Resident Evil Children of the Seraphs By: Xenogears

Chapter eight



In no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi, and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs and Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs are also copyright by me, and my not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Ryan's eyes shot open. The first thing he noticed was that he was on the floor. With a slight ache in his back, he got back to his feet and felt for the dart in his neck, finding it was gone. He looked around him. His surroundings were an exact duplicate of the cell-like space he had been in at his time in the Carlton labs, except for the presence of someone on the bed. Ryan instantly recognized Anna, and he leapt to the bedside. She was still. He turned her over, and flinched.

Her skin was still warm, her pulse normal, and her breathing methodical, so she was alive. There was a small cut right below her left eye, and a small bruise on her right cheek. Her clothing was torn in a few places. Checking her arms, he found only a bruise or two on them and on her legs. Ryan brushed her cheek with his hand and then got up and leaned against the wall closest to the door, and slid down into a sitting position. He wrapped his arms around his legs and placed his head on his knees, looking at the polished floor.

'Who did this to her?' Ryan thought. What malice. 'Whoever they are, they're gonna die. If it was Vickers, he'd better run for his worthless life.'

He raised his head to a sound from the bed. Anna was stirring. A few seconds later, her eyes fluttered open. Slinging her legs over the side of the bed, she shakily rose to her feet slowly as if mesmerized. Without any sign of noticing him, she went for a drink at the washbowl. When she was finished, Ryan came up behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Welcome back, Anna..." Ryan said, using a smile to hide his concern. He managed to keep it off his face, but his eyes told a different story. "You okay?"

Anna's head bolted up from the washbowl and she looked in the mirror at Ryan, her eyes wide with fear. She turned around as if to assure herself that he truly was there, then she wrenched free and ran with surprising speed for the door. After several failed attempts at opening it, she ran for a corner in the far side of the room and scrunched down to the floor. She kept her hands around her stomach, trying to shield her children from harm. She curled herself into a ball as well as she could and spoke in a hoarse voice, cracking with fear.

"Please, Ryan...don't hurt me...don't..."

'What the hell?' Ryan thought in astonishment. 'What would make her think I would want to hurt her?!'

Ryan walked toward her, and Anna began to cry, and her voice became more pleading with each step Ryan took.

"Iye! Dozo! Please! No more! I...I...can't take any more! Please Ryan! Don't hurt me! Please!"

He bent down and reached a hand for her. She gasped and curled back in fear as if she had been struck, her eyes wide. It broke Ryan in two to see her like this. Anna was a very strong person. Whatever Vickers had done to her to make her so paranoid, it must have been horrible.

Ryan tried a warm smile again, mostly to hide his sadness, and brushed her cheek with his palm. This didn't convince her. She stared at him still with a fear he had never seen in her eyes.

"Don't...hurt me...please Ryan...I'm...I'm carrying your children...please..."

Ryan gripped her chin firmly yet gently, and though his voice cracked slightly when he spoke, it was as firm as he could make it.

"You listen to me. I would NEVER do any harm to you. You have to believe me, Anna-chan. I wouldn't ever intentionally hurt you. Never. You can feel safe with me. Why would you even think I'd do such a thing?"

Anna was silent for a long while, her swollen eyes still fixed on him, trying to find some way that he was lying, that he was just misleading her. Her deep green almond-shaped eyes danced from one side of his face to the other. When she could see no sign that he would be lying, her expression dissolved and she finally reached up and grasped Ryan, tears streaming down her face. She stammered in Japanese, and Ryan guessed that by the frequent use of "gomen nasai" she was explaining that she was sorry for various things.

"It's okay...They can't harm you any more. I'll keep them from doing that...Shhh..."

Anna stopped speaking, but continued to cry. After a few more minutes, she calmed down, and spoke in normal English.

"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have...said those things to you...I should have known that you would never hurt me, no matter what..." she faltered.

"What did they do to you?" Ryan questioned her tenderly.

Anna paused for a few beats, and finally gathered the courage to tell him what happened.

"Vickers...he...he..." She paused for a moment, lowering her head, and spoke her next words in a whisper. "...raped me..."

Ryan tensed up, his eyes widened, and he felt his heart skip a beat as his mind went blank, replaced with only one thought: Kill him.

Ryan had given the subject some thought in the past, and had concluded that rape was the second worse crime against a human being. He wanted to bring everyone who had done such a thing to a bad place, but now since Vickers had done it to the mother of his children, he wanted to go well beyond "postal" on him for doing this to her.

"Raped...you?" he gasped slowly, seconds away from exploding.

"Y-yeah..."

Ryan gritted his teeth and was about to shout when Anna interrupted him.

"Ryan-kun?" Anna whispered, at long last using the title "kun" for him again. "Will you...stay with me? You won't leave me, will you?"

"No! Of course I won't leave you."

She paused, but began again to sob softly into his chest. When she had calmed down a little, she spoke.

"Do you..." Anna stumbled in mid-sentence, but she finally got out the certain words she wanted so much to say. "...Love me? Even after all the horrible things I have put you through all this time?"

Ryan was shocked. He did feel that way about her, but he hadn't admitted it to anyone, and he wasn't thinking that he was going to any time soon. Now, Anna was trying to coax the answer out of him. They were the hardest three words that he could ever say to someone. The three English words that were so small...meaning so much.

"I..." Ryan floundered over the words that were in his head, yet didn't quite find their way to his tongue. "...I...do love you, Anna-chan..."

Anna's grip on him tightened, and Ryan responded in kind.

"Thank you, Ryan-kun...I...thought that you wouldn't say such a thing to me after I've been such a bitch to you these past few months..."

"Anna-chan," Ryan said. "There are very few things in this world that could make me stop loving you. And hitting me, brushing me off, and screaming at me for days on end, isn't one of those things."

"Thank you..."

"Anna..." Ryan asked her, looking her straight in her eyes.

"Yes?"

"Do you love me?"

"I...of course I do!"

Ryan smiled. "Good."

He tilted his head to hers, and kissed her gently.

A string of saliva still connected them when they broke off the kiss, and Ryan pulled both of them to their feet, but Anna fell back to the ground, clutching between her legs with pain.

"It...hurts..." she gasped.

"Here, I'm just going to bring you to the bed, okay? So you can lie down."

Ryan hoisted her up gently again, and slung her arm around his shoulder. As if she was a wounded solider, he carried her back to the bed and laid her down carefully.

He asked permission to lift up her clothing to check for anything underneath. She was wearing no undergarments, and a series of abrasions and fresh bruises continued up her legs, thighs, chest, and stopped at her collarbone. He swore that he would kill Vickers without a second thought.

At least there were no deep bruises on her stomach. He pressed lightly in various places to check for broken bones. To his relief, there were none. Anna commented on his bandaged hand, but he convinced her that it wasn't serious.

He then lay down with her on the bed. Anna settled her head on his chest, and Ryan stroked her long jet-black hair as he talked her to sleep. He could worry about escaping later. For now, he would be with his girl.

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Chris was the first to wake up. Rubbing his head, he slowly rose to his feet and looked around. He found himself in what looked like an oversized modern-day prison cell. He walked around and woke up the others, who one by one complained of a nasty headache as they stirred.

"Oh man..." Sherry moaned. "What happened? I remember this gas coming out of the vents...then nothing..."

"Sleeping gas," Leon responded.

Once Claire regained some of her senses, she spoke. "So what now?" she asked. "We're obviously prisoners."

"Just wait for opportunities to present themselves," Chris responded.

So, they waited. They didn't know how long, but it was a long time. The opening of the door snapped them out of whatever they were doing to entertain themselves. In stepped two lab assistants who each held what looked like a Browning HP.

"Okay," one of them said. He looked like his hand was shaking a little, and his eyes were a little wider than usual. "We're taking you down to meet the doctor. You will come with us or die."



The second one nodded his head. He looked much more calm and cool, the grip on his gun very steady, and his eyes had a hard and self-assured gaze.

The group hesitated.

"What are you waiting for?" the second lab assistant said. "Get up!"

The lab assistants herded them up into a line. Their mistake was placing Leon in the front with the shaky one, and Chris in the back with the calm one. As soon as they stepped out in the hall, Leon grabbed the lab assistant in front of him. In the next split-second, Chris used the distraction that Leon caused to grab the arm of the lab assistant near him, and twisted it around his back. The assistant gave a cry of pain and his gun hit the floor. The lab assistant was stronger than Chris had reckoned, though, and he wrenched out of the arm hold and pushed Chris to the side. He was reaching for his gun when Leon pulled the trigger on the first lab assistant's gun that he had confiscated. The man's body jerked violently, spun around, and collapsed in a heap.

Chris picked up the fallen lab assistant's gun, nodding his head to Leon as a way of thanks. Leon, nodding in return, held the other of their captors with a hand around his neck from behind, the gun in his other hand at the man's head. The assistant was shaking wildly with fear, and his breathing was rapid.

"Take us to our weapons, and then to the kids you're holding here," Leon demanded in a raspy tone into his ear.

"What ki--"

The lab assistant stopped in mid sentence when he felt the gun pressing harder against his skull.

"Don't play games, or you'll end up like your friend over there," Leon rasped into the man's ear.

"Okay! I'll take you!"

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Ryan woke up to the sounds of knocking at his door. He silently cursed at himself; he hadn't meant to fall asleep. He decided to let this one slip, as this had been the first time he had actually slept, without making love, with Anna. He got up carefully, not to wake her, and went to the door. He readied himself for what was behind the door, and at last opened it.

He was surprised to find the faces of Chris, Claire, Leon, and Sherry staring him in the face. He also noticed that Leon was holding a lab assistant at gunpoint.

"Hey kid," Chris said. "We're here to bust you out."

"Do you know where Anna is being held? This jackass claims not to know," Leon said, indicating the lab assistant.

Ryan's face turned dark, and he gave them enough room to see Anna on the bed.

"What...what happened to her?!" Sherry's eyes sprung open wide.

"She...I...I can't tell you now, sorry. If she wants to tell you later then she will."

Ryan walked over to Anna and gently shook her. She stirred from sleep, not quite awake.

"Hey," he whispered. "Anna-chan... Wake up..."

"Mmmm...no...let's sleep in today..."

"Anna. Do you remember where we are?"

The peaceful security that she had felt since Ryan had laid down with her suddenly dissolved, and she looked up at him grimly, awake now.

"Can you walk on your own?" Ryan asked.

Anna slowly got up from the bed, but she lost her balance and would have fallen again if Ryan hadn't caught her.

"I take that as a no."

Ryan supported her with his shoulder, one of her arms slung around his shoulder, and the other against her rounded stomach. Ryan handed her the Colt .45 that he had been holding for her, and she pocketed it inside her dress.

"Let's get going," Leon said.

But Ryan didn't comply.

"Do you know anything about this?" Ryan asked the lab assistant.

"I...I was told not to go anywhere near Dr. Vickers' personal laboratory, no matter what I heard. Only his personal assistants were allowed to be in that section of the labs."

"Do you know where Vickers might be?" Ryan asked.

"No, but...I think I know where the self-destruction controls are..."

"Then by all means, lead the way." Chris said.

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Dr. Vickers' personal assistants were eventually let go. After all, chances were that Vickers was ten times worse than they were, and it seemed that they were private contractors and not working for Umbrella.

Now, the team was heading toward Dr. Vickers's office. When they reached the location, they instantly looked for the panel that would let them activate the self-destruct sequence. After a few more minutes of searching, they found the panel and started up the sequence.



Pow! There was a sudden gunshot somewhere close by.



Everyone ducked as the gunshot exploded against the wall, barely missing Ryan. Ryan jumped up and returned fire. He didn't bother to aim, concerned with laying down some cover fire for the others.

He looked around for the gunman. When he found him, it was the last person he expected, but the most he could have hoped for: Dr. Jared Vickers himself.

Ryan immediately fixed his aim, making an imaginary bull's-eye on his face. Just as Ryan was about to fire however, Vickers got off another shot, causing Ryan to duck out of the way and make Ryan's next shot go wide, hitting Vickers in the arm instead. Vickers grunted in pain, and then took off running. Ryan took after him, jump rolling over a table as he bolted out of the room.

"Ryan!" Sherry called after him.

But he was already down the hall running and couldn't hear her. Vickers was in his crosshairs, leaving a steady trail of blood behind him as he ran. Ryan aimed his Beretta 92.



Pow! Pow! Pow!



All three shots missed, mainly because of his rage. Now Ryan was out of ammo. There was the Walther, of course, but getting it out of its holster would take too long. He wanted Vickers's blood. He would catch up to him and pistol-whip him to death, if that's what it came to.

He saw Vickers turn a corner, and he picked up speed, breaking into a sprint. He hit the wall as he tried to turn into the corridor but stopped in his tracks when he saw Vickers pointing his gun straight at him and wearing a reaper's smile.

Ryan knew he was dead.

Four shots were fired. Ryan was hit, and went reeling backwards.

At first, it just felt like a really hard punch hitting him, without the pain. Then, a hot, sharp pain ripped through his chest, and he gave a cry, fell back, and hit the floor. Seconds later, he heard Anna screaming, and then she was cradling his head in her arms.

"Ryan!" She was on the verge of tears. "Ryan! Are you hurt? Ryan!"

"What...does it look like..." he grunted through clenched teeth. "I've been...shot!"

If his sarcasm was still there, then he was okay, she thought. But the next second later, he heaved as he coughed up a dark splash of blood.

"Shit..." he cursed thickly. "Am I...gonna die...?"

"No!" Anna yelled. "You're not!"

He tried to roll into a sitting position, but he fell back in pain.

"Dammit..." Anna cursed. "Call the EMTs. I'll meet you guys at the hospital."

"What?" Leon said. "But--"

"I have some unfinished business to take care of."

"...All right. Let's get him out of here, then! Quick!"

Leon and Chris lifted Ryan as quickly as they could without adding to the pain, and then ran for the doorway.

Anna went over.reasonable limit. Then she turned Anna went over to the terminal and activated the self-destruct, making sure to set the timer to a reasonable limit.

Then she turned and ran out of the room, calling up all her strength from somewhere deep within herself. Dr. Vickers had made both Ryan's and her life less than it should have been for the past year and a half. Now, she had reached her breaking point. She would make him pay dearly.

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Dr. Vickers looked at his targets. Which one to pick? They had been so wrapped up in fiddling with computers that they hadn't bothered to close the door, thus allowing him a clean shot at whomever he wanted. He looked over his choices.

'Anna? No. Too important. The female Redfield? No. Not worth it. The male Redfield? Same thing as his younger sibling. The police officer, Kennedy? No. He would be saved for Hunter food for later. Ryan?

'Yes!' Dr. Vickers thought triumphantly. 'The traitor must die!'

Pow!

He saw the bullet miss its mark and hit the wall near Ryan, and then they all dove for cover. Ryan jumped up moments later, firing. Vickers grunted in pain as one of Ryan's bullets hit him in the arm. He cursed, turned, and ran down the hall as fast as he could. He could hear Ryan chasing after him, steadily gaining speed.



Pow! Pow! Pow!



The three gunshots barely missed him, one whizzing past his ear.

'Just need to make it to the corner...' he thought.

He reached the corner of the hall and ran further down its long metallic corridors, then turned to face back toward Ryan's direction. There he waited for him to appear, his Taisho pistol aimed.

As he expected, Ryan came around the corner a few moments later, trying to skid to a stop but hitting the wall. He quickly recovered, only to find himself faced with a pistol. He stopped dead in his tracks, his face turning to a mixture of surprise and horror. Vickers smiled in glee.

He pulled the trigger four times, but only one shot hit its mark -- in Ryan's chest. Ryan cried out and then fell to the floor, and Vickers turned and ran. In a moment, he could hear the distinct scream of Anna far back in the hall. He smiled again, and kept running.

He dashed on through the corridor until he reached a large metal door. He was sure that this was the control room. The fact that the control room doors looked identical to those of the Hunter feeding rooms would give him an edge. After all, he knew the layout of the labs, and they didn't.

He noticed that the room was a little more spacious, and his footsteps made a slight echo, but he thought nothing of it. The room was too dark to see anything, so he would have to wait for the automatic lights to turn on in order to find the control panel for the door. It took awhile, but the lights finally turned on.

'There we--'

Vickers stopped. He was in the Hunter feeding room, which meant--

He ran for the door, and tried to open it. But he remembered that it could only be opened from the outside. His mind screamed. He was trapped. For minutes, he ran frantically around the room, searching for a means of escape, until he heard a voice on the loud speakers.

"Don't bother. You can't escape," came the voice of a very angry woman. He could instantly tell it was Anna.

Vickers looked up through the one-sided glass, and even though he couldn't see anyone behind it, he was sure that Anna was staring him down, her expression cold and blank.

He knew that he was a dead man.

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"What do you want?" Vickers pleaded. "Money? Power? I can give you those things. Just think about it, Anna, your kids wouldn't need to worry about jobs! You would be set for...five life times!"

Anna sneered. So he was begging for his life? This was great.

"What do I want?" Anna screamed. "I want you to take back all the hell you put me through! I want to be human again! I want my children to be human! I want to live a normal life with my children and have Ryan by our side! But now...I don't even think that he'll live!"

"Please! Just think about it!" Vickers once again pleaded. "I can't do any of those things! Anything else but that!"

Anna kept staring at him with that blank expression.

Vickers was finally, thoroughly, frightened.

"Please!"

"Dr. Vickers," Anna mocked. "At least try to keep a little face for your death? In my father's words, 'If death comes to your door, welcome him in for tea.' Unfortunately, we have no tea with us, but we will be more than happy to let Mr. Grim give you a good ol' hug."

"Don't you listen?! I'll do anything! Anything!" Vickers's voice rose to a squeal.

"Then sit patiently and wait for death to come, you rotten son of a bitch!" Anna sneered. "Die!"

Anna hit the "Release Hunters" button, sealing Vickers' fate.

A long, anguished scream rose from the room as several Hunters pounced on him, and literally, played with his body, ripping out his insides and throwing them against the walls before bending down to finish off the still- warm main course. Anna watched the butchering with a without compunction. When the Hunters had finished their repast, they shook off the bloody remnants of Dr. Vickers and lumbered off to their cells.

"Kataki uchi..." Anna muttered as she turned for the doors.

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Anna burst into the ER of the North Shore Medical Center and asked the people behind the ER desk where Ryan was. They reluctantly told her, and she once again ran for him.

Finding ER room Nine, she barged in the doors, finding Leon, Claire, Chris and Sherry hovering over Ryan; he was on the hospital bed, hooked up to a breathing machine. She finally slowed down and walked toward him. Sherry gave up her seat next to the bed and Anna took it.

"Is he..." Anna said in a shaky voice. "How bad is it...?"

"He's got a punctured left lung and excessive blood loss," Claire said mournfully. "The lung was temporally repaired--they're still waiting for room up in the OR--but the blood...He's a Seraph...I don't think that his body will accept any kind of blood that doesn't have the...virus in it. Besides, he has one of the rarest blood types in the world."

"No," Anna said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Trust me. His body will accept it. The virus that exists in his system will simply accommodate the new blood cells. As for the blood type, I'm sure that there's a pint or two lying around. By the way, did they...say anything about the color of his blood?"

"No. For some odd reason, his blood, even the stains on his shirt, turned red by the time we got here."

Anna breathed another sigh of relief.

"Good. Now that that's over--" Anna stopped short when the heart rate monitor suddenly went flatline. Within a few seconds, the doctors entered the room, and brought out the shock pads. The others left the room and waited. The moments seemed to pass by in the form of hours. There were several "Clear!"'s yelled from the room along with the sound of Ryan's body hitting the bed.

Then, it stopped.

The heart monitor was turned off, and the doctors left the room. One stopped in front of Anna.

She didn't need to be told the awful truth. Ryan was dead. She turned around and started to cry in Claire's shoulder, who comforted her. Sherry broke into sobbing.

"Ma'am..." The doctor started. "I'm sor--"

"Don't say it!" Anna snapped, her head still buried into Claire's shoulder. "You...don't need to tell me..."

Anna tuned out to the rest of the speech as the doctor continued to talk.

'Hey! Okaa-san!' Anna heard Adrian say. 'Don't give up yet!'

'What do you mean?! HE'S DEAD!'

'He just needs a little more of a shock!'

'What...? You mean the paddles?'

'No! We mean us! We can channel our electric elements into you, and then there might be hope.'

'But the doctors--'

'Forget about that! Seraph electricity is different from regular electricity!'

Without even thinking, Anna dashed for the room. The doctor stopped her.

"Get out of my way!" Anna screamed. "I need to save him!"

"He's dead," the doctor tried to reason. "You can't save him!"

"I said, move!"

The doctor remained adamant and continued to block her. Anna then stepped back and formed an ice crystal in her hand. With surprising speed, the crystal rapidly formed itself into her Yari spear. Then, with expert precision, she jabbed her spear into the door just centimeters from the doctor's throat. The whole ER went into alert, and someone shouted for security.

"I. Said. Move." She repeated through clenched teeth.

"O-okay...just...put the spear down..."

"MOVE! Now! Isogi!"

The doctor hastily complied and stepped aside.

"Anna!" Chris said. "You can't bring him back to life!"

"Maybe a human can't," Anna said. "But maybe a Seraph can."

Anna entered the room and yanked back the sheet that was covering Ryan's body. "Turn on the heart rate monitor! Now!"

The doctor complied and turned it on. A monotonous electronic bee-eep filled the dead air.

"Freeze!"

Anna looked over to the doorway. Three security guards stood there, with 9mm semi-automatic pistols pointed at her.

"Place down your weapon and come with us!"

Anna formed an invisible ice barrier in front of her, twirled her spear into an aggressive stance, and prepared to charge. Her eyes showed no sign of fear.

"Don't try to stop me!" She hissed.

The security guards fired their weapons, but when the bullets came within a foot of her, a glacier of ice rose from the floor. The bullets flattened out against the impact of the barrier and fell harmlessly to the floor. The security guards stopped firing and gazed in astonishment, their guns hanging from their hands. Anna took this chance to rush forward and slashed her spear in an upward arc, chopping off the barrels of their guns.

The guards quickly recovered and took out their tonfas, but Anna punched her fist forward and an ice fist propelled out of her hand, slamming into one of the guards and sending him flying across the room. The other two dropped back. Anna then punched again, and this time a high-intensity jet stream of water came out of her fist and sent the other two guards sprawling across the room to land next to the first one.

Anna evaporated her spear and walked over to Ryan as if nothing had happened. She placed her hands on his chest. She was breathing hard.

"Come on, Adrian, Nozomi..." Anna said aloud. "Help me save your father..."

Anna felt a sudden rush of power fly into her as if from an unknown force. She could feel the effects of an Electric Seraph as well as a Water Seraph flow through her. She concentrated, and formed the electricity in her arms. She charged it a little, then discharged it. There was a 'zap' sound, and Ryan lurched up and then fell back to the bed.

A small 'beep' came from the heart monitor, then again went flatline. Everyone that gathered at the doorway witnessing this was amazed. Claire, Leon, Sherry, and Chris were only surprised because they thought that Anna only had control over water.

She charged again.

Another 'zap' sound and Ryan lurched up and then fell back to the bed. Two small 'beep's came form the heart monitor.



'Come on,' Anna thought. 'I'm so close...I'm not going to lose him!'

The sudden rush of emotion caused an even larger voltaic charge to come forth. There was the explosive sound of a highly charged electrical surge.

Ryan lurched up from the table and fell again. Some color started to creep back into his face. The monitor began beeping normally. Ryan was breathing on his own. His heartbeat was a little erratic, but he was alive. Anna could feel the effects of the electricity start to fade away, and she stepped away from him and turned back to the doctor.

"Get him that blood transfusion fast," Anna demanded. "He's got OB negative blood type."

"W-what...are...you...?" the doctor stammered.

"That's not important! Please just get the transfusion ready!"

The doctor stumbled away to place in the call for a transfusion. The security guards that had witnessed the whole event sat at the other side of the room, dumbfounded.

"See...?" She said weakly. "I told you...I could bring him back..."

Anna then sat back down and placed her head on his chest, pleased to tears by the sound of his heartbeat. "Don't you ever pull crap like that again, you big baka..." Anna whispered. "Don't you ever think of trying to leaving me again..."

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Six months later...



Ryan and Anna sat on a bench under a small Japanese-style shelter at the top of the hill in the Seifuto Rock Garden, at the Sansho-En, the Japanese gardens in the Chicago Botanical Gardens. The bench overlooked the small lake located between the three island gardens, facing the sunset. The flowers were in full bloom, and anything else that would sprout in the spring, summer, and fall was turned out in full. With the soft colors of the sunset washing over it all, everything looked exquisite.

Ryan held his arm around Anna, who rested her head on his shoulder. Her stomach had grown large over the past few months, but that made her no less attractive to him. She had her eyes closed; the walk around the gardens had worn her out. He knew that they would have to go soon, because the gardens would be closing, and it seemed that rain clouds were closing in from the east.

He kissed her cheek, waking her from her short nap.

"Come on," Ryan whispered. "We gotta go. The gardens are closing, and rain is coming."

"Just a little bit longer?" She pleaded.

"I guess that's okay."

Anna gazed dreamily across the calm little lake, its smooth surface lit now with crimson and gold from the evening sky. "Are you psyched about going to meet our parents in L.A?"





Ryan smiled at the memory of the day that Anna called her mother. It was near the beginning of her sixth month. The phone was picked up almost instantly.

"Moshi moshi?" Answered a female voice.

"Okaa-san?" Anna said.

"Ehhh? Anna-chan? That is you?"

"Yes."

"I not hear from you in six month! I think something bad happen! You ahright?" Her mother's English was getting better only by tiny increments.

"Of course I'm all right."

"Are-ah guardian taking good job care of you?"

"Of course."

"Is--"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have something very important to tell you, okaa-san."

"What?" Anna's mother asked.

"Well, do you remember Ryan?"

"That boy about-eh your age?"

"Yes, well, you see..."

Anna searched for the right words to say, but the only ones that came to mind were too blunt, so she used them politely as she could.

"I'm about six months pregnant..."



"NANI?!" Came her mother's response. "You telling truth?!"

"Yes..."

At that, her mother launched - loudly -- into a rapid torrent of Japanese, speaking so fast that Anna could barely keep up.

"O...okaa...okaa-san! Calm down! Look...Nan da? Iye, watakushi no...Okaa...jeez...will you...Okaa-san! Just...will you listen to me? I...h- hai...Iye...iye!...Wakrimasu, okaa-san...Mom! Just listen!"

Rarely did Anna ever call her mother 'mom.' Most of the time she used the Japanese equivalent, 'okaa-san.' It made her mother stop talking, abruptly.

"Look, it's not as bad as you think it is, okay? Ryan is a very good person. We love each other. I'm sure he'll be a good father. Besides, my whole future is NOT ruined."

"Put him on denwa."

"Ryan-kun!" Anna called out. "Phone!"

Ryan came bounding from the kitchen a moment later, and picked up the phone with his hand over the mouthpiece.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"My mother," she said. She smiled as a way to say 'It's okay.'

But Ryan was not convinced. He felt his adrenaline surge and his stomach flipped.

"H-hello?" he said slowly.

He almost instantaneously placed the phone a few inches from his ears, for Anna's mother was screaming at him in rapid-fire Japanese. He barely caught a sentence. When he understood one, another would come out at twice the speed, sending him off course.

"Whoa...I...Uh...E...E...Eigo o hanashimusu ka? Good...oh boy...ummm... no, I...yes...yes...yes...no...I can't understand you that well! Can you please talk a little slower...thank you...no!...no! I would never do that!...I...please...can you calm down a little?"

Anna's mother slowed down with obvious effort. She sucked in a deep breath, but her tone was still stern.

"Want see you and Anna-chan...How do say it? A-S-A-P?"

"Mrs. Yamaguchi, we don't have enough money to get to L.A."

"Then we pay."

"I could never ask you to do that!"

"You must not worry about it...we have very rots moneys spare."

"Okay...I guess..."

"Boy-Raiun," Anna's mother began.

"Yes?"

"Where parents living?"

"Uh...last I heard...they're in Boston..."

"Give me address, and we send tickets."

"What?! No! No! You can't do that!"

"Why? You afraid see parents you and Anna?"

Ryan cringed at the thought of having to see his father again. He had called him about a week ago and explained everything about Anna and him. He and his father had had a screaming match that lasted well over half an hour. Then Ryan had slammed down the receiver. His father was famous for his temper, and Ryan didn't want to deal with it.

"I...guess..."

"No need worry. It okay."



After a little more convincing, Ryan had given Anna's mother his parents' address, and then handed the phone back to Anna.

Ever since then, he had been in a state of anxiety. He was going to see his parents and his sister for the first time in nearly two years. They knew about Anna, and his father, at least, wasn't very happy about it. His mother and sister were supportive, but disappointed. They thought that he had made some bad decisions.



'Still,' Ryan thought, coming out of his reverie. 'for some odd reason, I don't regret any of it. I really want to see these kids of mine.'

Ryan looked over his shoulder to the east and saw the clouds getting closer. There was a smell of coming rain, and they felt a few droplets on their forearms.

"Okay, Anna-chan, we have to go now. Leon, Claire, and Sherry are waiting for us."

"Oh man..." she sighed. "I wanted to watch the sunset for a little longer."

"If we don't go, we'll get soaked, not to mention getting trapped in the gardens all night." He stood up, extending his hand to her.

Anna rose from the bench and grasped Ryan's hand in hers. They walked back to Ryan's car. They would need to be up early tomorrow to catch the plane to L.A.

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Next day...



Ryan and Anna stood hand in hand in front of Anna's parents' house.

'I'm really starting to have second thoughts about this...' Mumbled/thought Ryan.

[Come on. My folks may be a little stern, but they'll get to like you in time.] Anna responded through their Seraph link.

'What I'm really worried about are my folks. I think--no, I know--I really pissed them off.'

[We can convince them, can't we...?.]

'I hope...'

[Nozomi and Adrian say that you should give them a chance. They're excited to meet both their grandparents.]

'Tell them, "How would you know? You can't even see them."'

[Their answer is, "Yes we can. Through okaa-san."]

'Yeah...forgot about that...So how are you guys today?'

[Just fine, otoo-san,] he heard Nozomi say. [Don't be so surprised. We can talk to you, too. Or have you forgotten that as well?]

'Yeah, I guess so.'

[Jeez,] teased Adrian, [you're getting old already.]

'All right then,' Ryan said in thought, chuckling. 'Shall we?'

Taking a deep breath, Ryan pressed the doorbell. A few moments later, a young woman in a maid's uniform opened the door.

"Hello, Ms. Yamaguchi, Mr. Davidson. I was told to bring you to the front room. Would you please come in?"

"Certainly." Anna responded.

So, they were led to the front room where Anna's parents were waiting, along with a young man who looked like he was about twenty years old. The thought occurred to Ryan that they looked -- very Japanese.

Mrs. Yamaguchi seemed well into her forties with a few gray strands in her hair, and a wrinkle or two on her face. She was trying to hold onto a look of sternness, but Ryan and Anna could tell that she was really happy to see her daughter.

Mr. Yamaguchi was in his late forties as well, and had many gray hairs and deeper wrinkles about his eyes. His expression was of real sternness. Ryan thought he could even sense some hostility.

The young man, who looked like a much younger version of Mr. Yamaguchi, was taller than Ryan by about an inch, and he too had a stern expression with a little hostility under the surface. Ryan guessed that if this guy could hide his hostility as well as Mr. Yamaguchi, then he must be at least twice as angry with him as Anna's father was.

"Anno...Konnichi wa, Yamaguchi-sama," Ryan greeted in the best sounding Japanese he could use as both he and Anna bowed. "Hajimemashite...Ii genki desu ne?"

"So desu ne," was Mr. Yamaguchi's answer. His voice was deep and powerful, and made Ryan feel small, though in reality Ryan was slightly taller than the man was. Ryan noticed Mr. Yamaguchi taking a look or two at Anna's swollen stomach.

"Anna-chan," said Mrs. Yamaguchi. "Welcome home."

"Yes, thank you, okaa-san."

"It is good to see you again, imoto-chan," said the young man with a bow.

"And you as well, ototo-san," Anna returned the bow.

"And...hello...Ryan, was it?" the younger version of Mr. Yamaguchi said, with a great deal of control in his voice.

"Yes, nice to meet you."

They both shook hands, and Ryan grimaced a little at the bone-crushing grip. He could sense the handshake was intentionally rough.

'You never told me you had a brother!' Ryan thought/said.

[I just thought that you should find out for yourself. Look, Masa-san takes on the protective brother type. So, you really haven't started on a good key with him, but don't let him grate on your nerves. It'll pass.]

'Okay, whatever you say--'

At that moment, footsteps could be heard from the staircase.

"You have a pretty nice place here, Yasunori," came an adult male voice from the staircase.

The man stopped short when he saw Ryan and Anna. It was Ryan's father, with his mother and older sister right behind him. Ryan's father was the same height as his son and, in his late thirties, looked like a matured form of Ryan. The look on his face was not one of pleasure. His mother, whom Ryan hardly resembled, was about an inch or two taller than Anna. She was the same age as her husband, and her dark brown hair and green eyes were lit up with joy. Ryan's sister, about twenty years old, was almost an exact copy of her mother at the same height. Her expression was smug. There was a long silence.

"Why..." Ryan's father began, his tone sour. "Hello, Ryan."

Ryan's face dropped in shame.

"Yeah...hi..." Ryan murmured. Anna then nudged him, and he said it more clearly.

His mother ran over to him and embraced him, and his sister followed suit.

"Hey! Quit it!"

Ryan then whispered to them the Japanese standards against public displays of affection, something that wasn't practiced by traditional Japanese. His mother and sister looked slightly embarrassed, but Ryan had to admit to himself that he was really happy for their embraces.

[Why don't you get along with your father, otoo-san?] Adrian asked.

'I just don't. I never really liked him that much, and this whole affair is just one more thing that he can use against me, which is exactly what he is doing now.'

[What exactly is he doing? Nothing seems wrong with him to me.]

'Trust me,' Ryan thought/said. "I know him better than you do." The last came out aloud, which confused the others.

"Forget about it," Anna said. "Let's just catch up on times, shall we?"

Ryan smiled. "Yeah...guess you're right."

Then they all sat down in the living room and got caught up on things, Anna and Ryan being sure to tell the absolute truth about everything that happened. Their families weren't as shocked as the couple thought they would be, mainly because they had known about Umbrella's illegal activities.

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After dinner...

Ryan strolled into the back yard of the house. Sitting there in lawn chairs were Anna's brother, Masahiro; Anna's father, Yasunori; and Ryan's father, Peter. Yasunori and Peter were each smoking a cigarette.

'Jeez,' Ryan thought. 'Now I'm sure that addiction runs through the family. Sis just got off of 'em, and I got back on six months ago...'

"Mind if I join you?" Ryan asked.

Yasunori wordlessly motioned him to sit down.

Ryan took an empty chair next to Yasunori, and lit himself a cigarette of his own. His father immediately bolted up.

"Put that out now!" his father seethed.

"You don't have control over me anymore, Father." As if to drive his point home, Ryan took a long drag on his cigarette and breathed it out slowly. Then he leaned back a little and placed his hands behind his head.

"Like hell I don't! Just because you decided to be irresponsible, run off on some damn fool's idealistic crusade, and start a family with someone not much younger than you, doesn't mean that I'm not your father! Put that out now!"

Ryan then gave his father the rudest well-known gesture in sign language.

"You rotten little..."

Ryan's father stormed over to him, and Ryan stood up to face him.

"Do you really want to do this?" Ryan asked. "Just remember that I'm not a kid, or a human, anymore, and just because you're my father doesn't mean I won't hesitate to beat the shit outta you!"

"You're getting' into trouble with those big words there, son..."

"You can speak big words when you're a Seraph..."

Ryan tried to control the electricity from flowing out of his hand, but he didn't stop it in time, and a large spark crackled in his right hand. The others did not miss this, and took a step back. The spark turned into a ball of electricity, and floated a few centimeters above Ryan's hand.

"You want to try me now? If you do, then just be prepared to face the pent- up rage of fifteen years of mental abuse from you..."

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Ryan repeated, with a mean laugh. "What do I mean?! You put me through a living hell you called childhood! I used to think that you were a demon from hell sent to torment me for something I did in a past life! I used to ask God all the time why he was doing this to me! Do you know what was the second reason for staying behind back in Bhrams? To get away from you!"

Peter's eyes widened.

"Yes!" Ryan shouted as he continued. "You weren't a father at all! I never considered you one until you started to ease down when I turned twelve! Even then, you were still an asshole!"

"I...I..." Peter stuttered.

"If you want to hit me, go ahead. I can promise you that I will deliver a punch one-hundred times as hard as anything you can..."

"Cut it out!" came the voice of Anna from the kitchen window. "Ryan! Get inside now, and put out that cigarette! Don't make me come down there!"

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Anna, her mother Koiko, Ryan's sister Sara, and Ryan's mother Elizabeth, sat at the dining room table, looking over old family picture albums.

"And see this one? He was about five or so, and...ohhh! He just looked so cute! I had to take the picture!" Ryan's mother pointed fondly at the page in the album, tilting the book so the others could see.

"Hey!" Sara said. "I remember that day! I buried him in the sand so only his head was sticking out! Now THAT was funny."

"Ahhh...well," Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Sara. "If you are referring to your torture of your younger brother, then, yes, that incident actually was quite funny."

"You're right," Anna said. "He does look cute. He would have a fit if he knew I saw this."

Elizabeth chuckled. "Yes. He probably would."

"Oh! What this?" Koiko asked.

"It was his grade school graduation."

"He rook lot shorter."

"Yes. He has grown very tall since then."

"Hey," Anna said, referring to a small sheet of paper in the album. "This is Kanji. He can spell his name in Kanji?"

It was the Kanji character Raiu, with an n Katakana character below it.

"Yeah," Elizabeth said. "He sat in his room for two hours practicing this, until he got it down perfectly. Once he did, we laminated it and placed it in this book."

"It's pretty good."

Suddenly, a shout from outside interrupted them. Everyone went into the kitchen toward the shouting, and Anna was the one to peer out the window into the yard.

Ryan was standing in front of his father with a sparkling ball of electricity in his right hand.

"Yes..." Ryan was shouting. "You weren't a father at all! I never considered you one until you started to ease down when I turned twelve! Even then, you were still an asshole!"

Anna opened the window and poked her head out.

Ryan continued: "If you want to hit me, go ahead. I can promise you that I will deliver a punch one-hundred times as hard as anything you can..."

"Cut it out!" Anna yelled at him "Ryan! Get inside now, and put out that cigarette! Don't make me come down there!"

Ryan looked up at her. "This is between my father and me, not you, Anna!"

"If you go all out on him you'll kill him!"

"Then he'll deserve it! I've been waiting all my life for this! Don't spoil it for me!"

Anna could see that he was about to attack his father, so she quickly concentrated and sent a high-pressure stream of water from her fist at Ryan, who tumbled to the ground with the impact.

"I said stop! Don't make me have to do that again! Come up! Ima!"

Ryan got to his feet, cursing, and walked up the stairs into the house, storming past everyone and up the stairs to the bathroom.

After a few minutes, Anna sighed and walked up the stairs after him. "Okaa- san."

"Hai?"

"Can you handle things down here?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'll probably turn in after I get done talking to him, so good night, I guess."

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Ryan lowered himself into the fresh hot bath and sighed with relief at the temperature of the water. He closed his eyes and lapsed into thought.

'Goddamn him!' Ryan thought. 'That...that son of bitch...I should've fought him a long time ago! Oh...I would just love to beat the livin' crap outta him...'

He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. 'Anna-chan didn't deserve to be yelled at, though. I should have kept my cool with her, even though she doesn't understand what I've had to live through.'

"Gomen nasai, Anna-chan," Ryan said aloud.

He closed his eyes again.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Who is it?!" Ryan snapped.

"It's me," came Anna's voice.

Ryan mentally slapped himself, caught up in his own thoughts as he was. He paused to consider whether to let her in.

"Come in. Lock it behind you."

The door was opened and Anna slowly walked in. "Hey."

"Hey."

Ryan still kept his eyes closed and tilted his head back.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked.

"Family problems."

There were a few seconds of silence.

"Can I join you?" Anna asked. "That is, if you don't mind."

Ryan cracked open one eye. She looked sympathetic. Ryan shrugged and motioned her to come in. "Sure. If you can find the room."

Anna started to undress, but suddenly stopped. A single tear welled up in one eye. Ryan knew that she had never fully recovered from the events back in Dr. Vickers' final lab. She had developed a phobia of undressing in front of anyone, even Ryan.

"Anna," Ryan said, "you don't have to if it still brings back the memories."

"No," she declared, her voice shaky. "If I can't sleep with you, or even undress in front of you now, then how can I later? No, I've got to get over this..."

She continued to remove her clothes, trying to hold back the memories and the tears. When she was done, she simply stood there, hiding her face. Just as Ryan was about to say something, she stepped in the bathtub and found a place in front of him. Ryan clasped his arms around her just over her big stomach, and they stayed like that until Anna calmed down a few minutes later. He noticed that all of her bruises and most of her cuts had healed. Obviously, the emotional damage was far from cured.

"I know that you wouldn't hurt me," Anna said. "But...I just can't stop it...I can't block the memories..."

"I'm here for you, neh? Nothing bad is gonna happen."

"I know."

"Jeez," Ryan commented in a way to break the tension. "You've gotten heavier in the last few months."

To his relief, she agreed, her voice no longer shaky.

"Well, I'm eight months along," Anna said, then splashing a bit of water into his face, she said, smiling, "And watch what you say, next time. I may not be as merciful."

Ryan chuckled. "Very well. I'm sorry, mein Capitan."

Anna's smile deepened at his sarcasm. "That's much better."

Ryan lay back against the tub, with Anna leaning into his shoulder. After a long silence, Anna turned her head.

"Ryan-kun?"

"Hmmm?"

"What happened out there?"

Ryan paused. "I...I joined the guys outside. I sat next to your father, and lit a cigarette--"

"You should go back on the patch again."

"I'm workin' on it. Anyway, my father told me to put out my cigarette, and I just suddenly exploded at him with all this stored-up hatred I have against him." Ryan's voice cracked a little. "It was scary. A whole bunch of things that I remembered, and some that I had forgotten, just resurfaced, and...I wanted to kill him, Anna. I wanted to actually kill him for all that he had done. Kill him with my bare hands. My own father..."

Anna brushed his face with her palm. "It's okay. While my own experiences can't compare to what he did to you, it was good that you let your feelings out. Otherwise, it would have eaten you out from the inside. If you were to try to kill him, I would jump in and stop you, and you know that."

"Yeah, that's one reason that I despise myself right now. I would probably have been in such a violent rage, that if you had let me go on for just a few more seconds, I would have lost all restraint, with no concern for anyone's safety. Even if you did try, I would hurt you, and that would be breaking my promise..."

Anna didn't have a response. She just simply snuggled up closer to him.

"I...I won't let anything bad happen to you, Anna...or our children...I still keep that promise in check...I still want your love..."

"You still have it, and you always will."

Ryan grinned as a quotation popped into his head.

"'Next to God, we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth having.' C. Nestell Bovee."

"'Take love away from life, and you take away its pleasures.' Molière." responded Anna.

"Ow...good one...uh...let me think here...Ah! 'Alas! The love of women! It is known to be truly a lovely and fearful thing.' Lord Byron."

Anna seemed to rack her brain for another quote, and while she was thinking, Ryan had another saying ready: "'I do not love him because he is good, but because he is my little child.' Rabindranath Tagore."

"'It is dangerous to confuse children with angels.' David Patrick Maxwell Fyfe."

Ryan thought, but nothing came to mind that could beat that.

"'Men and women call one another inconstant, and accuse one another of having changed their minds, when, God knows, they have but changed the object of their eye, and have seen a better white or red.' John Donne."

"Okay. You got me there."

Anna chuckled.

"I was surprised that you even knew that many. I thought you didn't pay any attention in that Logic and Theory class."

Ryan shrugged. "I opened my ears once in awhile."

Anna turned her head to face him. "Can you promise me that you'll talk to him?"

"Fine. I'll talk to him, but I can't promise you anything."

"Ah!" Anna exclaimed as she held her stomach, giggling. "They're kicking! They've been doing that a lot lately."

"Well, you're due in a few weeks. I bet they're just dying to come out."

Anna paused for a moment.

[You bet we are,] they both heard Adrian say.

They both looked over to the side of the tub and saw Adrian standing there, smiling. Ryan and Anna scrambled to cover themselves.

"Go away!" Ryan said, restraining his voice. "Now!"

[Oh, come on. You don't have to be embarrassed.]

"Adrian!" Anna said. "Please! Go!"

[Okay, sheesh!]

Once Adrian faded from view, they both closed their eyes and once again relaxed in the warmth of the water.

"You know," Ryan said, "we should take a bath while this opportunity presents itself."

"Okay, but I go first."

Ryan smiled jauntily. "Fine with me," he said.

Ryan reached for the shampoo bottle. He wetted Anna's hair, squirted shampoo on his hand, and then gently yet with just the right firmness scrubbed her hair. Anna closed her eyes and let Ryan's fingers massage the worry out of her day.

"I was hoping you would say that," she breathed, stretching like a cat.

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A few days later...



LAX airport was always busy, but the Chicago flight seemed especially so to Ryan and Anna.

Anna and Ryan stood in front of their respective families, saying their good-byes. When they had finished with their own kin, they went to the other family and did the same.

"You know," Sara commented to Anna. "I've only known you for about a week, but I already know that you're a great person. Ryan's got himself a really good girl -- no, woman. Watch my little bro for me, okay?"

"Yes," Elizabeth agreed. "You're a wonderful woman, Anna Yamaguchi. I'm sure that you must make Ryan very happy. Promise me that you'll treat him right."

Anna nodded.

"Anna..." said Peter. "My...my views are the same as those of my family, so, I just must ask you one favor."

"Sure. What is it?"

Ryan's father paused for a moment, scratching his head.

"After you're in the air...tell Ryan...that I'm really sorry for what I did to him these past few years, and that no matter what he does...I'm proud of him."

Judging by the look of relief on his face, Anna could tell that Peter found it hard to say things like this.

Anna smiled. "I'll be sure to pass along that message."

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Ryan stared at Anna's family, not really knowing what to say.

"Can you speak, Raian-san?" Koiko asked.

"I...gomen nasai, Koiko-sama. I...just don't really know how to start."

"How many-eh times do I tell you? Call me Okaa-san," Koiko said. "I will miss you, Raian-san. You very kind these past days. You even show signs you turning Japanese!"

Ryan chuckled nervously.

"Ryan-san," said Masahiro. "You have shown to be deserving of my sister's love, and thus, my acceptance. She has someone who can protect her with his life now. Someone I can trust. I will deeply regret our parting for the time being. Until we meet again?"

"Hai, Masa-sama. Mata o-ai-suru hi made."

Masahiro and Ryan bowed deeply, and Yasunori was next to speak.

"Ryan," he said. "As Masa-san has said, you have been proven to be deserving of my acceptance. Therefore, I hereby recognize you as my future son-in-law. I know that we will meet again. Until then."

Ryan's face colored deeply as the family bowed to him, which he had to politely return with most probably the deepest bow in his entire life.

'He gave me permission for marriage?!' Ryan thought. 'Jesus! We thought we'd wait until we were at least 25...'

"Yasunori-sama," Ryan said, his head still bowed, feeling deeply embarrassed. He tried to sound as Japanese as possible in his next sentence. "Watashiwa kono yo na meiyo o ukeru shkiaku wa arimasen."

"Do ita shimashite, Raian-san," replied Yasunori.

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Ryan and Anna, with their carry-on luggage dangling from Ryan's hands, strolled up to the walkway that led to the plane, then turned around once more and bowed. Anna's family bowed back, and Ryan's family waved.

After a struggle to get to their seats through the aisle traffic, they were finally buckling their seat straps. After a few minutes there was the sudden jolt, then the smooth disconnection from the earth and the accompanying tingling feeling in the stomach that was take-off.

Once they were safely five-thousand feet in the air, Anna decided to tell Ryan what his father told her.

"Hey, Ryan-kun."

"Yes?"

"Your father wanted me to pass this message on to you: 'I'm sorry for what I've done to you in the past few years, and I'll always be proud of you.'"

Ryan's expression remained firm, but Anna could sense surprise and maybe even regret behind his face. Sensing this, she linked her hand with his.

"It'll be okay," she reassured him. "You'll get along with him some day, I just know it."

Ryan looked out the port window for a moment.

"I know that our lives will be filled with hardships," Ryan said as he turned back to Anna. "But I know that our family will make it, and do just great. I just know it."

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Epilogue





Four years later, December 18, 2006...



Ryan stood over a large blue duffel bag, stuffing in spare changes of clothing and a little food, along with ammo and his guns. He had just managed to place his Mossberg 500 12-gauge shotgun in it by twisting off its barrel. He and Anna had been living in an apartment building near the campus of the University of Chicago, where they were currently attending college.

"What are you doing?" A familiar female voice came from behind him. "What's with all the guns? How did you manage to get them?"

Without looking up from his work, Ryan replied. "I had them stored away."

"And what are you doing with them?"

Ryan turned around to face the voice. Anna stood there, looking stern with her hands were on her hips, but her tone giving away her worry.

"Umbrella. It's time to end all of this."

"What?!" Anna exclaimed. "What do you mean?! We have a family now, Ryan! We can't go back into this!"

"I have no choice. I have to be there. The others are preparing for the final blow to the jugular."

"Of course you have a choice! You can stay home with us! And what about your studies?"

"It's winter break, in case you haven't noticed."

"Please Ryan-kun, just don't do this!"

"Like I said, I have no choice. They need all the help they can get. If we can get this last lab, then we can turn up all the evidence we need against Umbrella! And with all the funds they'll lose, and have lost, they won't be able to cover this one up!"

"But...what if you die, huh? Then what? What do I tell our kids?"

"Then I died as a martyr for the right cause."

"How can you say that?!"

"Have you heard the saying, 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'?"

"Even if it's for your own family?"

"It is for our family! If Umbrella isn't destroyed, they'll eventually come after us, and if not us, then our children. If not them, then their children. They know what we are, Anna."

Anna didn't respond.

"Look, we've been out of action since right after the kids were born," Ryan said. "That's like, what, four years? They've done so much for us. It's time we repay the favor. Besides, we both have our own reasons to destroy Umbrella."

"So this is some sort of revenge for what they did to us?"

"That's part of it, yes. BUT, the main reasons are that I'm doing this for everyone on this planet, and I want to make us a place in the world. After that stunt that you pulled at the hospital four years ago--"

"A stunt that saved your life, I might add," Anna interrupted.

Ryan continued on as if nothing had happened. "--the whole world has known who, and most importantly, what we are."

Ryan paused to let the words sink in. When he continued, his voice had a slight edge to it.

"Have you walked down the street lately?" he said. "Have you seen the looks our children get? The looks we get? Have you seen people curve out of our way? Run from us? With the exception of our friends, everyone looks at us like we're some sort of monsters! Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about; you've felt it, too. If we can show the world that we can do good, that we're not out to kill everyone, I'm sure they'll accept us."

"I...I just wish that Umbrella hadn't interfered with our lives. We've seen and experienced things that no one ever should."

"Hold on a second there," Ryan said sternly. "True, we've seen some pretty nasty stuff, but think about it. If I had gone with my parents into hiding, or if you didn't decide to become a Seraph, if Chris hadn't convinced everyone that we should go to Carlton to get away from Umbrella, then we wouldn't have met, and therefore, we wouldn't be blessed with Adrian and Nozomi."

"But..."

"I'm leaving, and that's final."

"Do you want me to give you another reason to stay?"

"Sure, but unless you're going to die of a disease or something," Ryan said as he turned for the door, "I'm still going."

"I can't give you one. Just...Dozo, Ryan-kun...I want to be there with you."

Ryan paused for a long time, debating. Taking a deep breath, he responded. "I...I...still...can't stay. Sorry...Anna-chan..."

Ryan continued in his walk for the door.

"Wait, Ryan-kun!"

"What?"

"If you're going to go off and probably get yourself killed," Anna said, "then at least take me with you."

"What?! Hell, no!"

"If you're going to be in danger, then I want to be there with you."

"I don't want anything to happen to you!"

"I can take care of myself."

"Still--"

"Shut up, Davidson. I'm coming whether you like it or not. I hope you still have that Colt .45 of mine."

"What about the kids?"

"I guess we'll have to take them with us."

"WHAT! Do you know what you're saying?!"

"Yes, I do, but it would be the same risk if we left them with one of our relatives. This way, we don't place others of our families in danger, and we can at least protect the twins ourselves."

Ryan paused and looked deep into her eyes. Finally, sighing, he went on. "Okay, what about target practice? I've been going to the ranges, but you haven't."

"Oh, yes I have."

"Otoo-san! Okaa-san!" came the voice of Nozomi from down the hall.

The next moment later, their children came barging through the doorway, big smiles on their faces. They leaped into their parents' arms, Nozomi into Ryan's, and Adrian into Anna's.

"Where you goin'?" Adrian asked.

"...Uh...we're...we're going on a vacation for awhile."

"So go pack up your things, okay?" Anna said.

"Hai!" they both called out cheerfully, running for their rooms, laughing all the way.

"One thing that I just don't want to do is tell them what they really are..." Ryan said mournfully. "Like us, they're Seraphs, whether they like it or not. Every day when they're near me, I can sense their Seraph powers starting to grow. At this rate, they'll probably be able to use their abilities by the time they're eight."

Anna embraced him around his waist from behind and spoke in his ear softly. "It'll be okay, you'll see."

Ryan clasped his hands over hers. "Our children..." Ryan mused. "The children of the Seraphs..."









And so, the threat of complete Seraphication of the human race and the slaughter of millions of people was avoided thanks not only to the labors of Leon Kennedy, Claire and Chris Redfield, and Sherry Birkin, but also to the efforts of the infamous Seraphs, Ryan Joseph Davidson and Anna Yamaguchi.

Though they didn't exactly live normal lives until Umbrella was brought to justice, they did have good times. The day that Umbrella was taken down, marked a new meaning of celebration to the brave souls that dared to risk their lives for the future of the human race, and for those that suffered at the hands of the corporate giant. Even though it took the world a few years to realize what Umbrella really was, and who was responsible for its destruction, they were eventually given recognition for what they did. They will forever live in the annals of history.





Fin





Damn...43 pages of RTF format...forget about chapter eight of The Seraphs. This is the largest document I have ever written.



Author's note: I live by the motto that without his/her editors a writer is just some crazed lunatic typing/writing out incoherent phrases, putting them together in a jumble, and then call it 'writing.' So, my biggest thanks go out to my editors. F. Buckley for being there since day one, helping me all the way. Mayumi_H, for her absolute wonderful copyediting and Japanese translations. Catalina for beta reading, the art, and finding all those little mistakes that make a difference. Red_Kat 9 for the beta reading and moral support. Sorry I could never fix that spacing problem until late : ).





Draft: 7/19/01 (12:37AM)

Final: 9/19/02 (4:32PM)

Ja matta ne!