(A/N) Hello, I'm here with chapter 8 after a long ass wait! Sorry about that...

Okay, for those who are actually interested in this story, I think I sort of owe an explanation for the longer wait than usual. 17 or 18 months ago was when this story was last updated; over a year, now. There would be large gaps in between updates, but never this large. There are a lot of reasons for that, reasons I won't list until the ending author's note as I don't want to make the wait even longer. I will say this though, the chapter definitely isn't my best really, at least in my own critical opinion; I know that it is not a good idea to say that at the start of the chapter, but I did it anyway.

This chapter is about the group that went through the blue door; Harry, James, and Henry. I hope this chapter is good enough and worth the wait, seriously. This is also the first chapter of 2019, so Happy Late New Year...!

No flames please~! If you feel that some improvements could be made, don't be afraid to say so; tell what I did good and like I just said, improvements are good!

Disclaimer: I do not own these franchises, or their characters. Resident Evil belongs to CAPCOM, Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid belong to KONAMI and Final Fantasy belongs to SQUARE ENIX.

Chapter 8: The Flood Behind the Blue Door

After the unpleasant experience of their secrets almost laid bare for others to see, gathering their lost equipment and having a discussion on what their next move should be, Harry suggested that the group split up and investigate the other side of both doors simultaneously.

He thought that it would be best that Leon and himself lead the groups, for reasons that may be obvious; Leon was an agent for the United States Government and Harry, to himself anyway, was much more level headed. As for who would be in each group, Harry decided that James would be in his group, just so he could keep an eye on him and same would go for Henry, too; since they hadn't known the agent for awfully long and the pair could be quite timid sometimes. That only left the teen with the tail, Zidane, and his daughter, Heather, who would have to go with Leon.

Was he a little worried to part ways with her? Yes, but he trusted the agent would take care of her. He didn't know Leon very well, but he could feel that he could be trusted; they were on the same boat after all.

Then, there was deciding who would take each door, and the reasoning behind that wasn't very creative nor well thought out; Harry was closer to the blue door, so he would go through there and Leon was closer to the red door, so that was where he was going.

A part of him was going to suggest that he should go through the red door, since not only did red represent love and passion, but danger and aggression; it could even be associated with fire and heat. Harry was worried that whatever was behind the red door would be dangerous and that he was going to be exposing Heather to it, but the blue door may not be much safer and she had Leon with her; and in this situation, he doubted that there was a safe option.

After announcing his plan, Harry noticed that Leon displayed a look of mild annoyance, barely disguised by a humoured smirk; the agent didn't say anything that pointed to him being annoyed, so -

"Don't we all get a say, Harry?"

- he may have been over-thinking things...

The brunette supposed that he had spoken too soon. He guessed that the cause of annoyance may be because no-one got to decide for themselves where they wanted to go, but he had already thought - not too long, but long enough - about the group placements.

"No, I want to keep an eye on these two," Harry told the blonde truthfully, pointing his thumb at James and Henry. "I trust Heather will be fine with you and I believe the boy would be more comfortable with you, as he's known you the longest."

"Fair enough," he heard Leon say, as he approached the blue door, gesturing for his friends to follow.

No words were exchanged between the three, as they got closer to the door. Once they were stood in front of the door, and thus out of ear shot from the other group, Harry turned to face the two accompanying him. Before he said anything, he switched his pocket flashlight on, made sure that the handgun tied to his belt was secure, and untied his knife in favour of holding it.

"Is everyone ready?" he asked, which prompted the other two to check themselves over:

Henry simply checked his gun over again with a nod, while James turned on his own pocket flashlight and flicked a switch on his radio, before taking his handgun off of his belt.

Harry wondered why the blonde still used the radio, it wasn't like they were in Silent Hill dealing with unknown, possibly paranormal, forces; heck, they hadn't even seen any monsters, or anything out the ordinary, unless one suddenly forgot about the teen with a fully functioning monkey tail... Maybe they weren't in a situation people would consider normal, but it wasn't Silent Hill, so the radio may not be of much use, hence why he hadn't turned on his own. He guessed it was best to be safe than sorry, but he would keep his as a spare, just in case James' were to get lost or damaged.

Harry was taken out of his thoughts when heard a click of a door. Looking up, he noticed that the group stood in front of the red door were gone...Heather was gone...

"Are you sure you didn't want to take Heather with you?" he heard James ask.

The brunette shook his head in response, prompting confused expressions from his companions.

"Don't get me wrong, it isn't like I don't want her here," he added. "It would be better if we kept the numbers the same on both sides."

"Then -"

"And I wanted to keep an eye on you and Henry."

Silence descended upon the trio, until it was broken by a light chuckle; two pairs of eyes fell on Henry, who was oddly the source of the noise. Harry must have said something quite amusing if Henry was laughing at him; it was a rare, but not an unpleasant sight.

"I'm sorry," Henry whispered, coughing into his hand. "It was just how you phrased it."

"How I phrased it?"

'What did he mean?'

"Yeah," James also had a small smile on his face. "It almost sounds like..."

"You see us as children," Henry finished.

"And we're grown men."

Harry didn't know if this was an attempt at lightening the mood, or what...but he thought it was nice. However, it had to be cut short, or they wouldn't get anywhere.

Releasing a small chuckle himself, Harry gestured for the other two to follow as they went through the door.

What stood behind it was a corridor; as blue as the ocean and as airy as the great outdoors. It may not have looked like it, but it felt like they had just walked straight onto a beach, it even smelt the part with the smell of wet sand filling the trio's nostrils. Although the room allowed the trio to experience different smells and sensations, the room itself was bare and had nothing to offer visually; unless pipes with drops of water leaking from them counted as something.

Tightening their grips on their weapons, they advanced forward; keeping alert was the best thing they could do.

The corridor felt as if it went on forever, showing no sign of stopping; then something changed. Harry wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he noticed that the corridor appeared to get more narrrow the further they went; resulting in the group having to walk in a single file line. Excluding that minor change, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. This was until he noticed the absence of two pairs of footsteps.

Turning to investigate, he noticed James glancing around in confusion, while Henry, who was stood behind him, stared at the former like he was crazy.

"James, what are you doing?" Harry asked, concerned yet a little annoyed that their progress was being halted.

"Did you hear that?" the blonde replied, as he took a cautious step forward.

"Hear what?" Henry replied, as he followed suit.

Shortly after that question was uttered, spikes shot from the ground where Henry was previously stood, causing the man to involuntarily gasp.

"Henry!"

"I think we should run, Harry!"

The group wasted no time, they ran for their lives; spikes emerging with every step they took. They could do nothing, except make sure that they were a great distance away when the next spike emerged. With how long the corridor was, they didn't think there would be an end to it, until they saw a door in the distance. Hope ignited, they pushed themselves harder and upon reaching the door, they collapsed to catch their breaths.

"What the hell...?" Henry coughed out, his breathing was heavy and he continued to cough with every breath he took.

"I don't get it..." James said, his breathing returning to normal as he crawled over to Henry. "I thought that woman wanted us alive...?"

"I believe so," Harry replied, standing up and glancing around. Looking at the spikes, he noticed they were sharp and could have done catastrophic damage if one were to get caught in them.

"Then what were those spikes for? They could have killed us?!"

It had been awhile since Harry had seen James get this worked up about something; and considering the situation, the brunette didn't blame him. Harry took a deep breath and sighed.

"My theory is that she didn't do this to kill us, merely to place us in a state of panic..."

Both men looked at Harry, awaiting an explanation.

"Remember, the parasites respond to heightened levels of stress and if you think about it the spikes weren't very difficult to avoid..."

"You're not wrong," James stood up and proceeded to dust himself off. "But if that trap had killed us, I doubt it would have affected her plans too much."

"What makes you say that?"

After that question left his mouth, Henry was heard having a coughing fit. Since James was stood closer to the brunette, he immediately went to check on him. His eyes widened when thick, red liquid jumped out of his mouth.

"Henry!"

"What is it, James?!"

"Blood..."

At that answer, Harry rushed to the pair to take a closer look and Henry had indeed coughed up blood. The liquid was cupped in his hands and the man's eyes were filled with worry as he panted. Before any of the two could open their mouths, Henry beat them to it.

"I'm fine," he said, as he got up to a shaky stand. "We -"

"You're fine?! You've coughed up blood, Henry!" James told him, attempting to sit the brunette back down. He wasn't having it.

"I have a bad feeling about this place," Henry tried to reason calmly, gently pushing the blonde away.

"If you insist, Henry, we'll proceed," Harry said, turning back to the door. "We'll give you a look over when we get out of this area, but don't push yourself too hard."

"Okay..."

Approaching the door, the first thing Harry noticed was a note taped to the door that read:

'I cannot believe that you have gotten this far, I will say that I am surprised.
I take it you have decided to go through this blue door, which is quite unfortunate.
You are mistaken if you thought that opting for this door will be a breeze.
What awaits you through this door is a fate overflowing with difficulty.
That difficult, you may drown...
You can handle it, right?
Well, I cannot keep hindering you, so I shall conclude this with a farewell.
Welcome to my human aquarium!
~ Your Saviour.'

'Saviour? How cliché...' Harry thought as looked the note over.

The phrase 'Human aquarium' bothered him though, as well as the references to drowning.

'Was there water on the other side? No, that would be silly...'

"Hmm..."

"What is it, Harry?" James asked, looking behind said man's shoulder to see what he was reading.

"Welcome to my human aquarium," he read the line that puzzled him a little. 'Human aquarium? What's that supposed to -'

"What does that mean?" Henry asked.

"I wish I knew," Harry replied. "The only way to find out is to go through this door."

Opening the door, the trio were greeted by a large wave of water running towards them. Before Harry could give the order to run, they were grabbed by the water and pulled into the room.

The current was strong, intense, and Harry and his friends were entirely submerged. They couldn't breathe and they could barely move. Harry felt like a ragdoll with his limbs flailing in random directions, and a fire burned in his lungs as his chest felt tight. He could see nothing but endless blue, and the occasional silver blur which he guessed could be pipes.

When the tightness in his lungs grew, he made an attempt to fight the current, rapidly moving his limbs upwards in an effort to reach the surface. The edges of his vision started to darken, and his limbs grew heavy, like he had weights wrapped around them with rope. If he were to succumb to the weight, his journey, his life, would end here; he would never see his daughter again and won't be able to see everyone make it out of this situation okay.

With those thoughts in mind, he made a big stroke and was fortunate to have a pipe in reach. Grabbing it for dear life, he pulled himself up and was finally met with the sweet relief of oxygen. Taking in large ragged breaths, with coughs mixed in, he leaned on the pipe for support and blinked water out of his eyes.

After recovering, he looked around. The room he was in was very large and rectangular; the water in the room was constantly moving. If he were to let go, that's it, he'd be being dragged aimlessly again. The walls were silver, metal looking, and a ladder could be seen in the distance, which appeared to lead to a metal platform. On that platform, a lever could be seen.

Harry had his bearings, but not his companions. Frantically, he looked around, but couldn't see them.

"Henry?!" he called, still somewhat breathless. "James?!"

He didn't get a response from either of them.

'No...'

Before he could think of the worst case scenario, he heard a gasp behind him followed by rapid breaths. Whipping his head toward the noise, he was relieved to see Henry, leaning on a pipe a little further than Harry, gasping and coughing.

"Henry, are you okay?"

He merely nodded in response.

Harry was happy to see one of his friends was alright, but...

His thoughts were, again, interrupted when he saw a hand rise from the water and grasp the pipe closest to the ladder. Not long after, the owner of the hand emerged, breathless and tired like the rest of them as he leaned on the pipe for dear life.

"James! Are you alright?" Harry was relieved, he thought he'd lost them here, but thankfully he thought wrong.

"I think so..." the blonde gasped, as he caught his breath.

Harry smiled. That was good to hear, but he didn't know how much time they could sit there like ducks, so he had to tell them his plan.

"Now that we're accounted for, we need to find a way to escape," he started, shivering from the coldness of the water. "There is a lever on the platform above us, and the way up to that platform is behind James, that ladder."

Said man turned to see that there was, in fact, a ladder behind him. Turning to Harry, he gave a nod.

"I'll do it."

"Thank you, but try to be quick about it."

Looking back to the ladder, James used his free hand to reach for it and grab one of the steps. He then removed his other hand off the pipe and proceeded to make his way up the ladder.

Getting on top of the platform, he immediately made a run for the lever and pulled it down; that immediately, to everyone's relief, stopped the water from running.

"Well done, James!" Harry said, as he leaped from pipe to pipe to get to the ladder with Henry in tow.

The blonde just rubbed the back of his neck and gave a sheepish smile, as he made his way back to the ladder to wait for the two brunettes.

Once they were reunited on top of the platform, Harry looked around and spotted a set of stairs at the end of the path. With no other options, they made their way towards them.

Climbing the stairs, no words were exchanged between the three. In that silence, Harry's mind wandered; he wanted to know how the other group were faring, Heather especially. If almost drowning was what his group had to deal with, then what would Leon's group had to have dealt with?

Hopefully, nothing life threatening...

Reaching the top of the stairs, a large hatch could be seen. Lifting it up, they entered into a large room.

The room was bare and a sandy colour. Facing them was a large, red door and wasting no time, Harry ran towards it to find that it was locked. Turning away, he saw Henry enter the room and close the hatch behind him, before collapsing on the floor on his knees. James was examining a large metal door and was able to open it ajar before closing it.

"Should we go?" He asked, as he made his way to Henry and sat down.

"Not yet," Harry told him, joining the two men. "We need to check on Henry and our equipment to make sure that they are not water damaged."

"Good point."

'And maybe Heather will come through that red door...'

"They escaped, what a pity..." Saviour sighed as she switched off the camera. "The true test begins now, let us see how they fare..."

Right, hopefully things will be interesting from now on. I think I have said this before, but I don't know.

Anyway, now for an explanation for my long hiatus from this story! If you're not interested, that's perfectly fine, just remember that improvements are appreciated.

Okay, so for starters, writer's block was the problem for a while. For some reason, I couldn't put the scenes in my head into word format. Another reason is lack of motivation, I had stuff going on in my life at the time, still do. Too many things on my mind from starting university and trying to look for part time work on the side; I just don't have too much time to think and set the chapters up. And when I do have time on my hands, I just want to play video games to unwind. So, yeah...

Fortunately, I already have part of chapter 9 written, so the wait shouldn't be too long, but at this point I wouldn't hold my breath.

Hopefully interesting story, chapter 8 was originally going to be in chapter 7, but I cut it out due to chapter 7, in my opinion, getting too long. Chapter 9 was actually going to be chapter 8, but partway into writing it, I felt like I was teasing readers by not having the blue door perspective. So, I stopped with that chapter and started writing this one, having the old chapter 8 be the new chapter 9. That's why chapter 9 is partway done!

Yeah...I'll leave ya now...

Improvements are appreciated, please tell me what I did right, wrong and how I can improve. If you would like, you could also favourite and follow this fic, as well as suggest ideas for future chapters. R&R and thanks for reading!