AN: Here's the update you've been waiting for. Be forewarned however, that there is some heavily implied... um, romance, between Young Alma and Becket.
I'm still trying to keep it dark, without having copious amounts of sex flooding each and every chapter. So please don't kill me for this...
Disclaimer: F.E.A.R. is the rightful property of Monolith and Warner Bros. Interactive
Interval 01:
Affection
"Wake up, Bucket!"
Becket's eyes flew open in alarm, panic having seized his heart in its painful grasp. He inhaled sharply, immediately realizing that for one: he wasn't dead. Two: He'd fallen asleep while riding in Dark Signal's APC. And three: …well, Redd Jankowski had his mug in Becket's face, plastered with an amused grin.
"Nice of you to join us, sunshine," he admonished cheerily, clearly amused by the aghast expression adorning the Sergeant's face. One hand was propped against the wall over Becket's shoulder for support, as the APC tore up the stretch of Humphrey Rd. at high speeds.
Redd had been newly transferred from SFOD-D to Dark Signal in only a week's time… rather fast considering all the red tape Becket had to get through for his reassignment. Of course, he suspected that it might have had more to do with Jankowski's wildcard attitude for authority more than his actual combat training scores. Not that he couldn't shoot straight, or pull a tuck-and-roll when the proverbial shit started flying… far from it; Underneath his aloof, jovial exterior he as every bit a soldier as the rest of the squad.
Interestingly, Redd had an older brother in the F.E.A.R. branch of SFOD, who'd been called into action the night before. First Encounter Assault Recon, (from what Becket had read) was a special division operating under the guise of the U.S. military that specialized in… unique situations. Since 2002, F.E.A.R. has been known to undertake the kind of jobs that most people might find as intriguing as they were utterly ridiculous. Paranormal activity, government experiments in genetic manipulation of dark matter, extra-terrestrial phenomenon…; it all came with the territory.
Redd's light-hearted chuckle was full of beans. "You don't look so good, man. What's wrong? Dreaming about your last date?"
Becket gave an exasperated sigh. 'Oh god…' he thought to himself. 'Not this shit again…'
"-So says the guy who can't find one," the older Sergeant replied wittily.
Ever since Redd had found out that he'd been dating this bookworm by the name of Sally, he would never live it down. Aforementioned girl had been a hell of a wonder in bed, but… let's just say she was… kind of crazy?
Crazy enough to stalk him while he was at work…
Redd was about to utter protest to such claims, but was cut off as Lt. Keira Stokes pulled him aside.
"Sit down, Redd," she said, stepping in between them. Her voice was both deeply feminine, and carried a weight of deference at the same time. "Becket, I'm going to run your visor calibrations—see if everything checks out okay."
Becket, though hardly new to female anatomy, was left with a rather titillating view of Keira's bare midriff; the combat vest she wore didn't even come down to her navel… not that he was complaining. His father had always told him: "God gave you eyes or a reason, son; to admire beauty."
And lovely she most certainly was. The exposed fair skin of her waist and arms glimmered in the indistinct red lights of the interior cabin, making it appear so smooth…
That lean, toned body and slender, supple curves… not all that hidden under layers of body armor and green fatigue pants—he could just imagine her being a model on Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition.
In addition to this, her other features were just as remarkable. A soft, youthful countenance… graced with pink budding lips, and sky-blue eyes that showed her strong will, yet modest inexperience. Long camel hair was tied back in a French braid, with a few stray locks framing over her petite face. The little imperfections like the birthmark just above the corner of her upper lip, as well as the light blemishes on her cheeks… to him… made her look even more attractive.
As the Lt.'s gloved fingers moved lightly over the visual instrument that doubled as Becket's shades, her face came into view as she lowered herself to his level, giving him a faintly covetous stare.
"You know…" her voice had a husky whisper injected into it. "You're the first guy to look at me like that in a while…"
Becket remained pokerfaced, though inside he felt sort of sheepish for being caught. "I… take it you approve?"
She feathered her hands through his short black tresses, "…Definitely."
There was no manner of military pretense in the way she spoke, no unwarranted disdain towards his offhanded advances in her anticipant eyes. Keira leaned further in, filling his head with a sweet, spicy scent of her cologne.
"-And you're just my type… as well…"
Becket couldn't help but let his mind wander a bit on that one…
-Even if she was his superior, and the fact that she didn't look a day over twenty—he'd be damned if the Lt. wasn't denoting the prospect of a one night stand. The chemistry between them had been going strong ever since they'd prepped up in the locker rooms…
"Get a room, you two," a gruff voice cut in, distilling the hormones between them. "You can kiss and tell, later."
Cedric "Top" Griffin, the person in charge of Dark Signal, was quick to the point when he need be; a real ball buster type to not fuck around when the going gets tough. Still… he had a funny streak in him.
Keira's face lit up with a blush, and almost immediately thereafter she disengaged from her flirtatious demeanor with Becket. Her voice switched gears easily as she tested out the last diagnostic on the Delta team member's visor.
"Yes, sir…"
A rouse of laughter came from Fox, who essentially had a front row seat next to Becket. Given that he was the oldest operative in the squad, he'd seen plenty of romance in his day. And he should know, he was happily married to a wife of seven years and had a daughter to prove it.
A navy colored overlay stretched through the center of the screen, followed by several input commands as the opacity of his HUD adjusted to the low lighting conditions of the APC.
EKG Monitor… Online
Weapons Selection… Online
…01…1IFF1 1S100s0t0em…
A fierce amount of feedback caused the optical feed to waver…
… Fai==l=ure—
Synoptic flashes or orange and red filled the peripherals of his vision, and a feeling of trepidation overtook Becket as his ears started ringing. Everything around him was grinding to a halt, like the wheels of time itself were being stopped.
"No…" he whispered.
Stokes, who was giving him an odd glance, said something to him, but he could not hear the words. Her lips were moving at a snail's rate.
"Are… you… alright, Becket…?" the words were convoluted as the Lt. spoke them…just as she, Redd, Griffin, and everyone else… began to ebb away into nothing but ashes.
'This can't be happening…'
-…And then the soot of them all congealed together into a new form...
Bare feet and legs, once marred with blood… the tail of a red dress with a dark sash tied about the waist …
Michael wracked his brain to come up with some kind of solution to this folly—that perhaps, he was dreaming in a dream, and he was really just asleep at home in his loft apartment, and all those little intimacies he'd shared with that young girl were nothing more than-
…Long, raven hair glimmering in the red light, a small halo on the crown of her head reflecting how lustrously smooth it was.
Why did this have to happen to him? WHY?
That timeless countenance of youth and beauty… with radiant golden-red eyes… That familiarly prudent smile on her full, pale lips…
Even here, now … he knew that there was no safe haven from her. No way for him to avoid the girl's overreaching love that bound them together…
She stepped lightly forward with all the grace of the goddess he'd known her to be… until once again, her face was only a mere breadth away.
"Be, mine…" she said, her hands going to his neck.
"Forever…"
Becket was caught somewhere between entranced and mortified, still disbelieving that the girl standing so close… the same one he'd dreamed about, was here, in the flesh.
Moreover… she was every bit as beautiful now, in the ginger teal of the cabin interior, as she had been in the other realm of existence they'd first met… Cherry embers and wisps of smoke drifted idly behind her, accentuating her figure in a somber palette of gloomy watercolors.
Alma's smooth digits sought the comfort of Becket's skin on her fingers, wanting to embrace him so dearly against her face once more. It had been fortunate enough for her to escape from that malicious dominion of hell she'd been resigned to; this small respite was all she could ever ask for.
And so, with little care to his plight… or her own youthful appearance, she pulled herself into his lap… sliding her fingers around his head as she kneeled on his legs…
"W-what are you-?"
The Delta operative was at her mercy, shuddering: his entire body in a state of deadlock; though whether it was from his inability to respond, or the girl's immeasurable psychic prowess, he truly did not know.
"Please…" she whispered, her cool, bated breath wafting over him. "Stay with me…"
An invisible weight pressed down upon Becket, pinning him to his seat as her pale, soft lips lingered perilously closer to his own… her perfect countenance and luminous eyes set with zeal and anticipation.
This woefully shameless desperation she displayed, and the fact that she was practically sitting astride Becket's lap, compounded the Delta operative's dread a-hundred fold.
Alma cradled his face in her palms, and for a moment Becket saw that momentary flicker of sadness in her golden, half-closed eyes, pained remorse reflecting his own. He could feel that recognizable knotting of his stomach, perceptive of the fact that this beautiful angel of darkness was only…-
-A child…-
"I love you…"
Pale, silken lips close deeply upon his… far more intimately than what had transpired in Michael's dream, and again he is taken aback by the sheer softness of those frozen, full lips, pushing ardently against him. Raw verve like a kindling flame suffuses his body… the powers of darkness flowing from Alma into him, making him feel… wonderful unlike anything he's ever felt in his life…
"Nnnnnh…"
Her gentle face leans to one side as they kiss, fine raven locks tumbling over her angelic features as she pushes against him with her petite body, her pale legs holding him down…
Earlier feelings of culpability resurfaced like boiling water within Becket, and the assertiveness of what Alma's intentions for him were, collided with the rampart of his mind. He knew of how the long-haired deity looked at him, those amorous orbs of flare and honey gazing so fervently at him… Every young woman that'd ensnared the young soldier into bedding with them wore a similar face of lustful intent.
Only hers seemed amplified three fold.
The young goddess was not ignorant of his fear either. To him, she was rage incarnate: a little girl scorned by the world, raped by the monster of humanity for their own devices, then left for dead like some forgotten skeleton in a closet.
What is more, her body had all but been destroyed by Project Origin, reduced to nothing but a hag of skin and bones, an empty husk of decayed, broken flesh. …Her true self.
She could have been everything the world desired. And she never had a chance.
…But not anymore.
Alma withdrew from the warmth of their kiss, slowly, the light smooch evidence of how profound her love was for him. She still had her head tilted to one side, ready to take him again at any moment, half-lidded golden-red eyes becoming more amorous as she stared into Michael's own.
Becket felt like he'd just been on a round trip through heaven and hell. The girl's lips were so… so delectably soft; the feather touching of raven hair on his face; the tender hold of his head in her hands; the icy chill that dawned on his chiseled features from her breath. All of it was meant for him…
It was for these same reasons that he felt like being shot. He didn't deserve to be loved like this; especially not from a dark-haired supernatural being who had all the aspects of a lovely gothic-themed Lolita.
"D-Don't be afraid." The girl shivered on her melodic words. His hesitation, though not misplaced, made her want to consummate her desire to be his even more so.
Young Alma leaned in again, their lips just barely brushing together, eliciting a stuttered gasp from her partner. She knew that Michael was of pure heart, and that he'd never fantasized about making love to an adolescent girl, but sadly… this was the only form she could show to him.
At least, for now…
Her mouth claimed his for a second time, massaging her cool, soft lips together with his warm, hard ones… each delightful, deep kiss followed more eagerly than the last.
"Mmmphh… Mmmm… Ummmm…"
Undisputed murmurs of affection slipped past Alma's notice, her silent moans giving way with every departure for breath. Her silky fingers clasped firmly around his head for more leverage… tilting his head back till it was pressed against the wall…
…And much to her credit, Becket was reciprocating… though hardly as passionately as she would care to like. She mewled as large, gloved hands trailed unsurely up her back, one stopping at her waist…while the other lingered around her neck… neither holding her to him nor pushing her away. It wasn't quite the romantic hold she would've envisioned, but nonetheless adequate.
"Nnnnnghh…"
All the while, Becket could only chastise himself for giving in to such debauchery, even if Alma had willed it upon him…
How low of him to have fallen.
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