Regeneration

Chapter 6: Holiday Spirit

Heavily edited chapter —Chris

Piers Nivans

While the doctors worked on me, I ran through my head everything that had happened yesterday. Chris and I had done a lot, said a lot...I couldn't recall the last time I'd had so much fun. While they were preparing the next antimutagen shot, I wondered how I really felt about Chris. Over the course of last night, I had already thought it over to hell and back, and still I wasn't much farther than I had been to begin with. However, there were definitely signs I was just not able to ignore:

I had had a dream, involving him and I in a...somewhat erotic way, things had gone downhill since. That one was the most uncomfortable to think about. Second, all of yesterday's talk had really awoken me to just how close Chris and I were. I felt stupid for not seeing it before, even if it had just been a sense of admiration and friendship before now. We were long since best friends, but things didn't seem to stop there. The last thing I was worried about was something I knew my real feelings might hinge on. It was the memory of the end of our mission involving Carla Radames, when I had infected myself to stay mobile. When Chris and I had finally met up again, he had been assuring and caring, as was his right, but...I couldn't shake the way he had put his arm around my head, and held me closer than normal. I had been injured at that time, so of course I hadn't noticed it in any peculiar way. But now that I looked back on it, it just seemed closer than a Captain and his marksman should be. And then...

And then when I said goodbye. I remember pushing Chris into the shuttle, and locking it with me on the outside. I had felt like, actually tried to cry. But the tears hadn't come, thanks to the cataract. I had watched as Chris beat against the glass, and when I pressed the button that would send him off. I had stared straight into that pod, right into his own bloodshot eyes. I had watched as the shuttle was deployed, and had flown backwards, away from me. I had expected to die, or succumb to the virus's effects soon after. I hadn't been able to face the idea of losing my sanity and attacking him. Of not being me anymore...

And then, it wasn't that I had seen anything special between us that the best of friends couldn't see, it was just how I myself had felt when that shuttle deployed...it was hard to work out how I had felt. I hadn't been able to identify the feeling then, and I couldn't now. I might never be able to. I just didn't understand how a person could pay a psychologist, tell them all of their personal feelings and confusion about a person, and then the shrink just tells them that they either love the person or don't, or any of the other bullshit that they feed you, because they clearly cannot experience the same thing, no matter what kind of experiences they themselves have had.

A needle slipped into my grey, leathery arm now and they injected me with another antimutagen agent. At this point, I had decided on something that I thought was fair to anything my brain could give me at this point: I did love Chris Redfield-as a friend. I had spent some time working out in my head what the meaning of platonic love was. And I think what I was feeling now definitely supported it. On the other hand, I still didn't know whether those feelings went deeper or not, into actual, romantic love. And it was too hard to figure out right now anyway.

"Okay, Mr. Nivans, this is it, you have to tell us now whether you want to keep your aquatic and bioelectric properties. There are three possible serums ready for production, and if you want them, we can make them."

I had my answer decided by now. "Thank you, but that won't be necessary."

The doctor sighed and motioned for the lady at the table to throw away whatever it was he was pointing at. "Well, if you're sure. I hope you've thought hard about this."

"I have." I assured him. "Very well then. It really is quite amazing, what this antimutagen's done for you, Mr. Nivans. In only a few weeks, you've reached a state we thought it would take you two months to get to." I felt a little surge of pride in my metabolism, though the Anti-C was really to credit. "Have you been starting to exercise a bit more?"

"Yeah." I said. "And like you guys said, I was feeling tired more often than usual."

"Well, hopefully this next dose will see your body's energy usage return to a mostly normal, proportionate level." he said, slipping one more needle into my shoulder. I winced as I felt the pain return and flow down my arm and over my body, but less so than before. "Thanks doctor."

"You're very welcome." he said, making scribbles on his clipboard. "You're clear to go for today."

I got up, put on my shirt and walked out of the infirmary lab. After that, I settled on going to decorate my quarters, after I took some time to think. I started walking around headquarters, thoughts flowing through my head. While I walked, I thought of the things he'd said yesterday.

"You being healthy again is my Christmas present."

"You little shit! Come here!"

"I guess you'll just have to surprise me."

Well, I would rather think of more traditional gifts to get him than anything I could give that might surprise him. But...dammit, what would he like? If he would've just told me what he wanted...I guess I would really have to wow him. It wasn't enough for him to just get a present and like it, it wouldn't have been enough for anyone to—i put serious thought into my Christmas gifts, damn straight.

I walked up into my rooms. I didn't have anything to decorate with. I grabbed my wallet and walked right back out. And then I walked all the way down to the lobby. I thought about asking the guy at the reception table what he thought about decorating, but then realized since Chris and I had talked about it yesterday, it was pretty much automatically guaranteed. After all, Chris was the founder of the entire B.S.A.A., along with Jill Valentine. If he said I could, well, I could.

So I walked down the street, enjoying the air again, and deciding to jog it. Sure, people stared, but I didn't care any more than I had last time. I walked into WalMart, realizing with a grin that I was a war veteran—special discounts. I walked through the store, grabbing a handcart and exploring.

Ashley Graham

Virginia, A. Graham Estate

I tied my hair up into a ponytail and stuck a piece of holly onto the knot, then put on a skull cap and my red jacket. Gotta get into the spirit for Christmas. I walked around the house I had had for the past five years. Looking out the window, I saw the personal agents stationed at the gate, dutifully. I walked out onto the grounds and motioned for them to switch shifts and head inside. "I'll be back in about an hour. If I'm gone more than three hours, get worried." I said. The guards nodded.

With that, I texted my dad that I was going out for a walk and would be back safe at home soon enough. I walked out past the gates, thought about getting into my green SUV, then decided against it. I took a right down the sidewalk. After about a mile or two, I was in the suburbs. I continued walking around, thankful it was daylight and there were tons of people out in the open—rapists, thieves, and murderers tend to get bolder during the holiday season. I continued walking, not really aiming for anywhere in particular, just intending to look at whatever Christmas decorations were up. I wasn't disappointed either, I saw everything from Christmas Trees to light-up angels to gigantic snowmen. On a whim, I headed upstreet, where the festivity was most plentiful. It was nice to see some spirit in this place, with no one trying to eat someone else, or having their head burst open and a giant insect parasite come crawling out. Eventually, I decided to take the street where people were having a cookout. It was odd to see people grilling things in the winter. We didn't get snow down here in Virgina. It was sad, I had always wanted to see snow, but it hadn't been right weather-wise for the four years me and my family had stayed at the White House. Well, I had the money, so maybe I would go up to another state this Christmas and get to experience it sometime. After a few minutes of thinking about this, I simply dusted off a bench and sat down on it, wondering if I was actually planning on doing anything with my time. I don't usually take walks like this just for the fun of it.

I stared around me at the people walking up and down the street again. That's funny, I thought I could see...but no, it was just someone familiar. Unless...

"Leon?" I called out.

It was Leon! The man had long, dirty blonde hair and a dark brown jacket on. He turned around, looking for the source of the sound. After a few seconds, during which he looked right through me, he turned back around and continued walking. Well...that was not going to fly. I had an idea.

"LEON! HELP!" I cried out, just loud enough for him to hear me. He froze, then spun around, looking right at me with a look of surprise on his face. I laughed, then nodded and waved. "...Ashley? Ashley Graham?" he called.

"Yeah!" I said, walking over to him. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I live just down the street from here." I explained. "Are you on free time?"

"Well, uh, sort of. I don't have any assignments right now, as it is." he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You look...different." he said.

"That happens to people within about nine years." I said, laughing. "So do you." I said. Immediately, Leon raised a hand to his face. "I didn't mean older. Why, is that what you meant towards me?" I asked innocently. He hesitated. "Well, yeah, but..."

"But I sound just like I did all those years ago."

"Yeah." he agreed. "So what were you out here for?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I was just walking around, looking at the Christmas lights. You?"

"Pretty much the same." he said. "So..."

"I hope your work is going well?" I asked. "Yeah, pretty much. After China, well...ouch. I haven't been on a mission like that since Los Illuminados."

"I bet not." I said.

"So do you work? Or are you covered by the government?"

"All my expenses are seen after by government, seeing as I was kidnapped by zombie people back in 2004, but yeah, I work. I do a little accounting on the side, just to get out some." I said.

"Good to hear."

"Yep. Did you have to get back to something, or...?" I prompted. I didn't want to get in Leon's way.

"Actually, I did need to meet up and work through some files with Hunnigan..." he said, looking somber. "Of course. I won't keep you, you go ahead." I offered.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. It was nice seeing you again, Leon." I said.

"You too Ashley...er, Ms. Graham."

I giggled. "Just Ashley will do. Ciao."

"Bye." and then he walked off. I stared at his back for a while, then walked back to my house for something warm to whip up. I nodded again to the guards, motioning a shift switch, and walked into the dining room to make myself. It had been a nice surprise to see Leon Scott Kennedy like that. I felt a little bit lighter. Maybe it would happen again sometime.

Chris Redfield

I looked up to see Piers walking past with armfuls of red, white, and green loaded on him. "Spend a lot, huh?" He shrugged, or tried to, as his arms were full. "I guess."

"Anything in there for me?" I prompted. He just laughed. "Nice try, but no, not yet. If you don't believe me, you're more than welcome to come and deck the halls with me."

I smiled. "Sure. Don't tell me you actually bought lights?" I joked. "Yeah, I did, the bioelectric thingy will be leaving me soon." he said, a few sparks drifting lazily from his arm as he said it. "You sure?" I asked. "Yeah, another week or two, and I'll be back to normal, maybe a little more work on the arm."

"Nice!" I crowed. "You sure made short work of that virus."

"Still am. The arm will take about a month to heal completely before the virus is gone for good. Just in time for December." he said. "Now isn't that a happy coincidence?" I said. "I suppose it is. Come on over and help me with these." he said. I got up and reached over, hefting a few of the boxes out of his hands. Then we walked over to his quarters, and just started decorating. Piers had bought a very large number of lights, actually, along with a big white tree and several wreaths, tablemats, pretty much everything you could use to make a place Christmas-ey.

"You really went all out with this stuff." I admired when we finished putting up the tree in his living room. "Yeah, well...just getting into the spirit." he said, laughing. We finished it up, then started on the lights. There were so many lights. "So have you talked to Jill lately?" he said all of a sudden. It was a very sudden, left-field kind of question to ask. "Not a lot, no." I said, hanging tinsel on the chairs.

"You and her get along well, though, right?"

"I guess. She's been with me for a long time."

"I don't supposed you two are a, uh, an item?" he asked.

"What? No, why did you think that?" I responded, turning around to face him. He, on the other hand, was facing the wall, hanging up blue candles. "Well, most people seem to think you are." he said.

"They...they do, huh?" I asked, thinking. It was true Jill and I were very close...

"Yeah. I was sure of it when I first got into the B.S.A.A., and so was everyone else. You sure you aren't with her?"

"Well..."

"What?" he asked, turning around to me.

I decided to be honest. "I think Jill wants us to be-well, wanted us to be, but...she's always seemed like more of a second sister to me." I explained. "

"That's cool." Piers said after a few seconds. "I'm sorry, is it complicated?"

Complicated didn't do it justice. Back in 2009, Jill had helped manufacture and spread the Uroboros deathday virus under brainwashing by Albert Wesker, and attacked me and my partner. All was forgiven, of course, it hadn't been her fault, and her emotional-and physical-scarring was lasting. She and I hadn't been as close as we had for some time after that, though in the course of three years you could say things were long since back to normal. It had driven any thoughts of a relationship out of my mind-out of hers too, I sometimes think.

"Not most of the time, no. But...it's not something I like to talk about."

"Right, my bad." Piers said apologetically. We continued hanging up decorations and generally making Piers' living space cozy for a while in silence. "I'm sorry if I was prying, Chris." Piers said.

"It's okay. Jill and I are great friends, and always will be. Same with you and me." I said, but I felt even more awkward after saying it. It was like I always screwed up when I tried to say nice things. Luckily, Piers didn't seem to notice.

In time, we finished the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, and everything we could possible improve. When the angel was finally on top of the Christmas tree, Piers flopped down on his couch. "Thanks for the help."

"Anytime, bud."

"Got any place to go?" he said.

"Not really, why?"

Piers smiled and offered the seat next to him. "I've got some movies, ya know, if you feel like watching any." he said. I hesitated a little. The last time I remembered doing that was with Claire and my family. Piers was being nice though, so I said, "Sure. Any classics?"

"I'm sure I can find some. If not, the remote's all yours."

"Thanks." I had to admit, even though I missed my family, especially Claire, it was nice to have someone to do this with. I resolved not to get overly emotional when I dug out an old classic Christmas film. I slid it into the DVD player and flopped down next to Piers, who then jumped back up for snacks. When he got back, I dipped a graham cracker in my cocoa gratefully. This was actually a lot like it used to be. We turned off the lights and leaned back as the film came on.

Piers really was a great friend.

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