Hiya loyal readers (let's admit it, you have to be loyal to get to this chapter) thank you for reviewing.

Sacharja - Uh, the story will be continuing to swap between worlds, but yes I am getting back to the point of the story.

And this is a very long chapter, even by my standards.

Chapter 6

Jill ran down the corridor after Billy as she saw him turn a corner, heading to the reception room. "Billy!" she called and continued to run. She rounded the corner and saw Billy standing, waiting for her, hand on hip.

"What's with the running?….I was only walking slowly"

"I wanted to make sure you were OK"

"Yeah, I am. A little irritated over the bromine comment but…I've gotten so used to them" he shrugged at her to indicate he wasn't bothered.

"You seemed so angry at him"

"I am, and I'm also rational enough not to do anything about it. I'm concerned about Chris though. He said something about talking to Carlos"

"Oh God" Jill lowered her head, covering her eyes with her hand.

Leon, Claire and Rebecca turned the corner and stopped by Billy and Jill.

"Have you seen Chris?" Jill asked anxiously

"No…he hung back, but I'm sure he'll be here soon" Leon answered glancing behind him.

"We have to go back and make sure he hasn't done anything to Carlos…you know how he is"

Leon winced. He knew exactly how Chris was when he was being protective over a friend or family member….which happened to be most of the time.

About 8 years ago, Leon and Claire had started seeing each other and when Chris found out, he was not best pleased. He had dragged Leon off to the side from the group a couple of days later, where he threatened Leon, and emphasised his point by kicking him a couple of times. A while after that there had been a misunderstanding between Claire and Leon, leading to them both being very upset. Chris had made good on his promise to Leon, reducing him to a small, quivering puddle on the floor. Almost anyway, but Leon had needed several stitches from a wound on his head and it had taken Jill, Carlos and Barry to pry Chris off Leon.

Claire sympathetically patted Leon on the back, knowing what he was thinking about. "I'll go and get him" she offered "He's more likely to listen to me anyway"

"There's no need Claire, I'm right here"

"Chris" Jill drawled suspiciously "what have you said to Carlos?"

"Not much….just congratulated him for a job well done, other than getting shot…why?"

"No reason" Jill turned, then looked back over her shoulder "Are we going to Leon's?"

"Unless Leon has a problem with that, yes" Chris answered

"Leon doesn't have a problem with that…but he thinks that Claire does" Leon responded

"Why is Leon referring to himself in the third person?" Claire asked, raising an eyebrow

"Leon doesn't know" he shrugged and walked away "Come on, back to our place" Leon gestured for them to follow. Seeing the slightly concerned look on Billy's face, at his behaviour, he added in a baby-talk type voice "we have alcohol".

Claire and the rest of the group stared bemusedly as Billy sprinted down the corridor and out of sight. Leon glanced back at them and offered a small smile before chasing Billy down.

Sighing simultaneously the remains of the troop meandered down the winding corridors of the hospital, taking a full twenty minutes to reach the car, Leon and Billy, who by now was frantically jumping up and down in the passenger seat of the car and shouting that he wanted alcohol. Leon, for his part, was trying to get him to shut up by swatting him with a pack of cloths that he used to clean the windscreen. Chris sauntered over to the window and knocked on it, startling the two men out of their small scale argument. Leon grinned apologetically and motioned for them to get in the back of the car.

Jill, Rebecca and Claire slid in to the back seat of the car, sitting uncomfortably squashed. Looking at her husband, Claire called "Leon…there's no room for Chris"

"I can solve that" Billy stated "This car's an estate….Chris can sit in the trunk" Leon looked over at Billy then grinned at his brother-in-law "Go on"

Chris stalked off to the back of the car and then climbed in, frowning and muttering as he did so, then sat glaring at Billy jokingly as Leon reversed out of the parking space and drove back to his and Claire's apartment.

It was an hour later before the Umbrella-bashing entourage got into the apartment and flopped down onto the sofa and chairs whilst Leon went to make coffee. He reappeared a moment later and sat down by his wife who was staring at Billy, talking to the birds in the corner.

"Hey Billy, get here, you've got more important people to talk to than those lot, how about us lot" Leon stated, leaning back into the cushions of the sofa.

"Arggg, shut up Leon!" Savyna, the Hylian Night Star, called from the cage, donning her 'Zelda' voice and lecturing him, as the princess herself had once done, about manner and etiquette.

"Shhh!" Billy hissed at her before sitting on a cushion on the floor. "Where's the alcohol?" he asked Claire, looking at her hopefully.

"Later, Billy" she scolded

Chris began to explain to Leon what had gone wrong.

Wesker's office was situated in the North West area of the HCF compound, which the group had gone to in order to get information, in a small office block where the highest members at that particular compound have their offices. His office was on the furthest side, next to the wire fence, and the hardest to get into through legitimate security clearance.

Chris and the others merely ignored the option of going in through the front of the building, the normal entrance because 1. They didn't have security clearance and 2. The office took so long to find and get to that they had every chance of being seen by one of the other members of staff at the HCF compound.

Therefore, they had found out the location of Wesker's office some weeks prior, gained information on the codes they could perhaps need to get around the small block and found out when any guards might happen to wander past there.

Once this info was gained the planning had begun and they had devised a fool-proof plan. Unfortunately this 'fool-proof' plan had to be proved not to be 'fool proof' by the resident fool 'Carlos'. (Some good 'fooling' in there don't you think)

The plan had been simple enough, after finding out when Aaron and Wesker's meeting was they had prepared and left. They had climbed through a window at the furthest end of the building that was close to Wesker's office (which no one came to under any circumstances, lest they have a death wish). Once there, they had watched from around a corner until Aaron had gone into the room, and then listened through the door to the conversation from inside, taping it for further use.

The plan had been to get out of there the second they heard the chairs move back as the occupants of the room got up. Carlos, however, had been as cocky as ever and had insisted they watch what was going on. He had crouched by the door, watching through the gap at the scene, and then frantically scrabbled away when he had seen Aaron head to the door.

Aaron had left the room and immediately caught the scent of the intruders, and chased them down. When the fighting had began, Wesker had strolled out of his office, just in time to see Carlos being shot as the group dragged him through the window.

Thus, Carlos was in hospital with a shot wound in his chest.

"So…what did we actually find out?" Leon asked

"Mainly, just a few things. Number one" Chris began "Wesker and his 'buddy' have released a virus into two alternate worlds. These are, uh….Hyrule and what they are calling test subject world one…the world of the Soul Calibur warriors. We don't know the name of the virus yet"

"How is this affecting the people though?" Leon leaned forwards, pale faced at the thought of his friends in danger. It was Rebecca that answered. "Various ways, but because of the portal between the two worlds, the mutations have speeded up…the change in universe is acting as a catalyst, and so is the sword in the Soul people's world. Any relic or such in the world of Hyrule could act like this as well, providing there's some biological material in it."

Leon thought for a moment then muttered out loud to himself "the Triforce"

"The what?" Billy asked

"Triforce," Leon repeated and then continued to explain "The Triforce is the basis of Hyrule's, and probably the rest of that world's, providence. It's a religious symbol, a relic left behind by the three goddesses that created Hyrule. It contains the essence of the god's, which, presumably is organic, despite the fact it comes from a deity"

"So it's important, huh?" Jill questioned, head tilted

"Incredibly. The Triforce is what Link, Zelda and the Sages have protected from their enemy Ganondorf. That's Link's job as the Hero of Time, to protect the Triforce, that's why he holds a piece of it. If the Triforce is somehow infected, either through Link or otherwise, then it could cause mutations like in the Soul warrior's world."

"That is not good" Chris commented "Especially considering that the creatures have already started mutating and if those freaks, Wesker and Aaron, carry out their plan for fun then…" he trailed off, causing Leon to look at him

"Plan for fun? What are they doing?"

Chris gulped slightly and looked to the others as if to ask whether he should tell him. They nodded and he cast his eyes to the floor and answered "Zelda is pregnant…and they want to see if they can infect the child"

"Then we have to get to Hyrule and warn them"

"We? I have no desire to go there with my fiancée in hospital. I'm sure Zelda is in no danger" Rebecca spat, an uncharacteristic hint of sarcasm and malice in her voice directed at Hyrule.

The group stared at her and she glared back at them angrily for a moment then dropped her eyes.

"Perhaps you should go on your own then Leon, and bring those who are fit to do something about it back here" Claire suggested, looking at her husband. Leon nodded his approval.

"Leave early in the morning then…we'll wait for you to come back here with a few if you get them to come."

With that, the group agreed, wishing each other goodnight and dispersing to where they were assigned to sleep.

Billy woke up late the next morning, head throbbing, and from his position from half-way fallen off the sofa, he could see everyone was up and keeping themselves amused somehow.

'Geez, and I didn't even touch the alcohol last night' he thought and grasped his head, watching the others.

Rebecca seemed to be in an improved mood this morning and was lying on the floor, having Jill paint her nails, whilst she flicked through a magazine. She was still in an unkempt state though, so he guessed she has only been up a little while, hell, the woman was still in her pyjamas.

Chris sat talking to someone, and it took Billy a moment to realise that Barry had arrived. He had been taking care of Sora for the past couple of days whilst the group carried out their plans. Leon, having been working late all week, had been unable to care for her.

The little 4 year old girl, Sora, was now sitting on her mother's lap, in the arm chair, talking excitedly about some cartoon show or something.

There wasn't, however, any sign of Leon. 'Guess he must have left already, dammnit!' He had wanted to see him off.

Shrugging slightly and stretching Billy sat up and rubbed his eyes, instantly drawing attention to himself.

"Well, sleeping beauty, looks like the prince has finally awakened you" Chris commented from his place by the glass coffee table in the centre of the room.

"Uumph"

"Uncle Chris, don't be silly, Uncle Billy isn't a princess…he's not even a girl" Sora commented, glaring at her uncle whilst the adults in the room tried to stifle a laugh.

"I'm sorry, Sora, you're right" he smiled at her softly

"That's Ok" she smiled back and went back to talking to her mother.

Billy smirked across at the slightly younger man and, wrapping the blanket he had been using around his body, made his way into the bathroom to shower.

Leon wandered around the park leisurely, keeping an eye open for the slight white glow that would alert him to the fact that a portal was nearby. He didn't have to wait long and he jogged to where he had seen the flash. Glancing around quickly to make sure no-one was watching, he slipped into Hyrule.

It was exactly how he remembered it. The fields were still rolling, covered in peridot green grass, scrubbed away in some places to form dust dirt paths by people or their animals. There were still strange bits of wall sticking out of the grass in seemingly random places and the water that rushed by in river was still as clear as ever.

He grinned slightly at the sight, taking in a deep breath of the clean Hyrulian air. The park in Washington D.C. was all well and good, but it was tainted by human maintenance and the air was thick with the stench of car fumes. On the plains of Hyrule, everything was wild and pure, exactly what he liked about this place.

Reminding himself of his reason for being here, he began to stroll quickly across Hyrule field, watching some of the more obscure Hylian wildlife that stopped and stared at the unfamiliar human, casting his eyes to the majestic silhouette of the Temple of Time and letting a true smile breakout on his face.

There was something different though. The feeling of the place seemed to be tense, even though he was a fair distance away from the castle and its people, a shadow of unease edged its way into his mind.

By the time he got to the drawbridge, his smile had been replaced with a deep frown, and he hurried to get over the drawbridge, walking through the town as quickly as possible and ignoring the looks of surprise from the startled Hylians.

He slowed his pace as soon as he was out of the town and walking up the path to the castle, fumbling around in his jacket for a permission slip Zelda and the King had given him when he left. In case he needed to get back into the castle one day, they had said. Placing the slip in his pocket he quickened his pace slightly, and tried to even out his breathing as he approached the guard.

The man was fully alert and watching Leon intently, a change from the usual slack standard of the guards. Liam must have been getting paranoid, Leon reflected, then again with the feeling he was currently getting, he didn't blame him.

Seeing that Leon was heading for him with a seemingly calm purpose, the guard loosened his grip on the spear slightly, and let his shoulders lower. If the man was a threat, he wouldn't be so calm, the guard reasoned.

Leon stopped in front of the soldier, looked him over briefly, then stated calmly "I'm here to see Princess Zelda and Prince Link, it's urgent"

"I'm sorry sir, but unless you have an invitation or an access slip, I can't let you in"

Leon rolled his eyes and fished the paper out of his pocket, presenting it to the guard. The soldier took it and studied it intently, checking the signatures of the King and Princess. Finally, he sighed and called to the soldier in the gate-house "Open the gate, this one's got authorisation"

Seconds later the gate crawled open and the guard handed the paper back to Leon. He nodded slightly and smiled.

"You're lucky, sir. The Royal Family is starting to be very particular about who is let into the castle. Your pass should be OK though, it does say to let you in under any circumstances…A word of advice….if you're going to mention the condition of the mutants, do it tactfully in front of the princess. She's worried about infection of the child and Sir Link will gut you alive if you upset her."

Leon smiled uneasily at the guard and jogged up the path to the drawbridge that would let into the castle. It was closed, and the guards in front of it were looking at him suspiciously. Without a word he handed the paper to them.

"This pass…it seems very unlikely that the King and Princess would give someone access under any circumstances"

"I'm a friend. I lived here a couple of years back."

"…your name?"

"Leon, Leon Kennedy"

The guards looked to each other and then one of them turned back to the castle.

"Kazta!" he called and a servant girl appeared on the walkway above the drawbridge and shouted a command to her. She paused and looked dubiously at Leon. "Now!" the guard shouted and she scurried out of sight.

"I apologise if you are telling the truth about being a friend of the family….but we can't be too careful in the current situation. The captain will verify the validity of your claim in a moment"

Leon nodded and put the paper in his pocket, then idly reached into his back pocket for something that was irritating him. He frowned as he slid his hand over the object, a small disk, about 8mm in diameter. It was ludicrously smooth, ridges running along it so that it was domed. Running his fingers over the smooth surface, he realised what it was. However, his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shout. He turned to his right to see Liam running at him an ever widening grin on his face. Upon reaching Leon he tackled him and locked him into a friendly embrace.

"Leon!" he exclaimed, his arms around the other man's back in an over zealous hug

"Liam…" Leon wheezed out with difficulty "I'm glad to see you to but…I can't breathe and this position isn't exactly ideal"

Liam suddenly got the idea and scrambled off him, standing up and dusting himself off then offering his hand to the other man. Leon took the offered hand and let Liam help him get to his feet.

"Heh…guess you're happy to see me then?" he grinned at the young Hylian

Liam merely rolled his eyes and led the way back into the castle. Leon trotted up behind him, and made his way to Liam's side

"So why are you here?" Liam asked, green eyes flicking back to his friend whilst he opened the side door and they made their way through the cloakroom.

"Do I have to have a reason, other than wanting to see my friends?"

"No…it's just that you come at a very convenient time considering our situation"

"I've been hearing those words a lot…I think I have an idea but fill me in on what the 'situation' is"

Liam sighed heavily, his eyes on the floor as they walked. Leon tilted his head slightly at his friends discomfort and he understood, when Liam mouthed the word 'Zelda' that she was nearby and it was a bad idea to talk about it.

Liam pushed a heavy oak door open into the conservatory area that looked onto the gardens. Sitting in a cluster of chairs were Link, Maxi, Siegfried and Yunsung. Next to them was a young man with dark brown hair that Leon didn't recognise. The King was sitting amidst the semi-circle, chatting casually with the assembly. Behind the row that consisted of the warriors were five people, the sages of Hyrule, but one of the chairs was empty. Guessing from the fact that Impa wasn't here and the King and Link looked slightly worried, Leon guessed that Zelda was having troubles with her pregnancy. All he hoped was that she wasn't infec…

"Sire, Leon's here" Liam's voice intruded into the Americans thoughts, though with the trail he was going down, he was kind of glad.

The King looked up, along with the rest of the group, including the Sages, and beamed at Leon. He rose from his chair and approached Leon and grabbed his hand, shaking it vigorously.

"Leon. It's good to see you to back in Hyrule. What brings you here?"

Leon gave a slightly forced smile at the question and replied "To see my old friends of course…along with some, uh, business"

Link knew immediately what this 'business' was, but nevertheless, he smiled at the dusty blonde haired man that he hadn't seen in so long. Each of the Soul warriors that knew Leon smiled and nodded at him and motioned for him to grab a chair and sit down. Liam made his way over to his seat next to Link, and Sheik, who Leon hadn't previously noticed, moved aside for him. Leon caught the Sheikah's glance towards him, and though there was no change in the facial expression, he knew that the shadow fighter was glad to see him.

"Leon, sit down and we'll introduce you to those you don't know" Link stated looking over at him. Leon nodded and slid into a chair next to the brown haired man.

Maxi suddenly took up the introduction of the man he was sitting next to and it was obvious that he thought highly of the man.

"The guy you're sitting next to is Kilik. An excellent warrior, if you ask me, and my closest friend. If you want spiritual advice or someone to confide in, Kilik is the man you want" Maxi grinned whilst he was said it.

Kilik for his part offered a small smile to Leon, and extended his hand, surprisingly nervously. Leon shook his hand then suddenly realised something. "Kilik…I've heard that name before…and I think I know where from, but…" Leon trailed off and shrugged and he noticed that Kilik relaxed a little, knowing that Maxi had probably been talking about him.

Link cleared his throat impatiently and glared death at Maxi and introduced the people at the back. "You've probably already guessed that the rabble behind us are the Sages, but I'll introduce you anyway." A large old man sitting the furthest away from Leon, but close to Link rolled his eyes at the young man's comment of 'rabble'

"This" Link announced, gesturing to the old man "is Rauru, the Sage of Light, and a very ancient sage" a glare followed that comment. Rauru was definitely sagely looking; he was mainly bald, save for a small crown of bushy white hair that seemed to be protecting the small pointed ears, rather than the skull. His skin was wrinkled, but a light brown colour, seemingly tanned but only coming from age, as far as Leon could see. He had small, but kind, blue eyes that seemed to exude wisdom and his lower face was covered with a bushy white beard. Father Time Leon thought to himself whilst nodding to the man in acknowledgement. The Sage of Light was dressed in long dull brown robes, looking like a sort of Hylian priest or monk, Triforce patterns etched into the front of a thick leather sash around his waist. The robes completely engulfed his arms, making his look like he didn't have any.

Moving on Link smiled when he turned his gaze on the next sage "This is Saria, the Sage of Forest, she's a Kokiri and uh…she sort of raised me from a baby" Leon studied the girl who offered a sheepish smile. She was definitely a Kokiri; she looked no older than ten. She was short, maybe only five foot or less. She had large blue eyes, a trademark all Kokiri had, but her hair was a sort of shiny pea green as opposed to the gingery blonde that the others had. She was dressed in shorts and a vest top the same colour as her hair. Underneath the top she wore an emerald green turtleneck jumper, which was the same colour as her knee high boots and hair band. There was a small silver necklace around her neck, on the end of which a light pink ocarina hung and a bright white fairy was flitting around her head. "Ah, so you're the one to blame for Link's weirdness" he grinned at her and she giggled back. As he was watching her laugh something small and hard smacked him in the side of the head and he realised it was a small whet stone that had been thrown at him by Link.

"The big guy is Darunia, leader of the Gorons, my sword brother and the Sage of Fire" Link grumbled out as Leon threw the stone back to him. Again Leon examined the mentioned person. Darunia was huge, even for a Goron, contrasting to such a degree with the small Kokiri that sat beside him that he wondered if he was dreaming. The rock skinned humanoid was a dark brown, a large round stomach hovering over his lap. He had small beetle black eyes but they seemed to be laughing, even if the guy himself wasn't smiling. His broad face was obscured with a dark grey beard that matched his wildly styled spiky hair. He had to be easily six and a half foot when standing, giving Ganondorf a run for his money, and his arms were muscular, as big as tree trunks. 'Reminds me of Barry' Leon thought, smiling at the Goron leader when he gave him a thumbs up. The only thing the man wore were some cords bound tightly around his wrists and ankles, but then, Gorons didn't wear clothes.

In the next chair was an elegant looking Zora, a female for a change, her long legs crossed, fins folded back neatly. "This is Ruto, the Sage of Water" Leon recognised her as the Zoran princess, without Link's introduction. At the moment though, the usually loud mouthed and bubbly woman, was meditating quietly, unaware of anything going on around her. She looked slightly pale though, as if she had had a bad scare at some point today.

The chair next to Ruto was empty, probably belonging to Impa.

Next to that was Nabooru, Queen of the Gerudo Thieves "You know Nabooru already but she's the Sage of Spirit". The woman was exactly the same as when he had last seen her. Well, not exactly, the last time Leon had seen her, she had been thin, injured and scared, she had even been crying. Now though, she sat with her back straight, jewellery bedecked hands folded neatly in her lap, her golden eyes looking over Leon. Her fire red hair, more so than Yunsung's, was pulled into a tight high ponytail, trailing down her back. She smiled at Leon at seeing him again, recognising him as the person who killed the Tyrant, full lips painted a light pink colour, contrasting with her deeply tanned skin. She still wore only a tube top and pants, both a light pink colour.

"Everyone, this is Leon, he comes from a more modern advanced world, but he's a great friend and help to Hyrule." Link said, nodding slightly as he did

Link turned to Leon as soon as the Sages lost interest in the newcomer, calling him over.

"Why're you here?" Link asked

"Why do you think?"

"You know about our problem"

"A little, fill me in"

Link rolled his eyes and quickly started to explain about the problem, Leon nodded as he described the mutations.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, Chris and the others have been keeping tags on certain enemies and we know who's caused all this"

"You know?" The King exclaimed, jumping from his chair "Who is it; I'll kill the little…"

"SIRE!" The cry, surprisingly, came from Sheik, standing by Link's side. All eyes turned to look at the red eyed man who quickly explained "I'm sure Leon will tell you if you stop shouting about what you're going to do with this person"

The King took a deep breath and then turned to the startled Leon "Who is it then?"

"You won't know him, but I'll tell you anyway. He's a long time enemy of our group. Chris, Jill and Rebecca were once part of a team called S.T.A.R.S, the enemy was their captain. He betrayed them on a mission and because of him seven members of that team are dead"

"Nice person" Maxi commented "So we've definitely got your group against him? It sounds like you guys know a lot about him"

"Chris keeps an eye on him. He's dangerous, which is why Chris hasn't killed him yet, but I think this event might be the final straw. They're going to have some sort of showdown, I'm sure. One will end up dead, and unfortunately, I think it'll be Chris"

"What's his name?" Kilik asked from his place across the room

Leon looked at him for a moment and then replied with "Wesker"

At this piece of information, Siegfried almost broke into tears, or so it seemed.

"What's wrong with you?" Yunsung asked nudging him

"Why is it always the Germans who are bad guys?" Siegfried mumbled from his hiding place in his arms.

"He's not German. He's American, always has been, just has a slightly German background"

"Close enough" Liam muttered, tapping his chin and looking out the window

"Wesker is a surname though" Siegfried stated, looking to Leon "First name"

"I don't want to say. It's lame so it'll take away the effect of how dangerous he is, I don't want you to let your guards down because of it"

"Oh come on" Yunsung whined "How's a name gonna change anything?"

"Fine, his name is Albert"

Yunsung and Maxi suddenly broke out laughing, causing Leon to mutter "See what I mean"

Link smacked Maxi and Yunsung on the side of their heads, trying to get them to shut up.

"What abilities has he got?"

"Well…he's incredibly intelligent, he has to be to create the virus, he's intimidating, and he has super human powers. That's enhanced senses, speed and the strength of about five men put together"

"Five men?" Kilik asked "How?"

"About six years ago, when he was leading Chris and the others on their mission, he injected himself with a virus that he got from a scientist friend…He's simply not human anymore"

"How experienced is he in military tactics?" It was Yunsung who asked this

"Did you not hear me!" Leon shrieked "He was the leader of S.T.A.R.S an elite police force, Special Tactics And Rescue Squad. He's also the man that the company he works for, HCF, uses to steal virus samples and data from top security facilities of their competitors"

"Experienced then, huh?" Maxi commented

Leon gave him a 'well, duh' look and turned to the King. He was sitting back in his chair, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"And you say that people from your world who know him well can't defeat him with your more advanced weapons?"

"I wouldn't say we can't, we just haven't. The problem is that Wesker is so fast that if we did manage to shoot him then…depending on where the shot was, he could just get away, pull out the bullet and be healed by the end of the day"

"….any other points about how dangerous he is?"

"He has one accomplice, a man called Aaron…but I wasn't filled on him before I came here. But he's working with Wesker so I'd say he'd pretty dangerous"

"His plans and reasons?" Link asked

"Not 100 sure. He might just be trying to cause trouble, but he probably reckons that if he can take over one world, he can take over ours. The symptoms of those in the Soul Calibur world are close to Siegfried's when he turns into Nightmare. Listen to this."

Leon pulled out a CD and a compact disc player. Sometime during the night, Chris had logged onto Leon's computer and transferred the conversation between Aaron and Wesker onto it, before burning it onto a CD for Leon's use.

The assembled group, looked sceptically at the shiny disc in Leon's hand as he put the disc inside the player and found the point on the disc. He had listened to it as he had jogged to the park that morning to find the warp entrance and had taken long enough in the park to listen to the half hour long conversation. He plugged a small pair of earphones into it and turned them up as far as possible before pressing the play button.

"Generally the flesh will thicken immensely, taking on a dull red, brown or green colour" The voice that poured from the speakers was strangely machine like, wooden and unused. The group guessed that this was Aaron, they couldn't imagine the veteran Wesker sounding this mechanical and programmed. "The veins multiply, rising to just under the surface of the skin, spreading randomly across the body. More recent subjects have developed wounds lined with teeth and are starting to develop yellow eyes on any part of the body"

"And these are all influenced through the sword catalyst?" The second voice was deeper, cold and controlled. A strong voice to match its owner, a mid-Atlantic accent present, English mixed with American.

"Is that Wesker?" the King broke in and Leon nodded as the conversation continued

"Yes" The first voice, Aaron, again

"Interesting. Very interesting"

"Do we have a subject yet…one who is infected, but not mutating yet?"

"No, the humans infected are immediately destroyed by the warriors who defend the sword." At this the group heardWesker growl at the information

"…meddling fools, they'd get along well with Redfield and his motley crew of do-gooders…what else?

….Judging from the sample of DNA from the sword, the virus should let the body and mind be controlled once it's in the later stages…we'd have an army of bio-weapons, completely under our control." This again was Wesker, and the CD had played the sound of fingers tapping at a keyboard moments before he said this.

Leon turned the CD player onto pause.

"He wants to use the people as an army" Kilik stated, turning concerned brown eyes to Leon's grey-blue ones. Leon nodded and then swallowed, he would have to tell the King and Link at least about Wesker's plans for the baby.

"There are also other issues that I need to address with the King, Link …possibly Impa and Zelda" Leon started, hand in his pocket nervously playing with his car keys.

"About?"

Heads turned to the door as Zelda stepped into the room, dressed in a lilac shift, silver thread woven over it. Impa was following the young women, watching her carefully. The princess had collapsed earlier, grasping her abdomen and crying that something was wrong with the baby.

"Uhhhh….." Leon faltered and glanced back to the men sitting behind him. He locked eyes with Siegfried and muttered something to him in German. The blonde stared at him, before turning to Link and whispered the message to him. In turn Link motioned to the King to stall Zelda somehow.

"Zelda" the king started, turning to his daughter "I know you're concerned over what Leon has to say, but you could at least greet him, he is your friend after all"

Zelda lowered her head, as if ashamed and then looked up at Leon. She smiled apologetically "I'm sorry Leon, I should have greeted you first, but I'm just worried in case this is something to do with the little one" she glanced at her stomach "Anyway, it's good to see you again. How's Claire?"

Leon answered, chatting casually whilst Link slipped out the room. After a few minutes of talking to Zelda the King called Zelda over and Leon took this as his queue to excuse himself under the pretence of needing the bathroom.

He walked down the corridors for about five minutes before finding Link exiting into the stables at the back of the castle.

Leon hurried to catch the Hylian up. Link turned around and looked at him, walking towards the area where Epona was grazing in a paddock, with Leon's old horse, Thara.

"This isn't going to be good news, is it?" Link asked after watching the mare and stallion move around the area, occasionally raising their heads to playfully nip each other, in an attempt to keep each other at a suitable distance.

"I'm afraid not. Which is why I wanted to let you and the King know before Zelda heard….it's bad enough for me as a friend to hear about it…but it'll be the hardest on Zelda"

"What is it?"

Leon sighed "It'll be better if you hear it straight from the horses mouth…so to speak" he pulled out the CD player he had put away and wound it to the right place.

"Aaron…why do you have these?" There was the sound of something being shuffled and Leon mouthed 'photos' to Link

"I thought it might be interesting to see how the two blonde Hylians react to the virus"

"Explain…and why those two?"

"They are husband and wife, and she is pregnant…it could be an interesting study to see if the child was

born mutated…and she has not seen the mutations yet"

There was a long pause before Wesker slowly answered and Link could imagine a smug grin spreading across the face of the man "……I see…you're right, it will make an interesting study…but you must make sure that only the child gets infected, not her. This may be scientific, but I would love to see how these sensitive people react when their child is born a freak…emotional torture is so enjoyable when you can't suffer it…how far along is she?"

"About five months, sir"

"Then there's still enough time for the child to mutate…you must keep a close watch on her and see that it gets infected"

"You are aware of the mutations of the other races now?"

"Yes, you can go now…get back quickly. I have to return to my duties in a moment"

Link stared at the small piece if equipment in horror, hearing the last few sounds on the CD but not paying attention to them.

"I'm sorry, Link….I don't know if Zelda has been infected yet though…there may still be hope"

Link shook his head, then looked to Leon tears gathering in his dark blue eyes as he gazed hopelessly at his friend.

"She was attacked the other day, by a rather bland looking man. He didn't do much that I saw, but he could've done anything to her by the time I got there. She collapsed this morning, screaming that there was something wrong with the baby…it's infected." He finished and looked back to the horses in the field. As he was staring at them something close to bloodlust passed across Link's delicate features then changed to a sudden realisation.

"Rewind that thing, go back to where Wesker tells Aaron to go" Link almost ordered, whipping round to face Leon.

Leon for his part looked confused, and then did as he was told. After the last line there was the sound of a group of people panicking, stumbling to their feet as a door banged open and closed and there was a shout from Carlos as the group retreated from Aaron.

"Play it again…louder this time" Link asked

"Link, the last sound is of Carlos shouting as they tried to get away from Aaron"

"That's not what I'm interested in, I think Wesker says something else…play it again"

Leon did so, and straining his ears, underneath the shout of Carlos, was Wesker's voice.

"What did he say?" Leon asked. Link looked at him then shook his head.

"I can't tell…but I think he names the virus, he says something about 'spread your disease'"

"Link, get Maxi, Liam, Sheik, and anyone else who's coming on this little mission to meet me outside the drawbridge on the plains. Tell the King about Zelda…he can decide what to do about Zelda"

"Why?" Link asked

"You're coming to my world"

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