A Star's Descent: Book Two: Star Fall

By evolution-500

Disclaimer: House of the Dead and Resident Evil are properties belonging to SEGA and Capcom respectively. I do not own any of these characters.

WARNING: This story contains violence, coarse language, mature and disturbing themes and imagery. Reader discretion is advised.

Chapter Eight: Musings

The grandfather clock hammered on as Rebecca and Star stepped back into the dining room. Rebecca checked the time. Seven thirty.

She sighed.

"God, this day doesn't seem to end," the medic commented as she looked around the room. Turning her attention to the burning hearth, the Bravo listened to the crackling and pops of the fire, watching as the embers danced. Raising her eyes up to the mantle, Rebecca froze as she caught sight of a cracked bronze emblem hanging from the wall underneath a shield with a pair of crossed broad swords.

"I think I know what to do with the emblem we have," she said, pointing to the wall. "Do you see that one there? Try to see if you can pull it out."

"Okay," Star nodded as he put down his suitcases and stepped toward it. Grabbing it by the sides, he pulled, carefully wedging it forward until it came out, leaving an empty indentation in the wall. Once Star finished, Rebecca stepped forward and replaced it with the gold emblem.

The duo waited, looking and listening intently.

Nothing.

"Huh," Rebecca said. "I was so sure that-"

She screamed as the clock chimed, startled as the hour and minute hand started to wind themselves backwards, the 'All Through This Hour' melody echoing as the bell clanged over and over again.

DING! DING! DING!

The clock shifted over to the left, revealing a small niche in the wall as the ticking stopped.

"I stand corrected," Rebecca muttered.

The teenagers stepped toward the niche, peering inside. A panel opened, revealing a pair of gears along with...another clock, only this one had some very unusual features; the numbers twelve, three, six and nine were replaced with a set of symbols that represented a knight's helmet, shield, Plackart (or chest piece), and sword.

Underneath the open slot was an inscription.

"'When the two have run each other through, the path to your destiny will open,'" Rebecca read, then looked up. "I think I got this."

She turned the large gear to the right, only instead of moving the hour hand as she expected, it moved the minute hand over to three. Turning it to the left, the Bravo frowned as it returned back to the knight's helmet.

"The minute hand is all messed up," Rebecca said.

She turned it again to the right, then watched with dismay as the minute hand returned to number three. The medic let out a frustrated sigh.

"Damn, this is going to take a while," she muttered. "Help me find a way to get the minute hand to number two."

The duo played with the gears, watching as the hour and minute hand swirled in directions they didn't want to. After several minutes of fidgeting, Rebecca pulled away and let out an annoyed growl, repressing the urge to pull her hair out.

"Ugh, this is so frustrating!" Rebecca cried. "Why the hell couldn't it be a simple key?!"

"Nothing is ever simple with Umbrella, unfortunately," Star noted with distaste.

Stepping back, the teenagers studied the outline.

"So, any ideas?" Rebecca asked.

Star put a hand to his chin.

"When the two run each other through..." the albino murmured. "Perhaps we've been going about this all wrong?"

The girl in green blinked. "What do you mean?"

"We've been approaching this as if it were a numbers game. Given the fact this thing features iconography, maybe it's more of a matching game?"

Rebecca raised her eyes in understanding.

"Ohh, I see! That actually makes sense," she nodded. "That could explain why the hour and minute hand aren't moving onto the actual numbers themselves."

Stepping forward, Rebecca looked at the images.

"A helmet, a shield, armor, and sword," she murmured. "So maybe we have to have the sword pointing to the shield."

Star frowned. "But that wouldn't make sense."

"Why not?"

"The inscription said when the two run each other through. A sword isn't going to run through a shield, it's going to be deflected."

Now it was Rebecca's turn to frown.

"Good point." Her eyes perked up. "I know. Maybe we have to connect the sword to helmet."

"I was going to suggest sword/torso."

The teenagers paused.

"Wait a minute," Rebecca started.

"Torso/helmet!" the youths said at the same time.

"Of course!" Star exclaimed. "When the two run each other through! That makes perfect sense!"

The albino turned the large gear to the right, causing the minute hand moved over to the shield, then to the Plackart. Rebecca adjusted the smaller gear so that the hour hand pointed to the helmet. Once they were aligned, there came a click. The dial swung open, revealing a vault with a bronze key inside.

"YES!" Rebecca cheered, whooping loudly as she raised her fists to the air, doing a little moonwalk before spinning around on her heels.

Star stared at her nonplused, blinking bemusedly. Realizing the awkwardness of the situation, Rebecca cleared her throat and folded her arms behind her back.

"Well...um...I mean...we did it," she said, smiling sheepishly.

Star's eyes twinkled with amusement as he regarded her, then let out a soft laugh as he shook his head.

"That we have." Turning back to the vault, he snatched up the key, studying it curiously. "Now we have to figure out where this thing goes. I don't see any label anywhere."

"Do you mind if I take a look?" Rebecca asked.

The albino nodded, handing the item over for her. Holding it up into the light, the Bravo medic studied the bronze key. On the handle was some sort of insignia representing a shield. Tilting it at different angles, she tried to find some sort of label or clue as to where this particular key went. Finding nothing, Rebecca lowered it down, shaking her head in dismay.

"Nope, I can't find anything either, I'm afraid," she said as she pocketed it. "We'll find out eventually."

Rebecca watched as the red-draped albino walked back toward the fireplace, reaching up for the shield and swords.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just trying to get a weapon," Star said as he tried prying them from the wall. He shook and jostled one of the swords around vigorously.

"Star."

He jostled them more, pulling harder.

"Star-"

The shield and swords fell down with a clatter onto the floor.

"Star, stop!"

Star grunted as he tried wrenching a sword free.

"Star, you can't just walk around carrying that along with your bags, it's too heavy!" Rebecca said. "You'll reopen the wound on your shoulder!"

The albino looked up at her as he continued to pull.

"I don't have anything to protect myself with, Rebecca," he said. "Even a stick would be preferable to nothing."

Straining with all his might, the albino stumbled backwards as the sword broke under his grip, leaving only the handle. Raising it up, Star studied what was left, his lips curled in disgust.

"Cheap piece of garbage," he muttered as he threw it aside with a clatter.

Taking off her backpack, Rebecca felt around, then took out Kenneth's pistol and radio.

"Here," she said, offering them to him. "I grabbed these while we were at the stairs. Take them."

Star hesitated, then took hold of the items, nodding gratefully. "Thank you."

She winked. "No problem. My radio channel is on three in case you want to contact me."

Once she finished showing Star how to work the radio and switch channels, the albino stuffed it into his coat pocket, turning his attention to his weapon. Ejecting the clip, he checked how much ammunition he had.

"I have a full clip here. Are you in need of any ammo?" Star asked.

"I'm fine," she answered. "I have six rounds."

The albino emptied his clip and divided up the bullets, handing out nine to her. "Take them."

"Really, Star, it's okay."

"Every bullet counts, and if these creatures are as durable as those last two, then you need them more than I do," Star urged. "Take them."

Rebecca hesitated, then nodded in agreement.

"You're right," she said as she took the bullets. "Thank you."

Giving her a nod, Star inserted the clip back into his pistol, then slipped the weapon into his pocket.

Once Rebecca finished, she holstered her weapon.

"Well, I guess we're about done here," she said.

Star reached down to pick up his bags. "So where to now?"

Rebecca thought for a moment.

"Would you like to start off with the exhibition room?" she asked. "I'm sure we're bound to find something there that could be useful."

The hooded albino shrugged. "Sure."

As the youths departed for the main hall, one of the bodies stirred behind them unnoticed.

Joseph glanced around the massive kitchen as he replaced the Mossberg with his pistol.

It must have been luxurious at one point in time, but it had been neglected for so long that it was a shade of its former glory; white tiled walls were filthy and grey, while the floors were covered with something, probably mold, although there was an unidentified reddish substance as well that Frost had no desire to think about, the stone floor cracked.

In the center of the kitchen was a long brown preparation table with a large scummy-looking metal pot on top of it, while dangling above the table itself was a cutlery rack. At the very end of the room was an old-fashioned elevator with gated doors, but it was inoperable due to lack of power.

Joseph winced in disgust at the state of the table. Maggots and worms were crawling on uncooked and unrefrigerated pieces of meat.

'What kind of meat is that?' he wondered. Roast? Steak?

Unable to identify it, he looked away, turning his gaze over to the dishrack and the sink at the side before letting out a nauseated groan as he saw unclean dishes with maggots writhing around.

"Christ on a bike," he said aloud.

Turning around, he shifted his attention to the cabinet in the left hand corner that stood beside the steel fridge and freezer. Glancing along the various bottles of spices curiously, he paused at the second row, then reached inside, pulling out a small silver key.

"Huh," Joseph said aloud. "Wonder where this goes."

Putting it into his pocket, the Alpha curiously approached the freezer, then pulled it open. Upon revealing what was inside, he leapt back with a start.

"Jesus Christ!"

Turning around, Frost doubled-over and threw up onto the floor, then threw up again as he caught sight of the maggots wiggling about. After what seemed to be an eternity, the Omni Man got up shakily, wiping his mouth as he raised his radio.

"Hey Chris, you there?" he called.

"Chris here," came the reply. "Everything okay, Joseph?"

"I'm in the kitchen," Frost answered. "You're not going to believe this, but they have a fridge and freezer full of human bodies and body parts."

"WHAT?!"

"I'm serious, man! It could be that they're feeding human prisoners to whatever creature they had in captivity, but I think there's a possibility that they've been feeding their own employees human flesh!"

"Oh God!"

There came a sound at the door that he came in from.

"I'll talk to you later, Chris," Joseph said into the radio. "I think I have company."

"Do you need assistance?"

"Negative, I can handle it."

"Okay. Stay safe, Joseph."

"You too, buddy. Over and out."

Raising his weapon, Frost carefully treaded toward the door, his heart thumping in his chest.

Bump bump. Bump bump.

Just as Joseph reached for the handle, the door slammed straight into his frame, knocking him off his feet with a grunt.

Looking up from the stone floor, he barely had time to react as a long, three-clawed arm snaked itself out and grabbed him by the ankle, his leg threatening to snap under its vice-like grip as it suddenly dragged him through the doorway.

Joseph screamed as he slid along the floor.

He couldn't see his attacker, but he knew that he was moving fast, incredibly fast.

Impossibly fast.

Joseph felt himself flying and spinning around as his own body slammed into passing walls, the floor, even the ceiling. The whole world was moving so fast that he had trouble recognizing where he even was. Lines faded entirely from view, replaced with streaks of color, a lot of it hard to identify due to the fact that they lasted only a second, if not a fraction of that. Joseph's screams were replaced with gags as he hurled to the side, spraying as the Alpha felt the cold breeze against his face as he held his eyes shut. The world spun around him as his body was flung and dragged in impossible angles, slamming into God knew what before ultimately being slammed face first through a door. Frost cried out as his whole body rolled along the carpeted floor, stopping as his side hit a corner wall.

The Alpha dazedly tried to push himself up onto his hands and knees, stumbling and falling over onto his back as he lost balance.

As he lay there helplessly on his back, the whole room spinning around him, Joseph saw something looming from the corner of his eye.

It was big, that much he could tell just from looking at it, but because he was seeing double, triple or quadruple, the Point Man couldn't really get a good look at it. It was only later that he recalled seeing pale eyes and horns.

The figure came toward him, then stopped. Frost wondered why until felt the floor shake as something massive approached. The last thing he heard before blacking out was a loud whale-like moan.

Rebecca looked around at the various paintings, then joined Star as he studied the statue in the middle.

"So, what do you think?" she asked.

He smiled.

"Looks like we found your namesake," he nodded to the statue.

Rebecca looked at the label curiously.

"But it says 'Woman Drawing Water' by Victor Barclay, Commissioned 1980,'" she said.

"Yes," Star nodded, "but one of the most common and iconic depictions of Rebecca is her drawing up water from the well."

"Ahh," Rebecca nodded. Looking up to the jug the statue carried, the medic tilted her head. "I think I see something up there. Can you kneel down and give me a boost?"

"Sure," the albino said as he put down his bags and got into a kneeling position, holding out his hands. Climbing up onto his shoulders, Rebecca shakily reached up and felt around, then stopped.

"I got it!" she said excitedly. "WHOA!"

The medic wobbled unsteadily, then let out a yelp as she was caught bridal style by Star.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

Rebecca blushed as she looked up at him, clearing her throat.

"Um...yeah," she answered. "Thank you."

She cleared her throat again. "You can put me down now."

He gave an amused smile.

"Are you sure? You seem to have a penchant for getting into trouble," Star said. "I get the feeling you like being carried bridal style."

Rebecca's eyes widened at the accusation.

"WHAT?! No!" she exclaimed. "I mean, well, yeah, I do. It does feel nice and I've always wanted to be- why you!"

Star laughed boyishly as she swatted him upside the head. Putting her back down, he chuckled.

"Are you amused?" Rebecca said sourly.

The hooded albino grinned. "Oh I am!"

She rolled her eyes.

"Hardy har," the Bravo replied, then looked at the scroll in her hand as she unraveled it. "Let's see what we have here."

Drawing it open, she saw various lines with labels.

"Well, it looks like we finally have a map of this place," Rebecca said as she and Star studied it. "Or rather...part of one." She then pointed to a section, "That's where we are now. According to this map, it says there's a room...down..." The medic raised her eyes up, then pointed to the room with the red curtains. "There."

Picking up his suitcases, Star looked up, then curiously stepped forward, pushing aside the red drapes, then looked back to her.

"Are you sure?"

"It says so on the map."

Following him inside, Rebecca watched as the hooded albino looked around the room. Various pieces of furniture were covered with canvases. Star glanced about, then paused, approaching a wall that had a massive picture of Neumeier Castle. Putting one case down, the albino then reached out and knocked, testing it. Pulling away, he looked back to her.

"I think I found it," he pointed to the door. "I see a keyhole here. It's barely noticeable."

Rebecca stepped forward, fumbling around her pockets before pulling out the key and inserting into the lock. She jiggled it around.

Nothing.

She frowned.

"Wrong key," Rebecca sighed.

Star looked at the door, studying it.

"Maybe if I..." he trailed off, getting into a stance. Lifting up his foot, he slammed into the handle.

Rebecca moved beside him.

"On three," she said. "One. Two. Three!"

Using their combined strength, the teenagers kicked the door open.

"Alright!" Rebecca clapped her hands together. "Shall we?"

Star nodded, stepping inside with her. Rebecca's excitement turned to disappointment as she looked at their newest discovery.

"Oh...it's just a closet," she said.

It was a large white room that had a mirror close to the doorway and two pipe clothing racks on both sides close to the wall, with various suits, dresses and costumes on hangars. Overhead were some shelves, one of which had a football helmet along with a black suitcase and various shoe boxes.

"Boy, do I feel stupid," Rebecca muttered to herself.

"Look at all these clothes and costumes!" Star murmured in wonder as he looked around. "God, some of these suits I know are worth a fortune!"

The medic shook her head enviously. "It must be nice to be rich."

"No kidding!"

Rebecca studied the various suits and costumes.

"Why are there so many?" she wondered, almost to herself.

"Perhaps Lord Spencer likes to have masquerade parties on certain occasions," Star suggested.

"Hm," she hummed in agreement. "I'm almost tempted to try some of these on..."

The red-draped albino turned to face her. "Since we're here, would it be okay if you could wait outside? I want to get out of these clothes."

"Why didn't you change earlier?"

"I didn't really have the chance to do so, what with Officer Sullivan's attempt on our lives, Officer Redfield hitting me in the face and so on."

"Fair enough," Rebecca conceded. "Don't take too long, though. This place really gives me the creeps."

"I'll try to be quick."

Stepping back out into the red room, Rebecca closed the door behind her.

Or rather, tried to. Grabbing the handle, she pulled the door back into its frame, then let go, watching as it swung back open an inch or two. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Rebecca continued to play around with it, but no matter how many times she tried to shut it, the door wouldn't close properly; it kept opening partway.

As she reached to grab the door once again, Rebecca paused as she heard Star murmuring to himself. Curiosity got the better of the Bravo as she peered inside.

'What's he doing?' she wondered.

The albino was pacing about back and forth with his hood drawn back, clearing his throat, straightening himself nervously.

"It's nice to meet you, Father," he said, then frowned. "No, no, no."

Star took in a deep shaky breath, then smiled, holding out a trembling hand in greeting.

"Nice to meet you...Dad." The boy in red paused, then winced. "No, that's too familiar and informal."

'...Dad?' Rebecca repeated mentally.

She tried imagining Wesker's reaction to being called 'Dad' or 'Daddy', causing a huge grin to form on her face. Rebecca did everything possible to keep herself in check, repressing the urge to giggle.

Inside, Star cleared his throat.

"Father, I-" Star scowled. "No, no, no." He smiled again. "Captain Wesker, I-"

The albino's smile dropped as he swept his hands through his silver hair, letting out a frustrated and animalistic growl.

"God, what's wrong with me?" he muttered.

Rebecca smiled as the albino youth paced about. He was so anxious to meet his father that his whole being was jittery; even his legs were shaking. He looked rather cute.

Star cleared his throat again, standing straight like an arrow as he held out his hand again.

"How do you do?" he smiled, shaking an imaginary hand. "My name is Star and I'm your son."

The youth in red's smile faltered as he exhaled through his nostrils.

"No," he said to himself, wincing. He took in a deep breath again, then smiled, keeping it small, trying to look as friendly and as unintimidating as possible.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain," he shook the imaginary hand again. "You may find this hard to believe, but...I'm...your son."

He paused, then repeated himself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain," he smiled, holding out his hand in greeting. "I've heard all about you. You may find this hard to believe, but...I think there's the possibility that you are my father."

Star froze, placing a hand on his chin in thought, then nodded to himself. Letting out a nervous sigh, he unbuckled his coat, putting it on top of one of the clothing racks nearby as he started to unbutton his shirt. At first, Rebecca was going to turn away to give Star some privacy, but when the albino pulled the garment off from his shoulders, she couldn't help but turn back and watch. Seeing the albino without his shirt on, the Bravo medic couldn't help but feel some level of...intrigue. She had never in her life seen an albino, let alone in person, nor she had ever seen skin as pale as Star's.

'So white!' Rebecca thought in wonder.

It looked whiter than snow, whiter than a sheet. Whiter than this room, even, if such a thing was even possible, which in turn made the black stitching around his shoulders seem all the more pronounced and noticeable.

The scars on his face, chest and back were all horrible to look at no matter the lighting, and yet...Rebecca couldn't help appreciate his other attributes. His form, though long and wiry, had some good muscle tone, and his face, though scarred, was nice to look at. Rebecca tilted her head at different angles.

'Maybe if his skin was a little pinker, his hair a different color...'

She tried picturing Star without the scars, then tried to mentally compare his visage with Wesker's.

The medic frowned.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find any point of resemblance between the two. Not to say that the albino was ugly - far from it! Star was a very good-looking boy, but Rebecca had a feeling that he would look so much better without those blemishes and peculiarities. If the albino possessed any features from Wesker, she determined, then it would have to be his eyes.

Rebecca then tried to imagine Wesker with Star's condition, then shuddered. She couldn't help it. It was a creepy image.

As she studied the albino's scarred torso, a thought suddenly occurred to her.

Was Captain Wesker...as badly scarred as Star himself?

Rebecca wanted to dismiss the idea that her beloved Olympian could have any fault, moral or physical, and yet...she had never seen him without his shirt.

'Perhaps we should investigate and find out, just to be sure,' part of her naughtily smiled, causing her to blush.

Down, girl, down!

Retracing her thoughts, Rebecca continued to ponder, turning away from the door. If Wesker was as scarred as Star, then perhaps something happened to the two, but what?

The Bravo frowned. 'Okay, back up. That's waaaay too far beyond the scope of what we know already. Here's what we know so far - Star has a genetic disorder known as Cat's Eye Syndrome, a condition Captain Wesker may or may not have. We also know that Star is heavily scarred and has been branded. What does that tell us?'

Rebecca pondered, and pondered, and pondered, until finally an unexpected and startling thought crossed her mind. It was so dark and surprising that Rebecca herself was caught off-guard by it, for she had never would have considered it in a million years.

Could it...be...possible that...Captain Wesker...was responsible for this?

'No!' her mind immediately protested. How could she even think such a thing?! Captain Wesker was a good man, a wonderful man! He would never do anything so cruel!

And yet...to a certain extent, Rebecca could see various possible scenarios in terms of how it all played out.

Wesker was involved with a woman, a girlfriend, prostitute, or maybe someone from out of town. They see each other, and eventually it results in Star. Horrified by what was birthed, Wesker refuses to be part of its life until one day, the mother comes asking for support. Perhaps Wesker...attacked and horribly injured Star, then, in a panic, brands the albino's back in order to shift blame onto cultists, then sends him away out of regret, if not disgust.

She frowned.

'No,' Rebecca thought.

From the damage on Star's person, this wasn't some spur of the moment thing - it was deliberate and had been going on for a long time.

Someone wanted Star to suffer. Someone wanted him to feel pain. Even more, someone tried to patch him up, albeit clumsily.

A new narrative formed in her mind.

Wesker comes home from work, disgusted by the sight of his albino (bastard) son, the child scarred from previous outbursts. Taking a beer from the fridge, he tries to cope with the stress of the job combined with the child's crying/presence. The mother had left them both ages ago, leaving the Alpha Captain alone to play both mother and father. But Wesker couldn't handle being a parent; frustrated, tired and angry, perhaps coming off from a bad case, maybe even drunk, he lashes out angrily at Star over something he did or said, or maybe something he didn't do such as clean up after himself, put away his toys, etc. Whatever the cause, Wesker hurts the albino so severely, it results in his arms being damaged and a horrible wound on his neck and chest. Panicking, he takes the child to be fixed up somewhere, maybe some dark, dingy alley doctor. The boy doesn't wake up, leading the Alpha to believe that he had inadvertently killed him. Picking up the wounded, possibly even drugged out child, Wesker drives on for hours and dumps the body off in Louisiana, or perhaps has someone, a friend or relative, do it, unable to deal with the pain and guilt.

Rebecca put a hand to her mouth, horrified by such a possibility.

If such a thing were true...then...Star and her were so much more alike than she realized. The difference between them would be that the former would have had it so, so much worse.

'Hold up just a second,' Rebecca thought to herself. 'You're getting ahead of yourself, girl. This is just one possible scenario. What are the other possibilities?'

The Bravo tilted her head in thought.

Wesker becomes romantically entangled with a woman. They have such strong feelings for each other that it ultimately cumulates to Star's birth. They live together happily until one day Wesker crosses the wrong people. These people capture and torture his lover and child, resulting in the former's death and the latter to be horrifically scarred.

'Okay, that sounds a little more likely,' Rebecca thought. But if someone took Star, then who?

Cultists? The Mafia?...Umbrella?

As the last name crossed her mind, a darker narrative started to form.

Wesker crosses Umbrella...somehow. Maybe he was on a case, a case where the trail was leading to something connected with Umbrella, perhaps not even realizing they were in the picture. Umbrella threatens him through intermediaries, but Wesker is too forthright, honest and determined to turn away. Umbrella kidnaps...and...experiments...on his lover...and...child. The former dies, perhaps becoming a zombie, assuming she wasn't disposed of. The latter, however, manages to survive due to his having inherited 'Cat's Eye Syndrome' from his father. Unfortunately, his being infected with T-Virus results in severe forms of albinism and eye discoloration. They attempt to dispose of Star, perhaps mistaking him for dead, and then...he...escapes.

Rebecca's eyes widened.

'Oh my God,' she thought, 'I think I figured out what happened to Star!'

Her initial reaction was to let out a cheer, but as she let the thought sink in, Rebecca began to realize the implications behind her thinking.

If she was right, then Star...

Turning back to the door, Rebecca worriedly regarded the room's occupant, fearful of him just as she was fearful for him.

'Maybe that's why the leeches left him alone, because he was already infected,' Rebecca thought.

A flurry of images and voices assaulted her all once, each one vividly recalled.

"He just has this - vibe!" Aiken's voice echoed.

"I don't know! I don't know how to describe it! I just keep getting the feeling that something is wrong with him!"

"Isn't it odd that out of all this - the leeches, the creatures and everything else - that he alone had survived the initial attack on the train?"

"...What if I am one of Umbrella's beasts?" Star's voice reverberated distantly. "Could it be possible that I am one of Umbrella's creations and the company has come to...collect?"

"I kept getting the feeling like I was being watched and followed. Hunted."

"Animals generally don't seem to like me."

"Usually they react as if they're afraid of me."

"...I'm afraid of hospitals."

"I just get queasy whenever I'm in one or when I meet someone in a white coat. I faint at the sight of needles."

It was all starting to make sense now! Umbrella must have been searching for Star after all these years and sent these Arcana creatures to collect him! No wonder why he was afraid of hospitals and needles; if it had happened to Rebecca herself, she would be just as frightened!

As Rebecca pondered, she felt something slip from her memory.

"Rebecca," Star's voice said hesitantly. "...If it turns out that I am...if I pose a threat to either you or your team...you have my permission to destroy me. I would rather die than let them use me against you."

Rebecca squirmed uncomfortably, troubled as she conflictedly looked to the pistol in her holster, then back up to the door.

'What should I do?' she wondered.

Should she...kill him? To spare him from further suffering at Umbrella's hands? To save her team in the event that he becomes volatile? To save him from...losing himself? His soul?

Rebecca felt sick at the idea of contemplating murder. She liked Star, but by the same token...she had no idea what to do.

'Back up a second,' the medic thought to herself. 'These are just theories, nothing more, nothing less. There's nothing conclusive about any of this. So what if Star is pale and has weirdly colored eyes? He's still a human being. He hasn't done anything remotely suggestive of being T-Virally enhanced. He doesn't seem to have super strength or speed. He hasn't been eating people. If you kill him just on the basis of his skin and eye color, then you're no better than those people responsible for the Salem witch trials. You'll end up killing an innocent person.'

The Bravo frowned, then paused.

Wait a minute, hadn't Star said that he had been bitten three or four times on the ankle by rattlesnakes when he was a kid?

Rebecca put a hand to her chin.

If so, then perhaps he's not infected. By Star's own admission, there haven't been any news reports in Arkham about either monsters or cannibalism.

Still, it would be best to get him checked at the hospital after this to make sure.

Hearing a creak, Rebecca glanced up as Star tied the last buckle on his coat.

"All set?" she asked.

"Yes," he nodded. "My apologies for keeping you waiting."

Rebecca waved. "Don't worry."

Should she tell him her suspicions?

On one hand, Star was searching for the truth about himself, and he was deserving of answers. On the other hand...

"Is something wrong, Rebecca?" Star asked uncertainly.

The medic bit her lip. "I've...been thinking about your situation."

He looked at her curiously. "And?"

Rebecca shifted on her feet. "I've come up with four possible scenarios that could explain...some aspects. Keep in mind, though, these are just theories. Nothing conclusive."

Star listened grimly as she told him her suspicions, his face becoming darker at the last one. Once she finished, the albino looked quietly down contemplatively.

"...The last one seems like a very strong possibility," he murmured.

"You have to remember though, Star, that it's just a theory," Rebecca assured. "Nothing definite."

The albino's fingers drummed along the handles of his suitcases.

"Assuming that I am infected," he began, "...do you think it's possible that...I...could...be...cured?"

Rebecca thought about it.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe. Maybe not."

One corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "If so...at least it gives me some hope."

"Why?"

"It would mean I can finally be made...normal."

Rebecca gave a sad smile, putting a hand on his arm.

"Oh Star, you are normal. You're the most normal-" she cut herself off, stopping herself from saying 'thing' for fear of offending him, "person I've encountered these last two nights."

He looked unconvinced.

"You don't have to worry!" She assured. "Once we find Captain Wesker and get out of here, we'll check at the hospital. If they find anything, we will be there for you. I will be there for you. Just keep in mind, though, if you are infected and it's irreversible-"

He nodded again.

"I know," he sighed. "I just hope it is, though, that way I can stop looking like something from a Penny Dreadful."

Rebecca shook her head. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Star. You're not as ugly as you make yourself out to be."

Star scoffed.

"Tell that to the people of Arkham," he muttered.

"Well to hell with them!" Rebecca said. "Infected or not...you are a good-looking guy."

He looked doubtfully down with sad eyes to the floor, shifting in discomfort as he cleared his throat. "...We should check the next room."

Just as Star moved past her, he froze.

"Is something wrong?" Rebecca asked.

He turned around to face her. "...It has just occurred to me that I never properly thanked you."

"What for?" she said confusedly.

"For your efforts," the red-cloaked albino clarified. "In saving me. Your kindness. Regardless of...whether I'm infected or not...thank you. Thank you for treating me...for seeing me...as a human being."

Rebecca waved. "Really, Star, you shouldn't thank me for that! Everyone deserves to be treated with respect."

He nodded. "Even so...thank you."

Rebecca smiled, winking at him.

Star opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something more, but then stopped.

"Was there something else?" Rebecca asked.

After a minute of silence, he exhaled. "No."

"Are you sure?" Rebecca pressed.

"I'm...sure."

Rebecca was unconvinced. What was he hiding?

Star cleared his throat again. "Shall we check the next room?"

The medic nodded.

"After you," she waved.

As the teenagers stepped past the red curtains, Rebecca worriedly ran her fingers along the handle of her weapon.