XII

Decisions, Decisions Part II

Fate dictates

This is gonna get worse than I thought…

Despite Leon only did extensive research when dealing with a matter of the utmost importance –and one which caught his interest, too-, he had already read three extensive reports on the typical split-personality thing: anything to lend some help. He'd taken notes, a lot of them, scribbles and outlines drawn haphazardly across a small sheet of paper. He was both lucky to be fluent on Italian and to have found a free computer down near the lobby. Sadly, it was a bit complicated… like everything was, really.

He thought about his last serious conversation with Claire, aboard the plane. She hadn't broken down like both he and she –this had been a confession- had expected, but her worry had been contagious. She was still shaken by the events back at Zurich, Allen's death and his recording to Amanda. Amanda had killed her best friend, ruthlessly, not even looking back, and though Claire wished she could face her situation with more than just conviction, she was also afraid of what she could get to do. Having to be as cold as Amanda truly frightened her, but showing Chris that she was still the sister he'd always taken her for would do no good.

But Claire spent the rest of the trip smiling. It killed him to see her suffering such emotional ups and downs so quickly, but at least nothing was definite yet.

And you said you'd kill me if I hurt her? Chris, you bastard…

He drove the thought away from his mind: it wasn't right.

It isn't right? The hell with that! Just look where it's all getting.

Leon had a glance at his watch: it was ten. Just the time to call it a day.

The same moment he stood up, though, Leon caught sight of Jill going up the stairs. Half an hour and she still wasn't asleep? Stuffing the paper inside his pocket, Leon approached her. "I thought you were supposed to be KO."

Jill turned and smiled. "I just needed a walk, get some air. I was starting to freak out on my own."

Leon noticed her dark hoody: a wise choice. But he was still worried. What if Chris had been following her? "You alright?"

"Sure, I'm better now. What are you doing up?"

"Just web-surfing, fishing some info out of the net," he said. Jill cocked an eyebrow. "Useful information, trust me."

"Alright, alright! I didn't say anything!" she replied, chuckling. "Give me a knock once you're up in your room, will you?"

"Deal. Night, Jill."

"Bye."

Leon leaned his back against the banister, took out the paper and gave it another read, all the while shooting glances at the entrance. For five full minutes, he kept a careful watch on who went in and who went out, not even moving an inch. After said time, he determined there was nothing wrong (Perhaps a too-confident assumption, he thought), but as he stepped foot on the stairs, one last person caught his attention.

And his heart skipped a beat.

Leon ran at full pelt towards Jill's room. He didn't knock once but thrice; Jill was at the door in less than a second. "Leon, what's going on?"

"Just go, get the hell out of here!" he commanded. "Get in touch with Wesker! Get away as fast as you can!"

Jill needed no further explanation: after snatching her phone and documents from the table, she sped towards the emergency exit on Leon's indication.

He, on the other hand, could barely turn around before realizing Chris was behind him. Whether Leon faced him or not, he knew he was standing on Death's doorstep… unless, of course, Chris didn't kill him because of some miracle.

"Where is she?" Chris asked, not stepping any closer. Leon decided to turn slowly, silent: he didn't even know what to do. He was between the sword and the wall, and he could already feel the sword piercing his chest. "Tell me where she is, Leon."

"I won't." Leon readied his stance. "You don't have to do this. Get right of whatever's in your head, Chris; fight it!"

"He won't try!" Chris exclaimed, his voice changing as if due to- No, it is an inflection. "He doesn't want to! He can't!"

Leon realized it wasn't the real Chris he was talking to, but his alter. The fact that Chris was so strong he couldn't even fight himself was dreadful… if that even made any sense at all. "You'll come to regret all of this, trust me." He fortunately stifled a shiver. "I thought you were stronger than this! Find yourself again: you're not who you think you-"

"I know exactly who I am!" Chris cried, seizing and pinning Leon against the wall by his collar. Leon's fear spiked: the situation was getting out of control. He attempted to break free of Chris' grip, but it wouldn't falter. "Just tell me where Jill is and I'll spare you."

"Look for her yourself!"

"Thanks for the idea."

A second later, he had collided against the mirror at the end of the hall. Some of the shards grazed and harmed his back. By the time Leon regained his breath, Chris was already gone.

And he'd taken the emergency exit.

–

Jill didn't look back: she'd learnt from her own mistakes in the past. If Leon had told her to run, she would run and get to safety… without risking the others' lives. For a moment, doubt clouded her mind but whatever choice she made, Wesker would have to intervene. She would not stand her ground against Chris with just words, and it was just a matter of time until he found her. Only God knew what would happen next.

I can't believe I'm so helpless! If Chris wasn't so quick now, I could hold my own!

When she was far enough from the hotel, she took cover in an alley. With shaky hands, she picked up her phone and dialled.

She hadn't put it by her ear when somebody dropped behind her: it was Chris.

"You've been a bit hard to find," he said, and he smiled in that peculiar way of his. Jill instinctively backed away, her gaze fixed on his, as he got closer. "If you're worried about Leon, don't be. He's fine."

Part of herself felt at ease at the news. If Leon was fine, then it meant Chris had been in control the whole time… but which one of them? "What do you want? Are you here to kill me?"

Chris seemed surprised at her question, but she could see in his countenance he knew she was serious. "If it means he'll grow weaker, then yes." Jill's blood ran cold. "And I'll admit it, I pity you. How can't you realize what he's trying to do? You should know."

That voice… the alter. She'd already heard it too many times during their argument back at the States. He was changing, and it was happening as fast as Wesker had predicted it. Eventually, one of the two personalities would settle and, as it usually happened, the one that did was the alter ego. If Chris didn't fight, he was as good as dead.

"What we want is for him to come back! What Marco said about the vaccine is a lie!"

"How can you pretend to know everything?" Chris bellowed, his voice cracking slightly. "I've been with him all this time! He showed what he's been doing: the vaccine is almost ready!" Pain was drawn all over his features. "I'll… I'll be myself again, Jill, don't you see? We want to get rid of this, to become stable, and when we are, we… we won't be like him anymore!"

"You're already him!" Jill cried, finding her chance to convince him. Could words work their magic? "If you don't fight yourself, you'll be heading down the path he took! I told you: Wesker has changed, and that's because he fought! He's getting out of the darkness; you are stepping in it! The more you crumble under the pressure, the sooner we'll lose you! Come back with us…" Tears stung at her eyes, and she didn't hold them back. "Come back with me."

A long moment of silence ensued. And then Chris was staring at her in sheer horror, shaking like a leaf, but after a second look Jill noticed he wasn't staring at her… but behind her. She spun around and was as shocked as Chris was: Wesker was there. Her mind was screaming at her: she was the element that would destroy them both.

"Give it back," Chris said, his voice shaking as much as his body. "Give it all back. Give it back!"

"I can't give back what I took from you, and so can't you… negotiating, that is."

For Jill, it clicked in a blink of an eye.

"Then it will be by force!"

"NOO!"

And as Jill stood in their way, somebody also came to her aid. "STOP!" Claire was standing right in front of Wesker, her countenance determined yet grim. "Don't do it!"

"You're protecting him?" Chris' eyes went wide. "He stood for Jill's betrayal, but YOURS?"

"We betrayed nobody, not even you!" Claire replied, raising her voice. "If your intention is to kill us, then you're getting what you want! I don't even want to do this: I didn't want to shoot you and I don't want to fight you! But you're killing me, Jill; hell, everybody who cares for you! Because I don't care if you're fighting to get the cure back; what I care about is your self! If you don't fight… I'll lose my brother: you will be your own killer."

"We're fighting for survival! That's what everybody does!"

"No, you are!" Claire snapped. "The real Chris is fighting to live!" She sighed. "And those are different things."

Chris was mortified and Jill, the same moment he looked back at him, realized something was horribly wrong.

"No, no, not now…" He was backing away, his eyes wider than before and clutching at his head. "I'm dealing with this; you don't have the guts to face them! Not your sister, not your lover, not your own goddamned enemy!"

"Break through, Chris! Come on, please!" Jill begged, trying as hard as she could to pry him out. It was horrible to see how much pain both of them were inflicting on him, but it was the only way. She was about to step forward when Wesker stopped.

"Not yet. The instability will pass, though."

"The hell it will!" Chris snapped back, chuckling. "I'll make sure he doesn't- NO!" And with one last scream, he fell to his knees, gasping for breath, still shaking. "Oh, God… Oh, God, what am I doing…?"

Jill took a hesitant step forward, feeling unsure of what to do, but she received a determined nod from Claire: she had the go-ahead. She knelt in front of Chris, laid a hand on his shoulder. It immediately caught his attention. Jill found herself staring into a pair of eyes that, though different in color, were still as she remembered them.

"…Jill?"

She couldn't hold back a beaming smile: was he starting to come back? "Yeah, it's me! It's me, Chris!" She flung her arms around his neck, pulling him close; to her surprise, he did the same. "Tell me you're back, just like last time… Fight him, Chris, you have to!"

"But I've tried so many times… I hate how he –I, whoever it is- keeps me back." He chuckled, withdrawing. "I tried to forget about you two, but you just kept coming back. In the end, I guess I was taking the wrong way." He looked up at Claire. "And I don't know if it was him or if it was me, but I was tortured because of my hesitation. Perhaps both of us are convincing ourselves that we're doing the right thing, but we're both fighting for control at the same time. I don't know how much I can keep it up." Then, without an ounce of fear or hesitation, he looked at Wesker. "I'm breaking."

Jill stole a glance at Wesker, who had ever so slightly tensed. She couldn't imagine what was going on through his head.

"But you'll get the vaccine… won't you?" she asked then, remembering his other self's words.

"I'm telling you: I will!" Mirth lightened up Chris' eyes. "And I'll be normal again! But that's two days from now, and a lot of things can happen in two days. I may die tonight by my own… by my own mind."

"But you've gone through worse and you've made it!" Claire protested, clenching her fists. "Just like I have!"

"You know it's not the same, Claire. It's constant. We've made it because the stress disappeared after a while, but he's there all the time. There's always so much I can take. I don't know what's going on. I know I have to fight, but all the pain, all the… everything comes back, and I want to make it go away so badly that I brought it up. 'To get rid of something, you have to get rid of the source first'. Remember I said that, Claire?"

Jill helped him up to his feet, not keeping her eyes off Claire. She was pale, and in disbelief.

"Chris, I-"

"GAAH!" Chris lost his balance, almost dragging Jill down with him, but she held hers and kept him from falling. "I'm not gonna make it! Jill, let me go!" Though her heart ached, she complied… and she watched him slip away once more. After a few seconds, Chris straightened yet he didn't look back at them. "Bastard… I will make pay."

"There should be no you," Wesker said. Chris apparently found it funny.

"True; there should be no 'I'. I always complain about the silence."

Before anybody could react, Chris jumped to the nearest rooftop and disappeared from sight. If it weren't for her self-control and sensibility, Jill would've chased after him.

"I may die tonight by my own mind."

And the worst thing was they couldn't stop it… unless they acted fast. Real fast.

"What did he mean by that?" Claire asked, turning to Wesker. "The silence?"

"He means that he's alone."

–

It was raining, hard.

Amanda had spent endless minutes staring outside her window, watching the sky pour down on her. It brought back painful memories of Allen, but those were in her mind with just one purpose: to make her get over his death. Amanda had already gotten used to his absence and it had been merely hours since she'd pulled the trigger on him. There would be no funeral for him: that had always been his dying wish. She would personally incinerate his body and send his ashes to his family… and when all of this was over, she would face them.

Because no matter in which ways she had helped the world, she had turned into a killer. And killers, even those who killed for the greater good, would be punished. Amanda knew she would have to face justice.

She smirked. Well, I'll do as much as I can during the time I have left.

Minutes after, she received a call. It was William.

"I didn't expect your call. What's keeping you up?"

"You do forget we're six hours behind you, right?"

Amanda said, "I know. So, what's business this time?"

"None of any unimportant kind. But first, how're things going?"

Amanda sighed. He had requested any kind of update, and that meant involving Allen. "Allen's dead. I had to kill him."

And it had felt horrible, in retrospect. She could still feel the weight of the gun in her hand: an everlasting sensation. Amanda had been challenged many times during her childhood, and she'd always backed away due to her cautious nature. When Allen had challenged her to kill him, however, she didn't make the same mistake.

Amanda heard William sigh heavily. "I'm sorry, really, but I guess you really didn't have any choice. She… she's gotten in contact with us and she told me to pass on a bit of info to you."

A pang of shock struck her heart. She closed her book, James Joyce's Ulysses, and paid close attention. Both she and William had had a common objective since his first call, and Allen calling her 'the origin' ringed a few bells. Were they both in some kind of relationship with her? Not to mention Wesker… The eight was coming to a close.

"Sure, go on."

"Allen was her informant. He was undercover for one specific reason: she had his little cousin. He couldn't cope with the blackmailing but he eventually agreed. He's been leaking information to her since the Redfield case started: it's all Progenitor-based concoctions that she's interested in."

"Progenitor… the Mother virus?"

"Exactly, which perfectly applies to Uroboros. Allen's cousin Helena has already been released, which means he didn't need him anymore. Still, she would've gotten to you otherwise."

It was done: the puzzle was complete. Allen had always been unable to put duty over family, unlike her, and she knew that perfectly. Amanda's life had been on the line, so had his and his cousin's. It was a matter of who to save and who to kill: Allen had been the latter.

"That bitch… Though I already almost all of this: Allen left me a recording before meeting his death. I just can't believe I've been so blind…"

"It can happen from time to time, don't worry." Amanda smirked at William's words. "So you say you've established a working relationship with Wesker?"

"Uh-huh. I don't know when he's gonna drop some news, but I'm going to keep my part of the deal," she said. "I'll have to tell him about all of this. William, you said you'd get me answers if I got him and the others to you, but you still haven't shown up."

William chuckled. "Don't worry; we're on our way. If you don't mind, could you get me his number? Of course, he must've told you."

"No, but I know someone who can get it for you," Amanda replied, jumping out of bed to snatch her address book from her desk. "Let me see… Ah here we go. Get in contact with Sherry Birkin, CEO of Rho Pharmaceutical."

"O-okay, just… Alright, shoot."

Amanda hesitated for a moment, having felt nervousness in his tone. The same moment she finished talking, he hung up.

So you've got something to tell me too, huh? Well, I'll wait till all of this has settled. William, now you owe me more answers than you can give me.

A/N: Huzzah, here's the update. I won't say anything else: reviews are up to you, guys. Oh, before I forget: it's not the William he gives me impression to be... mwuahaha!