Chapter 18

-The Cost of Life-

It all happened so fast. One moment everyone was standing around trying to grasp that Sheva had been working for Umbrella but now apparently was going to be one of the good guys, and the next moment Danko was walking quickly over to Sheva and pulling his sidearm out of his jacket. Before anyone even had a chance to do anything, Danko fired his weapon twice at her stomach when the young woman turned around. Sheva didn't seem to understand what happened to her but she fell soon after the shots were fired. When Chris started to rush to her aide, Danko had simply pointed his weapon at the fallen woman and shot her in the head so that there would be no saving her. All of them stared at Danko in horror but it turned to disquieting realization when a second Danko began yelling in outrage at his imposter standing over Sheva's body.

"That's not me! You bastard!" Danko cursed at his identical person.

The Danko look-alike standing by Sheva smiled. "You should be thanking me. I killed your traitor."

Chris was the first to call the look-alike out. "Sin! You'll pay for her death!"

Danko, or rather, Sin, chuckled. "I've given you a reason to kill me, Christopher. Now we can have our fight."

Before their eyes, he began to change, shifting into a handsome younger man. He had shaggy silver hair that fell slightly over his eyes that appeared an icy blue color. He was muscular, and wore black leather pants, boots, a black shirt with the hood down, a long red coat that fell just past the knees with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, black leather wrist guards, and fingerless black gloves. After he was finished transforming, he grinned at them. Though his lips were openly twisted up in a smile, the smile failed to reach his eyes, exposing how false it really was.

"It was so disappointing when all of you managed to survive my precious Alexia illusion. She was so powerful and you just had to snuff her out like wind to a flame. Killing Sheva myself has made me feel a bit better I'll admit." Sin told them. "But killing you will be even better."

Sin addressed Chris when he said the last part and his fake smile faded. Chris stared back at him, angry at Sheva's death and how Sin didn't even care that she was dead.

"Oh and to inform you, in this form I'm known as Dante." Sin educated them. "Hm..this place doesn't seem quite fitting for our fight. How about the place that truly started it all for you, Christopher?"

The African flatlands were now fading, along with the very air around them. Soon they found themselves standing on a flat dirt covered hill of some kind, and directly to the group's left was a huge drop as the hill abruptly ended. The sky was a light blue color and the sun appeared to be just beginning to rise, compared to when they had been in Africa where the sun had been setting. Sin, or rather, Dante, was still standing in front of them and he waved a hand vaguely behind him.

"Remember this place, Christopher? Well..technically you weren't there when it happened. Perhaps your beloved sister recalls her moments here. Well, Claire?" Dante asked eagerly.

Chris's sister frowned and stepped closer to Dante so she could see where he had gestured. It didn't take long for her to be flooded with memories at the sight. Suddenly a loud explosion echoed throughout the area where they stood and an enormous mushroom cloud expanded from beyond the hill.

"Raccoon City!" Claire exclaimed with barely masked horror.

"Very good." Dante said to her. "An interesting place for your brother to meet his end."

"Don't you touch him!" Claire cried out.

Dante's response was to lift her off her feet by her chin before he tossed her away. She hit the ground and her head smacked into the hard dirt surface but she seemed all right as she sat up. Chris made a movement to rush to where Claire fell but Dante speaking his name caused him to stay where he was.

"Christopher, this is for you." Dante said, tossing a sword at Chris's feet.

Chris stared at what he recognized to be a katana blade, then returned his gaze to Dante. "You can't be serious."

Dante ignored Chris and lifted his eyes to the blue sky. "The sky should be in mourning. So many have died by my hands today. So many of your friends..."

Trailing off as he watched Chris, Dante lifted a hand to the sky without moving his eyes off of his opponent. Dark clouds suddenly appeared in the sky and they moved rapidly to cover the clear blue until everything was covered in murky gray clouds. The group stared, bewildered, at what Dante could do with the wave of a hand.

"Much more suitable. Now the skies mourn Jill's death, Christopher." Dante said, his voice taunting.

He clenched his teeth together, stifling his desire to attack the other. It seemed Dante wasn't finished though and he continued his torment of the BSAA soldier.

"Oh yes, and your new partner Sheva. She should be mourned too." Dante gave Chris a look of mock scolding. "It must have been painful to have someone you trusted turn on you like that. A person deceiving their partner..is the ultimate betrayal."

"Don't talk about her like that. She was a good person and you murdered her in cold blood," he accused.

"So honorable of you, Christopher. Defending her to the very last. But there's no sense in defending her any more now that she's dead, so don't even bother. Besides, had she lived, she would merely live long enough to disappoint you again. You humans are so terribly flawed creatures. Constant bickering, greed, vanity... Of course I revel in it. If you weaklings weren't so pathetically predictable then I wouldn't be standing here at this moment, stronger than ever. So come on, Christopher. Pick up your sword and fight me."

Chris made no move to obey Dante and the silver haired man sneered. "Every moment you delay our fight, one of your friends will pay the price."

As if to prove his threat, he swept a hand in Wesker's direction and the tyrant made a gurgled gasp of pain. Wesker clutched a knife that had stabbed his throat as blood poured from his mouth. Horrified, Eva ran to her father as he sank to his knees. Angrily, Chris turned away from them to face Dante.

"Dante!" he yelled at the evil man. "Leave them alone!"

"Then pick up your sword. I won't even use mine." Dante offered with a smile.

For the first time Chris noticed the other man had a sword identical to his, sheathed at his waist. Giving the man his relentless glare, he stooped down and picked up the sword. He had some experience with a sword as he had taken some lessons long ago in the past, but that was a lifetime ago, and Chris was much better with a gun. He was an excellent marksman and Chris figured Dante probably knew it and was exploiting something he wasn't so good at. Checking on Wesker he saw the man's wound seemed to be healing but he didn't look pleased that he had been so rudely attacked and he watched Dante with dangerous eyes.

Furious at all this man had cost him, Chris leveled his sword at his opponent just as something sharp pierced his chest. The BSAA soldier swooned on his feet suddenly feeling light headed, and he dropped to one knee. His mind became confused and his vision blurry. After a moment it cleared up a bit and he slowly lowered his eyes to his chest. A dart of some kind protruded from his upper right chest and Chris was guessing it had been laced with some kind of drug because he felt very disoriented now.

"Cheap shot!" Peter shouted at Dante in anger.

From his kneeling position, Chris ripped the dart, glistening with his blood out and tossed it to the ground. Standing, he glared at Dante furiously for his unfair attack. The other man merely stared back at Chris, emotionless.

"Poor reflexes," was all Dante said before running towards Chris to attack.

He blinked rapidly, staring blankly as his opponent came nearer. It felt like a strobe light was blinking all around him so he was having trouble recognizing precisely how close Dante actually was to him. Knowing he had to attack soon, he made his prediction and swept his blade horizontally in front of him towards the right. Chris felt his throat constrict when he felt his sword pass through nothing but air. Dante had still been far out of his reach when he had swept his blade across and he felt the other man's fist as it smashed the underside of his chin. His head snapped back at the hard blow and blood dripped from his mouth. Faltering backwards, Chris threw his head forward again. He wiped the dripping red liquid away with the back of his hand and charged at Dante in a dazed but determined state. He swept his sword in front of him again but Dante stepped to the right so it missed.

This pattern continued for a while, with Chris swinging his sword randomly to try and land a hit. But his blue-eyed opponent dodged his attacks with ease and seemed to be enjoying himself. Dante blocked Chris's next attack with his leather wrist guard and then proceeded to bring his leg up, connecting his knee with the side of the agent's head. This caused him to spin around in midair several times before he landed on the hard ground face first.

He pulled himself to his feet and Dante appeared beside him. The silver haired man lifted him up by the back of the neck and threw a fist into his stomach. Chris gasped sharply as the air left his lungs and he doubled over to clutch his stomach. Dante intertwined his fingers to make one big fist and brought them down on Chris's back. Chris dropped to his knees and stood quickly only to find a hand shove into his face, pushing him away. He stumbled but propelled himself forward to attack Dante. The man waited for him to get within range and then slammed a fist into his face before smashing a boot into his opponent's chest. The kick was so powerful it sent the BSAA agent flying backwards until his body connected with a rather large boulder that sat on the hill near the rest of the group.

Claire winced for the pain it must have caused her brother when his head connected with the rock along with the rest of his body. She wanted desperately to help Chris out but a quick glance at Wesker still resting on the ground as he waited for his body to heal from Dante's attack, told her it wouldn't be very smart to try anything. She would only get herself killed and then she wouldn't be a help to anyone. Eva was kneeling by her father with a hand placed on top of his, but her attention was not on him. She was watching the fight and growing increasingly worried about Chris's well-being as the battle went on. Eva was watching him now as he dragged himself to his feet with a palm covering his right eye. Blood could be seen trailing from the eye and the crimson liquid ran from his right ear as well. He was breathing heavily and his chest rose and fell visibly with each breath. He was exhausted and it was easy to see it. Dante smiled. He seemed to feel his victory was assured. His smile widened when Chris started to make his way towards him.

"Why don't you give up, Christopher? Humans so love to give up, so why don't you? What keeps you fighting?" Dante asked him, truly curious.

Chris let his hand slide away from his right eye and they could see it was swollen shut. Blood had started dripping from the corner of his mouth again but this time he made no move to brush it away. He stared at Dante with his one usable eye, the look of defiance still strong.

"I have a duty to stop you and people like you who hurt innocents. So the BSAA is a cover for Umbrella, fine. But that doesn't change the numerous missions I completed as an agent, to stop evil corporations like Umbrella. And now that I know Umbrella's still out there, I'm going to find them and take them down once and for all. First I'm going to finish you and send you back to hell where you belong." Chris told him purposefully.

Dante scoffed and took a knife out from his jacket. He flipped it casually as he regarded the other man with distaste.

"Are you even aware of who you fight for? You fight to stop those that sin by protecting sinners. Don't you see? Everybody lies, cheats, steals... People are selfish and greedy. They care nothing for the sacrifices you make and would throw you to the wolves if it would benefit them in any way. You fight to save sinners who don't deserve to live."

"No. There are good people out there. Everyone makes mistakes but that doesn't mean they should have to suffer or die. It's the evil ones who don't value human lives that deserve justice and I'm going to give it to them." Chris said with determination.

"Foolishly stubborn to the end I see. Oh well, I don't need you to understand how the world truly is. I just need you to die."

As soon as those words were said, Dante ran towards Chris with the knife and the brunette did the same but with his sword. The effects of the drug seemed to have worn off because Chris's run was more balanced, his remaining good eye locked on Dante. Chris swung but Dante was now behind him and he felt the knife crisscross against his back several times. The BSAA agent screamed in agony and then a boot connected with his side, sending him sprawling to the ground. His back felt like it was on fire and blood ran into his one functional eye from a new gash above his right eyebrow. Heavily injured with his back bloodied by the numerous slash wounds, Chris struggled to stand despite his tormented body.

The group looked on in dread as it was easy to see who was winning this battle. The drugs that had plagued Chris's body from the start of the fight had sealed his doom. Wesker's neck was healed and even though his stomach wound still bothered him, he stood when Dante injured Chris badly. Eva was already on her feet beside Wesker, watching in muted horror as the BSAA soldier and Dante raced to attack one another yet again.

Chris gave a cry of anger as he charged at the heartless being opposite of him, closing his one good eye as he let pure adrenaline fuel him so he could attack. Raising the sword above his head, he swept it in a downward arc. He felt the blade sink deep into flesh and the wet of blood splashing onto his face. He brought the weapon back down to his side and heard Dante's gasp of surprise because the blade had hit its mark. Slowly Chris opened his eye and lifted his head, thinking his enemy was surprised he had lost. Instead it was Chris's turn to look shocked. Eva had stepped between the two men to prevent Dante's knife from hurting him. Doing this had caused her to step directly in the path of Chris's blind attack and his sword had sunk deep into her as well as Dante's shoulder.

The next few moments seemed to pass in slow motion for Chris and the others. Eva's eyes bulged in surprised pain at the sword that had just cut through nearly the entire right side of her body. Her fingers were still clasped around the blade of Dante's knife and she felt frozen in time. Chris's sword had also dealt a deadly blow to his intended target and Dante stood staring at Eva in paralyzed shock as blood gushed from his deep wound. His hand slipped from the knife as he started to fall and he gasped out his last words to Eva.

"I don't...understand...humans..." Dante gasped before he fell dead, his eyes staring blankly at the darkened sky above.

As soon as Dante fell, Eva followed after. Gripping the knife's blade she started to fall backwards, her face still displaying surprise. Chris immediately released his grip on the sword and caught Eva in his arms. The motion of falling seemed to have awakened Eva from her daze and the green-eyed girl lifted her eyes to stare happily into Chris's brown one. Chris could feel the very life draining out of the young girl and tears threatened to emerge but he forced them back. He had to be strong for her.

The sky around them was clearing up, apparently since Dante was now dead. But Chris almost felt like the sky should have stayed dark. The darkened sky would have been appropriate as he held the dying girl. Chris felt grief flood through him. Why did these things happen to him? Why did the people he care about always have to die? He was so tired of everything going wrong in his life. Was he cursed or something? So that everyone around him would die? Though Eva was fading quickly, her eyes shone with happiness as she stared up at him and Chris couldn't understand how she could be happy when her life was ending.

"Chris..." Eva said to him weakly.

Her lips turned upwards in a strained smile. "I'm grateful...to be able to help you..."

With those words said, she continued to stare up at him. The smile began to fade from her face and her eyes became dull. They were empty eyes now, no longer seeing Chris and no longer seeing anything. Staring sadly down at the stilled girl, Chris let the tears come.

His sister was the one who finally convinced Chris to release Eva's body from his tight embrace. He stood and let his sister lead him away from the corpse and over to the others. Wesker moved past them to go to where his daughter laid and Chris felt guilty. He had forgotten Wesker was her father. He could imagine how much pain the man must be in to see his own daughter get killed. Before all of this had happened, he wouldn't have thought Wesker even capable of loving anyone. But Chris had seen how he'd behaved around Eva and knew that Wesker was still able to love because it was obvious how much he loved his daughter.

Wesker hadn't even made it over to Eva's body when he froze in place.

Chris frowned at Wesker. "What is it?"

"Ugh, death is not fun." Eva said with a loud groan as she sat upright.