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.
United States, Morning
Learning about Karine's existence had caused a significant impact on Kate and made her reflect more about Katarina's secrets. What else had Katarina not spoken out either on diaries or to anyone else?
Either ways, she was even more focused now on moving on from the shadow the imposing woman used to represent in and out of her. She surely admired the strength that woman used to have to deal with crowds and confrontations and she wanted to find that strength that now felt lost.
She did enjoy the intensity that woman used to feel, but that intensity had become an intense shadow of insecurity after being taken over by it which led her to her most obscure phase that lasted a lifetime, and now Kate feared that part of herself and turn into a self-destructive person again. She didn't want that.
And that was her challenge now: to define herself.
She wasn't as caste as Katherine used to be.
She wasn't as feral as Katarina used to be.
She wasn't as naïve as Katherine could be.
She wasn't as vindictive as Katarina could be.
She needed to balance the best of them and be the best she could become out of it, that was her goal now and it was about time for her to execute her plans.
The execution started with her being able to enter Chris's bedroom during his absence. It wasn't an easy task to do as his energy still lingered in the room, on the bed sheets. His closet still smelt the fragrance of his perfume and the memories they made in that room caused nostalgia and a deep pressure into her chest.
They had been through a lot in less than two years of history together.
It all started "innocently" after she applied for a vacancy at the reception at the BSAA. Of course she did remember that it actually started after she saw Piers the first time at the restaurant she and Douglas had met for a date, a bad date as they argued the whole time.
However it wasn't for Piers she did apply for the vacancy, but her inner call for freedom and hope for a better future out of the mud that made her start breaking her chains.
Back in those days she could tell she was a lost woman, a wandering shadow, vain. She didn't think much about the future as she thought she had any. She was faithless in love after the break up with Nicholas; she ran away from home and lied about her parents out of resentment; she accepted becoming the mistress of a man she couldn't stand initially for the luxury life he proposed and for the disillusion after the diagnosis that she could never become a mother; she got in trouble and into fights with other people just for the fun of it.
Looking back now she could see that she actually hated her life and more precisely she hated herself. She blamed everyone and everything for her misery – but herself.
All the things she lived, all the obstacles she had to face, all the privation she had to deal were a mere reflection of all the choices she had taken over time.
Reflecting more and looking at her present life and the vacuum she currently felt, she could see that she had been out of her mind for a long time but the disgraces were starting to resemble hidden graces that progressively were taking the best out of her.
And the wheel of time was just and precise.
She could see she was wrong for thinking Chris didn't love her and preferred other women but her. He loved other women but her. She was so wrong! He never stopped loving her, but she could understand better now why it was so hard for him to show it and let it flow, but he did love her all the time. In the good. In the bad.
Yet, she was out of reach because she was still a shadow of her own – they were a shadow of their own.
Although love had always been there…in details.
She never forgot their first meet at the reception of the BSAA…that reception! So many memories from that place. She never forgot the quick glimpses they exchanged by accident, or on purpose.
That reception had a lot of history because from that spot she saw him so many times arriving to work, or just passing by there for some reason, or when he left to go home. There was never a time he didn't look at her, but he had the fame of being out of reach despite had had gotten involved with a few female employees, although he had always been at reach of her eyes.
She always took him out of his shell, somehow. Maybe that's why people always thought they had "something" going on. He couldn't be his usual self when she was around. Neither could she. One always took the other out of their usual zone.
Then their first real "talk" happened at the coffee table. The very first time they learned something about each other and something that they had in common. She never forgot how nervous she got after they parted ways, how in the clouds she stayed, how smiley she had become.
Piers noticed that and questioned her change in nature. It was just then that she realized that Chris (Christian, Christopher, whatever name he had) was the reason of her smiles, her true smiles and joyful trait (not her sarcasm smiles, that was something aside).
Progressively and unconsciously she did things to get Chris' attention; details. She knew he'd be watching even if he didn't demonstrate it loud, and different of Katarina, she was subtle. It's not that she planned it either, but she just couldn't help herself when he was around. She started getting more distant from Piers, she worked more her femininity, her walk, her gestures, her speech. She played a game that only Chris knew unconsciously. Despite their denials – conscious denials – they did play their game of seduction.
And she was sure he was playing it one day at the locker rooms area a few days before her fight/provocation with Cathy, his fiancée at the time. She was on her lunchbreak and looking for Piers. Her cellphone was down so she could call him, so she thought he could be at locker room as he had told her he would train or something, so she went there first. She knew she couldn't just get inside the male's locker room so she waited outside for someone to leave so she could ask him if he was there. It took a little while, but a soldier left and she asked him about him while they were standing at the door, but she did have some view of the inside. "innocently" she looked inside while they talked and who was standing in there staring at her, Chris! He was shirtless and he was aware she was seeing him. She was admiring his torso that she even forgot the man next to her, and so Chris smiled subtly at her and so he looked around to be sure no one had seeing him doing that and so he put his shirt on and walked out of her vision sight. Her legs trembled and she spent the rest of the day in the clouds despite Chris treating her distantly the rest of the day. She knew it was just a game as she then started to pay more attention at his reactions and actions when they were in public and when they were alone.
However things between them increased only after his break up with Cathy, and as his temporary secretary they did have a lot of time together alone, especially during the self defense and swimming classes. Ah the swimming classes…he always made sure to teach her only when there was just the two of them. It was during one of those classes that she felt him between her legs. Nothing was planned. It was just her legs reflection dealing with her phobia. He was guiding her to the deep level of the pool, she tried to feel the ground for a moment and there was any, so out of scare she raised them up and pulled him to her, but instead of taking her to the shallow end of the pool, he remained there, floating with her crossed legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. They were really close, they could feel each other's breath on their necks and only the fabric of their swimming suits separating them.
That was the actual first time she felt his body against her. She was sure he didn't want her to release herself from him in a moment his hand held her waist as if he wanted her closer to him and she could tell he was stiff. They exchanged gazes for a few seconds and maybe they could've had kissed or even gone further into that pool for the first time that day if there wasn't for someone spoiling their moment by opening the door, and quickly he let go of her and told her to move her legs. Then he was back into his shell and only left it when they were in Bohma sometime later.
Since then things between them moved with intensity in a little matter of time. They have been so many ups and downs, became parents to twins, but in a very slow progression of reconciliation, and that's why it had been so hard to face that empty room now. The dreams, the plans, the full reconciliation were all gone; postponed.
But maybe there's a good side at it. She's having the time to clean up herself from the mud of the time, recycling herself for a better version of her he never met, because he surely is the one who can take the all of her – the good and the bad – but more and more she's becoming aware that she needs to do it not only for him, but mainly for her – and stop hating herself for her mistakes. Accept her flaws.
He has proved her over time that he does love her at her best, but also at her worst. And keeping it in mind has made her vacuum days a little easier. It's not a simple task, she still has a very strong flaw that somehow makes her who she is and remarkable at such a trait: jealousy.
Kate opened her eyes still sleepy, but thankful for another starting day, and the sight of her son sitting up and smiling at her, made her smile largely. It wasn't just Chris who made her smile truly.
That bed for now didn't keep Chris's scent anymore, but it did smell herself and their children. That bedroom was theirs for the time being. Melissa was still sleeping soundly at her side, Kate took Christian over her lap and started talking to him.
"More and more you resemble your dad…you just smile more, but it's okay. Maybe you took that trait from the good side of me…"
The little boy smiled large and let out a yell.
"Shh, Mel is still sleeping… Now I know who was the one constantly kicking my ribs and moving nonstop!" she said in a playful way
He laughed as if he "understood" what she said.
"You laugh but I'm serious. We have to respect her sleep, but when she wakes up we're going to the mall and then pay a visit to your godmother Lucy"
It wasn't easy to be a single mother of two, but certainly those two little beings were taking the best out of her and being her dream come true.
One of her dreams come true…
She was definitely in a phase of big changes, she was finishing the arrangements before going to Bohma for indefinite time after selling Katarina's house to a private buyer and buy a place to live there, but before closing the deal, she wanted to make sure the buyer will keep loyal to their deal.
However, there wasn't for the selling she was moving to Bohma, but somehow she had the hope that Chris will return to Bohma any time.
Bohma, Lake House
Flashback
"Sister...sister..." Angeline said walking in a hurry to the backyard where her younger sister was picking vegetables for lunch
"What happened?"
"The butterflies..."
"What butterflies?"
"In my stomach...I'm feeling butterflies in my stomach..." Angeline spoke enthusiastic, smiling from ear to ear
"Why?"
"You ask why?! Isn't it obvious?"
"Are you talking about the merchant?"
"Of course! Who else?"
"I don't know...just ignore my confusion...You know I'm slow to catch up sometimes"
Angeline let out a sigh rolling her eyes, "How can you have the "gift" to kill my butterflies?"
"I didn't mean to. I'm sorry"
"I can't believe you just ruined my mood!"
"I didn't mean to ruin it...I just wanted to understand where it all came from..."
"Just forget it..." Angeline spoke in frustration leaving hurriedly back home
(*)
Some time passed, the sisters were ordered by their parents to go to the market to do the groceries.
Angeline was too excited, going to the market had become her favorite task to do - alone -, but this time she had the company of her sister and she was quite bothered about it because Kate used to get attention easily despite her clumsiness and the lack of female skills - but her smiles...
"Please, don't smile!" Angeline said with an advertising tone
"Why would I smile?"
"Pff...because you're a natural smiley and I don't want that attention!"
"It's called sympathy..."
"You don't want that attention!"
"I can't help being a nice person...that'd be rude"
Angeline inhaled deeply rolling her eyes. She didn't hide her impatience with her younger sister, "Katherine, please, obey to your older sister once in your life, will you?"
"I always obey you"
"No, you don't! You never do all the things I ask nor how I ask!"
"You ask for too much"
"You see? You're arguing with me instead of just saying 'alright sis, I'll do it'...you always question me!"
"I was just telling you my opinion"
"Keep your opinion to you and just comply!"
Katherine bit her lips with a near mocking way, "Okay, no smiles, just be rude" she spoke with a shrug
Angeline rolled her eyes as they continued their way to the market and to a very specific tent.
Katherine did try not to seem so nice when people greeted as for a small village, as most of the villagers did know her and it wasn't so often when she went to the market, so they couldn't help their surprise to see her there.
In the other hand, Angeline had a more serious demeanor and even more now on their way to the vegetables tent. She was too focused to get there so she usually ignored people greeting them.
"Now please, stop being nice!" Angeline demanded as she spotted from afar a young man attending some costumers at the table
"Why?" Katherine replied not getting the hint until feeling a poke at her rib from Angeline, "Ouch!"
"Just do it so, little sister!" the older sister whispered trying to disguise her bitterness with a faint smile
"Ohh" Katherine finally got the hint as they neared the tent and the particular young merchant with brown hair and green eyes
"Good morning ladies, how can I help you?" he greeted them politely
"Good morning, Nick" Angeline replied with a large smile, stepping in front of Kate, "This time I want a portion of all the ingredients you have. My parents are going to throw a party for some distant relatives, so we'll need more food in the house..." Angeline replied ignoring completely the presence of her sister and trying not to look such a dumb girl under tension
"Oh that's cool, so that's the reason why you brought an accompany?"
Angeline felt a sting in her chest for the unnamed mention of her sister and immediately looked at her to make sure Katherine wasn't smiling - which she wasn't.
Why in the hell could Kate never be passed unnoticed?
That was a simple line but it did trigger the fury inside her. It felt like he didn't care about all the things she said and had only one thing in mind: Kate!
It felt like he was only waiting her to finish her long explanation - by politeness - so he could ask about Kate!
"Yes, my little sister..." she replied trying to disguise her bitter tone
"Hello Kate"
"Hello Nick"
"It's been a while..." he said with a friendly tone
"I know, but you know...I'm a home person..." she spoke letting a smile escape, but she immediately returned to a serious demeanor as she noticed Angeline's evil eyes on her as if she was strangling her.
Angeline's mood was completely ruined for the rest of the day, and the week! But on that day she was in flames, especially towards Katherine and her friendship with Nicholas - Her Nicholas!
The young merchant had never been such a talkative (to Kate) and kind person before. He had never offered his help with the groceries, and much less carrying it to their house. He had never been so neighborly until that day!
It didn't matter if Kate and Nick weren't close, it didn't matter if Kate tried to be as much as reserved she could, still, Kate's existence angered Angeline to the core. And she was really pissed at the fact that Nick - her Nick - was so "interested" on talking to Kate.
She was the older sister! She should be the first one! She should be the first option between her and Kate. She was the one with the "marriage skills"!
Kate was dumb, pathetic and silly! All she had was Smiles! She was average, or even below average! She was tameless and with a slow brain! How could Nick and all the other men else be so interested on her? She had even declied a marriage proposal from some guy out there. Why in the fucking hell was dolt Kate so interesting?
But that wouldn't stay that way, Kate had already taken so many opportunities from her and now she was taking Nick too, and she couldn't allow that, not without a good fight! She was going to take something from Kate too!
That was called "Retribution".
End of Flashback
It was still dawn when Angelina woke up, in remorse. She knew that wasn't just a dream and more and more she was sure "she" hadn't been a good sister to Katherine in the past, just like Christian/Christopher/Chris had accused her of. She was always on dispute with Katherine...With Katarina...With Kate. But the truth was that she was in fact in dispute with herself, with her demons, with her conscience. In that order.
As Angeline she envied Katherine, she had all the qualities she bragged, but she lacked a good self-esteem.
As Angelique she had problems with her inner demons, her shadow, and again a bad self-esteem.
Now she battled with her conscience after learning all those things about "herself" and she had a work to do: her self-esteem.
She stood up from the bed and put on a pink satin robe and slippers, then, still in the middle of the night, she left the house holding a latern and walked to the pier and stared the dark landscape around her, while enjoying the cold breeze on her skin and listening to the lake waves and to the sounds of night animals.
She inhaled deeply smelling the scent from the pine trees, "Kate..." she whispered thoughtful, "How can I fix that?"
"Give time the time as the wheel turns"
Angelina turned around in scare as she heard a female voice behind her - young Moirai -, but before she could ask the mysterious woman anything, she spotted a woman young in a white dress.
"Kate?" She yelled running after the figure and a crackle of wood could be heard at the pier
Upon arriving at the corner of the house, Angelina spotted the figure at Christian and Katherine's grave, and Kate was sitting on the grave covering her face apparently sobbing.
Suspicious, Angelina made a slow approach, "Kate?" she called but no reply although Kate murmured something repeatedly
"Kate...I'm sorry but..."
"My babies...If I knew...I wouldn't let myself die..."
"What?" Angelina spoke startled as she started to listen to noises at the lake
Angelina's eyes widened watching Katherine swimming to the shore and pulling unconscious Christian by the arm.
Katherine looked weak and tired, and evidently not being able to carry Christian's impaled body into the chest which proved he no longer lived. Katherine couldn't accept the death of her beloved lover right after losing their children. Her "simple" life.
"Why is God not taking me when I have lost everything? My children. My soulmate... What kind of god is that that enjoys people's suffering? Grieving? What kind of god stabs good hearts like Christian's? Why kind of god unites and separates people that love...you and me?"
Angelina watched the scene teary-eyed, heartbroken. Katherine was stronger than she looked. Katherine had always been more than what she seemed to be. She was strong and strong-willed, wild and free in her own sweet way...But hopelessness, faithlessness, despair, resentment that started in her own home transformed that kind soul into most dark, ferocious, empowered and complex female figure that ever lived in Bohma, Katarina O'Gregon.
At that very moment, somewhere in time-space, Angelina witnessed the born of the infamous character. Katarina was the shadow and the ashes of Katherine O'Riley.
No doubt why Mr. Lionel always demonstrated such a preoccupation with her, but seeing in a bigger picture now, it wasn't about Katarina herself his concern, it wasn't Katarina he wanted to rescue, but the one she obscured: Katherine O'Riley.
And now she undertood why.
In a place where time and space were one, past, present and future coexisted at the same time, and a lifetime time lasted a second, she realized "her sister's" deep pain and why it was still so hard for Katerina to overcome such wounds all alone.
She was a suicidal spirit and for that she had the mission to trust again, and have faith restored after everyone she loved and trusted had betrayed her, mistreated her or died. She had lost everyone who were important to her and people she'd give her life to protect, and she did protect them so many times.
Watching Katherine's final moments, lying by the left side of Christian's corpse, unaware of the fact that her children were actually alive, instead of heading to the village nearby to get help, she only laid there crying, grieving, hopeless until she succumbed to the last drop of blood in her body, and not so long after that, Nicholas the merchant, found Katherine and Christian's bodies.
If Katherine hadn't given up and had looked for help she surely would find Nicholas, and certainly everything would be different. Katherine could live and stay with her children.
For just a little time their story became what has become. Katherine chose death. Nicholas and Barry buried them.
Upon seeing the merchant she used to crush back in those days, Angelina recalled his words that hurt her so deeply and changed her forever. And the truth was that his words somehow still echoed in her spirit in the way of her low self-esteem, the never-ending black-hole she lived internally, and the mixed feeling about Kate.
His words and the flashes of memories recalling Katherine always standing up for her, or for always being kind to her and the very moment Katherine trusted her her secret of being in love with Christian made her see how a bad sister she had been in return. Christian and Nicholas were right in telling her all those rough things, though it didn't justify to continue living under that negativity.
"What a mess I have contributed to...how can I fix that?!"
At that moment, Angelina saw the figures of old Mr. Lionel and old Moirai near the hovel that preeceded the Lake House structure watching everything with concerned gazes, while Angelina felt herself getting distant from everything, and while she was taken by a strong force, she noticed Mr. Lionel and Moirai rejuvenating before everything faded to black and she woke up in her bed sore and tired, late in the morning.
Efret
The news about the fire at Karine's Garten was main topic of the town. People tried to find any explanation for it. Some peolpe suspected of a criminal act, others thought it could be some electrical malfunction, and the local police investigated the case.
Amidst tp all the theories the local population invented to justify it, Chris Redfield showed no remorse for doing that, but it also didn't mean he was going to turn himself in to the police.
In his mind he was freeing Karine from all that negative legacy the people paid tribute in her name. She didn't need nor deserve such a tribute. She was a little and innocent girl whose life was taken in such a perverse way. Her soul needed and deserved to rest and not stay under such an evil legacy.
A part of him would have done it way before if he knew it better...
As he watched the waves breaking on the rocks at distance, his mind travelled through countless images and a sort of video of memories as if arranging a puzzle so he could finally move on and take responsibility for the future ahead. It was about time to stop playing a victim of the circumstances and face his demons, and embrace his own legacy into his own.
Not an easy task.
He was so immerse in himself that he didn't notice Charlize's presence, watching him.
She had that habit.
He didn't understand why she insisted so much on helping him, he didn't understand why she was so resistent to let him go, though he knew she had her own demons as well.
"I knew you'd be here..." she broke the silence watching the waves as well as a cool breeze passed on their skins
"I knew you'd come...as the usual"
"I don't like seeing you so lonely"
"Why do you care so much?"
"Why not?"
"I don't need babysitting"
"It's not babysit...why can't you just accept being helped?"
"I don't need help!"
"No? So why are you always running away by pouring drinks or staying at this hill for long hours absent to the world around you?"
"That world bores me!"
"Bores you or bothers you?"
"Why do you fucking care?" he snapped standing up to face her
They stared for a while. They always had arguments out of nothing, just like that one. She went there in pacific terms, and suddenly they were just snapping at each other.
They were counter parts. Though only their spirits knew that.
After centuries of rivalry. After paths they took into their own solo journey, it was about time to balance all that debt.
Once upon a time Charlize was Charles from the 14th century and 17th-18th century. As the man she currently struggled innerly not to be and hated indeed, who did everything to keep Christopher separated from the woman he loved. Now as the resilient woman she had become she had the purpose to reverse that role.
Not an easy task when they were unaware of life's true lesson on all that, though they did have hints from the dreams they were almost clueless to decypher.
14th Century
Charles was the village chief and a close friend to the O'Rileys head family.
On the fatidic day Christian and Katherine found their tragic end, it was Charles who suggested the chase to separate the running lovers. As an influent man into their village, he gathered people to help them in the fruitless ambush.
At that time, he did have the intention to take Christian in and kill him as a friendly act for his friend broken honor.
Although, despite his plan didn't work as he expected, Christian did find death.
Though, it was at the 17th-18th century that Charles proved to be the lovers nemesis.
Six months had passed since Christopher Reed had been missing. Knowing Katarina loved Christopher and refused to give up on finding him, he ordered to stop the rescue mission to find him which invoked Katarina's anger.
Knowing she loved Christopher more than herself, he planned to take advantage on that and proposed an indecent deal to have her for him.
He never accepted her declines for his "love", so to punish her, he kept to himself the information about Christopher's whereabouts. He did know where his best knight was. It was an accidental finding, but during the last rescue mission day, he rode around the Lake Province and at a distance he spotted the knight cutting wood near the barn of the Lake House land.
From afar, he watched Christopher alone and thought of approaching him, after all, Christopher was his best operant. However, after a while, he spotted the young female redhead leaving the main house, carrying some fruits, and giving them to Christopher.
Charles grinned in malice and rode back to his castle with the intention to poison Katarina about his finding and make her feel Christopher didn't love her and had another woman, despite not telling her he knew about his whereabouts.
In his mind, a broken-hearted Katarina would make her finally cede to his love intents.
However things didn't work that way. Initially, Katarina refused to believe Christopher had another woman, but her infamous jealousy was a growing monster inside her, and over time she struggled with the paranoia of another woman having Christopher and her need to find him.
Once again, his plan to have Katarina failed, so, tired of trying to persuade her in light manners, he lost his temper and had her forcedly.
Flashback
Decades had passed since Charles forced his way into his obsession for Katarina, a decision he wasn't really proud of, but for pride he didn't admit loudly his embarrassment, though through his concessions for Katarina's requests over the years he tried to ammend their differences about that dark past.
However the damage was larger than anyone could antecipate. Katarina hid well her pains, especially through her famous smiles and charasmatic personality, but the demons were there, deep inside of her, like the magma of a volcano.
Charles's obsession for Katarina didn't really cease after that act, as he envied Christopher for many years ahead, until he realized he had lost all the prestige he should've had for being a monarch.
He was Bohma's king, in theory, but in practice nobody really saw him that way. In the least, he was known as a weak king, and the true regnants of Bohma were Katarina and Christopher - in that order.
The deals, the reunions, the organization of the state always had Katarina's participation. The inhabitants praised her for her doings. The population called her "their queen", and not the legal Horvat, his wife.
Weak, sick and disgraced, Charles felt the weight of being a loser.
"Loser!"
Those were Katarina's words to him with a very exposed mocking way. The woman he sent her to prison, because in reality she was already dead for many years to count. He couldn't kill her twice.
She laughed at him while she was guided to her cell. Her black dress proved she was a widow...to herself.
Everytime he paid her visits, he only repeated those words, "Loser!" and always smiled in debauchery until the day she decided to answer him
"Why am I the loser when you're the one behind the bars?"
"You Never Had ME! You had a body, but not ME! But I did have you...all these years...You always bragged about the being the king you never were and I swore to myself that I would do everything and Anything to keep it that way"
"I'm the king"
"The king of Losers!" she laughed loud
"At least I'm not the one in prison"
"You are more of a prisioner than I am...Chérie! People look at you and remember of Me! People obey to you vowing to Me! I am the legacy through you"
"You're a dark shadow into Bohma's history now, dear Kat..."
"But I will live on...I made sure to overshadow you! That is your punishment... dear!"
He inhaled disturbed with her provocations, "I hope you enjoy that...in this fancy prison. It suits you!"
"Your pride is still bigger than your p..."
"And I hope you enjoyed Christopher's as much as you could...you'll no longer have it"
She grinned with a shrug, "He will always be mine...I am sure there will not have any other woman in My bed. I am the first and the last one!"
Charles grimace, "But you weren't the Only one!"
She gave a shrug, "That is just a detail..." she gave him her back
"Talk about pride...Yours is bigger than mine...I doubt of your presumptuous certainty that you'll be the last one. There were always others, and Christopher is still "young" enough to have other women in His...Your bed...And I doubt you won't care when he does that!"
She turned around with a serious expression, "Do not doubt of me Charles, look at you, everything I planned over you, happened. I took everything you thought you had, I took from you all the legacy you thought you would have, I hit your pride in all the things you cherished. My vendetta to you is almost done. I have broken my silence and what you did to me will not stay forgotten. You will still pay high for that! Ah, and one more thing...I am not presumptuous and it is not pride my certainty, it is love!"
"Christopher hates you!"
"He loves me!"
"I guess you're still pathetic for believing in his love..."
Still serious, Katarina remained staring at Charles, almost in a defiant way, "Loser, this is the last time you will ever speak to me, so I will tell you only one more thing: Be careful, my beloved Christopher can be as furious as me..."
(*)
A few years passed since Katarina's imprisonment, Charles was in his bedchambers when he heard yells and loud noises coming from the outside. He stood up with difficulty from the bed, scared as he recognized Christopher's voice echoing in the corridors approaching his chamber.
The soldiers were unnable to stop the tornado in form of a man.
He took a sword to protect himself as he prepared himself to the abrupt entrance of the once kind man and legend knight of Bohma.
Christopher Reed was irrecognizable, and if Katarina was as scary when out of herself, so was Christopher...And her last words echoed in his mind, paralyzing him as Christopher in a swift move took the sword off Charles' hands and then he punched the king on the face, which made him fall to the ground.
The furious former night, who had been secluded since his former wife's runaway, rode onto the scared man, immobilizing him, and then punched him more onto the face fiercely while he cursed all the bad adjectives he knew.
Christopher didn't care about how many bones he had already broken of that man's face. He was consumed in hate and disgust.
The man he served and protected all his life had disgraced His Katarina. The man he owed obedience had taken advantage of his absence and destroyed joyful Katarina...the joy he so much cherished.
That monster "killed" his Katarina.
More soldiers entered the chambers and tried to take Christopher off of Charles, but they were also taken by Reed's fury. He was tameless. He let his beast free after reading Katarina's diaries and letters until that date.
Bloody, full of bruises, unrecognizable, Charles moaned for forgiveness. He certainly cried among the blood and swelling.
One man against an army of royal soldiers. All beaten down. An unconscious bloody king near death on the ground.
Christopher Reed never asked why.
All he cared about was Katarina, his Katarina that was part of his honor.
And like Katarina had said, Charles would still going to pay for his bad act. So he took one black pill out of his pocket and inserted into Charles' mouth until and waited until it dissolved. The healing properties of the herb saved Charles from death, though he was under Christopher's command.
"Order Katarina's release from prison!"
"I can't do that!"
"You're the king!"
"Christopher...the years isolated affected your memory and the news to reach you"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I've abdicated the throne, I no longer have the power to order anything"
"Bullshit!"
"May I remind you that there was an agreement due to our heirs' marriage, remember?"
Christopher frowned thoughtful.
"May I refresh your mind...Your son Henry will be the new king. If there's one who can try to free your beloved Katarina from prison is him, but I guess you raised him well, right? To hate his mother..."
End of Flashback
The act that at that time seemed to have stayed unpunished, but the memory of the time never forgets all the doings, either good or bad, and is just a matter of time until infractions shall be paid.
And Charlize paid for that bad act. And that was her biggest demon to face.
At about the same age of Katarina at the act, Charlize did suffer the same Katarina did with Charles...and that changed her forever.
She took a long time to move on from those horrible memories. Her body healed, but her soul was broken, just like Katarina's back in the day.
And that kind of trauma is one of the hardest ones to overcome, especially when one doesn't know from where it came from.
Our memories may fail to recall out own bad acts, but Time's doesn't. What goes around comes around...eventually.
That payment phase had come for all of them in the current life.
And Chris Redfield asked Why.
The stares made Charlize start to tremble and she no longer could fight the tears coring down her face.
"Why?" Chris asked again
"Because I need forgiveness..." she replied with a trembling voice
"Forgiveness?" Chris asked disconcerted
"I can't explain...I just need forgiveness...because all I ever wanted...was to forget..."
Chris was loudly confused
"Like you...I wanted to forget...that...that one day...I did terrible things...I used to be a bad person...I'm not like that anymore..."
"What..."
"And I can't stand seeing you like this...you shouldn't be this way...tormented...you should be with your wife and children...home..."
Confused but touched, Chris didn't know how to react. He looked to the ground, to the sides, at Charlize who embraced herself like a scared little girl, and seeing her that way disturbed him.
Whatever she was talking about didn't seem logic to him. He didn't see as a monster. She saved his life and always helped him. She had always been so patient with his outbursts. Surely she wasn't perfect, but she had always been so kind to him and everyone else that it was hard for him to see her as a bad person as she spoke. Well, but he had missjudgements before. People had betrayed his trust. People had lied to him.
Although, he sensed sincerity in her voice. In her intentions.
"It's not up to you to save me and I don't see a reason why I should forgive you..."
"I guess it's not you who should forgive me..."
"Whoever it is, I hope you get it if it's so important to you"
She nodded thankfully, "By the way... I'm not trying to save you"
"Aren't you?"
She moved her head in denial, "I'm trying to help you save you from yourself so you can finally find your way back home..."
Upon those words, another cool breeze passed by them which triggered a memory in Chris's mind: The memory of the night of the festival in Bohma.
"So if you really want to help me, I need you to do one thing that I know is going to be challengeful to you"
"I don't mind about challenges. What do you need from me?"
"Help me go to Bohma...I have a feeling all my answers are there"
Charlizes's lips parted, going to Bohma was the hardest thing for her to do since Mr. Lionel's death.
A/N: I'm still deciding the fate of this story since I'm rebooting the whole story, but in a very slow pace so I have no idea when the final version will be puclished.
For now my plan is to keep this one as a parallel story as I don't like unfinished works.