The characters from the game belong to Capcom. The OC's and story background belong to me.
Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A/N: I'm not English native speaker, so you might find some typos or grammar mistakes, I do apologize for that.
I saw myself at a large beach with an extensive range of fine white sand.
A flowering vegetation framed the scenery, and a refreshing breeze rolled the fine sand beneath my feet.
The bright sun illuminated the whole region, sprinkling pleasant heat, reflecting its light and coloring even more that environment that inspired peace and tranquility.
I could hear the waves crashing, cadenced the short distance from where I was, and a soft, refreshing breeze made my clothes shake.
A few steps later, I saw a person sitting on the beach watching the waves coming and going.
As I approached, I recognized the young woman immediately.
Her long hair was shaken by the sea wind. She was barefoot, her feet lightly tucked into the sand of the beach, she was all dressed in white, her clothes looked like light cotton cloth, an Indian-style white robe. I sat beside her and remained silent, looking at that sea of fantastic blue and listening to the waves breaking before us. And in my heart an enormous certainty of taking advantage of that moment and apologizing for the misunderstanding of the past.
I noticed that she stared at the horizon and after a deep sigh, she turned to me with those immense greenish eyes full of tears and spoke in a voice choked with emotion:
"He we are again…after failing again… I failed badly."
I looked at her and saw tears rolling down her face. I had never seen Kate cry, at any moment. That image was etched in my soul, and at that moment, I felt a great compassion for - my old love – how could I think that?
I looked at the horizon again and the scenery magically changed and I felt abruptly falling into a dark hole. I couldn't see anything besides the darkness and at some moments I saw flashes of lightning and heard thunders. I tried to find some balance, but I felt dragged in the seemly strong flow of cold water.
"Kate! Kate!" I screamed her name
"Chris!"
I heard her screaming voice calling me and then I felt someone grabbing my left arm tightly. Then I felt hitting on something and a sharp pain cored through my body. I choked. I couldn't breathe and then I saw the scenery changing again.
"This place is…"
I said as I saw myself standing at the lake shore. It wasn't dark anymore. The sun was rising. My eyes widened and a despair cored through me as I saw two bodies floating down the river. Taken by a sudden impulse I ran to jump into the water to help them, and then I screamed at an old couple that were at the end border of the lake where the bodies were floating in their direction.
"Hey, help them! They might be drowning!" I screamed to make them notice me
The old man who seemed to be a fisher looked at me and waved.
I didn't want a wave, I wanted to save those people!
"Help them!" I screamed again pointing at the lake, and then the realization of the bodies that had disappeared only gave me one thought: They had drowned and they could be sinking to the bottom of the lake.
Immediately I ran to that border where I encountered the old couple looking at me with a strange calm expression.
"Chris…"
How the hell could that man know my name?
"The couple…they drowned. Why didn't you help them?" I said with a tone of lecture
The old man and the old woman exchanged gazes.
"There was nothing we could do for them…" the old woman said with an intriguing calmness
Somehow, I thought those people were familiar. I just couldn't recall where I had seen them.
I exhaled pissed. I know they were old but they could have had tried, though, I kept that thought only to myself.
"I'm going to jump into the water and rescue them…or what's left of them!" I said heading to the shore, and soon after, I felt something grabbing my right forearm. I looked back to see and the surprise caught me as I saw Mr. Lionel, alone, with his usual calm demeanor.
"I already rescued them. They're lying in there…" he replied pointing at a grave where I saw a young brunette woman wearing a light pink dress, holding the left arm of a young man who wore green pants and a white long-sleeved cotton shirt
I gasped, "How come? How could you be so fast? Where are the old couple I just saw here?" I questioned already feeling confused
Lionel smiled briefly, "Come on son, let's have some tea so you can rest a little"
"No, I don't want to rest! I need answers! What the hell is going on here? Where's Kate?"
"Sleeping…"
"She wasn't sleeping! I saw her a while ago!"
"Come on Chris, you need a rest. I'll give you answers later"
"Not later. I want answers now!"
"So let's go back to the house…" he said taking the lead
"To the house? Are you going to leave their…bodies...uncovered…" I protested looking back to the location of the grave and mysteriously the bodies had disappeared
"I already took care of them" he replied strangely calm
"What the hell is going on here?" I asked as I followed him back to the house area
"You came looking for answers, I will give you some answers"
"Nothing makes sense here!"
"It happens…"
I gasped, "Many things are happening and none of them seem logic"
He giggled.
Yeah nothing seemed logic and I had faced a lot of illogic things, so I had reason to say that now.
As we approached the main area, I spotted a mysterious – but familiar – woman standing at the corner of the barn.
I knew Mr. Lionel had been married, but I didn't think he still had a wife as he had always only mentioned his children and grandchildren to us – specifically his heirs.
"So, what are you going to tell me now?"
"What you need to know…for now"
"I only want a reasonable explanation"
"Have you ever heard about the story of The Drowned Lovers?"
"A folktale is your reasonable explanation?" I gasped with incredulity
"It's not a folktale. You just witnessed they existed"
"Legends are usually made up from things that supposedly happened…at some extent…"
"Do you think drowning is illogic?"
"No, I don't, but all the events as a whole, yes!"
"It's because you can't remember clearly as you memory is still mostly under a special veil so you can make things right this time"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that you need to remember that once upon a time there was a pure and innocent love and that no one is perfect in this world… you need to retrieve that strong love that was tragically interrupted so you can finally be capable to face…them" he said pointing at the barn – and not to the mysterious woman still standing at the same place looking at us with a serious demeanor
"Who are in there?"
"You know who…"
I remained staring the barn, thoughtful. Something inside me knew what he was talking about, despite me not recalling what exactly.
The corner of my left eye spotted a figure standing next to the corner of the house. I turned my face in its direction, and I was surprised to see the drowned young woman staring at me with an unreadable gaze. Yet, she looked so young and so graceful. Her long light-brown wavy hair, the simple light pink dress styled in the 14th century, barefoot. She started walking slowly towards me and I was hypnotized watching her move.
A missing feeling formed in my chest. There was a long time since we…loved – each other.
Her hazel-greenish eyes stared me tenderly. Graciously she raised her delicate hand and touched my face, with a warm smile.
"Kate…" I whispered paralyzed longing for that encounter – re-encounter.
My sweet-gypsy Katherine.
"The objective of yours now is to reknow each other…Remember once upon a time there was true love" Lionel said, yet his voice seemed so distant to me
I couldn't lay off my eyes from hers, "Reknow…again" I whispering raising my right hand to touch her face – just like in the…past?
Past, present…they all seemed the same for me now. In this place. In the horizon where the souls reencountered and were exposed as who they were and what they felt.
Not so a distant past…not so long ago…
I started choking and a sudden fury emerged within my chest.
"Chris?" the sweet Kate spoke looking scared at me
I squeezed my hands trying to control myself and not enlace them around her neck.
So at that moment a loud snap was heard coming from the barn and a strong wind opened the barn doors abruptly revealing the woman in sumptuous black dress that I truly wanted to enlace my fingers around her neck.
"Katarina!" I shouted angrily rushing towards her
"Chris!" she replied with an unreadable gaze
I immediately recognized the necklace with an emerald gem she was wearing and that was the moment I really felt the most boiling fury coring in my veins as I remembered the last time I had seen it – encountered it – not so long ago. The concrete evidence of her evilness – and the moment my soul was completely disrupted by disappointment and regret for ever wanting to continue with her after all the hurt she had caused me. I hated myself for loving that woman!
I started feeling dizzy.
I didn't know if I was seeing right when I saw 18th Christopher – myself – standing inside the barn.
Then I looked around and saw "myself" next to Katherine.
What the fuck was going on now?
Choking and kneeling on the grass all I wanted was all that to stop.
I looked up for an instance and saw the 17th dowser – the NYC seer – knelt before me with her hand on my chest.
"That emptiness and chest pain will only heal when you love again and forgive each other!" she spoke with a serious face
Lionel stood next to her and looked at me, "You have to reknow"
All the rest after that was a complete blankness.
Standard Room, Bohma
Chris woke up with a start, very impressed with that dream. Looking to the sides to recognize the place where he truly was, followed by a strong headache – also due to the hangover -, he sat up in the bed holding his head and repeated: "Reknow".
He checks the time: 9:18AM
Trying to ignore the hangover symptoms as much he could, he stood up from the bed and headed to the bathroom, thoughtful, confused, and stared his reflection in the mirror.
"Kate…" he whispered tormented by the past events – the dream and the previous night as he saw the marks of her lipstick on his shirt collarbone
Soon after, he finished his personal chores; he returned to the room and heard the cellphone alert. Janet from the Sales Department needed them back in Edonia to continue the job.
Immediately he left the room and headed to Piers and Kate's.
Deluxe Suite
"How's Kate doing?" Chris asked still at the door
"She's still sleeping profoundly"
"Janet needs us back"
"I know but…Kate has no condition to return right away"
"So you stay with her and when she gets better you return to Edonia"
Piers made a face looking at Chris from head to toe and called him in. Something wasn't right and Chris didn't seem to be in condition to work right away either as he looked airy and the clothes were inside out.
"With all the respect, but you don't seem well to do the job"
"I'm fine. Not the first time I've got a hangover. It won't affect my job"
"I'm sorry but it already did"
Chris let out an annoyed sigh, "If you're saying this because I almost fucked your girlfriend, you're wrong!"
Piers cleared his throat without losing the composure, "No Sir, that's not the reason I said that but your clothes…"
Chris looked down at himself
"With all the respect, you look a mess and the zipper is not where it should be. If you didn't notice that until now, how can you guarantee you won't miss important details about the job?"
Chris made a face. He wasn't in condition to respond to that.
"Ah and another thing, Kate is not my girlfriend, Merah is… and I don't really care who Kate fucks…or you…Sir"
Chris let out a disturbed sigh, "Janet cannot wait more"
"She won't. I'll go and you stay with Kate"
Chris made a vexed face. He wasn't fond of the idea as having to face her after the previous night wouldn't be an easy task.
"Sooner or later you'll have to face each other, so I think it's better you doing it in private than in front of Janet and the other personnel"
"That was a mistake that won't happen again!"
"Mistake or not, it happened…and there will have consequences in your relation. You know people already talk about it and the better you two overcome that, the less people will crap talk about your 'husband-wife' relationship"
Chris gasped, "What? 'husband-wife'?"
"Yeah, you two will look like that when she wakes up"
"Do you have any suggestion as you know her better than me?"
"Yeah, there's also a high possibility she won't remember anything about it because she really exceeded her limits."
"Okay…"
"But if in case she remembers it…be a real man and apologize for…failing…"
"I didn't fail!"
Piers smirked, "Chris…I'm a man too and I know 'fails' happen…"
"But I didn't fail…It was something else…"
"Look, it doesn't matter, for her you did! I listened to her venting before she collapsed…I don't think I need to cite the adjectives she named you…"
"No, you don't…anything else?"
Piers laughed in distress, "Dang…this is so awkward"
"Tell me about it!"
"Yeah, so continuing…fail or no fail, admit it happened. You know how women feel bad when they feel rejected…especially Kate who thinks she's the sex guru"
Chris made a face remaining in silence. He could still feel how good she felt down his south. She could be proud of such a talent.
"Even if she weren't a guru she felt it was unfair not receiving the same treatment, so…"
"Okay, I admit I failed in not retributing at the same level… it wasn't because I didn't want to…but she should understand that when I stopped it was for the best of us!"
"No Chris…don't ever say that! It will only make things worse!"
"It's the truth!"
"She doesn't need the truth. She needs an apology. Simple like that. She doesn't need those explanations…Kate doesn't like details. She doesn't need details!"
"Weird…she seems so detailed for me. She keeps my paperwork and office impeccable, she knows my coffee taste, restaurants preferences and she even kept organized my apartment in the couple of days she stayed there…"
"I didn't say she's not a neat person"
"But you…"
"Look…she thinks you're a limp dick, so it's better apologizing for failing than say you wanted to kill her or something"
Chris made a surprised look.
Piers made an astonished face, "Is that what you wanted to do with her?"
Chris snapped, "No! No way! I'd never want to hurt Kate! Geez! What made you think that?"
"Your face?"
"Geez! No! I made that face because I didn't expect you to say something like that…I was only processing your bad words"
"Oh…"
Chris exhaled, "Anyways…look, I'm not proud of what happened and surely I'll apologize for any inconvenience. I feel very bad for making her feel used because I'm not that kind of man."
"I know you're not"
"And thanks for the tips despite not being so surprising…I had already figured she'd think the worse of me"
"Yeah, but I hope she doesn't remember…you two get so along and I hate staying between husband-and-wife conflict"
"Stop saying that"
"What? It's true"
"No, it's not!"
"But it feels that way…I have seen some couples that used to poke the other and then they ended up marrying and living a good relationship?"
"Not our case"
"Uhum…"
Chris rolled his eyes
"Ah, and another thing"
"Say it"
"I've bought you new clothes. A t-shirt for you and a dress for her"
"What?"
"Yeah…I had anticipated that you wouldn't get up at your best and because of the dirty clothes and no laundry in the hotel, I preferred buying new ones. I hope the sizes fit"
"Alright. Thanks"
"Now, I'm heading to Edonia and you two…behave!"
"Don't worry. We'll be fine"
"I hope so…by the way, I'll close the other room account"
"Sure"
Soon after Piers left, and Chris closed the door, he headed to the bathroom to arrange his clothing. Shirtless, he headed to the room to get the new t-shirt. As he walked, the corner of his left eye spotted the sleeping young brunette on the bed.
"Kate…" he whispered, frowning and shaking his head as he recalled the previous night and their moments of dirty passion
He sat on the chair and waited. Reflective. Distant. Tired. Headache. Concerned. He hated that awkward atmosphere, and Kate wasn't even up. He thought of speeches of apology in the meantime, and also from time to time he recalled the disturbing dream he had, or at least parts of it as he had forgotten a good portion of it since he woke up.
"Re-know…" he said to himself as he watched her sleep
A young girl, wearing a simple green dress, with a long wavy light-brown hair, was washing her hands on the shore of a river when she spotted a young man in simple clothes, short brown hair, in a small boat floating in the water.
Politely the young man greeted her. She greeted him back.
Both smiled slightly to each other.
"Do you accept a fish?" Was the best thing that he came up to have a subject, and pulled the boat closer to shore.
The girl giggled, "A fish?"
"Yes, it is a great season for fishing and I have some that I intend to distribute with the population" he said a half-truth
The girl looked at the boat and saw some buckets, "Are you a fisherman?"
"Yes"
"I have never seen you in the area…" she commented
"I travel a lot to explore different locations due to the fishing seasons"
"Oh... so you're not from here..."
"Yes and no…"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not really from here, but I live seasonally after those hills"
She smiled again. She tried to disguise it, but the beauty of the man in front of her enchanted her. He was tall, tanned, not thin or fat, and wore a white cotton shirt folded up to his elbows, a vest and dark green trousers. He did not seem to possess richness, but he had a perfect smile that made her shiver, especially when his light brown eyes met hers.
"My name is Christian, but you can call me Chris"
"Katherine, but you can call me Kate or Kat ..."
The two smiled, and he bowed slightly and touched her hand to greet her with a kiss on the back.
Katherine blushed with the warm, soft touch of the lips of the handsome young man who had some kind of finer education.
Walking to the river now had a new meaning…
(*)
Kate slowly regained the conscious as she felt the bad symptoms of the hangover. Still with her blurred vision, she spotted someone sitting on the chair from across the bed, and after cleaning her eyes a little bit, she spotted Chris apparently taking a nap.
She moved on the bed, trying not to awake him, but the moans of her hangover awoken him.
Immediately she covered herself again as she sat up on the bed corner.
"Hi…" he said with a husky voice
"Hi…" she replied sensing something strange on him
"How are you feeling?"
"Awesome like crap. You?"
He giggled, "More or less the same"
"Where's Piers?"
"He went to Edonia. Janet needed him."
"And he left us behind?"
"We will join them when we get better…"
"I see…" she looked down timidly
Chris followed Piers' advise to watch her reaction first to know if an explanation would be necessary, "Uhm…I need some breakfast to get better from the handover…Uhm… would you like to go with me?"
"Yeah, sure…I'm hungry"
"Okay, so I'll let you alone so you can change…I'll be waiting at the reception lobby"
"Okay"
"Oh, by the way…Piers bought you a new dress because your clothes are dirty…it's over the table"
"Oh, really…okay…new clothes is always good. I can see you got a new t-shirt too."
"Yeah…he had a kind gesture to realize our mess…"
"Yeah, he did…"
"So I'll…I'm going…we catch up later"
"Sure…"
As Chris headed to the door he heard her voice calling him and he looked back to listen to her.
"May I ask you something?"
"Sure"
She looked down to herself noticing she was naked, and holding tightly the blanket around her body, "Did we…?"
"Did we what?" his heart rushed in his chest worried about the question and answer
"You know…Did we…did it?"
A complete blankness took over his brain, all the speeches he had rehearsed were completely erased from his memory, and he wasn't sure of what complicated answer he should give.
"Uhm…intercourse? No…" it was evident his tension answering that
"Are you sure or you don't remember too?"
"I'm not sure of how to answer that as…there was no actual intercourse…"
"But?"
"But we kissed… we did kiss…we kissed"
She laughed in distress. She couldn't tell what distressed her more, his tension or to know they kissed. A kiss she had no recall.
"Don't you remember that?"
"I just remember being at the tavern and then some fragments of me raging with Piers…about something…"
"Oh…I see…"
"So it's a fact that we kissed?"
He swallowed hard and recalled Piers words 'she doesn't need details'.
"Chris?"
"Huh?"
She laughed, "I can see you're worse than me"
"It's complicated Kate... I had a weird dream and I don't know what's realty or dream anymore... I'm sorry…"
"Oh, I see…no problem…kiss or no kiss life goes on, right?"
He nodded in agreement, "Yeah…"
"I'm not fired, am I?"
He laughed, "No! Why would I fire you?"
"Because the boss saw the employee wasted… and surely doing stupidity!"
He giggled, "If I don't remember, it didn't happen, right?"
She laughed. She used to say something like that.
"Don't worry about that Kate. I know you're very efficient and the best personal assistant I ever had…so you don't need to worry about the job"
"Okay…I'm glad to hear that"
He nodded in acceptance and left the room. In the corridor, he rested his back on the wall and let out a long sigh. He did remember. Everything. And now he felt worse for not had been capable to admit the whole truth, and hoped she wouldn't remember or ask anything else.
In the other hand, Kate didn't feel secure about Chris's answers and sensed he was hiding something. He was different. She had a curious nature and despite knowing it would be better to let that go, she wouldn't. She knew she'd want to investigate his omission. She knew him long enough to be familiarized with that trait of his.
Thank you Pin for the review! :D
I'd like to thank clariey2018 and FrozenLime for favoring and following the story :D
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And so the mystery continues, Chris is a mess (again/as the usual), Kate being Kate...
Lionel being Lionel, and the dowser being the seer xD LOL
I think it's interesting to see those two mysterious old figures. When I see them and when they tell me their stories, I can see as a viewer how different personalities they have. Lionel seems kinder and lighter, while the female figure a serious one, demanding.
Despite these current chaps being a retrograde story into the storyline, as we know Lionel is already gone, so I think it's interesting what more have been told during Lionel's last week :(
PS: I intended to add more content about them (Lionel and the Dowser) because I had an order of events to tell in this chapter, but due to sudden changes in my life, I had no time to finish it...
Ugh, I hate when that happens! I hope the content won't vanish from my memory either xD and no, I'm not in hangover...okay, maybe a little but of lack of sleep lol
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Back to the chapter content...It's interesting the power of a review! Thanks to my sis Pin Potato's curiosity, I never forgot one comment she made about wondering to see how it was their meet in the other world...I never had the real intention to bring it out because I myself didn't know it xD Buuut, as I'm always improving my own content and extending basic ideas...I guess we could see a little bit of what would've have been such "spiritual encounter"...In resume: Nothing easy xD
However, I can see a "bless" in the veil of 'amnesia' because as we could see on Chris's example, he has a very bad memory of Katarina, and a bittersweet memory of Katherine. And as we have seen in earlier chaps that initially he and Kate had an invisible wall between them, and now that they are more proximate (and now maybe too much xd), that wall is crashing. It could be a good thing, or a bad thing.
Let's hope everything will work out good between them, because... because there are more walls to come xD
Stay Tuned!