Disclaimers: I do not own anything out of Resident Evil. All of the contents belongs to Capcom.

Chapter XIII: Clue

'It's not something... that I can open up so easily. And it happened recently so I... am still trying to find a way to get over it.' - Sherry

Walls of the Castle, Morning

Sherry couldn't move a limb, and the she felt too warm to be normal. She felt her herself pressing against something very hard yet soft and hot at the same time, and she could hear heartbeat that she was positive didn't belong to her. Her spine felt sore all over the air was stale and cold. Stirring herself, Sherry cautiously pry her eyes open and her face burned with crimson.

Jake Wesker was holding her in her sleep.

Their legs were tangled messily upon one another and his eyes were shut, a slight frown was present in his sleeping face. 'Oh god, what had I got myself into?' She tensed, although she felt strangely secure for him to be holding her like this, both his arms were locked around her waist. The best part of all was that she was pressed so closely to the chest that she had fantasized about so much.

She vaguely recall what happened last night that she ended up like... this. 'How— Why did he hold me like this?' Her memories resurfaced slowly and she remembered the thunder, the lightning and the rain. And her home. Sherry remembered then how she had ran off to hide herself in the dark while her nightmares plagued her.

Until someone came to her rescue; hold her, comfort her, warm her. Not in a million years would she believe that it would be the devil-may-care, soulless Prince Jake Wesker.

She felt safe, unharmed at that moment. Jake whispered soft things to her and he kept her so close all night.

She wanted to stay like this. In his arms.

'No, no, no. This is outrageous! This can't be right!' The rational part of her scolded and Sherry forced her reluctant limbs to pull herself away from his sleepy hold.

The actions disturbed his sleep, emitting a low groan, it was Jake's turn to be fully awake while Sherry struggled to free herself as slowly as possible.

"You awake, Supergirl?" He mumbled sleepily, his arm were still lazily ringed around her waist. She stopped her movements then when she realized that her struggles were brushing up to him too much. The weather was cold and yet she was flaring up, especially her face.

Her body stiffened involuntarily when Jake moved; pulling his arms away from her and allow her to back away. She did, but she only crawl a small block of tile away from him so that he won't take it that she didn't want to be with him.

Hope he got the right impression.

Flexing his muscles, Sherry watched as Jake's shoulders crackled and he twisted his neck, making another crunching noise.

'God, what I am going to say to him?'

Once he had done with every part of his body, Jake stared in interest at Sherry who had her head ducked. And he threw her the inevitable, "You okay, Supergirl? Last night you—"

"I'm sorry." She cut him short, "I'm sorry for my behavior last night, your Highness. And... I am sorry too that I couldn't tell you about it."

He was flabbergasted, "...Why not?"

She kept her eyes fixated onto the dirty tiles, "It's not something... that I can open up so easily. And it happened recently so I... am still trying to find a way to get over it."

"Geez," Jake huffed, "not even a small chunk?"

"No, sir."

"Fine."

Although Jake knew better that he could flaunt his authority as her master to interrogate her, but at the same time, he knew it better too that doing so would not be appropriate, and of all, not fair. He did have his own secret and, it wouldn't be fair if he dug her secret so forcefully.

Maybe he'll resort to using his own way to find out, even a small piece.

Okay, that's the plan.

"Prince?"

He heard her calling him so he lazily looked at her. She was toying with the lace of her already dirty dress with her eyes trained at the floor, but her next sentence came with her eyes meeting him with a dim glow, "Thank you."

Jake smirked, "Anytime."

"Prince? Your Highness? Sherry?"

It was a voice she recognized so much. She jumped to a stand when she hear her own name coming from the woman calling them from a distance. Down the stairs, Claire's voice echoed. While Sherry had already come to a stand, Jake still had his body slumped by the crate and watched as Sherry jogged to the stairs and looked down, and waved, "We're up here!" She answered the call and she jogged down the stairs.

The two women met somewhere in the middle of the flight and Claire eyed onto Sherry's dusty clothes almost curiously, she looked like she had rolled on the floor. But Claire decided to ignore it and they joined Jake upstairs again.

"Good morning, your Highness." Claire grinned, she saw the same grime riddling Jake as well.

The Prince answered with a grunt and a small wave of his hand.

"Why... The two of you slept here in the storm last night?" She laughed, effectively making Sherry blushed furiously and Jake remain stoic. She coughed then, "Anyway, sire. I am here with the order of The King: His Majesty asked for you to be at the hall in the next two hours. Your Highness are to be dressed properly. It is compulsory."

"Is it the same political shit again?"

Claire blinked several times and shook her head, "No, sir. His Majesty said that it is utmost important because the whole court will be there," Claire glanced at Sherry, "which means that you will be there too, since you're the prince's stewardess."

Sherry and Jake looked at each other with a confused eyes and an arched eyebrow respectively. Even the stewardess must be present? Well, that was 'utmost important'. "What the hell are we exactly doing?"

"I am not really sure, but I heard that it was a noble coming from Tall Oaks. The King always held high regard over the nobility in Tall Oaks, like they were best friends or something."

Sherry knew Tall Oaks, she heard it from Helena. Helena came from Tall Oaks.

Jake made a clicking sound with his lips and crossed his arms, "Fine."

"In that case, I will go to ready your bath, sir." Sherry was about to descend the staircase again until Claire pulled her back by her arms.

With a grin, Claire happily, told her, "I've done the bath for the prince, you should go pucker up at the servants quarter. Sheva and Deborah are killing me back there."

"Okay, then it's settled." Jake was the first one to go for the stairs, "We'll meet again at my chamber later."

Without saying anything else, Jake ran down the tower while both Claire and Sherry eyeing at each other with a small fit of giggle.

Sherry can't wait to see her friends again.

Servant's Quarter, Morning

"I am so glad to see you're okay. I am so worried!"

Sheva helped Sherry wash her back using a washcloth. Submerged in the cold water, Sherry turned her her slightly and frowned on her foreign best friend, "Why should you worry, Sheva? I am happy right now."

The hand scrubbing Sherry's pale back stopped, "The Prince. You know - he didn't... do anything nasty to you? He's the devil after all."

"No, Sheva. He's being nice to me lately. He's not all bad man."

Deborah was just handing a towel when her scowl scared Sherry, "Nice?" She asked, "Like how?"

Shrugging, Sherry gave them the examples they wanted, "I don't know... He talked to me, although his mouth was so vile that it's unbearable sometimes. But I have good terms with him. He changed." 'He stayed with me last night. You guys should have know how he was there for me. So sweet—'

"Don't tell me you're charmed by him, Sherry. It's dangerous to trust him, I've been in this castle long enough to know." Deborah's statement made Sherry quirked an eyebrow before accepting the white towel from her friend, "How so, Debbie?"

The carefree woman warned, "I think this is another of his trick to be rid of you, if being mean to you fail to work, then he'll just be nice to you, then dump you all the way to the ground."

Sherry quivered, not by the cold of the water nor the cool air hitting her skin. But she was starting to think that Deborah and Sheva's accusation actually make sense - a man doesn't not simply change in a short period of time. Jake Wesker, the first day she knew him, he was a self-centered bastard that hardly paid any attention to people around him much less herself. He was even annoyed with Sherry.

Then he changed: he started talking to her. He tried to be nice to her.

'No. Last night the Prince... he was so real.'

Sure, she was so stricken with fear last night that she could barely control herself. But she knew exactly what had enfolded. All of the details. Crystal clear.

Jake cared for her.

'But what if what Sheva and Deborah said was true? After all, I am just a lowly servant. How would he be nice to me?'

Sherry shook all the negative thoughts away when the image of the Queen came to her; she promised that she will stay with him no matter what happens. She will not let these bad thoughts sway her from her objective.

Plus, she knew she was already charmed by the handsome Prince last night.

King's Hall, Morning

Jake Wesker was sitting next to his father, Albert Wesker on his left, while Queen Gabrielle was on his right. Despite the ailment she had, Jake was impressed by how his mother looked like - completely fine - although he knew that her disease was killing her slowly inside. Albert didn't talk to her at all, much to Jake's disappointment.

General Chris Redfield was standing with his apprentice, Piers Nivans. They looked clearly unimpressed by the occasion, they had already knew what the event will be and they were not happy at all.

Then the double door swung open, all eyes averted their attention to the main spotlight of the room.

"Welcome back to Raccoonia, Lady Graham." Albert Wesker was the first to speak.

She was dressed so extravagantly from head to toe, around Sherry's age, Ashley Graham walked step by step to greet the King.

Jake snickered when he finally knew what was going on; whenever someone form Tall Oaks came to Raccoonia, his father would welcome them ceremoniously. He didn't understand why, Tall Oaks was a part of Raccoonia just like any other cities do, but for some reasons, Albert gave Tall Oaks specifically higher regards. "Hmph, so we're going to welcome back this pampered princess again." Sherry, who was standing next to Jake heard his whisper. It almost made her laugh.

Ashley wore a sweet smile on her face when she lifted her dress and bowed to Albert, then to Gabrielle and finally to Jake, "It is my honor to see you again, Your Majesty." She said politely, then to Gabrielle, "Good day to you, Your Highness." And when her attention finally reached Jake whom she had never met, Albert spoke before her.

The King extended his hand to Jake's direction and introduced, "Let me introduce to you, this is the Prince. Jake Muller Wesker."

Ashley smiled even sweeter and bowed, "It's my pleasure to finally meet you, Prince Wesker. My, I never knew that the prince of Raccoonia would be this charming." She said it so alluringly, almost purring.

Sherry smile broader when she noticed how Piers faked gagging at the corner.

"Yeah." Jake said simply, purposely stressing out disinterest in his tone. He was supposed to have met her last year during her first visit, but Jake avoided the ceremony using his way.

The King glared at his son with his golden-red eyes, "Now, my son, be sure to treat her well."

"Whatever."

Rear Castle, Afternoon

After Jake had sent Sherry away for some chore relating to his wardrobe, the Prince went away to the rear castle with one clear intention on his mind: to find out Sherry's past on his own. And he knew just the perfect place to start his secret investigation.

Claire Redfield.

He saw how they greeted each other this morning like they were the bestest friends already even if they hadn't seen each other in a while after Sherry had admitted under Jake.

Pacing quickly to where the head stewardess were, Jake climbed a few stairs where he still remember the room was located, passing by several people whom he ignored when they greeted him.

"Prince Wesker!"

The enthusiastic call of himself made Jake puckered his lips and halted. Turning slightly, Ashley was making her way to the royal Prince along with her own stewardess. He tucked his hands around both side of his waist as Ashley panted softly to catch up with him. Now he noticed how short this 'Princess' was, she was a little shorter than Sherry.

Too short for him that he could call her midget.

Ashley lifted her face to him with an exaggerated smile, "What an honor to see you again, Prince—"

"Yeah, save it. What do you want?" Jake said icily, whether he did it on purpose or he was just too busy to care was beyond Ashley's knowledge.

The visitor was not surprised by his chilly attitude, she had heard rumors about him just like everyone had. Still in her calm and kittenish demeanor, Ashley coy her head to her side like a puppy, "It was nothing of importance, I just thought that I could get to know you better."

"Sorry— what's the name again? Oh, Graham. Okay, so, I am kinda busy right now, Lady Graham, so if you will excuse me..." He left his sentence hanging and his thumb gestured over his shoulder.

My, was she disappointed that it didn't work out as she thought to be. "Of course. I am sorry to disturb."

Thus, Jake walked off out of her in the next instant. He didn't leave the bad impression on purpose, but he was too eager to find Claire before Sherry will be returning from her chores.

Ashley and her stewardess watched him leave with the former pouted when her trick failed to work before Jake was not returning any sign of interest to her 'unintentional' advances.

"My, the Prince was rude, isn't he?" Emily, Ashley's follower inquired. The Tall Oaks visitor only smirked to the direction where Jake had disappeared, "Well, sure he is. But he is still the Prince of Raccoonia."

A grin.

"Besides... I will not believe that no man would not fall for my charm."

"About Sherry, you said?"

Claire had her hands clasped neatly around her lap when the Prince asked. Her gaze at him was mostly confused, never did the Prince had ever consulted her about any of her servants but why Sherry? Why did he suddenly want to know Sherry's background? Claire asked no questions in returned.

Redfield thinned her lips, "Unfortunately, your Highness, Sherry's past was just as vague to me as you are now."

"No shit? You knew nothing too?" Jake's hope shattered. His only lead was now coming to a dead end too, "Not even a small bit, I thought you and Kennedy saved her?"

The red-head shook her head honestly, she did knew nothing significant of the twenty-one, "The first time me and my husband found Sherry, it was midnight. She was running in the rain on the street. Then she passed out in the middle of the road, so we brought her to the castle."

"Then?"

"Then Sherry woke up her in the Palace... We did tried asking her of her background but- she cried before we could even get an answer." She paused, "The only thing we knew is that she had lost her home on the same day we found her."

'Her home?'

Claire further mentioned that from her interview with the King, Sherry had also said that her mother had passed recently, and the young girl never knew her father.

'Her mother? Wait— last night Sherry said something about a 'her'... could it be she was referring to her mother? And rain... Claire said they found Sherry when it was raining in the midnight.'

Flashes of the image of a panicked Sherry cowering in the dark littered in his mind.

'It had to be something bad happened to her that she had that sickening trauma of a stupid storm.'

Pieces by pieces Jake tried to assemble together but the clue was still not enough.

He walked away from the rear castle that day with only one conclusion he was certain: Something had happened to her family and her home the same day she was brought to the castle, and that 'something' was what caused Sherry to be so afraid of a midnight storm.

That will be what he will be finding out.

A.N: Oh, Jake... What will you find out about Sherry? O_O And Sheva and Deborah, they didn't seem to trust Jake so much yet, do they?

Guess what? *parade music commence* Here come's Ashley Graham from Tall Oaks! ;) In this fic Tall Oaks had a lot more meaning to it than you imagine, so don't be surprised if it will be mentioned more later on.

RFF! :)