A Broken Heart

Jill was trying to avoid the monster in chains. It had come after her down the slick tunnel. She crept slowly and quietly around a dark corner. The room opened onto a platform. There were columns on four sides of it and a sarcophagus sitting like a stone tribute in the center. Chains erupted out of the top of the sarcophagus and attached to the top of the columns.

Jill crept forward and heard a noise behind her. She turned and came face to face with Captain Wesker. Shocked, Jill stumbled a little. His hand shot out to steady her before she spilled over the side of the platform into the endless darkness beneath it.

"Captain!"

His dark glasses in place, Wesker looked…pristine. He looked clean and well kept. He looked unruffled, calm, and cucumber cool. Seeing him that way eased back some of her fear.

"Jill…I'm glad to see you."

"Captain Wesker…where did you go? We've been looking for you."

Wesker moved with her onto the platform. They moved toward the sarcophagus together. He answered, quietly, "I was tracking down the traitor. You're aware there is one amongst us?"

"I am. I am. I think…Captain? I think it might be Barry."

Curious, Wesker studied her face. And then he did something so out of character for him. He lifted his hand and brushed at a smudge of dirt on her cheek. Jill froze, watching him. A hard man to know on a good day, what was that on his face now? Concern? Was it regret?

What was that?

"Jill…I chose Barry. I chose him. If he has betrayed us…it means I chose poorly. It means I led us here to die."

It WAS regret. Wesker was sorry. He was sorry for it. It was written all over his face. He was grieving the men who'd died under his command. Of course, he was. He wasn't a monster. He was a leader. And he'd led his men to death.

Jill laid her hand over his on her cheek and saw the echo of surprise on his face. She comforted him, gently. She hated seeing him struggling with the guilt of it. An odd man, he was a good leader. He would feel the pain of Barry's betrayal and the loss of his men like this. Creepy, she'd once thought. But he wasn't. He was just deep and fathomless. Professional. And she wanted him to stay strong for them. Having him back would rally their morale and bring back the hope. "Sir…it's not your fault. If Barry is working as a spy for Umbrella…it's not your fault."

Wesker relaxed his hand against her face. His palm curved against her porcelain cheek. He felt it again, that flicker of wanting to own her. It shivered in his empty heart like the echoes of what he might have been if he'd ever been a mere mortal man.

In a way, there was that flicker of something human here. Attraction? It was, in a way. It was attraction to her in a way that interested him. Not sexual. Not exactly. Objectively, her beauty was of the simple and angelic variety. But it was that swell of power in her. Untested, untried. It waited to be cultivated and brought to the surface. She was a caterpillar and he wanted to see her emerge a butterfly. The time here was so limited. The truth would kill that devotion on her face. It would kill her or destroy her and leave her husk behind. He wanted the husk, in a way, to own the soul that bound it…yes….but he was fascinated by the strength of the woman that loved so fully, fought so perfectly, and yearned for power. Power would always be what attracted him. Testing the bonds of it, he curled his fingers behind her head and drew her forward.

Jill felt her eyes flare in surprise. She didn't resist. She was too surprised to resist. The platform shivered. The timing here was so wrong. The world felt wrong. The look on his face? Was it simply all the regret and the pain of the worst night of their lives?

His other hand came up to touch the matching side of her face. His gun was cool against her skin. She was transfixed by his sunglasses as he lowered his mouth and pressed it to hers. Her hands, one holding her pistol, the other touching his on her face…trembled.

It was butterfly soft. It was so gentle. Captain Wesker…was kissing her. It didn't even feel sexual. It felt…possessive? It felt something. She blinked and her beret slipped a little on her hair.

"Captain?"

Wesker released her gently. She turned her head and Chris was standing there at the mouth of the cave. Oh god, she thought desperately, his face. His FACE. It was somewhere between relief to see Wesker and pain. Pain. How did she explain what he had seen here?

How did she explain it to herself?

Wesker shifted and moved with aplomb. His gun came up. Jill made a sound of shock but she didn't need to warn him. Because...somehow Chris was already standing there with his gun trained on his Captain.

Holy shit.

Would he shoot another man for kissing her?

That look on his face. Who was the man that stood there holding the pair of them in his sights?

Wesker said, commandingly, "DUCK!"

And Chris ducked. Just like that. He ducked.

Wesker fired over his head.

The monster in chains moaned as the bullet smashed into its ugly face. Chris stumbled onto the platform. Wesker grabbed his uniform and pulled him up beside him.

"Bullets do nothing more than distract it. Get the sarcophagus open."

Jill ran toward the stone lid and started pushing. But it was locked tight. She glanced up at the chains on the top and followed the lines of them to the columns.

"Chris!" She called for him and ran to the closest column. She started pushing at it. Seeing the plan, Chris ran to take her place. He said, harshly as his biceps bulged and he shoved his weight to it, "Cover me. And keep that thing off me."

Wesker nodded and Jill echoed it.

They moved to flank the monster in chains. It whipped the chain of heads at her and Jill rolled, skidding out and grabbing the column beside her. She used it to propel herself up and swing in a semi-circle. Her feet hit it full body and drove it back. The monster moaned and staggered.

Wesker threw a back kick at it and sent it to one side. Jill dropped to one hand to buffalo kick it and Wesker jerked the chain of heads from its hands. It moaned and grabbed his face. It lifted him in the air while he kicked uselessly.

Jill hefted the chain of heads, reared her arm back, and smacked it clean in the ugly face. It dropped Wesker, moaning so loudly it shook the room. There was a pop of metal and the first chain on the sarcophagus burst free as Chris shoved the column over the platform and into the darkness.

He ran to the next and Jill snaked the chain of heads at the thing again. It caught the chain and jerked, throwing Jill to her face on the platform. It stomped toward her back and Jill rolled, missing its foot by inches. Wesker kicked it in the back and it threw its bound arms at him. It hit him full body and threw him out.

Jill shouted, Wesker hit the edge of the platform and rolled off.

"NO!"

He was dangling by his hands. Jill grabbed his wrists and started pulling him up. The monster in chains brought the huge cement block that bound her hands down toward Jill as she crouched. Wesker shouted her name, Jill turned, and watched it fall at her face.

Chris kicked the monster so hard it was tossed to its side. Jill felt those hands pass an inch from her face as it went down. She glanced at him but he was already shoving at the column again.

Jill kept trying to help Wesker back up and the monster in chains rose again. It lifted its arms to bring them down again and the next chain snapped off the sarcophagus. Chris rushed at the monster, Jill shouted in horror, and he tackled it full body.

He caught it around the waist and pushed. He pushed it. She watched him grunt, heard him shout, watched him drive his boots into the platform and just…shove. He just shoved it.

Wesker was far enough up now that he climbed to his feet. Jill shouted, "Chris!"

And Chris gave one final shove at the monster in chains. It teetered on the platform and gave a desperate smash of its arms. It caught him broadside and threw him away from it. Chris flew back and hit the sarcophagus. His whole body smashed into it and the lid tilted, slid, and tumbled free.

The monster in chains stopped. It just…stopped. It stopped, tilted its ugly head, and looked into the stone depths. A skeletal piles of bones remained in it. The monster looked at it so…sadly? So forlornly. And it lifted its face and roared, "Moo…ther….!"

It turned. Wesker grabbed Jill to push her behind him and it leaped. It just leaped off the side of the platform into the darkness below.

Jill shifted and ran to Chris where he lay curled against the stone with the corpse of the monster's mother in it. She knelt, touching his face. He…shifted away from her.

Jill froze, feeling the rejection of it in her bones.

He grabbed the edge of the coffin and pulled himself up.

Jill remained kneeling for a moment and finally stood.

Wesker stepped up beside him as Chris reached into the coffin…and drew out the matching brother of the piece they'd found in the bloody coffin in the crypt.

Wesker and Chris stared at each other for a long moment.

Chris said, "This opens the gate in the foyer."

Wesker nodded, watching him. What was it on that face? Redfield was looking at him with something almost shrewd in that once eager gaze. What did he see? Was it the sight of Jill Valentine kissing his Captain? And interesting thing to feel something that wasn't exactly jealousy from him.

What was it?

Betrayal.

In more ways than one.

Finally, Wesker spoke, "I need to find Barry. I want the rest of you to finish checking out the mansion. Go through that gate. Find the answers. There's a stairwell down the second tunnel here as you leave. It will take you to a cottage in the forest. Head back toward the mansion."

Wesker turned and passed by Jill. He stopped at the tunnel. "If you find Barry, silence him. Before he ends you both. And remember…traitors have a way of lying to suit their needs. Be prepared for any story he might tell that will prolong his life."

And he was gone.

Jill turned to Chris. "What is it?"

His face. His face hurt her. He looked at her like she was someone he didn't know. He moved toward the tunnel and she hurried after him.

"Enrico is dead. The traitor killed him. I chased him but couldn't find him."

Jill grabbed his arm to halt him. He glanced at her hand and back at her face. She held on, earnestly. "He's dead?"

"Yeah. Cold blood. They shot him right over my shoulder. Right there." He glanced at her eyes, "While you stood there sucking face with our Captain."

He shook her hand off his arm and started down the tunnel.

Jill remained, hand outstretched. Finally, she curled her fingers into a fist and followed him.

His face, she thought again, there was nothing of her guy on that face. His face said...maybe she was the traitor. Jill felt the shiver of that in her bones. Did he think she was the traitor?

...or that Wesker was?

Rebecca met them halfway toward the stairwell Wesker had spoken about. They moved together up the stairs and climbed a small ladder. At the top, the ladder opened to a tiny cabin.

The three of them inspected the tiny bed and the desk. There was a journal tucked under the mattress and letters on the desk.

Chris opened the journal to read through the entries.

Nov. 14, 1967

I feel dizzy after that shot they gave me. I don't see Mom. Where did they take her? She promised that we would escape together. Did she escape alone and leave me behind?

Nov. 15, 1967

I found Mom. We ate together. I was very she was a fake. Not my real Mom. Same face but different to find Mom. Have to give face back to mother.

I got Mom's face back. Nobody can have my Mom except me. I attach her face to me so she doesn't go away. Because Mom sad when I meet her without her face.

Nov. 17, 19 7

from inside box, scent of mommy. maybe true mother there. stone box hard. It hurt. steel rope in the way. can't see mother becuz 4 stones.

19

dadddy atached first momm atached scond

iNside reD and sLimy whiTe and haRd

not true moM wheRe

dunno dadd found mum again

when atachd momMy she moved no more she screaming

why? Jst want to b with her

4

mom where?

I mis you

A letter was tucked into the back of the sad, horrible, enlightening journal. It made his chest heavy to read it. A poor frightened girl looking for her mother. The experiments she must have been privy to. The horror she must have seen. A small girl with no hope. Turning into something still desperately searching for its mother.

The letter was clearly the last thing she'd had from her mother. It read:

To my Lisa,

Day by day I can feel my consciousness drifting further away. The shots given to me by men in white clothes made some of mommy's itching go away. Today they gave me another shot saying it was "nutrition".

When they give me the shots mommy can think straight, but mommy's shocked and sad because mommy's unable to think of you all the time.

Mommy's afraid. Afraid of forgetting everything, especially the memories of you and daddy... What your faces look like, how we used to be together... They're all starting to disappear into somewhere dark in my mind.

Oh Lisa, I wish I could touch your face and hold you in my arms right now, so that I can hold on to our wonderful memories of you and daddy.

Lisa we can't stay here any longer, We have to escape!

Listen to me Lisa. Our chance to escape is the next time when we go to that lab together. We'll both pretend that we are both unconscious and when that man in white clothes is off guard that will be our chance.

When we're on the outside, let's look for daddy together. Okay sweetie? Be strong, Lisa.

Nov. 13, 1967

Jessica Trevor

Chris glanced over at Rebecca as she leafed through the papers on the desk. He offered her the journal so she could read it. He rose from the bed where he'd been sitting and moved toward the door of the cabin.

"That monster in chains...used to be someone's daughter. It used to be someone's little girl...they kept her here for YEARS to turn her into that..."

Jill held his gaze for a moment. He looked so jaded. This night had ripped back the curtain on the world for him. He was seeing the horror of what humans did when they hungered power. They all were. She wondered why it was so much harder for Chris. Was it coming from a good family? Was it having such a big, strong, trusting heart? Was it walking in a place infested with horror and knowing someone close to them had opened the door and let it in?

He didn't look broken, not exactly, now? Now he looked resolute. He looked cold. And he looked empty.

They were so quiet. They were all so quiet as they opened the door to step out into the rain. The forest closed around them with a whistling, windy embrace. It soaked them from head to toe as they cleared as well as they could in the pouring mess of it and ran toward the mansion in the distance.

They burst through the garden door and into the foyer, clearing the empty room for safety before they moved down the stairs. Jill moved to type their names on the typewriter. He snorted with derision and waved at her.

"Don't bother. Who the fuck is left at this point?"

Jill glanced at Rebecca. The girl medic was watching her with those owl eyes. They both knew he wasn't doing well. He was somewhere dark and scary.

He moved toward the back of the foyer and put the disks into the holes. They clicked and the gate opened to reveal the dark stairwell. Chris said, softly, "Whatever is down here…I'm going to use it to end Umbrella. I'm going to end them. They used people like guinea pigs. That girl back there? She was someone's kid. Some kid that they just pumped full of shit and mutated. For what? Why? Because they wanted to make weapons to kill people. They dragged us here to this place…they killed everyone. They killed us one by one like rats…like science experiments…and Barry? Barry, my friend, my pal…he helped them."

Jill said nothing, feeling the sting of his earlier rejection in her blood. She wanted to hold him. She wanted to have him hold her. She wanted to take him and run away and never look back. But his face...it said maybe she was the traitor...and it broke her fucking heart.