The characters from the game belong to Capcom. The OC's and story background belong to me.
Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A/N: I'm not English native speaker, so you might find some typos or grammar mistakes, I do apologize for that.
Efret, Hospital
Chris's clinical condition worsened and he was rushed to the ICU where he was being observed, and now he needed the help of the devices to continue breathing.
The brave soldier and captain of the BSAA, for the time being, was fighting the greatest battle in his life. To survive and fortuitously wake up from the coma.
Chris Redfield was between life and death after trying to fight the burden of so many responsibilities accumulated, so many fears swallowed, and too much suppressed pain.
Consciously Chris Redfield was a brave and fearless man, hiding his vulnerabilities well, no one could see so much suffering that he carried in secret.
But life bears the price of so an ignorance and the accumulation of so many regrets have become an emotional time-bomb for the famous captain.
Flashback
Chris's apartment, United States
Chris and Henry entered the apartment still in the dark. Chris turned on the flashlight of his cellphone and quickly began to close the curtains.
"It's night, no need to close the curtains"
"I know, but I don't want to give the neighbors of the other buildings the chance to see you and inform the police after all the commotion about Kate's attack on the news..."
"That's why I told you I cannot stay here. I can handle myself like I always did, but Kate needs you."
"Henry, you are my responsibility"
"Excuse me Chris, but I'm not your responsibility..."
"Yes you are! Since I met you you've become my responsibility, after all, I didn't send you to a laboratory to be a guinea pig..."
"So your protection is nothing more than you avoiding the weight in the conscience instead of doing what is right?"
"Would you rather be a guinea pig?"
"Actually, I'd rather you did your job and... set me free..."
"Have not I granted you your freedom yet?"
"It's not this freedom that I long for"
Chris gasped rolling his eyes, "I won't kill you Henry..."
"Why not? Isn't it what puts food on your table?"
"Henry, that's enough... I won't do it! I'll never kill you!"
"Why Chris? Why am I so different to you? "
"Just because..."
"Just because?"
"You're different because you're not bad... You're a human..."
Henry laughed, "My humanity has gone long ago... I am a creature... a B.O.W... is not it what you call 'people' like me?"
"That's how you see yourself, but that's not how I see you... I'm sure there must be a cure and we'll find it"
"Chris? Look at the absurdity you're saying! I'm almost 300 years old, for God's sake! Do you think this is to be a human?"
"Age is not really an issue... Plus, you don't even look that old!"
"You don't understand my pain..."
"And do you understand mine?"
"I understand freedom..."
"I kill animals, things, people... life... in the name of a peace that never comes!"
"Living like this is not a life!"
"We've had this conversation before and we will not have it again, and for the last time, don't insist Henry... I will not get rid of you! I believe there is a cure for you and I swear I will find it and you can live the life you crave!"
Henry exhaled deeply as he learned to deal with that man's stubbornness. Chris Redfield was as stubborn as Christopher Reed. So many years of waiting and longing made Henry submit to the soldier's wishes, for he knew that even if Chris did not believe it, Christopher Reed, still existed in Chris's inner soul. But Henry knew that one day Chris would have to finish that old mission and time was in charge of aligning the right moment for it, and meanwhile, the old father and son could stay together for a little while and re-know - and perhaps as the family that the special albino never had, along with Kate, his old mother.
"You should turn on the lights since you're not adapted like me, I applied the special product on my skin and I'm wearing the special clothes as well"
"Are you sure I can light them on?"
Without answering, Henry simply lit the switch that turned on the lights that illuminated the modest apartment that Chris lived with Kate. All very clean and organized. No luxury like the castles and mansions of the past, but still it was cozy in the simplicity that Chris liked.
Chris showed the place to the new guest and they stopped in front of the room that was now Kate's and the twins'.
"Do you sleep in separate rooms?" Henry asked without hiding the subtle surprise in his expression, after all, Kate was already carrying Chris's children in her belly
Chris cleared his throat, "Yeah... we're still working on the reconciliation..."
"Apparently you're still two stubborn and proud people..."
"What did you say?"
Henry laughed, "Nothing... sometimes I think too loud..."
"We are not like this because I want... it's she who prefers us to remain like this..."
Henry smirked. The couple's dynamics remained the same. The soldier gave in to all the vagaries of the young brunette.
Henry had not spent enough time with his parents together, he was too young to keep any family memories and all he knew about his parents was through the letters they left and also through his father's bitter version after the breakup. And now, living with the memoryless Redfields would be something very unusual.
"You must think that we are a strange couple since she is already pregnant with my children, we live in the same house, but we sleep in separate rooms in this modern days..."
"Actually not... I have no judgment on you... I don't even know you. Besides have you forgotten that I am from a time when it was "normal" for couples to have separate rooms and just sleep together for... you know..."
"But something tells me it was not so with your parents... except for when they were on crisis..."
"I didn't live long enough with my parents, so I do not really have any judgments on this subject, even though me and my wife always slept together in the same room even when we were on crisis..."
Chris was unable to disguise the surprise, "Were youever married?"
Henry caught Chris's surprise, and understood it. Physically, Henry was unattractive nowadays, although he still had the human features, but he didn't have this appearance back in the days. He was born a normal baby and only with time being that his body gradually changed, and the loss of loved ones seemed to accelerate Henry's physical change process and that was one of the reasons that made him even angrier about his mother and so he was never able to face her while she was alive.
"Yeah, but I do not like to talk about it... You'd better go stay with Kate, she does not like being alone and really needs you more than I do"
Chris nodded in agreement, "I know, and once again, thank you for saving her and the twins... I could not bear to lose all 3 at once..."
"I just saved them... it was you who saved her and now it's your blood in her veins..."
"Yeah... I'm still processing everything, especially the fact that you healed her uterus"
"Did it really work?"
"Yes. Doctors have confirmed that her uterus is in normal patterns and it has both ovaries and fallopian tubes..."
"You do know that means you'll have to find another doctor to follow the pregnancy, don't you?"
"I know... Kate will be puzzled when I tell her that, but I know she'll be very happy when she knows her uterine deformity is healed!"
"So be careful when making the next ones..."
Chris laughed bewildered. It was still a process to think that soon he will be the father of two babies. For now it was inconceivable the idea of having more after them.
This was one of the changes of time. By Henry's time people had many children, and Chris did not see himself in the condition of Christopher who had a large family with Katarina and Angelique, although apparently he was the only Redfield to give continuity to the family.
Chris looked at his watch, "Henry, I have to go see Kate. Feel at home but I only ask you not to leave and wait for us and you can be sure that I will protect you from any investigation"
"I do not worry about the investigation, but I worry if Kate will like to have me in her room..."
"After everything that happened, I'm sure she will not fear you again and she will welcome you with great pleasure"
End of Flashback
The observation of Chris's condition continued and instabilities in his vital signs began to emerge.
The deeper the tired soldier went in his lost memories, the farther away his mind was from his body, and the medical team was preparing to intervene.
Swimming in the waters of destiny and battling the waves of time that carried the exhausted spirit of that man longing to live what seemed to him to be forbidden.
With each sweet memory revived amidst bitter memories, it was another shock of the defibrillator in his inert heart.
Chris Redfield was giving up the long battle. Chris Redfield fled the mission.
Once upon a time there was an orphaned man who did not know love. From a father. From a mother. From a family.
He had only one younger sister whom he tried to protect with his all from a hard and cruel world, but he felt that he failed because he could not balance the shadows of the coldness of a solitary and reaping destiny of lives, and of time.
He had a few friends, but he still kept on a lonely wolf journey.
At 25, fate turned everything he knew inside out, and from death and destruction he started to live.
Deaths of friends, acquaintances, strangers, nations.
Loss, crying and lamentations of orphaned people have become routine.
Love, family, and simplicity have become a utopia for the lone wolf with a hero's reputation.
The noise of moans and shots was what was normal for him.
Of course, some people made him some company on that lonely walk, but most of the time they were just physical companions. His emotional was still paralyzed in a time he did not know.
Paralyzed in a vortex of longing.
And after so many losses and disappointments, hopelessness took over the few remnants of the fortress that he forcibly built to survive amidst the chaos of pain.
A fortress that certainly fulfilled its function, it indeed protected him, but it also deprived him of the utopian pleasures he longed to live.
Love, family and simplicity.
Until one day...There was an ordinary morning, upon arriving at the entrance to the reception desk, he caught the sight of a stunning young girl with long black hair holding a folder who asked for information on where the company's human resources was.
It was not him who gave the information, but his partner. And as the two spoke briefly, he watched for eternital seconds the striking features of the beautiful young woman with a wide and captivating smile, and piercing green eyes that fixed on him as the distant voice of his partner explained the information to her.
There were seconds that paralyzed that brief moment and made his heart beat and his emotions flutter like never before, and this disconcerted him, so he turned his face away to hide in the fortress that had just cracked before that audacious brunette.
For months he struggled to erase her fixed image in his mind, but each time they met in the corridors of work, the more fixed it was in his memory and secretly inhabited his forbidden dreams as he struggled to remain physically faithful to that person who was beside him in his bed, but perhaps sinfully he wished it were the brunette's hands, the brunette's presence by his side.
She was the secret he could not hide.
She fiddled with all his buttons, even in the shortest time they could see each other.
She awakened his dormant volcano.
And his interest in her was remarkable, no matter how much he denied it.
He just could not disguise how much she turned him inside out.
Who would have thought that the reception would change his life in such a way...
Who would have thought that the beautiful young woman who was audacious and envied by others and untouchable under his wings would become the companion of the most intense road in his life? She would be the person to color his gray world. She would be the calm and storm of his life. She would be the one to bring simplicity back to him. She would be his choice. She would be the mother of his children. She would be the love of his life. She would be the one who would build their family.
She was the one he missed.
She was the favorite.
Flashback
Hospital, New York
Two days had passed since Kate had been stabbed and she was still under observation in the hospital after the blood transfusion.
"Now you are officially a Redfield." Chris smiled widely as he stroked her hand.
"Officially? As far as I know I only live in your house, we are not married"
He made a face, "Well now that you said it... now we're more married than many couples out there... and is forever!"
"Forever?"
"Yes, forever!"
She smiled making a face, "What did you made up this time?"
He smiled back and stroked her face lightly, "Now we are one, my love..."
"One?"
"Now you're a part of me and I'm a part of you..."
"Wow, since when Chris Redfield is so romantic?"
"Maybe there's romance in tragedy, but I do not know what would be of me if I had lost you and our children... I could not bear this pain...I'm sure"
"You'll never lose me, my love ... never!"
"But I almost lost you... and I was willing to give my life for you"
"I do not want your life..."
"But you have it... now in your veins"
"You mean in my belly, right?"
"Nope. I'm in your veins... the stock of our blood type was low and due to the urgency I gave you my blood... and that's what I did ... and would do it again, and always again... "
She smiled delightedly, "Who is the exaggerated now?" She said in a playful tone
He laughed back, "You still have not seen anything!" He approached her face and kissed her gently on the lips, "I love you!" He whispered gently passing his fingers on her cheek
Kate closed her eyes and smiled delighted with his light touch, "I do not know if I'm dreaming or if I died"
"So we are dreaming together or we died together..."
"I'd rather live..."
End of Flashback
The doctors increased the voltage of the defibrillator and once again released the discharge onto the chest of the renowned man.
Nothing.
No sign of his return.
The medical team's head, Dr. Charlize, was reluctant to declare the time of death of the unknown patient, and once again she ordered the electrical charge of the device to be increased, "Come on! Come back..." she thought as she insisted on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
Flashback
Old Arthena, September 2012
Chris was running with Henry in his arms around the ruins of the city while looking for a place dark enough for Henry to recover.
"Take me... old church," Henry whispered
"Old church?"
"The special incinerator is there..."
Chris stopped running, "Henry... I already told you that I won't do this! I know you can regenerate..."
"I will not allow regeneration this time... it's my chance to be free..."
"Henry, I cannot do this..."
"Please... Dad... set me free..."
"Why me, Henry? Why me?"
"It's your mission..."
"If it's true that one day I gave you life... why should I take it?"
"Please... I beg you... I have already fulfilled my mission..."
"How can a father take the life of his own son? Do you realize what you're asking me for?"
"You're not my father anymore... You're Christopher Redfield, the captain of the BSAA, the guy who cleans the world of biological threats, and destroys murderous creatures..."
"You're not like that..."
"I killed those people..."
"For a greater good... to avoid biological risks and immortal threats..."
"I cannot take it anymore..."
"What about me? Do you think I have peace by doing what I do? Killing things that once were people while there's still no cure for all this shit?"
"You have the cure..."
"Limited"
"So plant it again... but my perfected blood is the destruction of this world... is this what you want for your other children? For the people you love and care about?"
"What the fuck Henry? So why in the hell did you teach me to like you? It's much easier when there's no feelings involved!"
Tears came from Henry's eyes, "Forgive me papa... I made a mistake... I knew something bad was going to happen and I wanted to change the tragedy and avoid a harder fate for you... without my mother, without my siblings... I've already seen you suffer for losing everything... I could not bear to see you totally destroyed again... You took so long to allow yourself to live again... I just wanted you to be happy... and have the family that you dreamed of in a distant past... I just wanted to unite you..."
"You have united us, but you insist on being separated from us? You are also part of the family..."
"I will be... when you set me free..."
"I can't do it..."
"It's your destiny... captain!"
A few tears streamed from Chris's face that struggled with the dilemma of freeing Henry and saving the world, after all, the extent of the damage the Fleurys had done for having access to Henry's special DNA that had culminated in the recent attack was immeasurable. A lot of work was yet to be done.
Chris from his own experience knew of this side effect of keeping Henry alive, for that was only the beginning of the hunt for the special albino - medieval B.O.W.
The years were passing, and Chris already felt the beginning of his human limitation. Henry could live for many more years than him, and without getting old.
Unless Chris would became a guardian like Lionel did.
Lionel had promised Christopher Reed that he would protect and care for Henry after his death, and so he began to take the Black Herb in order to fulfill that special mission.
And the more Chris reflected, the more he realized that it would be a great irony to be a special guardian when he fought against this sort of thing.
But as he had stated, doing his work was harder when there were feelings involved. It was already difficult to shoot at strangers who had become zombies, and it was even harder to shoot friends turned into zombie or anything else, and he had done that. It was as if he had lost the same person twice. Pre and post-transformation.
Henry already had everything planned for his farewell of this world and that monstrous condition, but he put off when he also put feelings where it was not advisable, but wanting or not, he was a creature of the past and he had the chance to repair part of his own past by intervening in the present together with Lionel and Moirai.
Each one with their specialties, but working together to solve the conflicts of those souls who loved each other beyond time. Beyond death. Beyond lives.
Besides, Henry also had a personal conflict to settle with his old parents, and there they were so close, but so far away from him. Overwhelmed by the past, and gradually having access to all that, Henry could approach and finally grant forgiveness.
And that's what he told his old mother just before being carried into the alley, "I forgive you mom... I love you."
And it was his words that freed Katarina's tormented soul into Kate so she could clear her karmic debit about Arthena.
Chris knew that Kate was also against Henry's freedom plan, but after reflecting and suffering along with Henry who evidently begged for the end of that condition, and even annoyed, Chris moved on with Henry to old Arthena's church where it had been the stage of the medieval biological incident.
Piers contacted Chris about the current situation and asked where he was.
The run to the church was silent and emotionally distressing.
Upon arriving in the ruins of the old church, Chris could feel the grief of the past and the present in tormenting anguish.
No longer questioning what was morally right or wrong, Chris took Henry into the special large tube that Henry, Lionel, and Jerry built for the albino's final destination.
"Later on there will come a special rain that will wash away any remnants of my blood that dripped during the run and the waters of fate will eventually flood everything I've ever lived, cleaning up any traces of mine or the Black Herb left."
Chris nodded silently and before Henry positioned himself inside the tube, he pulled him and gave him a long and tight hug. From father. Friend. Farewell.
Henry was thrilled by the unexpected and loving act of the anti-B. soldier.
It was at that moment that Henry stopped controlling the healing of his body wounds so they would not drip so much along the way, but he was still bleeding internally, and that was how his blood was transferred to Chris's uniform.
"You promise to come back?" Chris asked, beginning to demonstrate the sadness of the farewell
"I promise"
"In this life?" Chris asked hopeful
"That's not how things work, but I'll try..."
"I'll be waiting for you... we will be waiting for you..."
"I thought you were satisfied with just two kids..."
"I am... but you are part of the primordial dream of those innocent young people who only wanted to be together in family and free from the reproaches of others... your sister is back..."
"She needed to come back..."
"You too! And you will be free and much loved unconditionally more than you already are!"
"Add in the wish list also that you and Mom will stop with that silly pride of yours and you will be an unshakable and inseparable couple!"
"Oh yeah, and did you tell your mother to stop being jealousy too?"
"Yes I did! But you also have to cooperate, huh! And stop with your doubt about the redhead!"
"I promise, son!"
Henry's eyes widened in surprise as he heard that word spoken so naturally.
It was the first, only, and last time Chris uttered that word so naturally and sincerely to Henry, accepting the possibility of their past.
Only this crazy possibility seemed to make some unexplainable things make sense.
Once again the two embraced, very excited.
Henry looked at the entrance of the place hoping to see his "mother" for the last time, but he was aware that if it was already difficult for the skeptical father to be there, it would be even harder for the gullible mother who had welcomed him before knowing who he was, despite the scare of the first meeting in this current life.
"Thank you..." Henry whispered before entering the pipe and waiting for Chris to press the button that would start the monster's burning body towards freedom
Hesitantly, Chris pressed the button and it was as if a part of him had gone away with Henry, and only the memories of the moments lived would remain.
Remembrance...
Longing...
Pain...
The pain of loss and a necessary farewell.
Henry and Chris looked simultaneously at the entrance to the site as they heard Kate's cry to witness the onset of Henry's combustion.
The desperate mother ran to try to stop the initiated process, but Chris held her tightly even though he understood her pain. Her despair. It was the same as his.
Kate struggled with tears in Chris's arms as the fire began to melt Henry's legs, which visibly showed the excruciating physical pain of being consumed by the flames as he struggled not to regenerate and manage to finish the whole process.
But the greatest pain of that special boy was to witness the suffering of his parents weeping together, helpless at the end of his.
Kate reached out in the last attempt to try to approach the pipe. Henry smiled slightly and raised his hand consuming in flames at the last wave to them, before Kate lost consciousness in the arms of her beloved partner.
Chris's attention turned to Kate as the flames consumed Henry's entire body.
When Kate woke up, there was only Henry's ashes and Chris would still have to deal with the last part of Henry's instruction after his death. To gather his ashes and keep it safe and secretive.
The pain of Henry's death united and at the same time separated the couple.
Kate was inconsolable and disgusted with Chris's decision.
"Sometimes love is confused with selfishness and the greatest act of love is to allow the freedom of the suffering one... Henry suffered and I could no longer cope with his suffering..."
"Shut up... do not talk to me anymore!"
The couple was at their limit and only time would tell if they would overcome that crisis or not.
Chris had no emotional conditions at that moment to gather Henry's ashes and asked Piers to do the job before the announced storm started.
Chris and Kate waited outside the church. Each one to one side.
Kate was crouched against the wall, hugging herself. Chris was standing with his back against the wall and looking at the sky that was beginning to get cloudy.
Each one caught in their own loneliness and mourning.
They heard footsteps and looked in the same direction, and from an alley of the ruin of an old house, they saw young Moirai wearing a long gray hooded cloak, looking at them with a serious expression as she walked to stand before them.
"Once again here we are in the same cyclical point, and once again you both make the same mistake, only in reversed roles"
Chris remained staring at Moirai, Kate stood up.
"You are even, but you are blinded within the very pride that corrupts you and continues to criminalize the discriminating. How long will you remain in the abyss that you yourselves create?"
"Henry died..." Kate whispered
"You too and several times, just like him..."
"It's different..."
"What is different?" Moirai asked with a firm tone
Kate lowered her head and swallowed hard.
"I'm sorry..."
Kate and Moirai glanced sideways at the timid tone of Chris's voice, his forehead frowned and he squeezed his hands nervously.
It was the first step to change.
"I pressed the button because he swore he would come back, but for that the cycle had to end... I only did it for still believe in a better future... because that's my mission... to fight for a better tomorrow..."
A few tears cored down his face. Chris Redfield was at the verge of everything he could stand before he collapsed.
Kate felt the impact of his tears and his defeated voice and felt his pain as if it were hers, and at that moment she took the step that was for her and approached him. And hugged him.
"I'm sorry too... I know it's not your fault and I know your burden is very heavy, and I will not let you carry it alone... I'm with you for everything..."
Chris hugged her back. One was the support of the other.
Moirai smiled slightly before disappearing.
End of Flashback
Dr. Charlize and the medical team kept looking at the monitor waiting for a signal that was not coming. But Charlize did not want to give up at all of that unknown patient and continued performing the CPR.
With each passing minute, it was one less of hope and one more aggravating for some sequel in case the patient woke up.
"Come on big man... I know you can make it... give me a sign..."
Nothing.
Heavyly saddened, Dr. Charlize let out a heavy sigh of defeat and checked her watch, "Time of death..."
Flashback
Chris was at home getting ready for the new assignment to Edonia and Kate entered his room after putting their children to sleep.
She sat at the armchair by the window and watched him.
Chris noticed her screaming silence and approached her.
"I'll be back in time for Christmas"
"It's not Christmas that worries me"
"It's just another mission like the others..."
"There's in immense chaos!"
"It is always chaotic these situations, but nothing that cannot be solved"
"I feel this time is different..."
"New forms of B. , made from adverse origin, this is the usual routine"
"You're not understanding me"
"I understand you. I know your fear is that I will not come back... which is something that is not impossible to happen"
"Don't say that!"
"But it's the truth and you're aware of it"
She stood up biting her lips, "I don't want you to go this time..."
He put his hands on her shoulders, "It's going to be okay"
"I'm feeling something very strange... it's very strong... I'm afraid of losing you..."
"Honey, I'll be fine, I promise I'll be back soon... This feeling you're having is just because you're still sensitive post-pregnancy, and also because it's still kind of recent that we missed Henry... and this is my first mission after his death..."
"I wish it was the last one and you will retire soon"
"And it will be..."
She looked at him in surprise at the steadiness of his intonation.
"I'm still training and watching Piers, but from what I've seen of his performance, he's ready to go solo and I'll be calmer with someone like him in my place on the battlefield"
"And I'll be calmer with you by my side... our side" she hugged him and rested her face on his chest
He hugged her tight and laughed, "I will actually have more time for us, but I will still be working at the HQ..."
She looked at him not being surprised by the information, "My workaholic..."
They smiled and kissed long.
The sweetest kiss. The most longing kiss.
End of Flashback
Peee
Charlize and the medical team looked at the monitor. The signal was subtle.
Peee
"Doctor?"
"Let's continue the CPR!" the woman said full of hope
Slowly Chris Redfield was returning.
Thank you McTamale for the review!