Author's Note : Whew, I can't believe that i typed all this out at ONE go... Anyways, sorry once again for the long wait! (was the wait that long? I sure hope not...) Seriously, does anyone hate college for the amount of work they give you? In Singapore, junior college (JC) TONS of homework and studying...!

Ok, no disclaimers for me. This is an original piece of work that I typed out on my own free time!

AND, once again, please Read and Review!

Chapter 9 : Soul of a Tyrant

There was a constant buzzing in Julian's ears. He groaned, his vision completely dark and his body unusually numb. He strained to open his droopy eyelids, to get even a glimpse of his surroundings.

He remembered being in the room with his father, talking to him, feeling the overwhelming sense of joy at seeing his father again. He could also never forget the look on his father's face, a cross between relief and fear. But why would his father be afraid of seeing his son again?

The thought of his father, and of getting back-stabbed by an unknown assailant, shook Julian back to his senses. Rubbing his head, he tried to get up slowly. By now his vision had partially restored, and he found himself facing the familiar dull-coloured, metallic wall. His head was still throbbing, but still good enough for him to realize that at least, he was not taken away from the compound.

A buzzing sound floated into his ears from behind him. Julian forced his aching body into motion, slowly turning around and getting into a sitting position.

"Ah, I see you've awoken at last. Didn't know a small dose of anaesthetic could knock you out for so long."

As Julian's eyes focused onto the row of computers at the end of the room, he could see a figure standing there. It was blurry at first, but what struck Julian as odd was the familiar voice.

Have I met this person before…? Or, could he actually be…

"You…You're not… Andrew's father, are you?" Julian stammered.

"Course I am. Seems like you haven't been keeping up with your relatives…" Philip replied, still facing the computer screens.

The truth struck Julian in his face with the force of a bomb. It was Philip who had taken his father hostage, had gotten his father injured to such a major extent. Philip, the father of his best friend. When he had known Philip in the past, he was always a kind man, extremely caring towards his only son. But now, seeing Philip standing there, against the flashing screens, he looked as if he really lost his mind, his sanity.

Julian slowly stood up, his legs shaking violently from the numb feeling. Whatever Philip had up his sleeve, it was definitely not going to be good. Philip turned around, a completely blank expression on his face. They simply stared at each other for a few seconds, before Philip spoke, in a more sinister tone.

"Julian, do you know how much your greedy father took from me?" Julian thought he spotted Philip's fist trembling slightly.

"What…what are you trying to s-?"

"He took EVERYTHING from me! That position as the Head of the Viral Research Sector should've been mine... I had the necessary materials to impress even the top figures!" Philip shouted, unable to control his anger.

Julian stood rooted to the spot. "Just because of that, you did this to him…? That's quite childish, if you think about it."

"Shut up!" Philip spat, pointing a finger at Julian. "You have no idea how much I wanted that position…"

At this point, Julian could already see the madness flashing from Philip's eyes. It was as clear as daylight. This man had gone insane over a petty promotion, but the fact that he was venting his anger out on Julian himself made him extremely nervous. He slowly inched backwards.

"Where do you think you're going? Don't you want to see my ultimate creation?"

"Yeah, sure, it'll be extremely marvelous because a madman created it…" Julian replied, sarcastically, deliberately smirking. Whatever respect he had for this man was gone somewhere between the time he woke up and where he was standing now.

The comment did pierce Philip like a needle. He grumbled loudly as he stepped back and pushed a button. The door beside him slid open, and out stepped a hulking figure. Due to the shadows and the glare of the computer screens, Julian could not make out anything besides the incredibly long claws on its left arm.

"Everyone at headquarters likes to call beings like these a 'Tyrant', but I'm sure you can come up with a better name." Philip said.

"What…do you mean?"

Completely ignoring Julian's reply, Philip continued. "How about…Leo?"

Julian stared at Philip, completely dumbfounded. Why the hell would Philip associate such a monster with his cousin?

Unless………

He turned back to the Tyrant, praying with all his heart that it wasn't true. Leo had gone overseas, far away from here. He lead a happy life, telling Julian almost everything in the letters he wrote. Later, he was caught up in work so he couldn't write back. He couldn't…

But as the Tyrant stepped into the light, his fears became reality. He did care about the crazed Philip standing by the computers, he didn't think about how his father, or his friends, was currently doing. All he could focus on was the monstrous humanoid in front of him that was once his cousin.

The facial features were unchanged, only his hair was now as white as snow. Standing eight foot tall, the Tyrant lumbered towards Julian, his expression blank. Julian shakily took a step back, not wanting to believe what he was looking at. It was Leo, but at the same time, it was not. The weight of the dog tags around his neck suddenly increased ten-fold, and he clutched at it. All this time, Leo had been a victim to Philip's experiments.

Behind the Tyrant, Philip was enjoying the trauma he was causing Julian. He had absolutely no chance against his creation. He had worked on it himself, supervised all the injections and training that the Tyrant, or rather, Leo had to undergo. It was too bad that Steven was lying unconscious in another room, otherwise he would have double the enjoyment.

"Alright, enough gawking. Kill him already…" Philip said with a casual wave of his hand.

"You sick bastard, how could you-"

However, Julian could not finish his sentence, for he had to duck the oncoming swipe of Leo's claws. He rolled along the ground, looking up only to see Leo pulling his claws out of the wall. The screeching of metal did little to soothe Julian's fears. He was trapped in a room with his cousin who had no idea what he was doing, and a madman who was standing in the corner eating popcorn, watching the entire scene like some kind of sick horror flick.

Julian made a mad dash for Philip. If he could knock him out, then perhaps he could find something on Philip that he could use. A remote to open the locked doors, or even a cure for Leo. But the chances for finding such a miracle item was bleak.

Philip just stood there, unmoved even after seeing Julian heading straight for him. Julian drew his right arm back, about to deliver a powerful hook to Philip's smirking face, when he was knocked off his feet. He flew across the room, crashing into the wall and landing hard on his shoulder.

Leo was there, standing in front of Philip.

Damn, he's fast…How am I going to get out of this mess!

Julian only managed to get into a crouching position before Leo was directly over him, bringing his claws down in a blurred motion. Julian skidded to the side, stood up, and thrust his right leg forward into Leo's gut, wanting to buy some time by at least staggering him. But due to Leo's enhanced reflexes, he caught Julian's leg with his human arm, and once again, Julian found himself being thrown against the opposite wall. His entire body was aching, his vision spinning slightly, but he could not give up. Not now.

Apparently, that was easier said than done. A massive shadow covered Julian and he didn't need to look up to see, but tried to roll away. He was, however, not fast enough. A sharp pain shot through Julian's left leg as Leo's claws pierced cleanly through his bone and into the metal floor.

He remembered that he screamed, even louder as Leo yanked his claws back out. He could see blood pouring down his leg, staining the floor. Julian crawled, as fast as he could, away from Leo, and struggled to get up. But every bit of movement brought new pain to his body.

Then, in another blurring movement, Leo charged at him again. With an injured leg, all Julian could do was throw himself backwards, hoping to evade the oncoming attack. It was to no avail, and Leo's claws sliced neatly across his chest, leaving behind three tears with three red lines that started to leak blood out, slowly.

Julian fell onto the floor. He wanted to get back up, didn't want to admit defeat, but his body simply did not allow him to. The loss of blood was getting to him. He felt his strength flowing away, as fast as the blood was pouring out of his wound.

This time, he knew it was all going to be over.

The next thing he felt, was a strong hand gripping onto his neck, lifting him into the air. He opened his tired eyes and found himself staring into Leo's blank eyes. His grip around Julian's neck tightened, and he raised his claws, preparing to impale Julian. Behind, Philip could almost feel himself trembling from excitement, to see his creation deal the final blow.

All of a sudden, Leo released Julian from his grip, and he fell onto the floor, on his already injured leg. The sharp pain shot him slightly back to his senses, but all he could hear was a loud roaring. Julian looked up, and saw Leo clutching his head and thrashing to and fro, as if suffering from a massive headache.

There was a soft tingling sound, coming from directly below Julian. He looked down, and saw that at some point, the dog tags around his neck had fallen out. The piece of metal now hung loosely around his neck, resting against the metal floor.

Julian looked from the dog tags, to Leo's thrashing figure, instantly realizing what had happened.

X-------X-------X

It had the human in its grasp. The human could no longer do any more fancy dodging moves. It could get rid of this annoying human once and for all. It obeyed its master, raised its claws, dreading for the end of this human who was foolish enough to stand before it. It was the ultimate creature, the strongest and most durable among everything else in the world. There was nothing that could compare to its awesome strength.

A tiny, metallic thing fell out of the human's neck, swaying slightly. It did not know why, but somehow it was drawn to it, and it could not prevent itself from looking at it. On the metallic thing was written only one thing.

Leo Linz.

At once, a throbbing pain shot itself through its head. It dropped the human and clutched its head, roaring from the pain. Flashbacks of a past it did not know came into its mind, and at once it knew what was happening.

The human inside it was reawakening.

Leo ran up to Julian's room, practically crashing through the door and almost scaring Julian out of his seat.

"I did it! I got the job! Can you believe it, they actually accepted me!" Leo exclaimed in between pants. It wasn't caused by the short run from the living room up to Julian's room, but more by the excitement coursing through his mind.

Julian stood up, obviously dumbfounded. "They…they did? Holy shit, that's great!"

Both of them laughed, but it wasn't long before the hidden truth made itself known to Julian.

"Thing is," Leo continued, his smile fading away as quickly as it appeared. "I have to leave tomorrow…"

An eerie silence fell on the two. "Really…? To where?"

"They gave me a position in their headquarters, and that is in Europe…" Leo replied, his voice trailing off.

He could never forget the look on his cousin's face. That painful expression of being separated from a close person. Leo could say no more, and just gave a nod of his head and walked out of the room. He recalled that later that night, while he was packing his belongings, that Julian's room was awfully silent. Usually, sounds of fighting would emanate from his room as Julian liked to play fighting games on his PlayStation. The sudden silence slightly frightened Leo. He stopped packing, and went up to his room.

He creaked the door open and peeked inside. Julian was lying on his bed, reading a book, completely calm. Leo heaved a sigh of relief and closed the door. What he did not see was the single tear that was slowly inching down Julian's face.

They were extremely close cousins. Leo had decided to permanently stay with Julian, after the incident with his parents. They had abused him, and Leo could take no more of it and ran away from home. He remembered, on a rainy night, banging on Julian's door, seeing Julian's shocked expression as he stared at his bruised cousin.

Later, Leo's parents demanded that Leo be returned, but he refused. They filed charges against Julian. But with the help of Julian's parents and their connections, they won after many weeks of trials. Since then, Leo completely cut himself off from his parents. Leo, and Julian's family, moved off to another location, away from his prison of childhood trauma.

It was the day of his flight. They were all gathered at the airport. Leo and Julian shook hands for the final time and just as Leo started to walk through the departure gates, he turned back and put his hands up to his neck, removing the set of dog tags he always wore. He passed it onto Julian, said only one sentence, then turned back and walked through the gates.

"Hey, this is for you. Keep it safe, so that you'll always know that I'll be alright!"

But he was betrayed. The position they gave him in White Umbrella, the money they promised him, it had all been a lie. They only wanted to use his body as a guinea pig, as a test for their newest discovery, the T-Virus. He could not do anything but watch as his mind faded away, replaced by the savage mind of a killing machine. However, somehow part of his mind managed to remain intact. Too small to be noticed, but it was still there, sleeping, waiting to make its comeback.

And now, thanks to the help of the dog tags around Julian's neck, it triggered the reawakening of that small fraction of his human mind. Philip had overseen this, apparently too obsessed with his experiments and had missed out on this particular aspect. They Tyrant in him was weakening, and his human side was getting stronger.

Until finally, he was Leo again.

He looked down at his body, amazed and frightened at how much they changed his body. The blood-stained claws embedded into his left arm shocked him out of his senses.

What…what did they do to me…?

He heard and saw movement from the corner of his eye, and saw Julian, his cousin whom he had not seen for so long, being whacked in his face by some scientist. Leo did not know who the scientist was, but the Umbrella logo on his shirt spoke all for itself. He stood up and dashed towards the scientist.

Umbrella had hurt him, and he wasn't going to let them hurt anyone else, especially his cousin.

X-------X-------X

It was so close to ending Julian's life, Philip did not know why the Tyrant began roaring in pain and thrashing about. Had he overlooked something during the course of the experiment?

Impossible! Everything was perfectly planned…

He then saw Julian looking down at something around his neck, and at once realized that it was his doing. Julian had ruined his marvelous creation. How he did it, Philip did not care. His raging anger had gotten the better of him and he stormed up to Julian.

"You bastard! What did you do to it!" Philip yelled, grabbing Julian by his collar.

"Get off me! I didn't…" Julian shouted weakly, pushing at Philip's face.

"Stop lying!" Philip slammed Julian against the wall and grabbed the metallic necklace around Julian's neck. "You used this, didn't you?"

Julian grasped Philip's hand, preventing him from yanking the dog tags off of his neck. He was willing to use up the rest of his strength to stop this madman from taking away the one thing he treasured.

This only angered Philip even more, and he used his free hand to punch Julian in his face. Julian felt blood trickle down from his nose, but did not loosen his grip on the dog tags. Another punch to his gut, and Julian began to feel his grip weakening.

But what happened next was completely unexpected.

Leo grabbed Philip's shoulder, spun him around, and drove his claws cleanly through Philip's body.

Philip's eyes widened in horror. He opened his mouth to scream in pain, but all that came out was a sick gurgling sound.

My…my own creation…How………

Everything else went black as Philip thought no more. Leo swung his arm and threw Philip's body into the corner. Within moments, a pool of blood formed around Philip's body.

Julian didn't care about the state Philip's body was in. He had slumped against the wall when Leo pulled Philip away from him, had seen Philip getting stabbed. And now Leo was looking down at him.

Leo opened his mouth, tried to say something, anything, and immediately doubled over and began coughing and hacking. Soon, he coughed out a thick blob of slime, which landed on the floor with a sickening 'SPLAT!'.

Julian stared at Leo as he opened his mouth again, and out came the voice that he hadn't heard for months.

"Ju…Julian…"

X-------X-------X

A/N : Alright alright. Now I know you all think this chapter sounds rather cheesy and cliched, but it's necessary for the story to continue on. So please don't see me in a bad light!

Now you see the reason why i want you all to read and REVIEW?