Where was it... she thought as she rifled through the bag and eventually pulled out her wallet to get her remaining money and stows that away in her pinafore. once she was able to pack that backup and shove the bag under her bed again she quickly makes her way out of the castle to the village.
She arrives at the village center where she finds Duke contently waiting for her.
"Ah, Miss Wiltse, always a pleasure," he greets with a smile "What can I do for you?"
"It'll pay." she says with a determined expression "The contact, who is it?" she says as she offers the money. They needed to move quickly.
"My my. Tell me did something happen?" Duke asks amused as he leans forward to accept the wad of cash and starts to count it to make sure it's all there.
"Knowing you. You already know," Charlotte says with a slight frown.
"Indeed, just passing the time dear," he says with a short laugh. "19, 20. it appears to be in order," he adds before stowing the money in his pocket and offers Charlotte a sheet of paper.
"Write your message here and I'll pass it along to the BSAA" Duke says with a smile. He'd give her that one for free.
"You said you were going to sell me information," Charlotte says with a frown, while mentally cataloging that name away for later.
"I said I had a contact. not that I would give them to you," Duke says with a coy smile. "you get one message. make it count."
She grumbled and accepted the paper and takes out her phone writing down the exact longitude and latitude coordination of the village and her phone number before adding a message under it.
A woman who goes by the name, Mother Miranda, is targeting the child of an old coworker in Romania from the Evaline project. She believes the child will be a suitable replacement for Eva by using some mold called a Megamycete because she might be susceptible to it. She's been experimenting on people for years. Please send help.
-Charlotte.
"There," Charlotte says handing the paperback to Duke who reads it over.
"Clever as always Misses Wiltse. I expected no less," Duke says with a chuckle before stowing the letter away. "It shall be delivered. as promised."
Charlotte nods, "I'm afraid that was the last of my money." she admits. Well, it was the last of her physical cash. "So this will likely be the last of our dealings."
"Oh, I doubt that Miss Wiltse," He says with a smirk. "Until next time."
She shakes her head. "Until then I suppose." She replies before walking away and continuing her day. There wasn't much she could do around the village anymore. she was out of Wood, roof tiles, and really everything. Miranda was gone anyways... with that, she heads on her way to the Factory.
"Karl, open up please." She says as she makes it to the gate a bit earlier than usual. The gate opens and she makes her way up the hill to the factory. It takes a moment but the factory doors open as well as Heisenberg walks over.
"You're early for once. what's wrong," he asks with a bit of a chuckle.
"We might have company soon," Charlotte says which rather quickly gets his attention as he motions for her to follow him into the factory. "What do you mean?"
"I was talking to Duke. He has a contact on the outside, he said they could help us. Charlotte says with a slight frown.
"Yeah, he mentioned as much a few times. figured it was a load of horse piss." Karl replied as he moves to sit on the end of the table. "never could get him to budge on giving me a name, he only ever offered to send a message."
"I think I might have a name." She replies which causes him to raise an eyebrow. "Do you have your laptop?"
"Yeah one second," he says as he gets up again to go get it and places it on the table to open it. "What are we looking for?"
"Duke mentioned the contact was with the BSAA,"
"Bull Shit Alcoholics Anonymous?" Karl replies confused but types in the acronym all the same.
Charlotte laughs at the guess. "I mean knowing my luck maybe that is who he contacted."
Karl smiled a bit as he heard the laugh, it had been a while since he last heard that. he scrolled a bit before finding an ORG page. Charlotte mentioned those were usually good sources. "Bio-Terrorism Security Assessment Alliance," He says as he looks over the page.
"They work with the UN?" Charlotte asks surprised.
"Fucking acronyms for everything. Whose that?" Karl asks as he looks to Charlotte.
"Right. you missed that part and we didn't really cover it in the history lesson. Um okay so after World War 2 there was a group created by 51 countries call the United Nations to try and keep world wars from happening again and maintain global peace." Charlotte quickly explained. it was missing pieces but it would do for now.
"Have they looked at human history?" Heisenberg asks befuddled.
"it's worked so far," Charlotte replies with a slight frown.
"Fine. Okay, so these bullshiters work with the UN-doers." Karl says while going back to the
"Which means they're military and probably much better equipped than anything I could have gotten to on my own... honestly they almost seem like overkill for this situation..." Charlotte admits quietly.
Heisenberg meanders around the page until he gets to the About Us section where it goes over the founding members.
"Apparently this guy punched a boulder one time and won?" Karl says as they stop at a picture of a rather muscular-looking soldier type.
"Weird flex but okay," Charlotte says as she peaks over Karl's shoulder again to try and read the page as well. "Dang, what the hulk. His neck is thick! What is he on?" Charlotte says as she noticed the picture. "Yeah okay I'd believe that guy punched a boulder and put it on his 'about me' profile," she says with a laugh. "If we're lucky they'll send that guy and he can just punch Miranda to next Tuesday. Holy shit."
Heisenberg frowns a bit at that. "If anyone is Killing Miranda it's me. I've been under her thumb for too long not to get the satisfaction of watching the life drain from her eyes."
Charlotte gets off her giggle fit as she hears Karl's more serious statement and nods. "I know. I'm just really hopeful these people will end up helping us. You've already got the more of the army ready right?"
"It's getting there. I need a few more months. Cloning Humans takes time."
"Cloning huma-" Charlotte paused with a concerned expression, "I thought you were making robots."
"Kinda?" he says after thinking it over "I mean they're half Machine by the time they're done so."
"KARL," Charlotte says as her shoulders drop. "How many people did you take?"
"Just a hand full. I've been cloning the same one since I got the process down," he says with a shrug.
Well, that just opened a whole can of morally gray worms. she gives a quiet sigh. why was she used to this? she shouldn't be used to this. "Alright. well. Hopefully, these BSAA folk take my tip seriously and they get here quickly." Charlotte says with a slight frown, "The village really is running out of supplies. the population increased and they were depending on me to bring things in for them to maintain that..." Charlotte says as she crosses her arms.
"Give them something nice," Karl says as he remembers her initial plan.
"and take it away," Charlotte replies with a nod. She didn't think this would happen so quickly. "We're going to have a riot on our hands in a matter of months if history is anything to go by."
"Let's get to work then. We have guests to prepare for," Karl says as he closes the laptop.
'*'*'*'*'
Like Miranda said, she was away for a week before returning. Rather than call another meeting she holed herself away in her lab and her absence was becoming more and more noticeable among the villagers. Before long it was well into October and dwindling supplies were becoming obsolete instead.
"Charlotte," says Luiza as she walks over to join Charlotte inside of her latest project. "We're out of medications now. Aside from a few specialty ones that are rarely used. The women with children are out of those vitamins that were keeping their morning sickness at bay." she says with sympathetic sorrow. "Please tell me that you'll be petitioning to leave soon... it's been months since we've had new supplies."
Charlotte nods. "I'm afraid there's not much I can do. I've tried to get approval to leave for some time now..." she admits quietly while internally smiling. "I'm down to nothing as well, at this point I've started taking apart abandoned furniture for building materials."
"I see..." Luiza says quietly. "I'm sure there's a good explanation. Until then I'll instruct the villagers to continue to pray."
uuugh, get mad already! she's screwing you over don't you get that? Charlotte thought annoyed. "Of course, I'm sure things will get better once Miranda allows it."
Luiza nods at that and goes to take her leave. Charlotte frowns slightly. Luiza was certainly a difficult one to get motivated. If she could just get Luiza to complain to the villagers she'd have her riot. She was about to get back to work and head back onto the roof with her bundle of chopped-up furniture when she heard some commotion from outside.
"Lord Heisenberg, What brings you to the village?" Luiza says surprised from outside.
Karl? Charlotte thought confused. he didn't usually come to get her now that they had assigned time to work each day... what happened?
"Just getting Charlotte, we have a meeting," Heisenberg explains which causes Luiza to smile.
"Our prayers are answered already, surely she'll approve new supplies," Luiza says happily before hurrying off. Charlotte gives a quiet sigh. that woman had boundless optimism and it was nice but also frustrating.
Heisenberg watches with a slight frown as Luiza leaves and shakes his head before looking back to the doorway to find Charlotte standing there with a bundle of thinly chopped-up wood pieces and her skirt tide up to keep it away from her feet.
He walks over and plucks at the knot once causing the skirt to return to its proper sitting. "You shouldn't be doing that, It'll cause people to talk,"
"That's really the least of my worries right now," Charlotte admits with a tired tone. "There's a meeting?"
"Yeah, figured her bitchiness wouldn't come to get you since she's been upset lately." He admits as he adjusts his hold on his trusty hammer.
"Yeah, she really did not appreciate that she was the last one to arrive before," Charlotte admits with a laugh. "That and the fact no one else can seem to make that bloody mary cocktail now that I'm off dinner duties, she's tried to ordering them with breakfast instead and ends up drunk all day," she admits with a snicker. she might be spiking them a little harder to make sure of that so she doesn't order them too often.
"Just make sure you're not bleeding out," Karl replies with a frown.
"Time has a price now... I'll be fine," Charlotte says with an attempt at a neutral expression to hid her concern. "Come on, we don't want to be late." She says and motions they should leave.
He rolls his jaw a bit, thinking to argue but decides against it and nods. "Let's go." he agrees and walks with her to the stronghold to meet with the others.
He takes his place on the pew to the right while Charlotte moves to stand by the pew to the left that Demitrescu was sitting on.
"Now that everyone is here, let us begin our meeting. We have much to discuss," Miranda says with a smile. "I have confirmed that the child is a potential match and well suited for testing," Miranda announces which causes Charlotte to glance to Heisenberg. the timer was ticking down faster than they were able to move. "As such I shall be taking another extended leave. I'll be taking the place" Miranda says as her body starts to shift and contort. "of the child's mother. I want to spend time with her and bond to see if this will increase the effectiveness of the transference." Miranda says though her voice now sounded very different.
Charlotte couldn't help but gawk. She'd heard that Miranda was capable of as much but she didn't realize it was to this extent. She was a completely different person, the fabric of her outfit was different. how was that possible?
"Now, I will likely be gone for several months," Miranda says as she assumes her usual waiting position in her new form. "Heisenberg, what would you require while I am gone?"
"Just your safe eventual return," he says with a smile as he takes out a cigar.
"Dimitrescu?" she says looking to the giantess.
The larger woman rolled her eyes at her brother's response. "I only require that my castle remains staffed."
"you can have your pick of the villagers from your fiefdom. if you require any others you'll need to speak with your siblings," Miranda affirms which causes Lady Dimitrescu to nod.
"Benevento?" Miranda says going down the list.
"FABRIC!" Angie shouts frustrated.
"I'll have the villagers focus on their looms to meet your demands," Miranda replies to Lady Benevento before looking to Charlotte. "Charlotte see to it that this is done."
Charlotte nods.
"yey~" Angie cheered happily.
"Moreau?" She asks as she looks over to the hunched-over figure.
"Can I have a new movie?" he asks hopefully since Angie got fabric.
"That's a frivolous request. you already have one. that is enough," Miranda says turning down the request.
all the same, he nods "...okay."
It hurt Charlotte's heart, once they were out of here she'd get him all the movies he wanted darn it. She didn't care that he doesn't remember her anymore...
"Charlotte," Miranda says as she looks at the woman.
"The villagers are requesting new supplies, they're out of medicine." Charlotte reiterates from the last meeting. "and I have had to resort to using abandoned furniture for repairs."
"The Village restoration is on hold until further notice," Miranda says before looking to Dimitrescu "I still expect that she'll be kept alive should the child I am bringing back prove to be an unsuitable vessel so the work can continue."
"Yes Mother Miranda," the giantess says with a frown. She was still being denied the meal she was promised and it was frustrating.
"Continue to monitor the village's condition while I am away. I expect the spreadsheets will be kept up to date so I can check on them at any time." Miranda instructs Charlotte.
"Yes Mother Miranda," Charlotte replies and bows her head. Good, if anything this is what she wanted. It had been a month. Those BSAA people should hopefully be here soon and by the time they get here, there will be an angry village full of people and an army to help in the fight.
"You're all dismissed then. I'll announce my arrival and summon you all here once I've returned." Miranda says and once more disappears into the ethos.
Charlotte walks out and returned to the village where the villagers eagerly awaited news since Luiza hurried off to share that there had been another meeting of the lords.
"Well," Asks one of the villagers in the group that had gathered.
"Mother Miranda has taken her leave from the village until further notice," Charlotte says solemnly. One more she smiled internally as she heard the discontent among the villagers.
'she leaving?' 'why would she leave us now?' 'we need her' 'what are we going to do?'
"She's approved supply trips while she's away at least right?" Asks another villager who tried to mask their anger with concern.
"I'm afraid she did not see fit to do so." Charlotte replies "She has instead asked that we all focus on our looms to provide Lady Benevento with fabric."
"That's not fair," Says one.
"Hush," says the woman next to them.
"Why? because Mother Miranda might hear me? she's gone she left us," they argued back before storming off.
'*'*'*'*'
October came to an end. November passed by with little fanfare and December was Dismal at best as winter began. The village was slowly falling apart again despite Charlotte's notable efforts to try and keep up. She couldn't let herself slack off or the villagers would see her as no better than Miranda and her neck would be on the line in the riot to come. Each day she'd finish up her morning chores at the castle and spend the afternoon working on repairs. keeping track of the Villager's complaints and concerns and try to accommodate them to the best of her ability while making sure to subtly nudge that any shortcoming was Miranda's fault. two of the 3 infants born in Miranda's absence passed away due to lack of medical resources. Her proclamation was becoming more and more obviously a lie. Discontent was breeding into unrest.
at this point, they were well into January of a new year. 2021. Charlotte had long since given up on receiving help from whoever that contact was... they probably didn't take the tip seriously. what a waste of money... She grumbled as this thought came to mind as she trudged through the snow towards her latest project. One of the villagers was having issues with a floorboard on the second floor of their home. She cupped her hands in front of her mouth as she breathed on them then rubbed her hands together to try and keep them warm.
"Charlotte, it's good to see you," Says the elderly woman. "Come in, you'll catch your death in this cold," she says and motions for her to come in. "Thank you for coming to take a look at it. I know supplies are tight but maybe you can think of something to hold it over in the meantime." the woman says and leads her up to the second floor.
"I'll do my best," she says as she looks around. this was surprisingly a house she'd never been in yet. as she looked around a small wooden box caught her attention. "Is that a radio?" she asks surprised.
"yes it was my husband's, I never could figure out how to get it to work." the woman admits. "you more than welcome to tinker with it as well if you'd like but do try not to break it."
Charlotte nods. Radio waves are radio waves, if she adjusted it right maybe she'd be able to listen to some music while she worked. The thought caused her to smile. It had been about 7 months now that she'd been stuck at the castle and which meant it's been roughly 7 months that she's been too terrified to use any form of technology away from the factory.
"I'll be downstairs if you need anything," the woman says and goes back down the stairs leaving Charlotte to fiddle with the radio.
"It's been a while since I had to use an analog radio," she says amused as she messed with the dials. no, nope. Nah uh. There she turned a knob that made a click and static could be heard coming from the radio. okay, now which one was for AM/ FM and which one was the tuner, and which was the volume? come on. She tinkered with it a bit more. okay, there's the volume. This one clicks so probably AM/FM. She fiddled with the remaining tuner dial while switching between AM and FM to try and see if she could get any sort of signal.
"We're closing in on the target location," the radio loudly announced causing Charlotte to gasp and quickly lower the volume.
"what was that dear?" the woman called up from the stairway.
"Nothing, just got the radio to work, forgot to turn down the volume," she said with a laugh. before a realization hit her.
"Wait a second..." she turned the volume up enough for her to hear.
"secure a proper base of operation," says another voice.
that was English. she stared at the radio stunned.
"Come in Alpha this is Tundra, do you read me?" says a third.
those were military terms. holy shit! She smiled happily. she needed to find them. Come on give her a beacon. how to find them something. it took a good 20 minutes of listening while she worked on the floorboard but eventually, she got what she needed.
"Target location in sight... holy shit... The tip was right, this place is real..." says one of the voices. "Eye on a set of active smokestacks to the south,"
"Observation point acquired, all-clear for the supply drop," says the woman's voice.
Charlotte quickly got up and turned off the radio before taking the compass out. okay, set Heisenberg's location and. got it. based on the direction they're seeing the smokestack, that would put them behind his factory up in the mountains.
"Misses Balan, I've finished up for now," Charlotte says as she hurries down the stair. "I'm afraid I might be late for my next meeting."
"Well I wouldn't want you to be late, be careful love," she says and waves her off. "Thanks for the help."
"Not a problem, let me know if it's still giving you trouble," Charlotte replies before quickly heading out the door and towards the factory, around the outer gate and up into the mountains. it was dangerous and stupid but she needed to get to them.
she had been wandering around for a good thirty minutes when she heard a branch snap causing her to quickly look behind her and find nothing there... where on earth were these peop- a sharp pain in the back of the head cut that thought short as she was knocked out. she eventually woke up tied up in the center of a small camp of 4 no. 5 people all in military gear but no uniforms... oh boy.
"Hello?" she says in Romanian out of instinct after having to speak the language consistently for the last year and a half. the people stare at her.
"Think she's one of the villagers?" one asks confused.
"Right sorry English. it's been a while. Hey there." Charlotte says as she corrects her greeting.
"She's an American." one says stunned. "how the hell did you get here?"
"Vacation gone very, very wrong..." She says with a laugh as she was at this point unphased by being tied up. That seemed to happen every three months anyways. "Are you the BSAA?" She asks which surprised them once more. at this point, the 6th member walks out of their tent to join the conversation.
Holy shit it's the thick-neck bolder puncher from the website. He's just, all thick, like dang. Hello sir. She tried not to laugh at her own thoughts.
"So, you're finally awake," they say as they move to take a seat with the other. "Who are you?"
"Charlotte... Mayweather." She says as she decides against giving her actual name, for now. "I Heard your radio chatter. you're lucky the villagers don't know English."
"You're not one of them then? So why are you here."
"That is a really long story." she admits in return "to sum it up, I went hiking. I got lost, ended up in Miranda's lab, and was put on death row like every other sap that gets lost out here but managed to bullshit my way out of it by offering to help her in exchange for my life. I've been trying to sabotage her work ever since. I thought I could handle this but, it's gotten out of control..."
"You helped her? so you are one of them," he points out with some level of disgust.
"Okay easy for you to say, I didn't want to get eaten alive. That was my alternative," She replies with a grumpy frown. "I sent in the tip because I can't get people out anymore... I." she paused, "One of my allies who was helping me get people out, he got caught. I've been on a short leash ever since."
"You should have called in the tip off the bat and left this to professionals" He replies with a frown. "Where is Miranda now?"
Oh no, he's stupid... great. "WOW IF ONLY I THOUGHT TO CALL THE ORGANIZATION OF PROFESSIONALS THAT I DIDN'T KNOW EXISTED! Maybe my friends might not be dead! Yeah sure, by the way, Mr. professional, this is a great place to camp if you're trying to end up dead in the night," Charlotte says with a frown. "I've managed to survive being in this place for a year and a half I might know a few things you don't so don't Fucking patronize me when I'm trying to tell you, you don't have to start from scratch."
one of the crew members covers their mouth as they snort and try not to laugh as the guy that seemed to be in charge glared at them.
"So, let's try this again." Charlotte says with an irritated smile "Hi I'm Charlotte I called you here to help protect people who need it and don't realize they're in danger. Over the last year and a half, I've gotten a lay of the land, access to pretty much all the buildings, and became allies with the ONE person that has an army that can help you. I know basically every lord's daily schedule and can get you anything and anywhere within this village. What's your name?"
the man took a breath before looking at her once more "Chris Redfield."
"Chris. Nice to meet you," she says with her best customer service voice. "I'd be more than happy to help you and your team in any way possible to help assure the safety of the villagers if you would be so kind as to untie me."
"How do we know we can trust what you're saying?" asks one of the crew members.
Charlotte nudges at her pinafore to push her phone out. "The tip you received has a phone number with it. turn on my phone, and text the number you received with the tip. that should confirm that I am who I say I am." She answers "and we really kinda want to put some hustle on this I wasn't joking when I said you picked a dumb spot, this is Lycan territory and the sun is about to go down. they love to stay by the factory since Heisenberg gives them marching orders."
"What's a Lycan?" Another asks as they take the phone and power it up as requests before digging out their own phone and digging up the info to find the number and call it.
Charlotte remained silent during the process. "and there you have it." she says with a nod. "as for your question, I don't really know what they are... I know they used to be villagers but they turned into these. things."
"Bioweapons..." Chris mutters quietly.
"maybe? I dunno it's got something to do with mold and a parasite that Miranda calls a Cadou..."
"you don't think this is another baker incident do you?" one asks while looking at Chris. Charlotte mentally stows that name away for later.
"Hard to say," Chris replies before getting up and walking over to Charlotte to untie her. "Tell us what you know."
"Gladly, while walking though, we don't have enough time to move all your supplies but I know a place you guys can rest for the night." Charlotte agrees.
"Alright..." he hesitantly agrees. "Hound wolf squad, pack it up," he says and goes to gather what gear he can carry. if they were getting closer to the village he wanted to have some supplies at least.
Charlotte waits until they were done and starts leading the way down the mountain towards the reservoir "Moreau rarely comes out at night, he's docile as a lamb unless provoked." she explains as she walks. "the lords are all what Miranda considered to be failed experiments to bring back her child named Eva. this apparently wasn't her only attempt. she mentioned some Evaline project."
"she was connected to the Louisanna outbreak too?" one asks and grumbles. "so this is another baker incident."
"Not sure when that happened but this has been going on for over one hundred years. The four lords and Miranda are considered immortals. and honestly, I'd believe it. I've seen what they're capable of." Charlotte replies. "Luckily for you guys, the strongest of the four is your best chance at an ally. I'll try and introduce you guys some time that isn't now because if I don't get back to the castle by curfew, you'll be short a mole."
The group nods and continues to ask questions which she answers in turn as they make their way down the mountainside. they manage to get to the reservoir as the sunsets. once there she leads them to a small abandoned house on the water.
"Here, the villagers aren't using these right now since fishing season is more or less done," she says as she lets them into the building. "Moreau tends to go for a morning swim. when he's out in the water make sure you're quiet. he doesn't have full control and he tends to move towards sound."
Chris nods. "I think this got missed before... Where is Miranda now?"
"She's been gone for at least three months now. almost four. She left in October."
"What?" Chris asks with a tone of anger and concern.
"yeah kinda thought I mentioned she's trying to steal a baby. she can change her physical form" she replied.
"We're making a plan and leaving as soon as possible then. we need to get there before she takes rose by any means necessary." Chris says with a frown.
"What?" Charlotte says as her shoulders drop. "but. you just got here. there are people in danger. here."
"We'll come back after," Chris confirms.
Charlotte frowns as presses her lips together before walking away. Some help they turned out to be.
tadah~ things are happening. I am not a fan of the fact I did a full 3 month time skip but, honestly, there really wasn't much other content I could add with how Pinned down Charlotte's schedule is now that she's in the castle. Maybe a scene where Charlotte and Heisenberg are sharing dinner and going over blueprints to break it into 2 one and a half month skips but I'm even less fond of filler chapters. so we are just gonna deal with the lesser of two evils and do a decently large blue-skidoo forward in time so we can stick to the good stuff.
Review responses:
Dark Moons Daughter - for real thanks for the help X'D that 100% would not have been as amazing without your help. it was definitely a sadder chapter. luckily we're in the home stretch now. ohoho~ the hints I have been planting have not been lost on you. yes~ Charlotte's father will eventually be coming into play for the story post RE8 events. and more sharp-eyed catches! Yep, that was my sorta nod to the canon as an extra explanation for why Heisenberg was picked over Dimitrescu to get Ethan.
Charadrius - hehe all the feels~ the next chapter is going to be chuck full of those. I'm so glad that you think I'm doing the characters justice qvq it makes my soul happy.