Author's Note: Okay, just a bit of an announcement. Since thanks to school the updates are catching up to the chapters I have completed and I'm currently working on the next chapter, the updates will resume their weekly rate again so that I have time to work. And another announcement... please, for new readers, read the warning at the beginning... Yes, I know you're not new readers and the person/people in question should know that I'm referring to them and them alone. This will go like I have it planned, so stop with the harshness, alright?

Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or any of its characters, only my OCs

XX

Requiem For Those We Cherish

'Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.' Nikos Kazantzakis.

4:00 am.

"Shit, shit! Dammit, dad, where are you when I need you?" Sherry thought aloud as she sprinted down the hall as fast as she could. She needed to get to Jean-Jacques, the man who worked with her as the most experienced hacker of the group of workers. She knew he could get her the information she was looking for.

Sherry took a right and avoided colliding with two other researchers by the skin of her teeth, ignoring the angry exclamations one of them threw at her. Finally, she reached her destination and burst inside the room, attracting the attention of everyone who was inside.

"Where's Jean-Jacques?" she asked, regaining her breath and composure. A tall black-haired man rose from his seat and gazed at her curiously.

"Ici, ma cherie," he said, his tone light. Sherry strode towards him, not caring about the curious whispering in indignation and uneasiness. Jean-Jacques cocked an eyebrow at Sherry, flashing a faint smirk at her. "What's wrong? Je vous peux maintenant aider?" Sherry couldn't help flashing a smirk of her own, but it was gone as soon as it came.

"In fact, you can, Jean-Jacques. I need you to get me information only TerraSave has got in their hands," she told him with a resolute nod. Jean-Jacques' expression didn't change, but Sherry noticed a smile tugging at his lips.

"Sounds très difficile," he teased, sarcastic. "Well, not anymore than the communications jam. And what is this information you are looking for, mademoiselle?"

"About Claire Redfield," Sherry breathed out in a rush, feeling hope making its way through her doubts and anxiety. Jean-Jacques immediately sat down in front of his computer and started typing Claire's name, coming up with dozens of results.

"She's Chris Redfield's sister, n'est pas?" he asked, gazing up at her. Simultaneously, he started up some programs to which Sherry had always been oblivious and worked fast, like it was meant to be. Jean-Jacques was a fast and experienced hacker, a person who Sherry had seen useful for her line of work; Rho Biological wasn't only a pharmaceutical company. It fit like the archetypical company, one that kept secrets up their sleeve -just like the disbanded Umbrella- but Sherry hadn't made that be out of some stupid reason or simple amusement.

"Still no way to fix the bug on communications and tracking?"

Jean-Jacques shrugged. "We managed to get some functions back to normal, but some are still a bit broken. We can keep working decently with the net, keep up with the enterprise's operations, records and such but not more. The rest of the servers for tracking and hacking are not fully repaired yet; Jacob and Zoe are still on it. The net is safe, no problèmes there. Did you find the bastard that did it?"

"I didn't, but I know who it was, and I'll make sure he's dead whenever we cross ways again."

Biting on her thumbnail, Sherry waited for Jean-Jacques to finish his tasks, impatience threatening to keep the best of her. In that moment, she closed her eyes and remembered one of the many lessons she'd learnt from her father, who he had learnt it himself from Wesker: when there was something complex at hand, the situation always called for patience and a cool head. She hadn't seen her father applying that a lot to his research, but it was something to have in mind.

"Ça y est! I found something, cherie; thank goodness this still works," Jean-Jacques said with glee, and Sherry snapped her eyes open to glance at the monitor. "Claire Redfield, thirty years old, current residence: Vancouver."

Sherry felt her heart sinking. Vancouver? Dammit, she couldn't have picked a better place! There's no way we can get to her in time!

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice inside her head, one that made a smile tug at her lips.

"Never desist, Sherry, remember that. Call it an obsession, but you can never desist from what you plan."

Sherry sighed, shaking her head. Her father was right of course, but complexity was always in the way.

I know; I know, dad, but it's always complicated.

"Any means to establish contact?" Sherry inquired, crossing her arms, and Jean-Jacques looked up at her, once again cocking an eyebrow.

"Is that 'serious mode', cherie?" he asked in return, but then he was the one who got serious. "We got e-mail address, mobile phone and her residence's," Jean-Jacques then said, typing some more codes. Sherry fished out her own mobile phone from her pocket and dialled Claire's, praying to whoever was listening for her old time friend to pick up.

A ring. Nothing.

Three rings. Still nothing.

At the fourth, "Hello?"

For a moment Sherry's hopes spiked, but the voice wasn't Claire's, and Sherry froze in her place. She found Jean-Jacques staring at her, this time with concern etched across his young features, and Sherry widened her eyes. "Who the hell is this?" she asked, feeling her nerves getting out of control. One of her hands started shaking when a cold, dark laugh reached her ears.

It can't be... How didn't I notice?!

"Miss Birkin... it's Marco Gionne, who else?"

Sherry's blood ran cold. If Marco had picked up, then it meant Claire was...

"Where's Claire?" she blurted out in a rush, revealing her intentions unconsciously.

"Sherry?! Sherry, is that you!" she heard Claire say at the top of her voice. Unable to keep her cool, Sherry felt a lump in her throat: Claire sounded terrified, her hopes having bloomed again for a moment, but Sherry had still heard her scared and anxious.

"Claire?!"

"Sherry, I'm-"

Sherry suddenly heard the sound of something hard and big falling, and she understood what had happened. "What have you done to her?! Don't you lay a finger on her, you bastard!"

"Don't worry, she's fine, she's just collapsed after a punch," Marco said, his tone nonchalant.

"Where's David?" Sherry demanded, fearing the worst.

"He's dead; Vithar killed him before he could help Miss Redfield get away. I know you've been keeping track of my activities through him, so why keep this under cover? Also, we got Claire Redfield, and we're going to use her at our leisure."

"I'll get you for this, Marco!" Sherry spat, unable to control her voice. "Don't you think we're going to let this slide!"

Marco chuckled. "Oh, actually you are. I'm going to pay you a visit soon; you'd better be ready for it."

And then the line went dead, as simple as that. Sherry fell silent, speechless, and silence followed Marco's words, silence during which Sherry felt her hands shaking as anxiety got the best of her. She caught sight of Jean-Jacques staring at her wide-eyed, since she'd never shown herself to be so nervous and shocked, but she didn't mind him.

"Alright, I'm going to help her no matter what," she said at last, resolute. Still a bit struck by the call, she hung up herself and exhaled, leaving her mind blank. She felt helpless, unable to do anything, until a thought popped up in her mind.

Come on: what would have William done? Keep going, of course.

Keeping her voice low, she said, "Give me the pat on the shoulder I need, please?" She knew who she was talking to, even though she knew he wouldn't reply to that nor he would do what she'd requested; still, she had to believe.

"Jean-Jacques, keep at this. Keep track of all the calls we receive; do not take off your eyes Marco and his activities, I want everything on them. I'm going to get Claire back even if it kills me." With that, she stormed outside the room, pacing so quickly she almost broke into a run.

I could've told Wesker I was going to forget about her, but that was just a lie. I never lost hope in her, and I'm going to see her again, get her out of danger and keep her safe. It's time I paid back the debt.

When she lifted her gaze, Sherry saw Chris, Jill and Wesker approaching her at a fast pace, and she couldn't help frowning even more. She would have to get ready for Chris' reaction, not to mention Wesker's. Jill was the first to speak.

"Is everything alright? Was somebody arguing?" she asked, her voice calm but alarmed.

"Nothing's alright, if you want me to be honest; I got bad news, and bad," Sherry replied, meeting Chris' gaze with hesitation. "It's about Claire: Marco's taken her."

Chris' expression changed from one of shock to anger and then to one with a mix of both, and Sherry felt tempted to look away and avoid having to stand his reaction; in spite of that, she didn't and kept firm. "How did that happen?" he asked, his voice surprisingly calm but still quivering a bit with anger.

"I don't know when, but he got there before we did."

"Before you did?" Wesker intervened. "You knew about this?"

"Okay, let's get things straight: I got a call from David on the 25th telling me that Marco was on her trail, and I sent him along with one of Marco's assassins to try and prevent it. It happens that a day ago, James had just gotten here from, as he had said, Colorado, since he had personal matters to take care of. David told me that he'd sneaked into your plane and did whatever he did, like telling Marco where you were so that he could send Freya there to kill you."

"James is still alive!" Jill exclaimed, glancing at Wesker. "Bastard! What a silly mistake coming from me..."

"When I received the news from David, I tried to track her down whilst at the same time take care of the facility in Africa before it shut down and you were trapped inside it. About that, we couldn't do anything, since we were still dealing with the bug," she explained, he voice alarmed and fearful. "Marco got wind of David's affiliation with us and killed him. He's got Claire now."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Chris asked, raising his voice.

That's the last straw!

"Because there was no way of contacting you with a day-long communications jam, you dumbass! We were still trying to fix it when you got back! It was a race against Marco; he knew everything we were doing and all because of James! Damn it, even Jean-Jacques had problems when trying to fix it!" she burst out, narrowing her gaze.

Chris shut his eyes tight and bit on his lip, exhaling. "So much for a return... No, not Claire, dammit!" Sherry looked away, feeling as awed and angry as he was. But then, the matter seemed to vanish from his mind: Chris' eyes snapped open and he eyed her suspiciously.

"Hold the phone..." Chris breathed out, frowning. "You said you were trying to keep the facility from shutting down but you couldn't anything about it, didn't you?"

"That's what I said, yeah," Sherry spoke with a nod, a knot of uneasiness settling in the pit of her stomach; she didn't like where this was heading.

"But there was a shut down too! It was overridden!"

"It wasn't you?" Wesker said, his brow shooting up ever so slightly. Sherry was out of words to say, since she had not expected his question. At last, she shook her head.

"N-No, it wasn't us. Don't tell me you managed to escape without the facility shutting down!"

"We wouldn't be here if that hadn't happened," said Jill, not rolling her eyes to Sherry's surprise. "The facility started to shut down for a few seconds but then it went back to normal. It obviously hadn't been us and there was no-one else in the building."

"Then if it wasn't us, who was it?" Sherry asked, her eyes widening. She stole a glance at Jill, then Wesker, then Chris and later Wesker again, partly in hopes that he would know the answer. Much to her dismay, he just shook his head. At last, it clicked, and Sherry came up with the answer herself. "Marco!"

"What?"

Sherry snapped her fingers; of course! "David told me that Marco was planning to shut the facility down himself. What if he overrode the lockdown?"

"That's far-fetched, too far-fetched, and you know it," spoke Wesker, shaking his head whilst not breaking eye contact, "but we know how he can act when it comes to his interests."

"You have to agree with me on this: it's our only lead so far, Wesker. We still have speculation as a resource, even though that doesn't seem likely," Sherry insisted, emphasizing her words with gestures of her hands.

"It could've been James, too," said Chris, meeting Sherry's gaze. "From what you told us, he's clearly an experienced hacker and if he got back here on the 24th, it's possible that he could've done that."

"Planting the bug and control the facility at the same time?" Jill piped up. "That is unlikely, unless he wanted attention to be drawn upon himself."

"Which could work as a diversion," Chris posed, and Sherry was amazed at how fast he could think. Knowing that Progenitor, if bonded successfully with the host's DNA, could increase the host's intelligence, then with Uroboros -being a variant strain and a much more advanced and improved one-, Chris would have the right to claim the title of the smartest one in the whole group, if not the world.

With the virus, it actually isn't fair, but who can blame him?

"We can still settle with Marco, as reckless as it may seem," Jill said with a tinge of defeat in her voice. "Sherry, do you have any idea where James could be?" she then asked, and Sherry gave a half-hearted nod, hesitant.

"I have a slight idea. Between the 20th and the 25th, Marco moved from Naples to Vancouver; I knew about this thanks to David. His activities were becoming more intense in the States, so we believe that was his reason for the change. What I didn't know was that Claire lived there, not until barely five minutes ago. Marco has already gotten to her, which proves he clearly knew where she was; he overtook us. I don't know where they're taking her."

She caught sight of Jill looking at Chris, who looked like trying to digest Sherry's words with all his might, and a smile tugged at her lips. Sherry now knew there was something between them both, something big, and just with a mere examining gaze.

"Here's to hoping she's fine," he said at last. "I can't stand having to stay put and wait."

"Neither can I, that's for sure," Jill piped up, throwing a small hint of humour.

"Marco's a hectic person; he doesn't stop working and making plans," Sherry agreed, gazing up at him. "There's an upside to this; at least, if it can be considered that."

"And that upside is?" asked Wesker.

"Marco's exact words were: 'I'm going to pay you a visit soon; you'd better be ready for it'. I don't know why, but I have the feeling we'll just have to sit and wait for him to come. We have no locations, no traces, nothing, so we can't conduct a thorough search."

"What about David?" Jill intervened, and Sherry made an effort to swallow the lump in her throat.

"He's dead. He tried to get Claire out of there and Vithar got him," she replied, her voice going softer than she intended. "We can only wait now; impatience won't do anything." Sherry sighed. "I'm sorry, really."

"You did all you could," said Wesker, but Sherry was half-paying attention to his words: what had caught her attention have been the glance Chris had shot her. It hadn't been one of rage and resent directed towards her, but one that had the message of 'Don't worry'. She was aware Chris knew of her friendship with Claire. Sherry gave an unconscious nod and relaxed; at least, she knew her efforts weren't being spurned.

"There's something that's also bothering me about this," Jill suddenly intervened lowering her gaze, pensive. "This assassin, Freya as you said... did she make it out of the facility alive? Chris, do you know something about that?"

The man in question shook his head. "No. Seeing I almost killed her, she retreated. I don't know where she went after that; either she's still in Africa or she had means to escape."

"What, you couldn't dispose of her?" Wesker intervened, cocking an eyebrow with malice. "How kind of you."

"That you've been killing your whole life doesn't mean others can do it easily," Chris snapped, glaring at him. In that moment, Sherry thanked that gaze hadn't been directed at her.

Damn, it's scary!

"And you yourself haven't done that either, right?"

That was a low blow, and Sherry had to agree with her own mind. At Wesker's remark, Chris fell silent, but not for long.

"As if our circumstances were the same!" he said. "You can't compare you with us."

"Well, killing is a sin, no matter the victim is alive or not," Wesker replied, putting an end to the argument, "and you get my drift, don't you?" Chris scowled at him, his eyes ablaze with anger.

"Damn right I do."

"As if we all gave a damn about what's a sin or not!" Sherry finally spoke up, hoping that wouldn't get her into trouble. "Look, whatever we've done, it's done; some have their gift for killing, some don't, and it's that simple. I would recommend having that in mind."

Sherry knew Wesker would get that hint, and he seemed to get it. The tension subsided gradually, and she felt a bit prouder of herself: she could be the pacifist when she wanted to.

"In any case, you should get back to rest," she then said with a sigh, "and I'll keep an eye out on this. We'll make some progress, I'm sure of that."

"Are you fine with that?" Jill asked. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Sherry shook her head. "You've done enough as it is, but thank you." She glanced at Wesker, who didn't seem very willing to leave; in fact, he proved it with his words.

"I'm staying; there's not much I have to do now and I've rested enough." Chris and Jill didn't have any objections, judging by their demeanour, and left seconds later after bidding goodbyes. The moment they were out of sight, Sherry took the liberty to sigh in relief and lean against the wall, catching sight of an amused Wesker.

"Poor girl," he said, sarcastic, and Sherry grimaced at him, standing on her feet again.

"Don't give me that; I felt like a mouse! And I thank whoever's listening that I managed to put a leash on both of you," she shot back. "This is taking a bit of a toll on me; you know this is hard, and better than anyone of us. And what I told you before, I swear it all happened like this; there was no way I could've noticed."

"At least we have a worthy opponent; finally a Gionne that breaks the monotony," Wesker remarked, starting a walk towards the computer room. Sherry followed suit, stifling a yawn. "You're not running solely on caffeine, are you, Sherry?"

"And why would that matter?" Sherry asked in return with a smile. "William did that too, so I don't see why I shouldn't and couldn't do it. Guess it's in my genes. Don't worry though," she then added, "I've gotten my sleep. But it's just that it's been so hectic lately, I've barely had the time to rest."

Indeed, she had been taking too much caffeine lately

"Tell me, were you able to fix the bug?" Wesker asked after a short silence.

"Jean-Jacques was able to keep up with the enterprise's operations and such, but no luck on hacking and tracking," she replied. "Some of the functions are still broken and there's not much we can do. Before, we could track Marco down, hack servers and get the information we needed; now, we're completely blind. It'll still take a while to get all systems running again; that's what I suppose."

They stepped inside the computer room, and Sherry was utterly shocked at the racket. Everyone was shouting hurried commands at each other, many experts were working quickly and in a hurry; as such, no-one seemed to notice their presence. Who indeed noticed them was Zoe, Jean-Jacques girlfriend and expert computer programmer. When she did, she went past her work post and strode towards them, brushing some rogue locks of red hair out of her face.

"This is something I didn't know of," Wesker said before Zoe was with them. Sherry only smirked, glancing up at him for a moment.

"Miss Birkin, everything's operational now!" Zoe said, handing her a written status report which called her attention. "The bug's completely gone! Jacob, Jean-Jacques and Adam managed to trace it and eliminate it!"

"That's excellent news, Zoe!" Sherry said in return, grateful. "It's good to know you're fast workers."

"I'm still trying to rearrange the systems like they were before so nothing is out of place," spoke Zoe with a nod. "Communications will take a bit more of time; Imogen is working on them. She's making progress though, so she expects it'll take her six more minutes, ten at best."

"Thank you," Sherry said, and Zoe withdrew to her work post again. "So you didn't really know about this?" she then asked Wesker, who shook his head as he took a look around.

"I didn't, no. How did you manage to get all of this built?"

Sherry smiled, exiting the room with Wesker following behind her. "Actually, I did it thanks to the funds you left me. Quite the action coming from a charitable soul," she teased, knowing full well what Wesker's reaction would be, which was a scoff and a glare. "Don't take me wrong; I'm just joking."

"It relieves me to see you put them to good use," he said, seemingly ignoring her last remark.

"I never got to thank you," she replied, smiling.

"I don't need that; I did what I had to do, and that was ensuring you carried on," Wesker said, dismissing her thanks. Sherry felt her mouth twitching into a smile, one that she couldn't keep at bay. What to do, tell him? Backstab him? She couldn't do that!

Then again, I don't know how he would react. He knows about my friendship with Claire; everyone can change their mind about something... but not when it's your most hated enemy's sister.

"Up for some sightseeing, I see," Wesker commented, bringing her out of her thoughts. It took her a second to realize the reason behind the remark: they hadn't stopped walking, and she assumed he had let her take the lead. In the end, Sherry shook her head and said,

"No, not that; I just spaced out for a second. I was thinking... can I tell you something?" Sherry cursed how ginger her voice had come out: she had more courage than that!

"It's about Claire, isn't it?" Wesker guessed, having read her thoughts. "You didn't score with that lie, I tell you." Sherry was genuinely surprised.

"Wha-what lie?" she asked, a knot of uneasiness catching in her stomach when they stopped walking. Sherry held her breath as a reflex, feeling how Wesker's eyes bore a hole into her skull despite having them hidden. She was nervous, and nervous; it wasn't just uneasiness. It was then that it clicked.

XX

"I was in good terms with her, that's the thing."

"Whatever made you change your mind?"

"I really don't know," she answered, shrugging. "I guess it must've been time."

XX

"You mean that one?" she suddenly blurted out, not aware of the words that left her lips. Wesker said nothing and kept his mask of impassiveness on, which made Sherry think fast to get an excuse out. Justifying her friendship was no excuse, however, so she opted to tell him. "I didn't want to risk anything."

"If that's the case, then you should know where your loyalties lie, Sherry," he then told her, and Sherry couldn't take it anymore: she'd had enough.

"What are you trying to inculcate into me, huh?! That it's my obligation to leave all attachments aside? That I cannot allow myself to have someone I can rely on?" she exclaimed, gesturing with her arms. "Claire was in my life long before you, and it's because of her that I'm still alive and indirectly, you too. If you told me you were a man of your word, then you should understand what a debt means. I'm willing to pay mine back, whether you sit well with that or not!"

In that moment she realized what she'd said and soon regretted it. There was no turning back though, and all she had said was true: there were no lies in there. During the silence that ensued, Sherry could feel a shiver running down her spine, the hairs on her arms and nape standing on an end.

She couldn't take back her words; in fact, she didn't want to.

"Then fulfil it, but I suggest you do not allow yourself to be carried away," said Wesker at last, his tone harsh.

"So what if I do get carried away? Talk about yourself!" Sherry said, shocked. "I would know better than to compare you with me, but I think you're getting on all too well with a certain person." Then, Wesker turned his gaze at her, but she was not frightened by his tense demeanour. "Yeah, you taught me too well to read body language and have a good look at people. But why would you care? You don't understand what it means to have someone to consider family," she shot back, holding back her anger. That was what would get her into trouble, but Wesker didn't have any problems replying to her remark.

"Says the one who didn't have one in the first place. And if that wasn't like that, then who was the little girl who told me she didn't want to know about her parents anymore?"

Sherry was momentarily struck by the harshness and the truth of the statement, and she scowled at him in response. "That was a low blow, Wesker."

"Oh, don't be like that," he said with a tsk. "You know I speak the truth, and that alone. If you were the first one to reject having a family when it was right in front of you, then why are you saying I don't understand what it means? I, of all people, being blamed? You should be ashamed of yourself."

"You haughty bastard!" she cursed, wide-eyed. "So you really think you're superior than me, right? I should've left you to rot in that volcano; you're lucky to still be alive!"

"And I should've left you in the Agency's hands so that you could become a guinea pig for G and experience worse things than death itself. Satisfied?" Wesker said in return, his voice not faltering in the least; in fact, it sounded even deadlier. "Claire of course might've helped you, but who was the one who took you under his wing? Certainly not her, correct?" Sherry had to stifle the urge to swallow hard and a droplet of cold sweat went down her nape. "I'm finished here; will we stop wasting time?"

Sherry gaped at him, dumbstruck. How... how dare he? Wesker exchanged one last glance with her and headed back up the hall as she followed him with her gaze. She then turned around to face him and said,

"If it hadn't been for us, you wouldn't have known what it means to be human. Didn't my father mean anything to you?"

Wesker stopped, but did not face her. "I never allowed our friendship to get in my way, never, and I will do the same with ours."

Sherry swallowed this time, her heart clenching in anger and somehow, pity. "Then why did you befriend him in the first place? What was the purpose behind that bond? Since you claim to know a lot about loyalties and friendship, think about it."

Silence reigned, but none of them moved from their places.

"Sometimes, William even admitted having considered your friendship among a certain matter, and too bad you didn't know; too bad you still don't know," Sherry continued, keeping her voice from cracking. "Tell me, where did his loyalties lie then? His work or you?" She sighed. "Indeed, too bad you didn't get to know."

"What should I have known?" Wesker inquired, half-turning to face her.

I'm not spilling everything out that easily.

"That, I'll keep it to myself," Sherry snapped. "You'll have to pry it out if you want to know." Wesker suddenly turned but before the conversation could go any further, she put an end to it by walking in the opposite direction as him, trying desperately to keep her head high as Wesker watched her leave.

Out of instinct, Sherry went to her office and locked herself in there, in need for a bit of calm. In the dark, she leaned on her desk and sighed, feeling how the lump in her throat was coaxing tears to spill. No matter what, she wouldn't spill them; at least, that's what she had planned at first. She was not impassive, emotionless; she had not banished empathy like Wesker had... and so, she could allow herself a few tears. Her mouth twitched into a smile as she cried.

And stupidly enough, I'm smiling. What the hell is this?

"Looks like the weight falls onto me, right dad?" she said out loud, voicing her thoughts. "Lies are inevitable in friendship, aren't they?"

XX

"I can't believe I did it, Annette; I just... I can't accept it! Look where it has led us!"

Sherry couldn't keep herself from listening. Of course, she had been taught that eavesdropping wasn't polite; in fact, it was something that was rude to do. But now, hearing her father's voice sound like he was on the edge, despaired and near a nervous breakdown, she couldn't stop listening. She wanted to know what was the reason behind William's uneasiness, she wanted to know; simply, know.

"I lied... I lied to him, Annette, and both Wesker and me are going to pay the price."

XX

"Would you have told him?" Sherry kept saying. "I heard the entire story, and it doesn't go away; it's a memory I can't get rid of. Every time I was with him, I understood what it was like to keep a lie as a secret amongst people you care for... but I want to tell him! He deserves to know, dad, especially when you went through what you went!"

XX

"Sherry! What are you doing there?!"

An eleven old Sherry backed away from the looming figures of her parents and even though Annette sounded angry, Sherry couldn't pay attention to her: instead, she kept focused on William, who was staring at her in disbelief. Wordless, she kept on looking at him, ignoring her mother scolding her. At last, he said,

"So you know, right?" The girl examined her father, whose gaze was dark and almost despaired, but also had traces of determination. He had always been a man with many quirks, after all.

Sherry nodded at last, being careful not to say anything that could make the situation worse. But it wasn't her who did, nor it was Annette, but William himself.

"You know how friendship is, right?" he said, crouching in front of Sherry. "It always has many lies, and this is one of that kind. I won't reveal the secret and if you somehow end up with him, you'll have to bear with the responsibility. If the time comes, tell him."

Sherry didn't understand the gravity of the situation she would put herself in, but nodded anyway. That was the only thing her father left as his legacy.

A lie.

XX

"Damn, if only you were here... C'mon, some kind of clue! Just that! A hint, a sign, an answer through something or someone, but please, I need something!"

Unable to stay standing, Sherry lowered herself down to her knees. William's lie had been, in her opinion, what had tarnished their reputation and name, but there had been no choice but to keep it. Sherry knew that Wesker had already learnt about his past, but not her father's connection to it. She wanted to tell him about it, but there was no way of telling what Wesker would do to her in case the lie saw the light.

"There's... there's something I can also thank Wesker for..." she reasoned, drying her eyes and standing up. "Spencer, I hope you're rotting in Hell for all you did to us."

xx

Sherry lazily opened her eyes as she felt everything coming back to normal -that is, if there had been something out of place. It took her some moments to register that she was resting on her leather chair behind her desk, and how she had gotten there slipped her mind in those moments. Using her legs could be one option, since what didn't take her long to realize was that she'd been there all along. So as to not give herself a headache, Sherry stood up from the seat with a slow movement, her eyes getting used to the dark once more as she searched around for nothing in particular.

Closing her eyes then and pinching the bridge of her nose, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"You didn't leave the door locked," Wesker said in the shadows, not stepping closer. Sherry felt around for the switch of the lamp on her desk, found it and allowed the room to be basked in the faint amber light of the lamp. Her gaze didn't take long to adjust to the light and she looked at Wesker, who was standing next to the door, arms folded across his chest.

"How long has it been since I disappeared?" asked Sherry, rubbing her eyes and shaking her head.

"Three hours." A short silence ensued, then, "Marco's here," he then told her, unruffled. Sherry closed her eyes again and sighed, for some stupid reason not giving the matter as much importance as she should. "We could handle him ourselves, but he's requested that you are present."

"Either way, I was going to be," said Sherry, shaking her head and looking at him. "I'm... I apologize for what happened before."

She wasn't surprised when he shook his head, but she was when he said, "We will have time for amends later. Come."

Did that meant there was no grudge? There was no way of knowing yet, but Sherry liked to believe so.

Without hesitating, remembering what she was there to do, Sherry fell in line behind Wesker and followed him out of the room, soon stepping past him as her resolution spiked to unbelievable levels. No matter what the circumstances, the handicaps, the failures, she would keep going; no matter what, she had always liked to say. She had not grown up as a determined person for simply nothing.

As she and Wesker neared the intersection of four halls, they noticed Chris and Jill standing with their backs to them and, on the opposite side, Marco, Vithar and Maria Greene. What caught Sherry's attention and set her nerves on fire was that David wasn't there; instead, he'd be above them or below them: it would be his choice. Thoughts of an atheist, of course, since she had never cared for God or gods to rule and meddle with her life.

"She finally decides to grace us with her presence," she heard Marco say thanks to the slight echo. Sherry frowned ever so slightly, remembering everything she had been taught to be and use in this kind of situations. Chris and Jill turned around, surprise and slight relief on her features, alarm and anxiety in his. Sherry paid attention to neither of them and stepped past the pair... alone, since she knew Wesker would stay in the sidelines; sometimes, he wasn't a man of much action. Moreover, this was her task and hers alone.

"I'm sorry for being so late, but I was thinking about how to make you get out of here with all the prices paid and no problems whatsoever," she replied, leaving her hands in her jeans' pockets and standing slightly on profile. "Where is she?" she then asked, her tone more harsh.

Marco flashed her a smile, his grey eyes gleaming with amusement behind his glasses. "Straight to the point, eh? She's at six."

"Then stand aside and let me see her. I'm more quick-witted than you think," Sherry demanded, adding that last remark with a snarky tone.

"Well, I kept my part of the bargain, and now it's time I request you keep yours."

"The bargain was one-sided, if I'm not mistaken," she intervened quickly, a knot of trepidation clenching in her stomach. Marco shook his head, stepping aside.

"That's what you thought, if I'm not mistaken," he said as a jester. Suddenly, his tone changed; Sherry had never heard him speak like that before, not without that singsong voice of his. "You will keep your part of the bargain, whether you like it or not and in fact, whether you know about it or not. Eventually though, not now. Well then, let me move aside, and I hope you enjoy the sight."

It all seemed to go in slow motion then: Marco stepped aside and Claire was in view. Sherry couldn't stifle the gasp that escaped her lips, staring wide-eyed at her long-time friend. Vithar was holding her unconscious with a long knife at her neck which had already grazed her skin, drawing blood from the wound as he slid it down her skin slowly. She seemed weak and thrashed, like she'd been beaten up... and the smears of blood at her lips and chin, Sherry knew, were only the beginning of it.

"Vithar, please," Marco said, and the boy took the knife away, seemingly admiring the blood with undying interest. Marco fixed his gaze not upon Sherry, but upon Chris, and addressed him. "Through you, no matter directly or indirectly, I lost a sister, my only sister. Since you also have one and have never seen her like this, I thought this could be the first time. You'd better be grateful that I didn't kill her like you did with mine, although that's not entirely your fault, is it?"

"I'm surprised you say that, Marco, because you can't believe how explicitly Excella confessed her hatred towards you," Wesker intervened, faking sympathy. Marco's eyes widened: Wesker had hit quite the painful nerve.

"You're lying. I don't believe you at all!" he shot back, tinges of anger in his tone. "I will believe what I want, before you come up with a fitting remark."

"Please, do so." Sherry glared at him, her eyes narrowed, and Marco imitated her gesture, his lip curving up in derision. "I have some questions myself, Marco," Sherry then intervened before she forgot. "About your plans. You've been twisting everything on your favor. And now, it's time you tell us why you went to these lengths to get whatever you were looking for."

"Oh, you mean everything? Every last single detail?" Marco questioned, rhetorical. "I guess it won't hurt to tell you since everything has been carried out now. What is it that you want to know?"

"David said that all would go as he had told me unless you made a change of plans. What's that change of plans?"

"There's been a change of plans in everything, Sherry: every single word of mine was a lie. Not exactly a lie per se, but I carried out my plans in a very different way. I didn't want to kill your partners over there, no; it would've senseless," Marco explained, not smiling.

"Then it was you who shut the facility down!" exclaimed Sherry, staring at him wide-eyed.

"It was me, yes, even though I told David I'd do otherwise," said the Gionne, pushing up his glasses. "In fact, I knew you both were in cahoots; I just never said it out loud. I wanted to keep the game going as it was and... cheat in the sidelines. Up until now, I've done all I've done because of one person and him only."

"That's why you wanted me, right?" asked Chris from behind, his tone between defiant and hesitant. Sherry turned around to look at him and found Chris taking some steps forward. "This was just a goddamned test to see how I turned out to be?!"

"It was. At first though, I had planned using your sister for what I had in mind. Then, I got the chance to keep track of you," said Marco, seemingly calm, but Sherry could tell he was starting to get unnerved with just a glance. "Claire turned out to be of no use afterwards."

"And I beat her up for fun!" Vithar piped up, the boy's sapphire eyes gleaming with malice as a devilish grin spread across his features. "Freya wasn't with me, and I don't know where... where she is yet, but I... I had fun with your sis. Although... although unconscious, she kept twitching every time I hit her."

"Shut up!!" Chris bellowed.

It was then when Vithar's face changed into a mask of horror, a loud gasp escaping his pale lips. The same happened with Maria, who stared behind Sherry with her eyes wide.

"Nu vă fie teamă, Vithar," Marco said, his voice soft but authoritative. Sherry swivelled around and saw the reason behind Vithar's sudden change in demeanour: Chris' eyes colour had changed; now, instead of golden, they were slowly turning red. Sherry knew it was only a matter of time till the worst happened.

"Dar-dar maestru, el este-!" Vithar started to protest, but Marco interrupted him with a snap of his fingers.

"Don't take me as a pacifist, but I think it's time we leave."

"Just like that?" Sherry asked, frowning at him. Marco nodded, silent.

"I have no more business with you here, at least not until further notice," he replied, dropping a hint Sherry caught in the moment. He then stepped back, yanked with strength at Claire's collar and threw her unconscious form in Sherry's direction. Claire landed at her feet and Sherry knelt beside her, holding her in her arms as Chris approached and also knelt down next to them.

"You're free to take Claire; I've used this few minutes quite well. This wasn't going to end up playing entirely on your favour, that's for certain."

"We'll be ready for whatever business we have to do in the future."

As Marco turned around, he shared one last gaze with Sherry, one that made her understand what was going through the man's mind. She didn't pity him, but she was well aware of how he was feeling. Vithar and Greene soon followed behind him, but Vithar didn't leave before saying,

"I killed David myself."

"Vithar, we're done here. Save those things for another moment," said the Gionne without stopping or even turning around. Vithar flashed one last grin at Sherry before falling in line behind Marco, and she turned her attention to Claire. Cuts and bruises were present on her features, smears of blood everywhere, and the gash at her neck didn't stop bleeding. Sherry was hypnotized somehow by the sight of the blood: she had seen it many times in her life, and almost rivers of it if she thought back to Raccoon City, but those smears across her friend's face were simply a horrible sight. Sherry felt for a pulse and sighed in relief.

"Thankfully, she's just unconscious, but she hasn't got a very stable beating. We should tend to her right now," she said, assessing Claire's state quickly. After a few seconds of silence, Chris nodded and lifted Claire up in his arms, holding her close against his chest, and at last said,

"You take care of her for now; scares aren't good right after waking up."

He didn't smile whilst saying that. Sherry could see raw emotion in his eyes: sorrow, pain, grief, relief, awe and trepidation, all mixed into one. Chris turned around and started walking towards their companions while she didn't move for a few seconds; then, she accompanied him. Whilst he exchanged some words with Jill, Sherry kept her gaze upon his, examining it, partly admiring and partly fearing the darkness in his eyes. She knew how he was feeling.

Sherry knew his heart had sunk.

A/N: Okay, we're all getting the bad vibes here. You'll see what happens in the next one: will Chris and Claire have their reunion or will it just be cold-hearted on his side? And what's up with Marco, not wanting to do business yet? Chris will get the idea why, so you shall see too.