Chapter 19

-What Doesn't Kill Us...-

The disbelief was palpable among their group. Chris shifted his eyes to the spot where Eva was now getting to her feet. Her black shirt was soaked in blood and the girl fingered the sticky substance with distaste.

"Time for new clothes it seems," she said.

She seemed to be trying to alleviate the heaviness of the group's uniformed confusion and shock and when she saw it hadn't worked, she tried a different tactic.

"When I died, there was darkness," she told everyone earnestly. "But then I just woke up and I was lying on the ground, completely healed. Well...not completely."

Eva glanced at her still very much injured left arm which had fallen out of the sling and now hung limply at her side. An afterthought occurring to her, Eva bent down and lifted her pant leg. Her scar she had received as a child was still there. Looking at her father, she appeared to be more curious than anything else.

"I'm to assume this is the R-Virus taking effect, right? It's probably important to remember it only heals the wound that killed me and not any of my other injuries," she noted calmly.

Chris shook his head, incredulously. Eva had just died and come back to life and yet she was more interested in the scientific aspect of it. She really was Wesker's kid. Sneaking a peek at the blonde tyrant, Chris could practically see the gears shifting in Wesker's mind as he studied his daughter.

"But I wonder what else it might have done. You showed no symptoms of having the virus until your death. Perhaps this R-Virus is similar to mine as both viruses only took effect after the host's death. You may begin to show other symptoms so we must keep you under close observation." Wesker deduced, thoughtfully.

Eva rolled her eyes. "Well if you keep your promise than we won't have a problem, now will we?"

Before Wesker could reply, Peter gave his thoughts on the situation. "The one person in the group who can come back to life just happens to be the one Sin kills. Lucky."

Eva didn't seem to agree. "It still hurt like hell so I'm not really looking for a repeat performance any time soon."

"Sylar and I can come back to life too you know. So not really all that lucky." Claire Bennet pointed out. "Eva was really brave is what it is. She single-handedly saved Chris's life."

Eva shrugged but the smile growing on her lips gave her true feelings away. "Yeah, I guess," she conceded.

"Don't be modest." Chris said, giving her an appreciative smile. "You're a hero, Eva."

She blushed and avoided Chris's gaze while Chris's sister looked her brother up and down. "You look like crap."

"Gee, thanks. Always nice to hear." Chris replied sarcastically but he didn't seem all that upset.

In fact they all looked pretty relieved that it was over. For good this time. Sin or Dante, whatever he was to be called, was finally dead so they could relax and go home.

"Still pretty lucky." Peter mentioned again.

Chris frowned at him. "Yeah, I suppose it was."

Peter stared at Eva, his look rather hostile. She seemed taken aback by such a gaze from him but he didn't appear to care that she was bothered by it. Walking over to Chris, he took in the BSAA agent's disheveled appearance.

"Sin really did a number on you." Peter commented, his gaze resting on his swollen shut right eye.

"Yeah, Dante did. But I killed him so the rest doesn't matter. These wounds will heal so it's no big deal. Are you okay, Peter?" Chris asked with concern slipping into his voice.

Peter appeared not to notice. "Yes, those wounds will heal. But can you survive this?"

Chris startled when Peter snatched the gun from his thigh holster and pointed it at his chest. Failing to prevent Peter from taking his gun, Chris stared at the younger Petrelli in confusion and surprise.

"You know, you really should know your friends better, Christopher."

The way his name rolled off of Peter's tongue caused chills to run down the back of his neck. The BSAA soldier knew who this was now but he couldn't bring himself to believe it.

"Peter...?" he hesitantly asked.

A sneer twisted the younger man's face. "Not Peter."

He fired two bullets point blank into Chris's chest and then Peter was tackled to the ground. Bennet and Nathan were holding Peter to the ground and trying to get the gun away from him. Meanwhile Chris stood there in utter shock. He stared blankly in front of him, not really seeing anything. His face contorted in pain and choked sounds of disbelief escaped his throat. He stumbled backwards, unable to stand any more and the group realized he was going to fall over the side of the hill. A few of them ran to grab him, Eva in the lead, but Chris toppled over the edge before they could reach him. Eva was ready to jump off the ledge to try and get him but then a black figure blurred past her.

Wesker dove down the side of the hill after Chris, who was falling rapidly. He placed his arms tightly to his side and kept his body straight so he would plummet faster. When he reached Chris, he grabbed the BSAA agent's arm and then quickly latched on to the side of the cliff. Shifting Chris so that he was carrying him more firmly in his arms, Wesker literally ran up the side of the hill with ease. When Wesker reached the top, he carried Chris away from the edge and placed him on the ground. Chris was still conscious but his breathing was labored and his throat emitted choking noises as blood gathered there. The tyrant supported Chris's head and shoulders upright so he could breathe easier as Mohinder raced over to them. The rest of the group gathered around them as well and Eva knelt on Chris's other side. Kneeling beside his legs, Mohinder placed his hands over the two gushing bullet wounds in Chris's chest, desperate to stop the bleeding.

"You have to save him, you have to save him." Eva kept repeating over and over.

Bennet and Nathan succeeded in taking the gun away from Peter and they tossed it away. Peter's eyes locked on Chris and he stopped struggling against Nathan and Bennet's hold as he started to laugh cruelly.

"In the end I won it seems. My victory was always ensured. One cannot hope to triumph over sin. Christopher only succeeded in delaying the inevitable." Dante in possession of Peter's body said gleefully. "Go on now, let the darkness consume your soul. Come on, embrace the black, Christopher."

"Shut up!" Chris's sister screamed at him.

She came towards him as if she wanted to do some damage but Bennet held up a hand. "That isn't Peter talking, Claire. But it is his body."

A chuckle from Peter. "Oh fine. You can have him back. I did what I sought out to do."

Peter's head fell back and his eyes began to glow a red hue. A strange smoky substance leaked out of Peter's mouth as it opened and the smoke shifted into the form of Dante. With a sigh, Peter's head fell forward and when he opened his eyes again, they were his usual brown color. He looked around him in confusion.

"What's going on? How did I get on the ground?" Peter asked them in puzzlement.

"I could explain that if you'd like." Dante piped up.

Though Dante's body still laid on the ground, he was also standing before them. The Dante that was standing didn't seem to have an actual solid form. His standing self seemed lighter in color than his physical form and this talking one also appeared partially see-through.

"Christopher destroyed my physical body, yes. But not my spirit. And I took control of your body so I could repay the favor." Dante told him.

Spirit? There were such things as ghosts now? Or was this a part of his power, manifesting itself in a bizarre manner? Maybe yet another illusion? How could they ever know what was real anywhere near this thing that was intent on causing them great pain?

Repay the favor... Peter thought to himself. It dawned on him, what exactly that statement meant. He stood up and took in the scene.

"Chris! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" Peter started, panicked by what he had done.

Chris lifted his head to stare at him and it only made Peter feel worse. The man's remaining good eye reflected his pain and anguish. He clearly didn't want to die but his body wasn't going to last much longer. Dante stood by watching enthusiastically. He appeared to be quite satisfied with his work and was apparently not upset about losing his physical body. No, Dante seemed much more fascinated on paying close attention as Chris's breathing grew more and more labored and slow. Eva was still repeating that someone had to save him as she rocked back and forth on her knees.

Mohinder removed his bloody hands from Chris's chest, knowing that it wasn't doing any good. Chris was losing too much blood and the bullets had most likely punctured a lung to make matters worse. They were all staring down at Chris sadly now. They didn't want him to die any more than he wanted to but there was nothing they could do to save him. Eva sensed this general consensus and grew angry.

"We have to save him!" she screamed.

Wesker lifted his eyes to look at his daughter, shocked by her outburst. Eva's eyes desperately flickered around her as she searched for some way to help him and then they landed on Sheva's body. Squinting her eyes, the girl spotted something and she ran over to the corpse. She returned to Chris's side with something in her hand and Wesker saw it was the syringe Sheva had stabbed him with to overdose his serum. Apparently she had kept the empty syringe with her. Before Wesker realized what his daughter intended to do, Eva jabbed herself in the arm with the needle, drawing blood.

"What are you doing? Eva!" Wesker yelled.

Eva paid him no attention and stabbed the syringe into Chris's chest before he could stop her, injecting her own blood into Chris. She could only hope that her blood could heal other people like it did for her. Finished inserting the blood, she tossed the needle away but felt her heart fall. It hadn't worked. Chris's eyes were staring blankly at the blue sky above, glazed over.

"No!" she cried in horror.

Dante began laughing. "It's sad how the good ones always die."

"I'll kill you!" Eva screamed at Dante, getting to her feet.

"Already dead, but I admire the defiance." Dante said to her and then his face grew serious. "Christopher had some defiance to him, didn't he? Shame we won't get to see him give me that defiant glare of his one last time."

Eva positively seethed with rage but she couldn't hurt him when he didn't appear to retain a physical form of any kind, and this angered her even further. Her father spoke her name and she detected a trace of urgency in his voice which was enough to curb her growing anger. She glanced at Wesker and saw he was staring down at Chris. Following his gaze, her breath caught in her throat.

Chris's open eye was clouding over with a green color and then his eye seemed to almost absorb it, once again exposing his brown eye, though Eva could swear there were now green specks in the brown iris. The BSAA soldier's eye blinked once and he drew in a sharp intake of breath.

"Chris!" Eva shouted and embraced him tightly.

The man blinked a few more times, taking in the girl wrapped around him. "Eva? How am I..alive?"

"An excellent question." Dante uttered in awe.

"I injected my blood into you and it brought you back to life." Eva revealed to him happily.

Chris seemed to be remembering her doing that now and he placed a hand to his chest. The two bullet holes were no longer there. He felt something moving in his throat and he turned and hacked violently onto the ground. His eye grew wide when Chris saw he had just coughed up the two bullets. The agent started to get to his feet and Wesker and Eva moved to help him stand. Bennet walked over to Chris and handed him his gun which Chris holstered. Turning to Eva, Chris thanked her for saving him yet again.

"I don't believe it. Why couldn't you just die like your African friend?" Dante complained with annoyance.

Chris stood upright to show how he was still strong even with his other wounds. "Because you underestimate us. You think people are all the same but we're not." As an afterthought, he added, "Mistake, yours."

He shifted to look over his shoulder at the green-eyed girl. "Right, Eva?"

At first she seemed surprised he was asking her but then she quickly recovered and nodded. "Right."

Dante was furious now. "You may not be able to harm me now that I no longer have a physical body, but I can still hurt you! Now die!"