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, Local Museum
After leaving the the special area dedicated to the Greencamp's, Chris and Charlize headed to the exit. On their way into the corridor that was different from the one they had entered the location, Chris stopped abruptly at the sight of a particular painting.
"What the..." he said astonished staring at the painting of a beautiful sobing brunette woman wearing a medieval peasant outfit kneeling and holding tight an albino female child
"Grieving Mother..." Charlize said standing next to Chris
"The child...is it a post mortem painting?" he asked noticing the pale skin of the child
"Not really...this painting was inspired by Katarina O'Gregon's tragedy"
"Katarina's tragedy? What now?"
"Come with me, I'll tell you when we get to Garten Karine... a very special garden"
"Karine? Why is it so special?"
"You'll see by yourself"
The pair left the museum and had a 10minutes walk until they got to a glass greenhouse. The place was beautiful to look at, and large, but what really made it different was that the glasses weren't the transparent ones, but tinted glass.
Near the door there was a plaque summarizing the history of the place.
"In memory of young Karine O'Gregon. May the innocent soul rest in peace and forgive the cowardice." Chris read the summary making a face. He was somewhat surprised for it's words.
"Now you'll see why Karine was so special..." Charlize said taking the lead into the greenhouse
There were several types of small gardens inside with all kinds of flowers and vegetation, and some small trees.
"Are they for real?" Chris asked not believing his eyes as for all the plants had black in their composition. Mostly were completely black, but the variety of colors mixed with black made them all very unique.
"Yes. They say they got like this after Karine's death..."
"Who's Karine?" Chris asked staring at a black rose with red petals as his mind was filled with the images of an albino male
United States, New York, Night
"You have to push a bit more milady, I can see the head..." Lucy spoke helping Katarina who was squatting during the labor
"I am going to kneel and you take the baby out"
"Okay"
Katarina took a long breath and pushed hard one more time expelling the baby out. Lucy took the baby and cut the umbilical cord, then she wrapped the baby in a towel before delivering to Katarina.
"What is it?" Katarina asked taking the newborn
"A girl"
Katarina smiled and held the baby close, and kissed her forehead, "Hello Karine, welcome to the world" she spoke in between tears of joy and sadness as she caressed her daughter. She was happy for being a mother again, especially at such an age. Although she was sad about Karine coming at such a dark period of her life, and much sadder that Karine wasn't going to have a father - and a good father indeed.
Karine O'Gregon was born at night, but it was in the following morning that the young baby started showing the beginning of her specialty. She was too agitated when the curtains of the cottage Katarina and Lucy lived were open. The newborn girl sobbed more than the average and Katarina knew enough about baby's average level of things.
At the beginning, Katarina and Lucy had a hard time dealing with Karine falling sick at daylight, and as days went by, the pair of women noticed Karine's skin color being paler than normal.
Katarina blamed herself, but initially she blamed her age. It wasn't normal for women at her age to deliver healthy babies. So to keep her baby girl health, she had to learn how to follow Karine's signs. She studied her girl and realized Karine was a normal baby at night, or at the dark. The adaptations started with dark curtains wherever Karine was and only walking out of the house at night, but never too far away to not being caught as for people didn't understand Karine's special skin, not to mention that Katarina herself avoided public attention. Mother and child had the routine of hiding, Lucy was the one to do the groceries and going out in public.
The years passed and several times Katarina tried to visit her other children. One day, near the sunset, she managed to see them at a distance and quickly she recognized each of them, in special her twins who were growing without her as they ran out of the house. For having Karine, she immediately noticed Henry's skin being paler than his siblings. She got worried and her wish was to run to him and take him out of the sun, but before she could do that she saw Christopher yelling at him to go inside right away. The boy was reluctant and argued that it was unfair all the others but him being allowed to play outside. Christopher insisted as for the sun wasn't good to him.
Katarina watched them mesmerized. Henry was special too and Christopher was dealing with it almost like her - keeping him home -, although Henry wasn't as so sensitive as Karine who was born different, while Henry looked a "normal white" baby at birth.
Christopher noticed her presence and quickly called in all the children and only after that Henry did go inside without protesting.
Katarina returned home and shared the news with Lucy. Two things intrigued them: Henry and Christopher never turning her in all the times he saw her at distance as if allowing her to be "free".
"He loves you Milady"
"No, he hates me"
"He's hurt, it's not hate"
"If he loves me he would let me see my children and I could tell him about Karine...He is her father and she deserves to meet him like the others...It is her greatest wish"
"He'll be surprised to know you were pregnant when you ran away..."
"If I knew it I would not have done it! I would prefer the prison..."
"You still can turn yourself in..."
"No. I cannot do it...not before talking to Christopher about Karine. He would have to be prepared to deal with her specialty"
"He is prepared, he deals with Henry"
"He is not like her"
Lucy let out a sigh, "Kat...No offense, but you have to stop excusing Christopher from his responsabilities and yours too. You didn't make this child alone and you have other six... You killed someone and he wasn't the best husband either...For how long will you and Christopher continue running away from each other, from everything and more importantly, for how long will you continue running away from your responsibilities with your pain?"
Katarina gave her back and walked away. She didn't like those confrontations. She was too proud to admit she had to change too.
Some time later, Lucy passed away and Katarina could no longer count with anyone else but herself to raise Karine. Alone and without any friends, she had to do everything to hide, protect and feed her daughter.
There had been almost 5 years since she had ran away from home, the difficulties for being a single mother of a special child were being too much for her to bear with. She had given her back to Lucy that day, but it didn't mean she didn't reflect on her words of wisdom and she was finally ready to deal with all the responsibilities she had as a person, as a mother, as a wife. So she decided to leave the cottage she lived with Lucy and return to Bohma.
A tough and slow travel. She had to cross the paths at night and put her daughter and her own life at risk for robberies and all kinds of stuff. She couldn't be seen, much less Karine or people could get scared, so she always kept her covered with long cloaks.
She knew she couldn't take she shorter path to Bohma from the other side of Edonia, so she went to Efret so she could take a boat to Arthena that had been abandoned since the strange creatures incident.
One of Katarina's talents was to administrate money. She was good at making and saving money no matter how low the initial budget was.
She may had been born in a rich family, but she never feared hard work. At home or anywhere else, and now being the only provider she simply had to work at anything she could, but selling her body. She refused to sell her body or let any other man touch her. She surely did mistakes in the past, but she refused to repeat some of them as she believed she could do other things that wouldn't affect her dignity - or the rest left of it. And since the separation, she had never bedded any other man.
In Efret she managed to rent a very small cottage at a distant location from downtown, but it was better than anything. She didn't mean to stay there for long.
One night, Karine was a bit cold and Katarina was cuddling with her in bed. The room was illuminated only by two candles light.
"Mama, when are we going to see Papa and my other siblings?" the little girl asked with the same accent of her mother's
"When you get better from the cold"
"Will they be scared of me?"
"Of course not, sweetie. They will love you!"
"I am different..."
"And so is everybody else. No one is the same as the other"
"But I cannot go out in daylight"
"And so does Henry"
"Why are we so different?"
"Because you are very special! Not to mention you are the sweetest girl I have ever met, even more than your older sister Maddy! But I am sure she will get even more sweeter when she meets you"
"I wonder how they look like...but what I really wonder is how Papa looks like. You say he is handsome..."
"Yes he is, and so are you! From all the girls, you are the one who most resembles him. I totally see him on you"
"So that makes me a pretty girl..." the girl spoke proudly
"That makes you the prettiest girl!" Katarina replied smiling and hugging Karine close
"I love you Mama"
"I love you too baby girl"
A few days later, Katarina had to leave to buy groceries for the trip to Bohma, and as the usual, she ordered Karine to stay away from the windowns and never open the curtains, nor make any noise.
Karine used to obey her mother, but she still was a child with a lot of curiosity and it was natural for her to try to peek a bit the outside world from the curtains gap. Not always, but she had her moments.
That was an important day. It was the day before returning to Bohma and to all the darkness about it - at least for Katarina. For Karine that was the most important day of her life, she was about to meet her Papa and siblings as she always dreamed of. She was so happy that she woke up before her mother and asked her to make her favorite hairstyle on her straight hair: four thin braids to the back tied as one.
The shop Katarina used to do the groceries was a bit further and she had to make a walk of about 25 minutes long. During the walk she was restless, but maybe it was just due to the anxiety of the trip later that night - that was what she thought -, and so she so wished it had been just the anxiety of the trip.
On her way back, she heard screams of people, and Karine's voice crying out for her.
"Monster! Monster!"
"Get the hell out of here, monster!"
Katarina's heart raced and immediately she dropped the groceries to the ground and ran to the location of the screams. There she saw some people dragging Karine to the sun and the little girl trying to fight them. Her skin was vivid red due to the burns.
Furious, Katarina took a piece of wood and ran towards the people and beat them, scaring them off, like a female lion fighting against lions to protect her baby.
Some men fought Katarina back and beat her back, but she was just too taken into madness, she didn't feel the pain at all and fought them bravely, while Karine crawled into a shady spot.
With the commotion, Katarina ran to take Karine and rolled her cloak around the child and then ran away carrying her, "Hang in there baby..."
"I am sorry Mama, Iwas a bad girl...They saw me..." the child spoke in chokes
"I am not mad at you"
"I am burning...Tell Papa..."
"You will be alright... I can see a place for us to hide..." Katarina said seeing at distance the Grencamp's old cottage ruins
But it was too late for Karine. She didn't survive the injuries and died in her mother's arms. Katarina screamed out of despair and pain upon seeing the exposed flesh of her child which took her life away as if she had cooked from the inside.
Katarina had nothing else to lose anymore. She let her daughter's body inside the ruin, as she spent the rest of the day digging a grave a little further the cottage - she had no idea about who that cottage belonged -, and during the sunset, Katarina took her baby girl's body and carried her to the grave. Grieving mother as she threw portion by portion of dirt covering her "liberation" into the pure darkness of her soul.
The once powerful woman had become a numb beauty. She didn't care about her fate anymore and she was finally free to live all her pain, alone, in the dark of the prison in Bohma.
(*)
It was still night when Kate woke up crying after the "dream". She now understood why there were 8 spaces into Katarina's trunk, although there were no mentions about her in Katarina's diaries. It was simply to traumatic for her to put it out in words. Yet, now she understood her own emotions about Henry's death and how hurt to the core she felt about Chris's decision to obey to Henry's plead. He simply needed Liberation.
And thinking about Chris, she now understood him better and all his silence about the things that hurt him and all the stress he had been living, and why he forgot "everything".
Maybe there was really a purpose in his amnesia. Maybe there were things "Christopher" needed to know wherever he was.
And as for her, she now had the answers Katarina never did about the specialty of her children.
Recomposing herself, she stood up from her bed and saw her twins sleeping soundly in the cribs. She left the room to drink some water and reflect.
She had to stop fearing solving the pendencies. So from the kitchen's door she looked at the corridor to Chris's bedroom door which was still intact and the same way Chris had left it, well, probably it was full of dust as well.
It was about time to clean...and face the demons.
Efret
Upon hearing Karine's story, Chris's hands trembled as he felt so revolted with the locals reaction about Karine back in the days. He felt repulse for them. She was just a child - "his" child. She didn't deserve such a brutality. And now the words of plead for her forgiveness made sense, if she were like Katarina she'd probably hate them, but maybe she was just too young to understand and feel such a powerful dark feeling.
He stared at her grave and all the condolence messages people still dedicated to her.
Hipocrates, he thought.
Once upon a time they called her and killed her for being a monster, now they made a sanctuary for her soul.
The more he thought about it, the more of a weird feeling he felt.
The tour was over. Charlize had to attend an emergency at the hospital, while Chris headed to a bar and remained there mute as he drank sip by sip as he regained some memories about Henry and the Black Herb
Flashback
Bohma, BSAA Branch, Lab
It was already night and most of the employees of the BSAA had ended their shifts. Chris had informed Kate he was staying a bit longer to talk to Rebecca Chambers as for he was waiting for her feedback about the Black Herb for his classified and private investigation. He only trusted her as he knew she was going to keep it a secret.
He had lent her all the research annotations Lionel and Henry had done so far, but with one condition: no copies.
Chris needed to know more about the herb and its threats.
"What have you got for me?"
"I still didn't have much time to do all the tests I need and to study everything in detail, but with the little I've got...It's impressive!"
"Tell me what you got"
"I'll show you what I got"
Chris followed her to the next room where she kept some guinea pigs.
"Do you see this mouse?" she said
"Yeah"
"What do you think of him?"
"He looks normal..."
"Do you believe he was killed and had been dissected?"
"Dissected?"
Rebecca took a small plastic box, "These are his original organs"
"What?" Chris said surprised and looking back at the mouse
"In his case, I used a very small sample of Henry's blood right after I dissected him. I recorded everything, but as I made an agreement, I can't keep it, but I wanted to show you before I delete it"
Chris was perplexed watching the whole experiment, the organs regenerating perfectly, and then his skin leaving no marks.
"Okay...my question is...is it "immortal" now?"
"No...combustion can kill it"
"What about the sun?"
"It all depends on the ammount of his DNA into the hostage"
"Meaning?"
"At a low level like in this specific mouse case, all he had was the bless of regeneration for that moment. After some time there won't have any trace of Henry's DNA into it, but in a constant level it can make him sick, but not enough to kill it. My theory is that it acquires the sensibility due to Henry's blood and the weakeness of the black herb in the system, but the mouse DNA is intact, so per nature the sun exposition won't kill it"
"What's in the sun that causes it?"
"I'm still studying it, but my theory about it is that it's not about the "sun" or the sun rays that kill them directly, but how the rays stop the regeneration which kills them of hemorrhage"
"I see...and what can you tell me about Henry's power of dissolving the others? Will the bite of this mouse be accid from now on too?"
"No"
"So how do you explain me the fact that Henry is capable of it?"
"There's no such a thing of acidity. The point is that Henry unique power of control of the regeneration. As you may know our body cells are constantly "dying" and regenerating, they're always recycling, in a way we cannot control. Henry does. Somehow he learned how to do it consciously and then apply to the others in a good way as he did regenerate Kate's womb and the twins' wounds, or in a bad way as it happened to the researchers. Before killing them, he scratched them which injured them. The body's response in the harmony was broken, so regeneration cells are activated to close the wounds, right?"
"Yeah"
"And that's the initial start of Henry's hability, he had access to their DNA as there happened the touch and the transference of cells through it. His sweat on their skin and into their injury, like a parasite he can control. All he had to do was to control the regenaration even at distance, a part of him was in them, so he just sent the order of no regeneration, and as he has the power to regenerate or not, he can do the reverse act. That's how he killed them"
"So if he has the power to stop regeneration, why doesn't he simply stops it in himself as he so wishes to "die"?
"Only he has that answer"
Chris inhaled rolling his eyes as he recalled that Henry was the type to not tell everything and too stubborn to speak it out, "Anything else?"
"Henry is immune to any infection, Any! I tried all the samples we've got and nothing infected to other guinea pig I used for this experiment"
"All of them?"
"All of them! From the Progenitor virus to the C virus...and more importantly, his blood also serves as the vaccine to all of them... I tested it"
"So his blood is the ultimate cure for all the infections ever created or that will continue being created by the lunatics?"
"His blood could be, but it's not the only "ultimate" salvation"
"Meaning?"
"That's the part we get to my favorite part of this research and I admit I have spent more time studying the Black Herb than Henry's blood, but for I have a good reason for it"
"Just tell me"
"One question: What is Henry?"
"What? He's a super human..."
"Wrong answer"
"I'm all ears..."
"He's the product of the Black Herb mixed with DNA, and not just one sided, his mother and father had traces of the herb into their systems"
Chris laughed nervously, "Becca, I'm not following you right now..."
She laughed, "Sorry Chris...it's just my excitement with my findings..."
"No problem...you know I'm a bit slow sometimes"
They laughed.
"Anyways...about the herb...it is the primary element, I mean, primary natural element, and then we have two humans.
Isolated, the herb is just a plant with phenomenal healing properties, but sensitive to the sun rays, but that doesn't mean the herb doesn't need the sun, it does, but just for a very limited exposition"
"Okay...A herb and two beings"
"Why do we eat?"
"To keep our bodies functioning"
"What do out bodies do?"
"Absorb the fibers and stuff..."
"If we stop ingesting them or if there is a problem that stops the absorvation, what happens to our body?"
"Anaemia and stuff..."
"The same happens to the Black Herb. Alone, it's not a problem, and honestly, the herb existence itself is not the real problem"
"So what is it? If it's not Henry's blood or the herb, so what's the real deal?"
"What happened to his parents?"
"They died..."
Rebecca let out a laugh escape, "Chris...I'm talking about genetics and biology for now"
"Sorry...it's just that..."
"Let's try again...How did they become his parents?"
"Sex"
"Reproduction"
"Oh ok...I think I'm following you now...you're saying the threat about the Black Herb existence is the reproduction?"
"Of beings that consume it...the properties absorbed by their bodies somehow enhances the DNA of the being formed. Alone, the herb only affects the person that consumes it, like in Mr. Lionel's case, and like any other plant or ingredient, even the Black Herb is eliminated by the body at some point, but like the gym, as long as we continue it, our bodies continue in shape"
"Oh I see, I got it!"
"So the real deal about the Black Herb or Henry's existence is the reproduction made from their genes"
"Exactly!"
"That means they can manipulate until they find their "perfect" B.O.W. and at the same time the Holy grail for all epidemies and infections ever created"
"Perfect!"
"I can't let that happen! In wrong hands, this is the true caos!"
"And Henry foresees that"
"That's why he insists on being eliminated and to extinguish the Black Herb...even at the cost of the ultimate salvation..."
"Exactly...which is your call...it's about your lifetime mission and decide..."
"The future..."
Chris had a thoughtful expression. He thought of Jill, Claire and Sherry. The three of them had to deal with the consequences of the infections and all of them somehow felt condemned. Maybe their freedom could be at the Black Herb, but then he recalled the main detail: reproduction.
He wondered if they could have children that wouldn't be like Henry after being cured by his blood, which made him thought about his own children despite Henry's affirmation the twins nor Kate had any trace left of him into their bodies. He now wondered about his future grandchildren.
End of Flashback
Chris took the last sip of the whisky in his glass and stood up from the stool. He grabbed the whisky bottle and headed to the bar's exit, without paying his bill. Nobody really tried to charge him, despite the owner of the bar complain and curse him in their dialect. He didn't mind. He knew what they were saying, he just acted like he didn't understand anything, but living in a place for three months had taught him enough to understand most of them.
It was already dark outside and very late. Nobody in the streets. But the Captain of the BSAA had only one thing in mind...
Flashback
Old Arthena, Church
"That's the incinerator I told you about" Henry said as they entered the ruins
"This is crazy"
"Crazy is keeping me alive and live hiding like a criminal"
"I don't think I can do this..."
"You can't think, you just have to do this. It's your only option"
"You can control your regeneration, can't you just stop it and let your body 'dissolve'?
"You mean suicide?"
"It's suicide and murder what you're asking me..." Chris shrugged
Henry inhaled deeply rolling his eyes, "Don't you get it?"
"What?"
"I can't just simply let myself die and be buried, if that happens that will mean the cycle will never stop and all we have battled for will have been in vain!"
"Why?"
"Chris...my body will become the greatest fertilizer into the soil and that will alter its properties, enhancing it."
"You can't know that"
"I'm sure of that!*
"How?"
"Chris... I've got plenty of time to make all kinds of tests in this life...and I have done it, I've seen how my a simple drop of my blood turned dead plants back to life and I can show you that right now if you wish..."
Chris moved his head in denial, "No... I believe you"
"Look, I'm not happy at all about how my body will end, I wish I could just lie down in bed and die comfortably in my sleep like Lionel did,but that's not the option I got, cremating me is the only option available"
"I still believe..."
"Stop it! Stop trying to cure me to keep me in this prison that my body is... Death is my salvation!"
"Henry... Kate and I..."
The albino male held Chris's grip, "I understand how you feel, but I promise you that I'll be back...but for me to be back you need to let go... And let me go..."
End of Flashback
"The Black Herb...I have lost everything because of it. Thousands of lives, Innocent lives, have been affected by its existence. It's a curse! My family, my friends, so many people I never knew, and myself...I have for curses like this herb, and for centuries this is dictating my life! I don't care anymore! I can't go back in time and change the past...but I can overwrite the future, My future! Henry was right, it's not about the "Ultimate Salvation", it's about who people really are. The disgrace of humanity is not related to the Black Herb, but it's about their black hearts! Their black souls! Human darkness!
It's not the Black Herb that will save the world, or me...
But darkness when comes to light and burns their demons and purges their sins..."
.
.
"Now I remember why I'm the chosen one...and why I'm incubated for this mission...Thank you Henry, Thank you Katarina and Thank you Karine, I finally hear your pleads and I finally Free us..."
After emptying the whisky bottle into Garten Karine, Chris lit the match and set fire to it, but not before digging Karine's grave and taking out her remains. He left it on the ground to be cremated with the fire. The fire reached the equipment to was used to keep the location cool which caused an explosion.
At distance Chris watched everything letting go of Christopher Reed's dilemmas as more memories returned to him.
Thank you McTamale for the review and everyone that is reading this story =D
I know a whisky bottle is not enough to start a huge fire, but it was the start of it. I'm aware of things that could be exaggerated here xD but I wanted the garden to burn and an explosion to happen, so the ground could be affected so no more black vegetation could grow there...but let's see what happens xD
Befreiung means Liberation in german. It's something close to german I imagine the people in Efret speak.
Stay tuned!