So I said 46 was when things were going to start getting serious again. Turns out that I lied to myself. This was originally going to be a super fluffy chapter. My hands laughed at that and wrote this instead. I'm sorry but also I hope you enjoy it all the same.

Song Suggestion: Follow my Feet by The Unlikely Candidates

Disclaimer: I own Nothing, lordy do I wish Capcom would hire me to fix their lore but I don't think that's an open position so instead I will stick to fanfiction filled with spelling and grammar errors.

New years Eve approached for the 4th time now since Emma moved in. And, as strange as it was to think about. The last time the tradition would be held. It was bittersweet in its own way but all the same, Emma smiled as she stood next to Chris as they took their place between their apartments. Chris' phone was resting on his wall-mounted shelf and played a broadcast of the usual Radio station. Bastion and Travis Stood in the empty space between apartments on the opposite side of the hallway. Sitting on Bastion's wall-mounted shelf was his phone which was blasting a recording of an old fashion Italian record. It just seemed appropriate for the tradition to follow through to the end.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4,

3, Emma made sure her phone was out and recording

2, Travis took a deep breath.

1. He moved to put his hand into his baggy jacket pocket to make sure that he had a small velvet box in hand.

"Happy New Years," The radio loudly announced as Bastion gave Travis a quick kiss. Chris and Emma watched with knowing smiles. She wasn't able to keep it from Chris for long considering she kept going 'shopping' with Travis. as Travis walked away and into the apartment to return with 4 glasses and a bottle of good champagne.

"Are you recording?" Bastion asks confused as he finally noticed Emma. CRAP.

"Well yeah, It's our last New Years together, I wanna have the memory," She says causing Bastion to roll his eyes.

"Put that away if you want the memory then live it," He counters while Travis nervously focused on very quickly pouring the 4 glasses and hands out 3 of them.

"Suppose it's my turn to give the speech," Travis says as he nervously shifts and checks his pocket again. Yep, the box was still there. "So. I um" he clears his throat.

"A little over Two years ago I was accepted into this community and with that the 2nd floor new years tradition. Each year that I've been able to attend I consider how lucky I am to know such amazing and loving people." Travis says as he fidgets with the box in his jacket pocket. "And it was exactly two years, two months, and 16 days ago that I was fortunately smart enough to agree to go on a first date to a terribly horrifying Halloween carnival that changed my life forever."

Come on you can do it, you rehearsed this so many times. Emma thought as she mentally cheered on Travis.

"A life that's going to continue to change as this little family that the 2nd-floor community became starts parting ways now that Mrs. Russo has left and soon so will Chris and Emma," Travis says as he gives a slight nod to Emma and Chris.

Bastion chuckles a bit at this "I think I jinxed it by telling everyone not to move. maybe reverse Psychology? ... Quick! Everyone scatter!" he jokes which causes the other three to laugh.

Travis smiles as he takes a deep breath "If I've learned anything over the last year it's that change is inevitable even if it can be terrifying." Travis says before shifting to Kneel. "So if there was one thing that I could make consistent in my life. Even if we change with time. I'd want it to be that we're together for all the changes that life can throw at us." Travis says as he takes out the box and offers it up to a now sobbing and nodding Bastion who was hiding his mouth behind his hands. "That is to say, Do you want to share the rest of forever together and get married?"

"Of course I do" bastion replies as he moves forward to kneel in front of Travis as well so he could throw his arms around his new fiance and pepper him in kisses.

Emma fought back a quiet 'Aww' so it wouldn't cover any of the audio of the recording and moves to make sure she was recording at the right angle. She loved a happy ending. Beginning? Whatever you call this.

Travis helped Bastion put on the ring and he showed it to the camera. "it fits" he says happily with a chuckle while moving to wipe away a tear. "you're sending me the video right?" he asks, smiling from ear to ear as he and Travis both stand up and Emma nods. "okay good." Bastion says while fanning his face to try and stop crying.

Travis clears his throat as he finally picks up his own glass from the shelf. "So if everyone would care to join me in a toast," Travis says as Chris hands Emma her glass and she mouths a quiet thank you. "Cheers, to a year of good health and prosperity."

"Cheers!" The three say before taking a drink. With that Emma cuts the recording and focuses on taking pictures for the two. By the time that the 4 finished their drinks and getting all the photos the newly engaged couple could ask for it was 12:20 in the morning. Chris and Emma made their way back to his place to rest for the night. Why did it feel like they forgot something... All the same, the two went to bed.

'*'*'*'*'

Briiing, Briiing! Briiing, Briiing!

Chris inhaled deeply as he heard his phone going off and lazily reached for it.

Monday, January 11th, 3 AM.

[INCOMING CALL - DIRECTOR]

Well shit. He gave a short tired sigh before giving Emma, who was curled up next to him, a quick peck and answers the phone.

"Hello?" he says not even trying to hide that he was tired and had just been woken up.

"Redfield. We need you ready to head out to Romania in the next 3 hours." Says the director with little other comment in the way of a greeting.

"I thought we weren't scheduled to leave until next week?" Chris points out. "Did something happen?"

"The time was moved, that's all there is to it," the director replied.

yeah, he doubted that. "Okay. I'll be there," Chris says before hanging up and putting the phone down.

"Work?" Emma says confused as she rolls over since the conversation did cause her to wake up as well.

"Yeah," he says before getting up. "Something feels off..."

"Be careful," Emma replies with concern evident in her tone despite being half asleep.

"I should be back in a week," he replies as he gets up to head out.

"Mkay," Emma replies before starting to fall back asleep. she'd known him for 4 years. and they'd been seeing each other for 2 years so this was pretty normal now.

'*'*'*'*'

One long flight across the ocean later and Chris made his way to check on Ethan, Mia and Rosemary Winters. Overall the trip went pretty normally. Until the last day. Saturday, January 16th.

"Hey, Alpha," Tundra says as she heads over to join Chris as the squad got ready for the day.

"Yeah?" He says with a raised eyebrow.

"Just got back from talking to Tiger Ocra. Nothing unusual to report aside from this," she says as she hands over an envelope addressed from Mia to Zoe Baker. The only other survivor of the Baker incident. Zoe hadn't exactly been quiet or subtle with her poking around about the BSAA but it made it easier for him to dig around too so he didn't exactly move to stop it. "Mia found out about Zoe?"

"Seems so," Tundra replies with a nod. "The letter seems clean. She handed it off to one of the Tiger Orca members a week or so ago judging by the photo of the kid's half birthday and they wanted to run it by you. Figured since we'd be stateside we could take care of sending it out. They haven't heard anything regarding Miranda. It's hard to tell though when the woman can apparently turn into anyone."

"That certainly makes it more difficult." He agrees with a tired sigh and pockets the letter. "Wait half birthday?" Chris asks a bit confused as he takes out the letter and opens it to look at it.

"Something the matter captain?" Tundra asks and Chris nods.

"Maybe... I want to confirm a hunch though. For now, lay low. and don't mention the letter to anyone," Chris says as he pockets it again.

"Yes sir," Tundra replies a bit confused, but all the same the squad gathers up and they make their way to the winters home. Chris is the first to exit the Vehicle and makes his way up to the door. He pushes past his initial urge to just burst through the door and knocks on it.

It takes a moment but Ethan answers "Hey, good timing," He says with a tired smile. "Mia I'm heading out!" He calls back into the house. "Let's go," he says as he closes the door behind him.

"Good timing?" Chris asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," Ethan replies as they walk down the path of the house to the group of armored cars. "saved me from getting my head bit off again," he says with a tired sigh. "Mia's been a bit irritable for the last few weeks," Ethan admits with a slight frown. he didn't like speaking poorly of his wife but the fighting was getting a bit draining.

Chris nods and listens while trying to avoid raising any alarm. "Is she off her meds still?"

Ethan bobs his head slightly "kinda. she went on them again after the birth but back off again recently. Started going on about some holistic baby food diet. how it's not good for Rose even though the doctors said it would be fine."

"Right," Chris nods while knitting his eyebrows. "How old is she again?"

"5 and a half months old," Ethan says with a smile as he was more than happy to talk about his little girl. "it's kinda funny actually" he adds as he pulls up his phone to show Chris the same picture that was in the letter to Zoe. "Without the meds, Mia can be a bit scatterbrained. back on the second Mia made up a cake for Rose's half birthday. I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't for another month."

And that's pretty much, exactly, what he was looking for. Something was wrong. They needed to move out immediately.

Chris was rather irritable through training, Ethan was still not doing great. He improved over the last few years to be sure but. Even with that it just seemed unwise to tell him about what was going on. What if this Miranda person infected him too? They didn't know how her powers worked exactly just that they did and that they were connected to the mold.

Once they dropped Ethan off for the day Chris got back into the car. "Get us to the Airfield. We're going to be doing an all-nighter." Chris says which caught the group's attention. they hadn't even turned off communications "Miranda is up to something. we need to move now." Chris says and flips off the communications upon remembering that was still on. "We're going dark effective immediately."

"Yes sir" they all reply and make their way to the airfield.

"Tundra Stay behind with Night Howl and Umber eye just in case, see if you can get Tiger Orca squad on board to help, they've been our eyes on the ground the whole time. we're going to need extra hands for this."

"Yes sir" "got it" "can do boss"

"Lobo Canine that leaves the two of you with me. I'll make the Flight over, Lobo gas up the chopper to make the flight back. Canine you'll come with me to get the supplies from the apartment" Chris adds before looking at the group as a whole "We'll meet up again at the co-ordinance provided by Tundra's tip as Miranda's base of operations. after that, we won't be able to go back to the BSAA for a resupply so grab everything that isn't bolted down."

This was definitely not ideal to have to do this right when they were coming back from a mission and they'd be expected to attend a debrief but to hell with it. if they didn't act fast someone was going to die. if there hadn't been casualties already.

After a long flight back to the states The three went ahead to carry out their goals. Chris hurried to his own office to get his Civilian gear which had his car keys in it only to find a lone envelope sitting on his desk. It was embossed with the BSAA logo. Chris frowns as he opens the envelope, though his expression shifted to shock as he read the letter inside.

BSAA HQ:

Warning Letter to Chris Redfield

Chris,

We are growing concerned with your recent activity. According to the recent Reports you have taken personal control of the elite unit, the Hound Wolf Squad, without permission. And you've accessed a number of top-secret documents. Also without permission.

What the hell are you doing?

What are you and your squad doing in eastern Europe? Who the fuck is this Miranda that keeps popping up in your Correspondances? What is with the investigation into the Winters family?

You've been very critical of BSAA since the Baker Incident. You might be one of the founding original eleven but I cannot let you continue to run around unchecked. So I will repeat myself, What the hell are you doing?

BSAA HQ, Investigations

He frowned as he read the letter, grabbed a pen, and wrote on the back 'It's Not Over'. He shoved the letter back into the envelope and pocketed that along with his car keys. He was running out of time, the BSAA was catching on and fast, they had a few hours at best before a no-fly notice went out to try and keep them grounded. With that he quickly made his way out of the building and to the parking lot where Canine was waiting by his car.

"What took you so long?" Canine asks as he opens the car door the second it was unlocked.

Chris gets into the car as well. He reaches to grab the wire he was aware of and yanks it out to throw it out the window. "We got trouble," Chris says with a frown.

"Don't we always?" Canine asks in return as he straps in.

"BSAA is on our heels," Chris says as he gets the car started and quickly makes his way back to the apartments.

"Great, should I text Lobo?"Canine asks as he goes to take out his phone for the group chat.

"No, they're going through phone records, all correspondence is being scrubbed as we speak from the sounds of it. We have to go completely dark at this point." Chris says with a frown as he used one hand to dig out a Cigarette from the pack in his cup holder.

The drive goes by quickly since there was hardly anyone on the road. Even after leaving at 6:30 PM for a 13 hour flight, it was still 11:30pm on the 16th thanks to time zones. Chris quickly parks along the side of the road, leaving the SUV running as he and Canine hurried up the stairs. he used the spare key to open up Emma's apartment which causes Duke to start barking at first since it was an odd time for someone to walk in but he stops shortly after seeing it was just Chris and friend.

"Come on," Chris says as he leads the way back to the room where the supplies were stashed and unlocked that as well using the Allen wrench that Emma stashed on top of the door frame. It took a good while but they eventually moved the 6 large crates worth of supplies. along with miscellaneous extras that were too big to fit into the metal containers.

"I think that's the last of it," Canine says as he waits for Chris to exit the apartment and lock it up.

Chris nods. "Let's go."

The two drive back to the BSAA HQ and don't bother parking in the parking lot instead Chris uses what security access he has left to get the car onto the airfield so they could start packing it up directly. It would be more evidence against him to leave his car on the airfield like this but they didn't have the luxury of time.

"Taking Off," Lobo says as Chris and Canine buckle in.

"Chopper H1W1 You are not cleared for takeoff," says a voice over the radio. "Return to base, over."

"Ignore it, take off if we reground they're going after us," Chris says and Lobo nods.

"That would be a negative Air control make sure the skies are clear, over and out," Lobo replies and with that, he takes off anyways and heads back to Romania.

Around 6:45 AM Emma's alarm went off as she woke up in Chris's apartment with a yawn. Sunday, January 17th. it was a bit early for a weekend but Duke needed a regular schedule so she woke up all the same. She sleepily shuffled from one apartment to the other and walked in to stare at the Island Counter with confusion. that wasn't there before. She thought as she attempted to pet duke while being distracted by two envelopes and a folded piece of printer paper that was sitting upright and a pen.

She walked over and picked up the folded paper to read it first.

Emma,

The BSAA caught onto my plans. I'm sorry but I don't know when I'll be back. It's more than I should ask of you but please mail these out to the address on the envelope.

stay safe,

Chris

P.S. Burn This so they don't know I was here.

Emma stared at the Tiny metal house on the island before ripping off a scrap from the piece of printer paper and writing on it with the pen that was left next to the letters. she put the rushed message into the house before wandering to the junk drawer to find a box of matches and uses one to light the scrap of paper in the tiny house on fire. She repeated the action of tearing off a piece of the page, writing a quick message, and burning it until the page of printer paper was completely gone and a mound of ashes collected on the tray under the metal hut. Each scrap of the page held the same message.

Please let him come home safely.

"Come on Duke. We need to take a trip to the post office," Emma says with a worried frown.

Dawn of the final day.

FanNatic Lore:

Welp, I had to make some stuff up again so here we go. If you look over the Zoe Files from the post-game purchase store for RE8 [i think that's where it is] you get an 80 slide document. In it, Zoe mentions receiving two letters. One from Mia which for the sake of brevity I did not write out verbatim. and One from the BSAA that was unsigned calling out Chris's sus actions with a message on the back that seemingly came from Chris himself. The letters don't line up. in the slightest. As they are, at face value, The letter from Mia would have had to have been written after Feb 2nd because that was Rose's half birthday and Chris had to have started Recon and took over a few squads well before Feb second considering the level of Recon they did and the multiple observation sites. He would have also had to have had the time to know that Mia sent a letter since and both of the letters arrived together in the Zoe log. Mia Couldn't have written that letter on Feb 2nd since it was heavily implied that Rose had a sudden Diet shift Weeks in advance of RE8 because of the built-up canned baby food and Miranda had been trying to blend in for a while.

-insert confused writer sounds here- Who on earth was in charge of this timeline and were they high? The game starts on Feb 9th when the heck did they think all of this happened? by their logic it was, half birthday on the 2nd Chris hijacks a team to go to Romania. Mia writes the letter on the 3rd and gives it to a BSAA person only to get janked by Miranda. Chris says oh sheet on the 4th and stops what he's doing to go fly back to America and get a memo from his desk that says screw you what are you doing so he can mail that to Zoe with the letter he somehow got while he was doing recon in a remote village under the radar then flys back on the 5th with more people sets up the plan and attacks on the night of the 6th so the game can start on the 9th MC FREACKING NO. You've got to be pulling my leg Capcom. We're not going with that.

The best explanation I could come up with was that the letter from Mia was actually written early by Miranda who was trying to lure in Zoe in case Rose didn't work out because at that time she wouldn't have had confirmation that Rose was a perfect vessel yet and Zoe was another infected young female. More so than Mia was since she almost completely calcified or whatever you call it, then came back from it. A decent indicator that she would be similar to Rose. With that, I'm going to lean into the fact that Miranda was missing information that would have been common to Mia and say she got Rose's birthday ever so slightly wrong which is what tipped off Chris that she swapped places. Honest to goodness this is the best I can do while adding this piece of in-game lore to the story and getting it to make sense lmao.

.

Review responses:

Guest1995 - I swear you guys can read my mind sometimes lol that is going to be the subject of a poll that will be going out with chapter 46. vaguely. until tomorrow friend. i salute you. Thank you for your continued support throughout all of this. it means the world to me.