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 Twenty-Six: Stuck
Stepping outside, Star paused at the door, taking in the sight that greeted him.
"Of course," he muttered softly. "Of course it would be this."
He didn't know what he had expected to find when he stepped out, but it certainly wasn't a cemetery of all things. Sparsely lit by one or two lamps with cracked walkways, mist lightly covered the ground with a strangely luminescent yet filmy quality.
All around him were old headstones of various different shapes and sizes, cracked with age and grouped next to some fences, with light seeping through the latter's spaces in between, making them seem like ribs.
"What in the world," Star whispered as he studied the graves.
So many headstones...
...Had all of these been Umbrella's victims?
A chill ran through Star's blood, a shiver rippling through his body as the thought occurred to him.
"How on earth is it possible for a single company to get away with all this?" the albino asked himself quietly.
Even more, how much of this had been a result of himself, be it through his own creation and/or involvement?
Had he been involved? At least, for the period of his life in which he had no memory?
As he eyed the headstones, Star winced in pain as he grabbed onto a railing in front of him, holding on for support.
He and James were on a white speed boat traveling down a Venetian canal when they saw piles of civilian bodies...or rather their remains as they bobbed lifelessly about, the water stained crimson.
Seeing the grisly sight, he stared, fixated on the cadavers in horror and sorrow. "No..."
James shook his head, exhaling.
"They never even had a chance," he said quietly. Looking up to face him, James gave him an assuring nod. "I don't know what lies ahead, rookie. It's possible there may be more dangers ahead, and things will likely get worse from hereon. If you want, I can call in someone to evac you if this is too much for you to handle. You don't have to do this. You can always leave."
He looked away with troubled eyes.
"Hey, it's okay, rookie," James said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "No one is going to blame you for not sticking around. Don't worry about what the others think. Sometimes, the most sensible thing to do in a fucked up situation like this is to flee and never look back. I've been on this job a long time, kid, and believe me, there were a lot of times where I should have turned back when I had the chance. If you want to leave, just say the word, champ. I'll understand. I'm not going to force you into this."
He looked around at the bodies, down the various canals as gentle waves caressed their boat, then looked to the bodies bobbing up and down in the water.
It was so tempting to say fuck it - after all, he was young with hopes and dreams. If he were to continue, there was no telling what will happen to him. Hell, he might end up getting torn apart by these mutant fuckers.
He pondered James' words.
Seagulls cried overhead as they fluttered in the air, showering the canals with feathers.
"...Well?" James said expectantly. "What will it be?"
He stared down into the pool, at his own reflection, his light brown hair parted to the side.
"...I'm going with you, James," he answered determinedly.
The older agent hesitated. "Are you sure?"
He shrugged.
"We've already made it this far," he replied, looking up to face his partner. "Besides, I'm not going to let Goldman or those DBR bastards get away with this. I want to catch them before any more people are hurt."
He waited for a response, watching as James scrutinized him for a moment. Finally, a smile appeared on the older agent's face.
"You've got guts, kid," he nodded. "Those bastards at DBR will pay for this, Gary. You have my word on that. Now, let's go get 'em."
Shaking his head, Star reared back his head with a sharp gasp, panting heavily.
What the fuck?!
Closing his eyes, the albino reached up and massaged his forehead, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I should really stop watching film noir," he muttered.
Opening his eyes, Star drew back his hood, basking in the cool night air with a soft exhale, staring out to the cemetery before him.
So many bodies...
At first, Star wanted to call back to his companions inside, but a cautious part of the youth warned him against performing such an action, especially after what had happened.
The boy shivered.
That...thing had been standing right beside him. Watching over him.
It didn't lash out as Star had expected, but it was a startling vision just the same.
Star himself was tall, but by God, the sheer height of it was unbelievable! It was massive!
A body so wiry and long that it almost bordered on parody, with equally long limbs.
And those eyes...
Star flinched as he recalled them.
He had never seen anything so cold and cruel in his life. Not even the maligned Travis Marsden that tormented through childhood nor the despicable James Marcus could compare.
And the way it moved...the sheer speed...Star had never seen anything like it! It wasn't like the Road Runner in the Bugs Bunny cartoons that he used to watch as a child. The creature had moved so fast that it left a series of after-images in its wake.
Trees rustled, causing Star to flinch and look wildly around. He waited a minute, then two.
Once he was certain that there was nothing there, he released his breath softly.
This place...
'I think that's enough fresh air for now,' he thought as he drew up his hood again, turning back to the door as he stepped inside.
Barry looked up the staircase as the backdoor opened, watching the albino as he entered.
"Feeling better?" The Alpha asked.
The boy nodded as he stepped down the stairs.
"I am," he confirmed.
"Good," Barry nodded. "Now apologize, you two." He watched as Richard and the youth frowned. "Come on, guys - settle this already. Let bygones be bygones."
He waited, watching as the two shifted uncomfortably.
"I'm..." the albino began, "...I'm sorry."
Richard was quiet for a moment, then exhaled.
"Yeah. Sorry," he grunted.
Barry nodded approvingly. "Good. Now shake on it."
Holding out his gloved hand- although paw seemed to be a far more appropriate term given how large it was - the albino waited and stared at Richard expectantly.
Richard eyed it, then tentatively took the giant's hand and gave it a quick shake before quickly retracting his own hand back, causing Barry to frown.
"A proper handshake, Richard," he chided.
"What do you want me to do?! I shook his hand, okay?!" Richard retorted.
"It's fine," the albino waved, cutting Barry off before he had a chance to make a response.
Barry eyed him. "Are you sure?"
The youth nodded.
"Okay," Barry said slowly. "Good. Now that's settled, it's time we got back to searching this place for the others."
The albino pointed up the stairs. "There's a graveyard just outside that we haven't explored."
Barry blinked.
"A graveyard?" he repeated.
The youth nodded. "Yes. I haven't searched it, just because...well..."
The Alpha nodded.
"Understandable given the situation. Show us."
Three pairs of eyes peered out from the door into the mist-filled night, the door creaking slightly as they peered around.
"Of course there's a fucking graveyard," Aiken muttered.
"Jesus," Barry grumbled.
The albino remained quiet, his violet orbs staring to the various headstones. Closing the door for a moment, he looked expectantly at them.
"So what do we do?" he asked.
Aiken shrugged. "Looks like the only option we have is to go outside."
Barry frowned. Looking over his shoulder nervously, he turned back to them.
"I'm afraid I can't go with you, fellas," he said regretfully.
The survivors looked at him in surprise.
"Why?" the albino asked.
Barry stood still for a minute, his face unreadable. Finally, he let out a tired sigh.
"...I need to use the bathroom," he admitted. Giving a sheepish smile, he shrugged. "What can I say? Moon's Doughnuts combined with Jim's Crabs makes for a lethal combination!"
"Oh God," Aiken groaned.
"I'll try to be quick," Barry promised.
"Just remember to turn on the fan after your done," Aiken reminded. "Every time you have that combination, the restrooms at the station end up smelling like death!"
"You might want to hold off on washing your hands," the albino spoke up. "We don't know if the T-Virus has infected the water supply around here."
Barry frowned. "Good to know."
The albino paused. "Oh! I nearly forgot, I should have some cleaning cloths in my suitcase back in the storage room by the staircase in the west wing, so you are more than welcome to help yourself to one."
The Alpha nodded. "Thanks."
As Barry stepped down the stairs and made his way to the dining hall, Richard called out, "Barry."
He paused, then turned to look over his shoulder.
"Yes, Richard?"
"Be careful, man," Richard nodded.
Barry smiled.
"Always am," he said confidently. "As long as I have this with me," he gestured to the Colt Anaconda revolver in his hand, "I'll be perfectly fine."
With that, the Alpha departed, leaving the two survivors alone.
Aiken watched as the double doors closed on his departing friend, the room swallowing him. Looking over to the albino, he gave a grunt, "You ready to go?"
The youth turned to face him and gave a slight shrug.
"As much as I can be," he replied.
Richard gave the main hall a once over, then looked up the stairs.
"Alright. Let's go."
Star stepped outside with Aiken, the two survivors glancing around nervously.
"Christ on a bike," the latter muttered.
Looking around, Star glanced down at the small set of steps to his left, then raised his eyes, watching and listening intently. After the two waited, they proceeded quietly down, glancing around at the various headstones.
Pausing, the albino kneeled down at the closest one in front of him, then looked at the others.
"Huh. Curious," Star said softly.
"What is it?" Aiken asked impatiently.
Standing up, Star squinted at the other graves.
"...A lot of these seemed to be written in Greek or Latin," he replied. "Whatever sort of man this "Spencer" character was, it's apparent he had some form of a classical education."
"Do you know what they say?"
The albino nodded. "I recognize some lines from 'The Iliad'. Others seem to be directly lifted from Virgil's 'Aeneid', more specifically Aeneas' descent into the underworld."
Aiken frowned. "That's comforting."
Star paused at one. Staring at the headstone, he smiled in spite of himself, then gave a small amused chuckle.
"What?" Aiken said impatiently.
"'Roland Barthes - Here Lies An Author,'" the albino laughed as he read the engraving in the headstone.
"What's so damn funny?!" Aiken snapped.
The albino shook his head as he laughed lightly. "It's-it's a joke!"
"Yeah, because death is so funny," the Bravo muttered.
Star frowned, his laughter ceasing. "No, it's a joke. Roland Barthes was a French literary critic who wrote an essay called 'Death Of An Author' in 1967. To put it simply, his paper called for readers to not assign biographical facts and author intentions in determining the interpretation of their writing."
Aiken tilted his head. "Okay...but why would it be called 'death of an author', though? Wouldn't the author still be relevant?"
The albino shrugged. "I'll be more than happy to explain and go into detail...at least, some other time in a more appropriate, if not less threatening setting." He looked around, then stopped.
"Wait," he said, pointing to another gravestone in particular. "I see something, but...I don't know what to make of it."
One word was written in ink on a gravestone that had Star blinking in confusion for several minutes, the albino's brow creasing.
"What does it say?" Aiken asked curiously.
Star squinted, tilting his head from side to side as he looked at the strange word from different angles.
"...Well?" Aiken said expectantly.
The youth frowned. "It says...'Kap...kom'?"
"'Kapkom'?" The Bravo blinked. "Are you sure?"
"That's what is says," Star replied, gesturing to the messy writing in ink. "What does that even mean?"
Aiken folded his arms together, cupping his chin thoughtfully.
"A capcom is a term for a 'capsule communicator'," he explained. "It's a position in NASA that serves as a kind of liaison between in-space crew and mission control."
Star blinked in surprise. "So a radioman in other words?"
Aiken gave a slight shrug. "Essentially."
The albino tilted his head to the side.
"Interesting," he murmured, then looked back to the Bravo. "How do you know about that?"
Aiken scratched his cheek.
"I wanted to be an astronaut growing up," he admitted.
"Oh," Star said simply as he looked back to the gravestone. "Why would anyone write that word of all things? And out here?"
Aiken shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe the person that got infected was beginning to lose his marbles and scrawled that down."
The albino clicked his tongue, giving a slight nod.
"Possible," he replied.
Aiken watched the albino with unease and distaste as he studied the messy writing.
God, the kid creeped him out.
As he looked back and forth from the youth and the messy writing, a lightbulb suddenly went off in his head.
Could it be...a warning?
Was there somebody here that acted as a sort of liaison for Umbrella, carrying out their orders?
Before he had a chance to contemplate further, the kid suddenly let out a strangled cry of pain as he fell to his knees and clutched the side of his head.
"Hey, what's going on?" Aiken asked as he approached the crying figure.
"MY EARS!" The albino grimaced, his eyes tightly held shut. "MAKE IT STOP!"
Earlier...
Rebecca let out a frustrated growl. There has to be a way out of this damn crypt.
"See anything?" she called.
Chris frowned, shaking his head.
"Nothing here," Joseph called back.
"I think I found something," Jill said from the other end of the crypt, the chained coffin hanging overhead. Turning around, she approached the group with something in her hands.
"What's that you have there, Jill?" Chris asked.
"Some sort of book," she replied, letting out a shiver. "It looks...creepy, to be honest."
"What a surprise!" Joseph said sarcastically.
The group circled around, looking down at the book in her hands.
"Oh yeah, this really makes me want open it up!" Joseph snarked.
Rebecca studied the item. It was a manuscript with a hardback purple cover with silver engravings and relief figures sculpted into it. At the top of it was a ram's head situated beside a gruesome collection of silvery skulls. Below were a pair of ghoulish skeletal figures that held up the emblem in the center, which read "Next World - the Book of Curses", the text itself bordered by a pair of demonic ram heads.
Reaching out to touch the cover, Rebecca was about to open it when Joseph smacked her hand.
"Ow!" she winced. Looking up, she glared at the Alpha. "What was that for?!"
"Look at it!" Joseph pointed. "Why would you even want to open it up in the first place?!"
She scowled. "You're being ridiculous."
"Uhh, no, I'm being sensible. Am I the only asshole around here who thinks that we shouldn't touch this thing?"
Jill gave a teasing smile. "Aw, don't tell me that you're feeling superstitious now, are you?"
He looked at her seriously. "Aren't you?" he asked. "In case you hadn't noticed, things are not exactly what I would call 'normal', not with the winged dogs or the literal demon watching over us."
The smile dropped the moment the latter was mentioned, causing her to look uneasily at the book.
"Good point," Jill said quietly.
Rebecca frowned.
"It's not a demon," she asserted, if only to assure herself. "We all saw Star's notebook for ourselves, remember?"
Chris frowned. "Even if that is true, assuming that everything we saw of it was even real...how is it able to do all that? None of the zombies we've seen so far have been able to do the things that it did."
The medic shifted uncomfortably. "True, but I'm sure there's a rational explanation for the things we've been seeing."
'There has to be,' she mentally added, although Rebecca felt a great deal of uncertainty about everything. Even if she could chalk up a lot of the bizarre creatures that haunted this place to a virus, to scientific experimentation, the Magician was perhaps the most enigmatic and troubling, for it seemed to operate entirely on some other, almost incomprehensible level that bordered on the supernatural, as much as she hated to admit it.
Refraining from shivering, Rebecca turned her attention to the book.
Taking it from Jill's hands she raised it up to look at the cover when she saw Jill give a look of surprise.
"Well would you look at that!"
"What?" Rebecca asked.
She watched as Jill reached to the back cover pulled...a key from it.
"What the hell?" Joseph muttered.
Rebecca blinked, then gave a flat look.
"...Of course a key would be hidden on the back of a book," she deadpanned, opening it up. Written inside with illustrations were the following words, all of which she read aloud as she flipped through the various pages.
"'The four masks,
a mask that speaks no evil...
a mask that smells no evil...
a mask that sees no evil...
a mask that cannot speak, smell,
or see evil...
When all four fall into place,
evil will awaken.'"
"Oh yeah! I am so totally glad that you read that out loud!" Joseph said sarcastically. "I wonder what new evil thing will fuck us in the ass this time! Better get the lube ready - my keister is tingling big time!"
"Wait a minute," Chris hesitated. Rebecca watched as he fumbled around with his fanny pack and zipped it open, sifting through it before suddenly pulling out an ugly death mask.
"Hey, I have something like that as well!" Jill said as she reached into her own fanny pack, pulling it out.
Rebecca looked at the ugly masks as they were displays and folded her arms, cupping her chin with one hand in thought.
"A mask that speaks no evil and smells no evil..." Looking to the stone busts in the niches, Rebecca then pointed at them. "Do you think these masks are connected with those somehow?"
"Only one way to find out," Jill replied as she and Chris approached the niches, each survivor positioning themselves next to the statue with the corresponding features. Placing the death masks on, the two pulled away.
"Okay," Chris spoke, "so now what-"
Two chains snapped behind them, causing the survivors to whip around in fright as the coffin hanging overhead shook, shaking off dust and spilling some questionable brown fluid all over the ground.
"Ugh!" Rebecca recoiled at the smell.
"Jesus!" Chris coughed. "That's a hell of a stink."
"No kidding. Uh, listen, guys," Joseph said uneasily, "how about we avoid putting on any more masks, okay? My keister is tingling really, really something fierce!"
"Do we even have any more?" Jill asked.
Chris shook his head. "I don't. Do you?"
She shook hers. "No."
Rebecca then shook her own.
"I don't have anything like that on me," she replied.
"Same here," Joseph said.
"Well," Rebecca then gave a nervous smile, "at least that's one worry out of the way."
Chris frowned. "True, but we're still stuck here."
Rebecca's smile faded.
"True." Glancing around them, the medic pondered their predicament. There had to be some way out of this, but how...?
Raising up her eyes, she then took out her radio and pressed into the receiver.
"Richard, are you there? It's me, Rebecca. Over."
She waited for a response.
Nothing but static.
Frowning, Rebecca tried again. "Richard, can you hear me? It's Rebecca. Over."
She waited a minute. Then two. Then three.
Her frown deepened as she changed channels.
"Star, are you there? It's Rebecca. If you can hear this, please respond." As static played from the speaker, the medic let out a growl of frustration. "Ugh! Why can't I reach anyone?!"
Chris shook his head. "I can't reach anyone on my radio, either."
"Same here," Jill frowned. "I'm getting a lot of interference. Maybe we're too far underground for our radios to work?"
Rebecca looked worriedly around at their surroundings, absentmindedly stuffing them into her pant pockets. There had to be a way to reach someone, but how...?
She stopped as her hand made contact with something. Blinking, Rebecca curiously took the object out from her pocket and held it in her hand, scoffing.
"What's that you have there, Rebecca?" Chris asked.
"A dog whistle," Rebecca answered, shrugging nonchalantly. "I completely forgot I even had it."
Joseph scoffed. "Yeah, like that will be of any help."
Rebecca shifted uncomfortably.
Were they stuck here forever?
Sweeping her hands through her short brown hair, Rebecca struggled to keep her cool. There had to be some way out of this mess, some way to reach someone! Barry, Richard, Captain Wesker, Star-
Rebecca stopped, pulling her hands away, her eyes widening.
"Oh my God!" she gasped.
"What, Rebecca?" Jill spoke up.
The medic turned to face her. "When was the last time you saw Star?"
Jill hesitated. "A little while ago over at the entrance. Just moments before..."
As Jill trailed off, Rebecca brought up her radio again.
"Star? Star? Star please respond!" she said into the receiver.
Worry filled her heart as the static crackled.
"Star, if you can hear this, please answer!"
Let him die.
Rebecca gasped, dropping the radio in shock.
"The hell?" Joseph said in surprise, put off by her reaction. "You okay, rookie?"
Rebecca felt her hands shake, her wide eyes fixed on the radio as her palms started to sweat, looking around in confusion.
"Didn't-" she swallowed, "didn't you hear that?"
The survivors glanced over at each other questioningly, then looked back to her.
"Uh, no?" Joseph said with a raised brow.
Just let him die. All he has ever done was cause trouble. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. We would be back home with Mom.
The words just came out of nowhere, all of it spoken by a single voice. Her voice.
"Hey, are you okay, Rebecca?" Jill asked. "You don't look well."
Rebecca wiped her sweat-covered forehead, trying to hold back a shudder.
"I'm- I'm fine," she said in a soft voice, feeling ill. "I mean...I don't...I don't know!"
Hallucinations. There must be something in the air that's causing her to hallucinate.
Rebecca panted heavily, her eyes dilating as her breath quickened. Fumbling with the whistle, she shakily raised it to her mouth, then blew with all of her might, blowing every last bit of breath that she had.
Star cried out in pain as he staggered forward, squeezing his ears with a wince before tripping and falling down a flight of stairs.
"Jesus Christ, Wolf!" Aiken yelled as he hurried to the albino's side, helping him up. "Hey, are you okay? What the hell's the matter with you?!"
Star's face was locked in a grimace as he held his eyes tightly shut and held his sensitive ears.
"God, make it stop!" he said with clenched teeth. "MAKE IT STOP!"
"Make what stop, kid? You're not making any sense!"
Raising his eyes to make a retort, Star paused as he caught sight of a large tomb over to the left. Illuminated by a lamp light, it had a long black iron fence at the on its left side and a long concrete slab on the ground before it, the front section of the tomb itself engraved with a relief depicting Cupid with a bow and arrow. Curiously, Star couldn't help noticing, there was an indentation where the latter was supposed be.
"It-it's coming from over there!" the albino said painfully as he pointed. "It's like earlier when Rebecca-" Star's eyes suddenly flew open in realization. "Rebecca! Oh my God, it's Rebecca!"
He darted toward the tomb, wincing at the pain.
"Rebecca?!" he yelled as he got closer. "REBECCA?! REBECCA!"
"Hey, do you hear that?" Jill asked.
Rebecca listened, then heard it - a muffled shouting somewhere up top.
"HELLO?!" she called. "CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!"
The group hollered altogether, shouting as loud as they could.
Star looked over his shoulder.
"I can hear them!" he said, pointing to the concrete slab. "It's coming from somewhere down below!" He kneeled down. "REBECCA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?! I'M HERE WITH OFFICER AIKEN!"
The voices called back, but were unintelligible.
Star frowned. "I wish I knew what they're saying."
Aiken took out his radio. "Hello? Chris, are you there? Over!"
The radio buzzed and fizzed.
Star's radio went off. "Star, are you there? Over."
The albino's pulse quickened as he fumbled for the radio the moment he heard the voice.
"Rebecca, is that you? Can you hear me?"
"Yeah!"
Star closed his eyes, letting out a sigh of relief. "Thank God! I was searching everywhere for you!"
"Where are you, exactly?"
Star glanced nervously at their surroundings. "We're somewhere behind the mansion. Spencer has a whole graveyard out here, and from where we're standing, you seem to be in some sort of tomb. Is there anyone else with you?"
"Yeah, Chris, Jill and Joseph are also down here with me." There came a slight pause. "How about yourself? Is there anyone with you?"
"Just Officer Aiken."
"No one else?"
"No one else."
"Oh." There came an awkward silence. "How about your father? Have you met up with him?"
Star shook his head. "No. I saw him a while ago, but he hasn't seen me. We did come across Officer Burton just a moment ago, though, but he needed to find a restroom."
"Ah."
The albino glanced nervously over his shoulder. "There's some sort of creature wandering around inside. A hunchbacked woman in an ugly mask."
"Yeah, I encountered her earlier as well," Rebecca replied. "I think that's Lisa Trevor."
Star hesitated. "What? Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure." Her voice softened. "It's awful what they've done to her."
"From what I saw of her face, I have to agree," Star nodded thoughtfully. "Listen, we're going to see if there's a way to get you out of there, okay? Just hold on for a minute." Lowering the radio, he turned to Aiken. "There must be way to get down there. Help me try to move this."
"What are you, nuts?! There's no way we can move this thing!" Aiken retorted.
"Just try!" Star snapped back in exasperation.
"Alright, alright!" The Bravo said as he raised up his hands. "See if you can grab that end and try to move it while I take the other side."
The duo knelt and felt around, then tried pushing at different angles, trying to find some suggestion of a possible opening or some way to remove the stone.
"Push! Push!" Aiken grunted.
A few minutes of exertion later, the survivors stopped.
"Stuck," Aiken said as he wiped his head. "No way in hell we can move that."
"Let's look around," Star said as he got up. "There must be a secret switch or something-" Aiken raised up a hand, motioning for him to stop. "What?" Aiken then pointed to the empty slot where the arrowhead was. At first Star was confused, but then it clicked. "Oh."
Aiken looked down, lifting up his own feet. "I don't see anything down here. How about you? Any luck?"
Star frowned as he looked among the tombstones, shaking his head.
"I don't see anything here," he muttered.
The Bravo folded his arms and fumed. "Well, fuck! That's just great! That's just fucking great! That piece could be anywhere in this fucking shithole! What are we going to do?!"
Star raised a hand to his hooded head, then sighed.
"...I don't know," he admitted. "I honestly don't know!"
Sweeping a hand through his hair, Aiken kicked a headstone. "FUUUUCK!"
The survivors paced about anxiously, looking around.
"...You do know what this means, right?" Aiken asked.
Star winced. "Please don't tell me..."
The Bravo nodded tiredly. "I'm afraid so. We have to go back inside into that fucking mansion again."
The albino gave a frustrated growl. "Jesus CHRIST!" He yelled the last part.
"Yeah, I'm just as pissed off as you are, but let's just get this over with. The longer we wait out here, the more likely some creepy-crawly fuck is going to get at the others."
Letting out a tired huff, he remained still for a moment, then shook his head wearily. "Fine."
Star felt too exhausted to protest as he followed Aiken back to where they came.
Walking up the steps, he watched as the Bravo shook his head.
"Yep, just another Friday night! Just searching a creepy mansion full of monsters for an arrowhead to get my friends out of a tomb in the middle of nowhere! Just living the dream!" Aiken said to himself.
Star said nothing, unsure whether he should comment or feel concerned about the man's mental stability.
As they edged toward the mansion, a loud cry from inside caught their attention, Star's especially.
"That voice..."
Exchanging worried looks, the two of them looked back to the mansion and quickened their pace.
Throwing open the door, Star felt his pulse stop as his eyes widened in horror. "FATHER!"
Standing in the middle of the main hall was the armored titan, and in one massive hand was the limp form of Captain Albert Wesker as he dangled unconscious in the air by the throat.
"No," Star breathed as he rushed forward, running as fast as he could. "NO! GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
Letting out a loud angry roar, the albino charged toward the giant and leapt up, delivering a dropkick into its armored back, causing the creature to stumble slightly and drop the S.T.A.R.S. Captain onto the floor.
"Get the FUCK away from my father!" Star screamed, baring his teeth as he got to his feet.
Turning slowly around, the armored giant wheezed, tilting its head curiously.
Aiken quickly approached with his sidearm raised. "Is he alright?"
"I don't know," Star replied, his eyes never leaving the giant, even as the Bravo circled around him and knelt beside Captain Wesker's body.
"He's still alive!" Aiken called. "Just unconscious!"
The creature turned to face him, taking a threatening step toward him.
"NO!" Star shouted. Grabbing one of the nearby tripods, he lifted it up with both hands and charged forward with a yell, slamming it into the beast's back. The blow didn't elicit any sort of reaction within the creature other than to produce a loud clanging that drew its attention toward the albino himself. "You will NOT lay a hand on him!" Star yelled as he tightened his grip on the tripod. "Your fight is with me!"
The creature looked at him, its features hidden behind that lensed gas mask as it looked between him and Aiken.
Finally, the creature threw down its poleaxe, the blade burying itself deep into the floor while the handle pointed up to the air, as if it were smugly accepting Star's challenge.
Aiken carefully picked up Wesker's body. "I got the Captain! Come on, there's no way you can hurt him with all that armor on!"
Star narrowed his eyes. "I'm staying."
The Bravo blinked. "What?!"
"He's going to keep following us no matter what. I'll serve as a distraction for you and Father."
"But-"
"Go."
Aiken gave him a look. "...You do realize there is no way you can win this."
Star closed his eyes, and gave a sad nod. "I know. Just...just protect Father...please..."
The Bravo stared at him for a long time, his expression unreadable. Finally, he gave a quiet nod back, then headed through the dining hall doors, leaving the albino alone with the monster before him.
As the doors closed, Star suddenly felt a profound swell of terror, the likes of which he had never experienced before.
He was going to die.
He knew that he had no chance in hell at fighting this thing, and the creature seemed to know it as well. Star stared at it, blinking in confusion.
It didn't advance at all - it just stood there, as if somehow amused by the idea of the tiny thing before him taking it on.
Star recalled the memory of Theseus and the various heroes of old, the stories of men taking down monsters twice their size for inspiration, the story of David and Goliath...but in that moment, he suddenly felt very alone and vulnerable. He wanted to flee and hide, to cower somewhere, but he was too afraid.
Too afraid to run. Too afraid to attack. Too afraid to even move!
What was he even thinking?! Had he really been so deluded as to believe that he even stood a chance against this thing?!
Even now, he was shaking, and he could see the tripod in his hand unsteadily wavering.
He didn't want to die - he just wanted to have a normal life, enjoy the very things people take for granted.
Have a family...
Star thought about the things he would be unable to do, the things he wanted to do still, and it made him cry in fear and regret.
The albino sniffled, then drew in a sharp breath and swallowed as his eyes burned, his cheeks soaked. A quote from Yamamoto Tsunetomo's 'Hagakure' suddenly flashed in his mind, causing Star to give a derisive snort of amusement.
"'Rehearse your death every morning and night. Only when you constantly live as though already a corpse will you be able to find freedom in the martial Way, and fulfill your duties without fault throughout your life,'" he said aloud. Shaking his head, Star gave a rueful smile, amused at the horribly bitter irony.
So many regrets, so many missed opportunities. He longed to experience the sort of happiness he saw other people had, to experience his first kiss.
At least he was able to experience love, though.
'Better to have felt love than to have not felt it at all, I suppose.' Came the dark thought.
Closing his eyes, he exhaled softly, then reopened them again.
"Well, I guess it's time for me to die," he said with despondent resignation.