Eeey we got another chapter here! woot! boi do, I have a bag of mixed feelings for you guys to enjoy. We got some silly bits, we got some character growth. We got some angst and fluff. Good times lmao so with that said let's get this ball rolling.

Song Suggestion: The Wolf by Siames

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Capcom owns Resident Evil and trust me they want nothing to do with this hawt mess of a fan fic writer lol


With the beginning of April came the slowly budding blossoms of spring and an earlier sunrise. A peaceful setting that was unceremoniously interrupted by the incessant beeping of an alarm clock. Emma inhaled deeply as her phone announced the beginning of a new day.

"your alarm," Chris grumbles while rolling over in an attempt to stay asleep.

Emma reached over to grab her phone, but after a few missed attempts, she finally got a hold of the accursed device and turned off it's nagging ringtone. With a quiet huff she shifts to get up and slowly made her way across the room and over to the dresser to collect her clothes for the day and prepare for a shower. As she did so she looked up at the calendar that displayed a fully crossed out set of boxes for march. The corners of her lips pulled to form a slight smile as she reached over to move the calendar to April. However, upon seeing the page she stopped mid-movement and stared at the first box.

April 1st.

After a moment of hesitation, she put the page back down, so it would continue to display March. It was April Fool's Day. Her previously gentle smile gained a hint of mischief as she went on her way to start her day. They had each had their turn at this point, but she still wanted to get him back for those googly eyes. the blasted things stuck around for well over half a year, thanks to the fact not a single item was spared. Did he know how long it takes to go through a jar of mayonnaise? Not fast enough to get rid of the googly eyes superglued to the lid, that's for sure.

The question now was, what to do? Emma continued to ponder over this as she took her shower. A soft tsk escaped her as her thoughts grew more frustrated. She had a plan before. A good one two, she remembered that. Problem was. She forgot the plan! She wanted to do it last year, but with the whole amnesia thing, it just wasn't the right time, and she didn't have the mental capacity to think about something so silly. Well. That was then and this was now. And for now. She had nothing.

In that moment a lightbulb went off in her mind as her eyes widened from the sudden shower born epiphany. It was so simply, simple and perfect in every way. Nothing crass or mean spirited. That was never their goal with their unspoken yearly game. Just good fun that would certainly make up for the 6 plus months of haunting, unblinking eyes staring at her every time she opened the fridge to try and find the barbecue sauce.

And so, she finished up her morning routine. She bathed, changed, walked Duke, prepared breakfast for the family who gathered around the table as she worked on packing up lunches, smiling all the while at her brilliant plan.

Chris walked into the kitchen shortly after she closed up the various lunch boxes to wash his dishes and put them on the drying rack. "Thanks for the food," he says before drying off his hands and making his way over to stand next to Emma. "Have a good day at work," He adds before giving her a quick peck on the forehead.

"Thanks, you too," Emma replies as she offers him his lunch box, still just as happy as before.

"Thanks," he replies as he found her smile comforting. It was nice to see after all the stress they've been under. "Rose, are you ready?" he asks as he moves to wait by the door.

"Almost," Rose says before shoveling the rest of her breakfast down and quickly leaving the dishes in the sink. "By mom," Rose says as she takes her lunch box as well and makes her way over to the door.

"Have a good day, we love you," Emma says, and just that quickly both Chris and Rose were out the door for the day.

"Alright, let's get you to the lab," Chris says as he walks alongside Rose.

"Fine," She says with a tired sigh as she mentally counted down the minutes until she'd be ungrounded. The two walked through the office campus in silence. They dropped off their lunches in the break room, then made their way down sterile halls that echoed with each step, until they finally arrived at the dreaded door for the lab. "See you later, I guess."

"See you at home," He says before gently messing with her hair, earning him a few swats from Rose who tried to fix it before grumbling to herself as she went into the lab.

With that, Chris started heading towards his office so he could get to work for the day. It was a seemingly unremarkable day. A standard boring morning at his desk filling out paperwork and answering emails in an unrelenting cycle. Gear maintenance reports. Scheduling exams for his certifications along with the certifications of his team and naturally a few pestering reminders from HR that they were working on finding a replacement for Tundra. Apparently, the director had someone in mind.

"She's very busy, so her schedule is booked for some time, yadah yadah, excuses excuses," Chris mumbles while reading the email. "And she'll expect me in her office in two weeks. Well. At least she's giving more than 3 seconds notice." He quietly remarked while rubbing at his eyes. He knew he was going to have to replace Tundra eventually... the thought trailed off as he shifted his attention to anything else resulting in him checking the time. A bit past noon...

With a tired sigh he pushed himself to get up and go gather his lunch from the break room. When in doubt, get food. He eventually made it to his destination and opened the communal fridge. His lunch was a sight for sore eyes and a welcomed distraction. He moved it over to the counter to open the stiff thermal fabric container so he could get the portion he'd need to heat up.

Chris's expression shifted to curiosity, which was quickly replaced with a gentle smile as the florescent pink square of paper caught his attention. It had been a while since she left him a little note with his lunch. What cheesy sappy pun did she think of this time, he wondered as he picked up the paper to read it. It's probably just a quick little I love y-

Happy April 1st :)

Chris stared at the note as his smile was replaced with a sense of dread while eyeing the packed lunch suspiciously. Piece by piece, he took out each part of the lunch and thoroughly examined it for signs of tampering. The Oreo filling had not been replaced with Crisco or toothpaste from what he could tell. His usual heat and eat pack looked fine. It didn't smell spicy. Did she replace one of the ingredients? Swap the salt with sugar? Maybe the opposite. The meal had a good portion of tomato paste in it. Maybe she added sriracha?

Chris reached for his phone and quickly tapped at the screen before holding it to his ear. "... What's wrong with it,"

"Hm?" Emma replied while smiling to herself after answering the expected phone call.

"My lunch. The note says happy April first. What's wrong with it," Chris asks as his squinting stare remained fixed on the meal.

"Nothing," Emma replies, still amused by her rather simple nonexistent prank. It was the best plan she literally had to do nothing and rep the same reward just by pointing out what day it was. She didn't even have to lie.

"Nope. Nuh-uh. You're not getting me that easy. What did you do to it?" Chris asks while checking the food with more dedicated scruple.

"It's just a note. There's nothing wrong with your food," Emma confirms once more. "Though I suppose, since you really thought I would tamper with the holy sanctity that is lunchtime, that would make you the April Fool."

"Em," Chris says in what almost sounded like a pouting groan.

"Love you," Emma says with a chuckle. "And cross my heart. The food's normal. Okay?"

"Fine," He says as he finally started to relax. "Love you too."

"See you after work," Emma replies, rather content with her devious plan. Sure, she let him know it was a joke pretty quickly but, it was just meant to be a joke and not an all-day anxiety attack.

"Seeya then," The agent says before hanging up and searching the food once more for good measure. At this point, he was willing to accept that the paper was the only prank in the box, and he went on with his meal.

After reheating his main dish, Chris carried his lunch back to his office, so he could enjoy the privacy it provided. Once he'd sat down and had his meal situated on his desk, he shifted to get his phone out again and dial up another number. it took a few rings but eventually the call was answered.

"Hey Chris," Rebecca says from the other end of the line.

"Hey," the agent replies. "Figured I'd wait until your office hours to call.

"Very thoughtful of you," Rebecca states with a slight laugh.

"Did you get those files I sent over?" He asks and cuts to the meat of the why he was calling.

"Yeah... The ones labeled Tanner P. Research notes right?" Rebecca asks in return with notable hesitation. "That's bioweapon research. You realize that, right?"

"In a sense, yeah. It's bioweapon related. It makes zombies," Chris admits. "That's not what it was for, though. The guy working on it said he was close to curing death. He was working for a diva that wanted to stop aging, there has to be something there."

"Chris. I get it difficult and you guys are hoping for a solution, but I'm not comfortable using this. You and I both know how potent that virus is. It could infect plants. I make medicine and vaccines. You're asking me to mutate this strain even more. What if I end up making something that's resistant to my vaccine instead?" Rebecca says with firm but gentle patience. "I don't want your next mission to be a dispatch to an outbreak in my lab because I'm working with something so unstable."

Hearing this stung in a way that knocked the wind out of him... he was so sure he found something. Anything.

"Chris?" Rebecca asks to try and see if he was still there.

"Yeah..." He confirms in response before a single sad half-hearted chuckle escaped him. "Sorry, I should have thought that one through a bit more, I guess."

"It's not wrong to want to try," Rebecca offers in return. "Theoretically. Yes, this would work... However, her infection is mold-based. Adding the virus to the mold is completely uncharted territories..."

"Right," Chris agrees, though more so out of obligation to the conversation he initiated. Theoretically, it could work. Theoretically. If he had been smarter. If he had tried harder. If he saved Tanner. He was someone that could have helped save Rose. "Probably would have helped more to have the scientist instead of a dead man's notes."

"Well. Not always," Rebecca replies in a quiet, understanding tone. "Scientists can be snobs and hard to work with sometimes. Speaking from experience." she offers as an attempt to get Chris to laugh. He didn't. "Look... You're doing everything you can. No one says you're not trying. And we're getting closer, I think," she says in return. "I can at least make sense of the gray matter now. So, all that's left is learning what affects it and in what we need to change. It's a matter of well documented guess work at this point. If I had more samples to work with, that might help. The more data points I have, the easier it is to see the variables and the constants."

Ugh. More data speak. "If there's anything I can provide, just, let me know."

"Well. If you happen to have a DNA sample of a mold host with the opposite problem, and they're aging in reverse or not at all. That could be nice," "Otherwise, just keep hanging in there. I'll figure this out. I always do."

"I'll keep you posted if I can get my hands on that," He says as he shifts to try and relax in his seat. He spent the remainder of his break picking at his lunch while trying to keep up a not work related conversation with Rebecca. The gang said they wanted to talk to him so, he'd try and oblige that a bit better since they did kinda fall for that prank of his a few years back. Honestly, he probably owed all of them a chunk of change to cover their round trip flights.

As he hung up his call, this thought caused his eyes to wander over to the bright pink square of paper next to his food. "... Turn about is fair play," He says quietly to himself as he shifted to sit properly at his desk and get back to work. All the while, he tried to think of some small prank he could do in return. While a bit panic inducing, Emma's prank was harmless enough since she didn't draw it out too much. So, he didn't want to do anything extreme in return. That just made it all the more difficult to dream up a viable option. His face contorted slightly as this whole process brought about a new thought.

Was it weird that they were more consistent with April Fools' Day than they were with Valentine's Day? ...nahhh it's fine. Just don't think about it too hard.

By the end of the day, he managed to think of, jack squat. At least nothing he was particularly set on. The best he could think of was a prank call. She'd pretty instantly know it was him, and it was juvenile, but it would count as a prank. Kind of. He'd basically just be calling her to tell her a dad joke. Knowing Emma, she'd actually think it was funny too.

The agent returned home tired and defeated on multiple fronts, but all the same he trudged through the front door of the apartment. "I'm home," he says in standard greeting.

"Welcome home," Emma calls from the kitchen, while Rose was well into her new ritual of trying to look as sad as possible while poking at her phone in hopes that one of the two of them would cave and let her off the hook early. Which wasn't happening.

"Thanks," He replies as he shifts to take off his shoes.

"da-eee" Piers happily cheers as he hurries over to greet Chris and clings to Chris's leg to stabilize himself after walking a bit too quickly.

"Hey champ," Chris says as he moves to pick up the tiny bundle of energy. Oh to be young and have energy left after 6pm.

Piers happily smiled back at his father while reaching out to grab at the scruffy faced man.

"Ye-ouch! Okay and we're going to stop doing that," Chris says as he managed to get the child to let go of the facial hair that went unchecked for the last few days... weeks. Whoops. He should probably take care of that... Chris put Piers back down and focused on the new task at hand. He made his way over to the bathroom with the tiny tot following close behind.

After quickly baby proofing the bathroom, Chris dug out the cheap electric razor he'd been afforded by the BSAA and got to work. The soft hum of the machine was quickly replaced with a more jarring sound comparable to a weed wacker as the noisy blades tamed back the wirey beard section by section, leaving his usual shorter stubble.

As he did so, he chuckled a bit to himself, as he'd left his upper lip for last. Lord, he did not look right with a mustache. Like if that one plumber guy went and decided to hit the gym. He was just missing the overalls. It was then that the idea hit him. It would mean going completely bare face for a bit, but... a few days of a bare face would kinda be worth it if this worked. Chris adjusted the clippers to remove the guide comb, allowing for the closest shave possible. Clearing away every little speck of his beard. Except for the god awful mustache. It was perfect.

He quickly double-checked to make sure he didn't miss any patches, while a shit eating grin started to form on his face. This was going to be fun. His face had passed the secondary inspection, and it was time to put the prank in motion.

The agent made his way out of the bathroom and over to the kitchen, where Emma was busily working on dinner. He moved to stand behind her as he put an arm around her waist and leaned a bit to give her a peck on the cheek. "Dinner smells great."

"Thanks" Emma replied before she moved to shift to kiss him in return but jolted as she quickly noticed that there was something off about his face. "Oh my gosh," She says while trying to process what she was seeing, but ultimately, she was lost on how to react. "What?"

"I decided to try something a bit different. What do you think?" Chris asks with all the confidence in the world.

"It's... definitely different," Emma says while trying to remain as neutral as possible. Good lord why did he have an 80's porno mustache?

"Thanks, It's really growing on me," Chris says with a slight chuckle.

The joke earned a few nervous chuckles from Emma, as she was still trying to process how to live with this going forward. She was going to have to wake up and see that every morning for the forceable future... Maybe she'd get used to it? Why did he think this was a good idea?

Alright, that was enough. "April fools."

"About the pun or the mustache?" Emma asks while trying not to sound too hopeful.

"Both," He admits in return.

Oh thank god, Emma thought as she visibly relaxed.

"It's really bothering you, huh?" He asks with continued amusement, since this was about the reaction he was expecting.

"I love you, I just don't always love your choices," Emma says as relief set in. "That's not a choice I'd adore, but it's not the only important factor."

"It was a joke, you don't have to keep forcing yourself to be nice about it," He says through a laugh.

"It's so distracting. It's like you glued a fuzzy caterpillar to your face. It's a cute face. You don't need the caterpillar." Emma says while trying to look away, but it was like looking into the uncanny valley, she couldn't look away.

"Do you feel better now?" Chris asks still chuckling at his successful prank.

"Yeah," Emma admits as she finally managed to go back to focusing on not burning their dinner.

"I'm going to go finish shaving," Chris says before giving Emma one more quick peck and with that, he walked away.

'*'*'*'*'

The days continued on from there. Chris's usual stubble grew back by the end of the week. Another week was coming to a close as Friday the 12th of April was well under way. Chris sat at his desk while checking his schedule for the day and weekend. Looks like Rose will be officially punishment free starting tomorrow. Good for her, she managed to make it a whole month without causing more trouble. Kinda...

Chris shook his head at that thought before a more urgent meeting he was about to attend caught his eye. He did still need to talk to the director... He wasn't exactly looking forward to that, thanks to the remaining dread from the last one but, all the same, he tried to push that down. She was new, she deserved a clean slate. Even if her predecessor was a piece of work. On top of that, the timing of the meeting meant he had to cancel drills for the day. Given the clearly not disappointed faces he saw when he made that announcement earlier that week, having a Friday as a break day wasn't the worst thing in the world.

With that thought, Chris pushed himself to get up from his desk and locked up his laptop for the time being before making his way out of his office and through the various corridors to the directors' office. If this had been the last director he would have just walked in but... For now, he'd play nice and with that, Chris knocked on the door.

"Come in," the voice of the new director says from the other side of the door.

Chris did as he was told and entered the room, closing the door behind him to find the director had a mostly clear desk, except a single folder. no extra distractions, She wasn't busying herself with other work, and she actually seemed prepared for a meeting. "you asked to see me?"

"Yes, it's good to see you." She replies in greeting before motioning for Chris to walk closer. "Come in, take a seat," She says with a gentle smile and waits for Chris to do so before speaking again. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," He hesitantly replies as the attempt at small talk threw him off a bit. He was a bit more used to more direct communication with work.

the director gives a slight nod of approval before continuing to speak. "How's the family?"

How did he answer that without getting rose in trouble... "They're excited to be moving back home soon," Chris offers in response, hoping that would be enough.

"I'm sure those apartments aren't designed with families in mind, so you have my sympathy," She says with another nod before lacing her hands together and resting them on her desk. "and I do apologize about the wait. Again. with the changes going on, some priorities fell through the cracks, but I can assure you that it will be ready for you and your family by June."

Ah. Now that he recognized as HR speak for 'please don't quit'. "It's fine. We have a roof over our head, so that's what matters," He says before wondering if he misread the email from before. "You mentioned you had a candidate for Hound Wolf squad?"

"Right, to business matters. I will be assigning hound wolf squad's new member, and I just wanted to talk to you about that before their first day on Monday."

Ah. So this wasn't a recommendation. this was an order. great. "That's a bit short notice, don't you think? I won't even have time to talk to my team about this." He could already smell the bullshit at this point. How on earth were they going to expect him to manage a full team when they dont let him talk to that team about changes? He didn't even know what this new person's qualifications were. what role they'd genuinely end up filling. what if they replaced Tundra with a medic? it's not like their team had one before and while that would be a useful addition to the team he'd have to completely rewrite some of their training drills and standard formations and-

"I suppose that's fair. Communication on the matter is somewhat important. Especially making sure everyone is on the same page when they arrive. I had figured it wouldn't require too much adjustment though since they already know the replacement. but if you feel more time is needed, adjustments can be made," The director says after considering his question.

He didn't have to fight for that? he'd already prepared a whole monologue to prove his point. Why was it more stressful that she agreed with him? "oh." was all he could say in response. "Right well. I suppose that depends on the candidate, then."

"I doubt you'll have much of an objection, you trained them yourself after all," The director says as she gently slides the file on her desk a bit closer to Chris before opening it. Inside was a full employee profile for none other than Rosemary Winters.

"No," Chris simply says in return.

"Excuse me?" the Director asks with a confused expression.

"Absolutely not," Chris says as anger set in.

"You've been training her for some time now. The lab team has confirmed she has near perfect control of her known abilities," she says while trying to figure out where this was rooting from. did he think she wasn't ready? she needs to move on to the next step of training. "This is what she was designed for, She's a bioweapon."

"She is a child," Chris hissed back.

"She's not human," The director says with a slightly saddened frown.

His anger pushed him to stand. "She's my daughter," Chris rebuttals with a sneer as he glared down at the new director. "I'm supposed to fight. That's my life. Not hers." He says, though part of him knew this was inevitable... he didn't think it would be this soon. "That's why we do this, right? So, they don't have to..."

The director remained quiet as she tapped her thumb against the desk and exhaled. "Well. This does complicate things a bit," the director says as she moves to rub at her forehead. "Now I can recognize that you feel a need to regain control of a situation out of your control, but I can also recognize a display of dominance when I see one too." The director says while continuing to maintain eye contact with Chris. "If you're going to continue this route, I'll do the same and exert my authority as your superior officer. I can assure you there is no route where you will win fighting me like this. However, if you sit back down, we can talk about this as equals."

The threat was clear enough. The same as always. Behave or we'll take her away and do what we want anyways. The memory of the last time Rose was almost dragged off still felt fresh in his mind and because of that, he sat down.

The director gives a quiet nod. "So. To make sure I understand clearly, you're objecting because you feel that Rosemary is too young." she repeats.

"She's barely on part with a 12-year-old. Maybe a 13-year-old at this point. What you're suggesting is a child soldier." Chris says in return. "We'd be no better than the connection or umbrella."

Again the director nods. "I can understand that concern. However, I believe in your panic, you've misinterpreted my reasoning for selecting Rosemary." She says and waits a few seconds to see if there was another explosive reaction, and to her relief there was not. "I first want to make sure that you understand Rosemary isn't like other normal kids. You are aware her freedoms and opportunities in this life are very limited. Correct?"

"Unfortunately, I am well aware," Chris replies. They made him enforce that, how could he not be?

"Her best chance at a normal life is going to be working with the BSAA, and with her unique condition, she doesn't have a lot of time to prepare for that," The director explains. "I'm not suggesting that you take her with into active war zones," she clarifies. "I figured with Tundra's prior position as a less combative role. It would be a good way to ease Rose into her inevitable role within the BSAA. Have her go with and stay at camp at first and slowly add on more combative responsibilities as she continues to age."

Chris listened to this, and his soured expression remained as the director tried to justify her choice.

"Missions can be jarring. Especially the first one. I'm sure you and I both know that well enough," The director says to preface further justification. "What I'm offering you is the chance to make sure her first mission isn't one where she's blindly thrown into the front lines where she can get shot. It may not seem like it on paper, but this is a mercy. In one year, she will be expected to be a soldier, just like any other 17-year-old that enlisted. because that is what she will be. The bioweapon equivalent of a 17-year-old. and soldiers don't get a gentle easing into their new life."

"You've made your point," It wasn't a great one but, It was a point and one that he wouldn't be able to fight. "...Will you let her go to school?" Chris asks in return.

"Pardon?" the director asks as confusion crosses their face. Again that was not a question she was expecting.

"Rose wants to go to public school," Chris says more bluntly this time. "Her aging as you've repeatedly pointed out makes her options limited, but if the BSAA is going to be pushing her to work. She better be getting something in return, and she wants to go to school." the agent states, hoping that he can at least push for something to make Rose happy too. "She's a lot like Ethan. She's a smart kid and good with numbers. She could have been a decent engineer," If she had the option to choose that life...

The director shifts to lean back in her seat as she thinks over the request that was made. "The labs won't be able to continue to keep up with her education forever... particularly if she's interested in a degree. She would have to go to a college for that..." the director hesitantly admits. "I'll see if I can work out a deal with a local high school. If she can keep up with her studies at the lab. I'll find a way for her to enroll and participate in her senior year. The full year. Her aging shouldn't be as noticeable at that point. That way she can be properly tested for her ability to move on to a college." The director states as she moves once more to try and find a piece of paper so she can write that down. "Any wages she would have earned during her time working for missions will be put aside to pay for her college tuition. Should she choose not to go to college, the funds will be given to her to use as she pleases."

With that offer given, the director looks up from her memo and once more maintains eye contact with Chris. "Is that agreable?"

None of this sat well with him. He couldn't fight, and it was frustrating, but he at least got what he could. "I'll run it by her. She should have a say in this."

"... very well," The director says in response. The illusion of choice was better than no choice at all. "In this case, I have to agree with your earlier point. Monday is too soon for her to start. Her first day will be May first. She'll have until then to choose her compensation for her work." The director states as she moves to close Rose's file. "Is there anything else you'd like to discuss while you're here?"

"I think everything that needs to be said has been," Chris replies while fighting the urge to get up and leave there and then.

"Well, if anything comes up, feel free to reach out to me. My door is always open to you. Until then, have a good day," The director replies to dismiss him.

The dismissal was quickly accepted as Chris stood up and made his way out of the office, closing the door behind him and making a beeline back to the apartment. He didn't want to be in this building anymore. Not right now. He was going to punch a hole in one of the walls at this rate.

angry, haggard foot stepped announced his path as he made his way out to the courtyard, down the path to the building and door assigned to him which he opened and slammed shut behind him.

Emma jolts a bit at the abrupt door slamming, which luckily didn't wake the napping baby. Maybe Rose came home early? With that thought, Emma made her way out of the master bedroom and into the main living space. "Oh, you're home early too? Piers wasn't feeling well so-" Emma paused as she noticed Chris was not moving and was simply holding his face while standing by the door. "Chris? What's wrong?"

Chris took a deep breath. He'd hoped he'd be alone if he was completely honest. He'd hoped for more time to cool off before having to tell Emma. "I just spoke with the director."

"Oh..." Emma says as a sinking feeling set in... "I'm guessing this isn't good news."

"It's not," He confirms while trying to tamp down the rage that made it feel like he was breathing fire.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can make it work,"

"Oh they're good and making things work, that's for sure," Chris venomously replies. Just rip off the bandage... "Rose has been assigned her start date..."

"What?" Emma asks with a mortified expression. "She's 12, they can't seriously think that's okay."

"Because she's a bioweapon. They don't seem to think that matters..." Chris say in return. "Said it's a Mercy to get her used to her new life before she has to actually fight."

"And you told her no. Right?" Emma says while staring him down. no answer. "Chris. you told her no." Emma repeats while the sinking dread only grew.

"There isn't another wa-"

"Nope!" Emma replies while quickly starting to make her way over. "No. NO. She's not putting my baby in harms way like that, I won't hear it," She says while trying to get past Chris to the door and to her frustration he stayed in the way.

"Emma," He says as he moves to hold. partially to keep her away from the door and partially because he needed to hold something to keep himself grounded. "I tried."

The two words were enough to make her stop struggling as tears began to form. It wasn't fair. How could they? Rose was a child. Why was that so hard for them to see that? Maybe she wasn't 'normal' but she was still a child. It's not fair.

Chris continued to hold Emma and shifted, so they could sit on the floor and rested his back against the door. While he'd tried to fight it, he allowed himself to cry as well as they held each other. While he wanted to tell her everything would be okay he wasn't sure that was true. The director wanted to go with and keep her out of harms way, but that wouldn't really be possible. leaving her behind was a danger in its own right.

"I thought we'd have more time," Emma squeaked out.

"I'm going to keep her safe. Okay?" Chris says as he shifts once more to make sure Emma was looking at him. "She's not going to get hurt, not on my watch."

That didn't really help. at all. That more so felt like a promise that he was going to throw himself in harms way again. The worst of it was the sense of paralyzing hopelessness that came with this. No matter what she did or said. This would be Rose's fate. She knew that. To the BSAA, Rose having a family was optional. A kindness she was afforded for good behavior now that she no longer needed someone to spoon-feed her. She could be left in a barrack on her own and expected to take care of herself aside from chores that required a handler, who didn't care if she was alive or dead.

"How are we going to tell her?" Emma asks quietly.

It takes a moment, but Chris clears his throat, so he can speak without his voice breaking. "I'll try and see if I can talk to her... Make it sound better than it is..." He says in return.

"It's so awful though," Emma replies while trying to clear her face of the continued stream of water works. How would they even do that? Should they do that? It's basically lying to her? Taking a shit and gilding it to pretend that it's anything other than what it was.

"I know... But I was able to get them to agree to let her go to school. So If I lead with that, it might be enough." He offers in return. "It's something she's wanted for a while now, so if she sees it as a chance to get something that she was told she'd never have. Maybe she'll behave enough for me to keep her out of harms way."

It was a lot of guess work for something where there shouldn't be guess work at all. but it's all they had for now. If she knew they were upset about this. If she knew they were scared. She'd panic...


And now I'm sobbing. Weee. So yeah. Hound Wolf squad will officially have 6 members again starting next chapter. This is definitely something that was rather heavily implied at the end of RE 8. Rose was expected to fight as soon as possible. Missions were not a surprise for her, and she was barely 16-18 in that scene. Can I get a chorus of "McScrew the BSAA."