So capcom went ahead and gave me a pat on the head for guessing Duke is an antagonist, then kicked me in the shins and flip me off by having Rose age normally. That being said, I think I can potentially fix this. I'll have a poll in the ending notes because there are a few ways I can go about this and I value your opinions :) sorry it took a bit longer to get this chapter out. the curveball required a bit of extra planning, and I wanted to make sure this chapter wouldn't completely screw me over.
fair warning, this is a mix bag chapter. We start off fluffy and move into not so fluffy. if you're not sure about the not so fluffy, then stop reading at the scene break. The second scene break is the final warning call.
Song Suggestion: Ghost by Confetti
Disclaimer: ovq I'm doing my best
"Are we there yet?" Rose asked while staring out the window of the car.
"We're still driving, so no," Chris replied while trying to keep his eye from twitching.
"Uuuugh it's been hours. We were driving yesterday too," Rose pointed out. This was the worst vacation ever. She couldn't even use her phone without getting motion sick and the signal was so bad that even if she pushed past the motion sickness, she couldn't log in to play her game. Rose continued to grumble to herself as she looked over to find that Duke was resting on the floor while Piers was fast asleep in his car seat... Lucky. "How come he gets to sleep after keeping us up all night at the hotel? That's not fair..."
"Please don't wake him up," Emma replied with a panicked tone. The last thing they needed was a screaming toddler. "If you're bored, How about I give you the address of where we're going. You can track our progress on your phone, then you'll know when we're getting close."
"Fine," Rose begrudgingly accepted the offered information and put that into her phone. She continued to watch as they drove past open fields, through towns and cities of various sizes until the setting was replaced by tall trees. To Rose's confusion, the family took a turn down a gravel and dirt path where a sign read Whispering Pines Park. Confusion turned to horror as Rose quickly unlocked her phone to check it.
Monday, July 15th, 12:31 PM
[Maps] in 300ft you have reached your destination.
Rose continued to wait in hopes that maybe something interesting would show up as the car slowly bounced along the rough dirt and gravel path. She looked around, noticing a decently large lake in the distance where people were swimming, fishing, and canoeing. The most concerning sight was the increasing number of tents with old people sitting around on lawn chairs wearing socks with sandals. "Um. Is this a rest stop?"
"Nope, We're here," Chris replied with a sense of pride.
Say Psyche. "Really?" Rose asked while forcing a smile. This was the vacation he was so excited about? "I thought we were going to visit Aunt Claire?"
"We are, she's meeting us here," Chris explains as he slowly pulls the car in to a parking space by a small hut labeled 'Ranger's office'. "I'll get us checked in." Chris says before getting out of the car and heading into the shack.
"Mom," Rose whined while looking to Emma for sympathy.
"Rosemary be nice. Chris put a lot of thought into this," Emma shortly replied.
"Did he though?" Rose asks with a squinting grimace. "You HATE bugs. I can't talk to my game friends, there's no signal out here. We're not actually visiting aunt Claire. What are we going to do here for a whole week?" with that, she crossed her arms and pushed herself further into her seat. "He just picked what he wanted to do."
"Rose, that's enough," the sharp scolding tone was a bit harsher than what Emma intended but, she was admittedly tired as well thanks to Piers' tantrums through the night. The tired mother took a breath to try and calm her nerves before speaking again. "Just try to give this a chance? You might actually enjoy it."
"I doubt it," She mumbled under her breath while shifting to glare at the door of the car. This wasn't fair. Emma always took Chris's side.
A few minutes of stewing silence passed before Chris got back in to the car. "Alright, we're all squared away for the week." he announced before putting his seatbelt back on and backing the car out of the parking spot to continue along the gravel path. It took a few more minutes, but they eventually parked again. This time they stopped in front of a decent size cabin that were right by the lake.
Rose watched as her parents got to work as soon as the car was turned off. They both got out and Chris made his way to the trunk while Emma opened the side door. Duke was quick to wake up at that point and sprang out of the car to smell everything. As Emma worked on getting Piers to wake up and out of his seat, Rose got out of her seat as well and looked around with a vacant expression. This place smelled like fish and aerosol.
Seeing the lack luster response from Rose cause Chris to frown for a moment, but he walks over to give her a gentle nudge. "Did you want to head inside and pick your room?" Chris offered.
"Sure," Rose replied, still just as disinterested in all of this, but she was happy to accept the excuse to have time to herself.
Chris continued to watch as Emma walked over carrying a sleepy Piers. "I thought she'd be a bit more excited... She loved day camp..." He admits while puzzling over the sulking child.
"She's in a mood. I think she just needs some sleep," Emma admits.
"Maybe," Chris replied before messing with Piers' hair to try and get the kid to wake up a bit quicker. "Do you think I hyped it up too much?"
"No," she affirmed. "I'm not sure what she was expecting. We didn't exactly say we're going camping, but we also didn't say we were going to do one thing, then suddenly switch it on her."
"Yeah..." Still, maybe this was a mistake.
Emma shifted to give Chris a quick peck. "Come on, let's get set up. Your sister will be here soon, and there's still plenty to do."
Coolers and bags were carried into the cabin. Various foods were put away in the cabinets and fridge, while other supplies like fire wood were gathered for future use. During this time Rose remained contently alone in the room she picked for herself, and by the time the cabin was set up the dull hum of a motor could be heard approaching.
"Hey!" a voice shouted over the sound of the engine before that eventually grew quiet.
The loud greeting caused the cabin to stir to life once more as Rose heard quick footsteps. While part of her debated continuing to sulk, she eventually got off her bed and made her way over to the front door. Upon doing so she found Aunt Claire standing next to a motorcycle, talking to Chris and Emma, while Piers was hurrying around carrying a thin colorful box that showed pictures of a toy fishing set.
The second Piers saw Rose, he quickly hurried over. "Help," he requested as he nudged her with the box to signal her to open it.
"Fine," Rose replied since the adults seemed distracted. She activated her claws as stealthily as possible, so she could open the package, and shook her hand right after to make it go away. Once the toy fishing rod and magnetic fish were free of their container, she handed that over to Piers. "Here."
The wide-eyed toddler happily accepted the toy, gave her a quick hug and ran off to go chase Duke with the fun colorful plastic stick.
That just wasn't fair, she was trying to be cranky. How was she supposed to stay mad? "Stupid puppy eyes," Rose grumbled and made her way over to the adults so she could hear their conversation.
"This brings back memories," Claire admitted with a smile as she looked around. Her aimless gaze eventually stopped at Rose. "Oh hey, there's the birthday girl." Claire motioned for Rose to come over. "I've got something for you."
"Really?" Rose asked as curiosity.
"Yeah, It's not much but," Claire paused to dig through the backpack at her feet, so she could take out a soft paper wrapped gift. "Here, I hope you like it."
"Thanks," Rose quickly ditched the empty box that Piers left her with and accepted the offered gift. The paper was quickly pulled away revealing a sleeveless red leather jacket. "Whoa," Rose stared in awe at the jacket and looked it over to find embroidered writing on the back that read 'Let Me Live' above a rather detailed printed image of a Valkyrie woman with flaming wings holding a spear. Rose immediately put it on. "This is so cool."
"Thought you might like it. It used to be mine when I was a teenager," Claire explained with a grin. "You should check the pockets later."
Aunt Claire is so cool. "Kay," The teen agreed with a nod before noticing her stomach growl. Right... she hasn't eatten anything since breakfast. "I'm kinda hungry."
"Alright, I'll help you." Emma stated, before going to collect Duke and Piers to head into the cabin with Rose.
Chris watched and stared at the back of the jacket as Rose left. "I'm surprised you still have that," Chris admits.
"Yeah, well, you can thank me later," Claire replies as she once more started to dig through her book bag. "I brought you something, too."
"You didn't have t-" His words fell short as he watched Claire pull a bomber jacket out of her bag.
"I didn't?" Claire asked in mock confusion. "Hm okay guess I'll keep it then."
"No!" Chris quickly protested as he reached for the jacket that was just as quickly pulled out of reach. "How? Where?"
Claire chuckled. "Back then, when I didn't know what happened to you. The first place I went was the Raccoon City Police Department. I saw it by your desk in the STARS office and when I realized you weren't there I took it with me." Claire explained. "I was kinda glad I did, considering they nuked the place shortly after. Anyways I took it home with me and figured I'd give it back to you the next time you visited. So," she paused long enough to offer the jacket to him. "This is close enough."
Chris gingerly accepted the jacket and looked it over, finding that despite its age, it was still in good condition. The warm brown leather was kept clean and well cared for and the printing on the back was still intact showing a blonde pinup style angle holding a bomb with the words Made in Heaven printed above her along with a few stylized bomb decals below her.
"So glad I could reconnect you with your first love," Claire said with a joking smile that earned her a nudge.
"Oh shut up," Chris said through a laugh before trying it on. It was far too hot out for a jacket but at least his younger self had enough foresight to buy a jacket that was a few sizes too big. "But, Thank you."
"No problem," Claire looked around once more. "I'm surprised you were able to get the same cabin. I would have thought they'd renovate the place in the last 30 years..."
"It wasn't too hard," Chris looked around as well. "I didn't have to fight Barry for it, since he's living in Canada now."
Hearing that caused Claire to laugh."I'm going to tell him you said that."
"Don't"
"Fine," Claire relented before she went back to enjoying the sense of nostalgia the campsite brought. "It was sweet of Barry though. Letting us tag along on his family vacations like that."
"Yeah," he agreed while shifting to relax. "Back then, I thought I finally managed to work out a way to take you on vacation after losing mom and dad. Offered to split the cabin with me each year and only asked for fifty bucks... Doing all of this now. I'm realizing how much he foot the bill for me."
"And you know if we say anything now, he'll deny it until he's blue in the face," Claire smirked.
"Stubborn old mule," Chris agreed before pointing at Claire. "Don't tell him."
"Yeah, yeah," Claire waved off the warning. "So is the mighty fisherman going to catch us dinner like old times too?" She asked while closing up her backpack so she could put it over her shoulder.
"Aaah I donno... I wouldn't get my hopes up, It's been a while." Chris' excuses flowed freely.
Claire looked over to the side of the cabin then back. "So you totally didn't rent the fishing pool and tackle box over there. Right?"
"I didn't say I wasn't going to try," Chris adds while scratching at the back of his head.
"Alright I'll let you get to work then. Dinner's in four hours, right?"
Chris winced. "Maybe make that five."
"I'll let Emma know, Good luck," Claire said and gave a wave as she walked into the house. As Claire walked into the cabin, she found the other 3 sitting around the dining room table eating sandwiches. "Alright, so we're maybe having fish for dinner. If he doesn't have anything in 4 hours, Be ready to call in a Pizza."
"Got it," Emma replied gave a thumbs up. "Thanks for the heads-up. Do you want anything in the meantime?"
"Nah I ate on my way over," Claire answered. "I think I'll unpack and take a swim after."
"Okay, we'll be outside after this too, so see you soon," Emma waved as Claire walked away.
"What if I don't want to go outside?" Rose asked through a wince.
"Then you can stay inside. Maybe take a nap," Honestly, a nap sounded pretty good to Emma. With that, the tired mother picked up her son and walked off as well to start getting ready to head outside. She'd need to wear him out if he was going to sleep through the night and in turn, let everyone else sleep too.
Rose grumbled to herself as she was left to her lonesome for the time being. Was it 'later' enough to check the pockets like Aunt Claire suggested? Probably. With that thought, Rose started to root through the pockets, eventually finding a folded envelope. Rose smiled as she unfolded the envelope and opened it. Inside she found a letter, a picture and a smaller envelope that held a gift card.
Happy (early) 4th birthday!
I heard you get to go to school soon. Congrats! You're probably going to want to have a style all your own. So here's a pretty sweet leather jacket that always brought me good luck and some funds to get you started. Get any clothes or a backpack that you think are cool. Or spend it on games, really, whatever floats your boat.
-Aunt Claire
P.S. Take good care of the jacket for me. It has a lot of history.
Rose excitedly danced in her seat. She got money. Aunt Claire really was the coolest. With the distraction of the letter and gift card out of the way, Rose looked over the picture that came with it. A yellowed, desaturated photo showed a much younger Claire and some guy standing next to her. They were both standing with their backs to the photographer to show the back of their jacket and looking over their shoulders as they pointed their thumb at the jacket designs, which made them look like they were flexing.
Rose giggled as she looked the picture over. It was strange to see a younger Auntie, but she seemed so happy in the picture. Rose gently put the picture back in the envelope along with the letter and gift card, so she could put it back in her pocket. With her curiosity satisfied, she got up and picked up her plate from the table, so she could carry it over to the sink and wash it off.
As Rose did this, Emma walked past with Piers and Claire. All three had changed into swimsuits and made their way outside.
"What a nice day," Claire contently enjoyed the warm summer breeze.
"Yeah," Emma agreed as Piers toddled ahead of them, still holding his newest toy with all the excitement in the world.
As Piers hurried over towards the water, he noticed Chris sitting on a folding chair by the edge of the lake with a jacket draped over the back of the chair. He had a colorful stick with a string too! This was quite the exciting development for the toddler, who walked over and held out his toy to show Chris. Look, look, look. I have one too. see?
It took a second, but the bright colors of the toy caught Chris's attention and caused him to look over. "Hey. Are you trying to share?" Chris asked with an amused huff of a chuckle before reaching over to try and take the offered toy.
"Nooo," the toddler whined and quickly withdrew the toy. You look at it. Don't take.
Piers' reaction caused Chris to raise an eyebrow as he stopped and instead messed with Piers' hair. "You had a 4-hour nap in the car, and you're still cranky?"
uuhhh. Of the 25 or so words he knew, none of them fit. "No," Piers repeated. When in doubt, deny.
"Okay," Chris was quickly growing tired of the conversation. "Go... do toddler things," He said as he made a slight shooing motion. Emma was still in sight, he'd at least be able to make sure the kid made it over to her. "Just, don't eat bugs or anything weird." Maybe taking a toddler camping wasn't his best idea... Was it really camping though? they're staying in a cabin.
Piers continued to stare at Chris as he spoke and when it looked like Piers was about to toddle off, instead he sat down by the water. hm. he wasn't quite close enough. Piers scooted a little closer to the water and would try and hold out his stick with a string to imitate Chris. it took a few scoots until he was sitting in the water, but he was eventually able to get the stringy bit into the water too. Once He managed to effectively copy Chris, Piers immediately looked back for some sort of praise or approval. He did it right? good job?
Chris watched this while trying not to laugh. "Okay," Chris put his pole down so he could walk over and pick up Piers. He was going to get hurt if he sat in the water by an active fishing line. Hooks don't discriminate. "Alright you little troublemaker. Let's see if we can catch anything." With that, Chris carried Piers back to his seat, so he could hold the child on his lap to keep an eye on him.
Minutes turned to hours as the line remained still, and the sun was starting to lower in the sky. Piers would occasionally squirm around as Chris recast his line, but ultimately the toddler fell asleep. Honestly so did Chris.
"Hey," Emma said as she and Claire made their way over to check on Chris while toweling off.
Hearing this caused Chris to jolt slightly as he woke up. "Hey."
"So Claire and I were thinking maybe we could cook hot dogs by the fire pit for dinner, and we can do fish tomorrow, does that work?" Emma offered as a gentle attempt to try and suggest that dinner should be sooner rather than later and Pizza meant driving, which she was tired of. sooo.
"Sounds good," He agreed through a yawn while Piers wiggled around to try and get free. Chris Shifted to let Pier's down before he started reeling his line back in once more to his confusion the line started pulling back. "I think I got one" He announced in his shock while trying to reel in whatever it was.
Claire watched as splashing could be seen in the distance, "Yeah, you got something. It looks like it's putting up a fight too."
"It's trying," Chris pulled back on the rod. "it's got to be a good five pounds at least." A wide grin remained plastered on his face as he continued reeling in his catch only for it to very slowly fade as it came to the end of the line and the fish flopped around in the air.
"Five might be a bit generous," Claire said while trying not to laugh.
"Yeah yeah," at least it was something.
Piers, however, was completely enthralled by the wiggly new thing on the end of the string. What is that? it looked slimey and weird, and he wanted to touch. it.
Emma noticed Piers reaching to try and grab the hooked critter. "Is that a fishy?" Emma coached.
"Ishy!" Piers parroted back. It didn't matter what it was called. He saw it, so he wanted it.
"Fine, he can carry it. it's big enough to keep at least," Chris said as he worked to get the fish off the hook and hands it over.
He got a fishy. He needed to go show Rose. "Ooo-see!" Piers turned and immediately started heading for the cabin. "-ishy!" He had a brand-new friend, and it was squishy and wiggly. It was the best day ever.
It didn't take long for Piers to find Rose who was sitting on the couch and trying for the 100th time to send a text.
"Oo-see! Ishy!" he repeated while holding out the fish for her to look at with all the pride and confidence in the world as if he caught it himself.
Rose grimaced at the offered creature. "Ew." She stared at it, then the still proud smile on her brother's face. "I'm not touching it." she said and received no reaction. "... Good job?"
Mission accomplished. Piers accepted the praise and hurried away to go back to the others and show them the fish again. Hm. It wasn't very wiggly anymore. Oh well.
Rose continued to stare as Pier ran out of the door that was left open. Not like it mattered anyway. It's not like they had air conditioning. With that thought, she looked at her phone again to find the same error message that her text failed and that her battery life was slowly dwindling.
"Rose are you awake?" Emma asked as she walked in.
"Yep," Rose replied as she begrudgingly put her phone back in her pocket.
"We're going to be cooking outside today, can you help me carry dinner out?" She requested while gathering paper plates. a good size pack of hot dog buns, hot dogs and condiments along with a bag of marshmallows, chocolate bars and a box of graham crackers.
"Fine," And with that, Rose pushed herself to get up and walk over. It was a weird combination of items, but she wasn't going to judge. Instead, she grabbed a few items and followed Emma outside to find Chris and Claire had already set up a few folding chairs by the fire pit and that Chris was in the process of getting the flame started. Claire was playing with Piers in an attempt to get the now very dead fish away from him.
"Over here," Emma said as she noticed Rose's pause and motioned for the teen to continue to follow her over to one of the chairs that had some weird thin metal fork looking things resting against it. The two put down their collection of food, and the chair was now the unofficial 'table' to keep everything off the ground.
"Alright. Give the fire a few minutes of burning and we should have a big enough flame to cook with." Chris says as he gets up from kneeling by the fire pit so he can help Claire out by prying the fish from the child's tiny but strong grip. This resulted in the child screaming while following Chris back into the cabin.
"Someone is cranky," Claire says through a wince.
"yeah, I should have taken him with us rather than leaving him with Chris. He slept too much," Emma admits with a frown.
"It was nice getting time with you though," Claire made her way over to the supply chair and picked up one of the metal pokers.
"True," Emma was about to grab a metal poker as well when a still upset Piers hurried back out of the cabin and immediately clung to her leg. "Oh goodness, is the world not fair?" Emma asks the whining child. "Rose, could you help me out, please? After you make a hot dog for yourself, can you cook one for Piers too?"
"Yeah fine," Rose agreed and accepted the metal poker from Emma.
"Thanks,"
Piers continued to grumble and whine as Emma picked him up, so she could hold him as she sat in one of the chairs. It wasn't fair, dad broke fishy and made him was his hands. This is the worst day ever and everyone must know he is upset. The child continued to nuzzle his face against his mother to try and wipe away the snot and tears.
"And thank you too," Emma sarcastically remarked, but continued holding Piers all the same.
Rose did as she was told and cooked her own hot dog first. During this time, Chris made his way back to the group and took a seat after gathering a poker and hot dog for himself. One was made for Piers as well. leaving Rose to sit in her chair rather bored as the adults talked about boring stuff.
However, this didn't last forever, as Eventually Emma leaned over to grab at the bag of marshmallows. "Okay, who wants to play a game before dessert?"
"Game?" Rose asked hopefully as she shifted to sit properly once more. While she didn't want to get her hopes up, this was the first hint of entertainment she's had all day.
"Mhm. It's called Shed. Everyone gets a marshmallow and roasts it until it's crispy enough to easily pull off the outer layer. and you keep roasting it to see how many times you can do that with one marshmallow. Roast it too long and the crispy bit will fall into the fire. take it out too soon and you'll lose time." And potentially burn your fingers, but hey that's why mom has a first aid kit. Hopefully, this goes okay. "The one who gets the most layers out of their marshmallow wins."
"What do I win," Rose asks with the unfounded confidence of a teenager.
Claire shrugs. "I'll put in 5 bucks."
"I'll match that," Chris casually agreed while cleaning off his skewer. He was more than willing to take his sister's money.
"Same," Rose chirped.
It's always betting with them. "Alright fine. Same. Winner gets the pot," Emma relents as she carefully opened the bag of marshmallows to take one. Piers snuck one as well and immediately shoved it in his mouth before Emma passed the bag over to Rose. Rose continued the chain of taking a marshmallow and handing the bag around until everyone had one.
"Ready. Set. Go!"
And the race was on. Each of the four intently stared down their marshmallow and watched as the flames caused the soft sugary treat to start to bubble and brown. One layer. Two layers. It had been a good 3 or so minutes, and each person had their own rhythm at this point for checking their marshmallow. Chris had just peeled away a third layer to munch on when an idea started to form, along with a playful grin that could only mean trouble.
Rather than simply put his marshmallow back on the flames to continue letting it cook, he smacked the warm gooey blob on a stick against Emma's marshmallow that had been in the flame for some time, causing the layer to stick and allowing him to pull it over to eat.
"Cheater," Emma accused with stunned disbelief, which caused the others to start laughing.
"you have the baby," He half-heartedly argued as he put his marshmallow back into the flames and quickly moved it out of the way of retaliation from Claire.
"He is not helping," Emma countered, batting his marshmallow with her own, though nothing came of it.
Rose continued to laugh as she watched the childish adults. after a moment of hesitation she tried the same trick, smacking her marshmallow against Claire's only for the layer she pulled off to end up in the fire.
"When did this turn into a contact sport?" Emma asked through amused laughter while trying to keep her marshmallow out of the way of oncoming attacks.
In all the excitement Rose had forgotten to actually take her marshmallow out of the flame for some time, the second she did she noticed that the fire came with it. "My marshmallow!"
"Quick, blow it out," Chris instructed through his own giggle fit.
Rose followed the instruction and tried to save her marshmallow, only to find a charred mass. "Aw..."
"It's okay Rosey here," Emma reached over and peeled off the charred layer with ease and popped it into her mouth. "See good as new keep trying."
"Okay," Rose started to do so before realizing that Emma stole one of her layers. "Hey wait a minute! That was mine!"
"Oh alright, that one still counts as yours," she smiled all the same and watched her family continue to laugh and play. This was a good idea.
'*'*'*'*'
Three days passed since then. Each day was a little lazier than the last. Rose was contently resting under a tree. "Guess this isn't so bad," She said through a yawn. It was, admittedly, different from the BSAA missions and much more relaxing. She was still waiting around and didn't have a ton to do, but it wasn't because she was being left behind. The food was leagues better than the plastic bag food that they have to eat on missions too.
Speaking of food, the yummy scent of cooking burgers and veggies from the grill announced the impending arrival of lunchtime. Sure enough, Chris was doing his best to remember the quick lesson he'd gotten from Emma's father all those years ago and so far, he was doing rather well. Kind of. Some burgers had a bit more, character, than others, but they were all edible so that's what mattered.
"Hey Em, can you set the picnic table?" Chris shouts while looking around for her. While doing so a glimpse of a dark black armored vehicle caught his attention. "oh no..." Just keep going. be a coincidence, please.
Yet, it wasn't. the vehicle parked next to his car and two BSAA garbed soldiers hurried out.
"Captain Redfield, Sir," the first greeted.
"At ease."
"HQ has been trying to reach you," the second started to explain.
"I'm on scheduled leave, I made it clear I'd be off grid," Chris stated with an annoyed frown. What the hell could be this important? Okay, a lot of things, but. Now? He rarely if ever too vacations. Just let him have this. Why did he have to tell them where he was going...
"Hound Wolf Squad is needed, an Emergency has come up. We've been instructed to collect you and Rosemary and take you to the nearest airfield to get you back to HQ as quickly as possible."
"Hold on, what's going on? There has to be another team that can go," he continued to protest.
"We can explain on the way back, sir," the first states. "Security protocol requires that we only discuss matters in a secure location."
"I know the protocols. I helped write them," He irritatedly replied while pinching the bridge of his nose. Why did he insist on that rule? He breathed a tired sigh and turned his attention back to the Grill to start moving the semi-burnt beef patties onto a plate that had been sitting off to the side.
"... Sir?"
"I'm working on it," Chris snapped back with an irritated grumble. At least let him get the food off the grill so he doesn't burn the place down. was that too much to ask? Once that was taken care of, he turned off the grill and walked past the two unfortunate souls that had been sent to collect him. He stopped in the open doorway of the cabin. "Em! Claire!" He paused, how did he tell them... "I gotta head out. Something came up at work."
"What?" Emma quickly exited their room upon hearing that and walked over, only to stop once the two soldier were visible behind him. "Oh... I. Well," her expression fell as words failed her. "Stay safe, Okay?"
"We'll be back soon," He replies, silently confirming what Emma was dreading. Rose was going with. Chris turned and made his way back to the soldiers while scanning the area for Rose. Once he saw her, he started walking over. "Rose! Look alive. We're heading out."
"Huh?" hearing this caused Rose to look over and to her dismay there was the BSAA. The teen rolled her eyes and got up. She probably just had to go and have more tests done. "What's up?" She asked after making her way over.
"We have work to do." Chris replied and put a hand on her shoulder to get her to walk with him and the soldiers over to the car.
Oh boy, she gets to go camp somewhere else. great. "What about my stuff?" She asked as they both got into the back seats while the soldiers sat in the front.
"Emma will take care of it," Chris waited until they were on the road and moving. "So, now will you tell us what's going on?"
After a moment of hesitation and receiving a nod of approval from the other soldier, the one riding in the passenger seat spoke up. "The Lab you were scheduled to raid in a week has become an active infection site. it's getting out of hand and quickly. Your team was already scheduled to head that way, so the Director wanted to send you out to avoid any massive rescheduling."
"Shit..." Chris thought it over. "How long has the Infection site been active?" Chris asked while trying to formulate a plan from what he already knew.
the passenger seat soldier handed over a manila envelope. "Roughly 8 hours now, sir."
"It's a 4-hour flight back to HQ and another 12 after that." Chris grumbled. This was bad. It will be active and uncontrolled for at least 24 hours at that point. Dear God, how was he going to keep Rose safe... There's no way they'll have the time to set up an outpost for her to stay a-
"Just call ahead," Rose piped up, which caused Chris and the passenger seat soldier to turn and look at her with raised eyebrows. "Have Umber Eye start heading out with the rest of the team. We can meet them at the East Coast base and save four hours that way, since we'll both be actively moving in the right direction sooner..."
It took a moment to process what was said, but once it sunk in, Chris spoke up."You heard her. Get to work."
"Yes Sir."
As the soldiers were busy with phone calls and navigation, Chris looked back at Rose with continued curiosity. "What brought that up?"
"... It's basic geometry. Right now we're stuck in a triangle with Us, Hound Wolf and the infection site making the 3 Vertex. The distance between each make the 3 sides," Rose paused, feeling somewhat uncomfortable under Chris's stare. "It's generally accepted that it's not possible for the total of the adjacent and opposite to be less than the Hypotenuse. So if we want to save time, we need to move along the hypotenuse."
Huh. "That's some quick thinking," Was this really the same kid who was struggling with multiplication a few years ago? "Good job." He praised with notable pride in his tone. That was one problem handled at least. New-found resolve set in. He could do this. He'd keep her safe. He promised.
'*'*'*'*'
Shakey nerves remained all the same as panic slowly gnawed away at the back of Chris's mind. The flight to the East Coast base and the more of the flight across the Atlantic left him feeling like his back was coated in a layer of sharp pins. He didn't have room for the luxury of self-doubt, he needed to lead his team.
"Arriving on site in T-minus 15 minutes. Expect a bumpy arrival, we'll be using their landing pad," Lobo warned through the team's headsets.
Chris allowed himself the chance to take a deep breath. "Everyone, be ready to enter formation on touch down. Expect hostiles as soon as we land. Rose, you remember what to do, right?" He asked as he looked at her. Geared up like the rest of them with a helmet that was half a size too big. The sight of her holding a gun left his stomach turning.
"We went over this like 20 times already," Rose protested. Why was he always so intent on babying her? She trained, didn't she?
"Repeat it back to me then. What are you supposed to do?"
"Stay towards the center of the team. No running off on my own unless you tell me to. If I see something moving, shot it. If you tell me to hide. Hide." Rose droned back the instructions.
"Good," He affirmed. Situations like this can make even the best of soldiers panic and act irrationally, he needed those instructions ingrained into her mind so they're the first thing she thinks of.
Rose looked down at the pistol in her hands. He never let her carry during missions. As much as she hated to admit it, all of this starting to scare her. She wasn't stupid, he was nervous and she knew it. This was Chris though, he never gets shaken up. So what changed?
"You remember how to switch out your magazine ri-"
"I know what I'm doing," Rose snippily replied as the constant questioning left her more and more anxious. Okay. How does she reload. Um. Make sure the slide is locked back. Check that the pistol is actually empty, then push the release, put in a new magazine, release the slide.
Chris bit his tongue to keep from snapping at her in return and focused on checking his own gear as time quickly counted down. The closer they got, the bumpier the ride got as defensive patterns were used to keep them from being an easy target. Speed up slowdown swivel here and there until a jolting bump announced the helicopter was on the ground.
"On the count of three, you follow my lead," Chris shouted over the sound of the slowing engine. "Three, two, one, Move!"
The door flew open and they were met with immediate retaliation.
"What the actual hell. I thought this was a hot spot. What are they shooting at us for?!" Canine shouted in annoyance as they had clear enough ground just to get out.
"Some people just want to watch the world burn and this is their front-row seat," Lobo replied as the team started to take their formation with Rose at the center to keep her as protected as possible.
Step by step and bullet by bullet, the team pressed their way into the lab that appeared to be running on emergency power only, as dim red lights illuminated their path past newly decaying corpses.
Rose found herself quickly snapping to look in any direction she heard sound from as her breathing slowly began to labor. She could do this. Just breathe. Just focus. They'd barely been in the building for 15 minutes, yet the stress made it feel like a decade.
"Door to your right," Night Howl stated as he brought the potential path to the group's attention.
"Breaching in 3, 2, 1" Chris Kicked the door open finding a decent size supply closet. The team made their way inside, barricading it behind them. "Alright. Catch your breaths, reload we're moving on in 4 minutes understood?"
"Yes sir"
As everyone took the time to work with their gear, Umber eye spoke up. "I hate to do this Alpha but, something's not right here," He reluctantly stated as he reloaded his various arms. "It's been 24 hours since the infection started. There should be crimson heads and signs of civilian barricades. Not a single person is trying to get out of the way or surrender for help, something is wrong."
"You noticed it too?" Lobo asks with reverent concern. "I mean some of them are clearly infected. brain-dead is as brain-dead does. The one that aren't... They're shooting, but they're not even ducking out of the way when we fire back... no one here is showing any indication of self-preservation."
"You think they're all bioweapon?" Chris asked and Rose flinched.
"The ones at the village were able to use crude weapons they had the same sort of fighting mentality they built shelter, but once they were in a fight they didn't duck or hide." Night Howl explained before looking at the group. "I think it mutated. Someone is controlling it. Much more efficiently than what Miranda was before."
Chris's head swayed for a moment as he tried to think of a plan. "Alright. We stick to the plan, we clear out the infected and bring back a few corpses for testing. See if we can figure out what we're up against here. Understood?"
"Yes sir,"
"Alright. Times up get ready to follow my lead as soon as that barricade is down," Chris ordered, and the team moved to clear the path, so Chris could open the door. After another count down, the descent into hell began anew.
Pools of blood were masked by the eerie dim red lights and they continued to clear through room after room.
"Door to your left," Night Howl announced and the usual breaching procedure commenced with Chris kicking down the door. This time a large open testing center could be found. Unlike the rest of the facility this area showed signs of a struggle. Equipment was smashed, walls were scratched and splattered with blood.
The air felt thick from the deafening silence and unsettling sense of calm, despite the mangled bodies that littered the floor. "Stay alert," Chris quietly warned as the team moved closer together to make a tighter barrier.
As they moved further in to the room, a quiet whimpering stuttered inhale of breath could be heard. "Is someone crying?" Rose quietly asked as she started to recognize the sound.
"Might be a civilian..." Umber eye whispered, but looked to Chris for final say on what to do.
"If you see something, say so. We're not here for a rescue mission, so they'll need to come to us," Chris said and the team presses on. He didn't have to wait long though as the flashlight mounted to his rifle found a tall lanky bloodstained figure standing perfectly straight toward the back of the room. The figure was holding their face and shaking, making it all the clearer that they were the source of the whining sobs.
Chris was about to speak as he slowly remembered he'd seen this figure before. In a picture attached to a report where a single word had been written in pen. Medusa. "Oh shi-"
The creature moved its hands away from its face, showing three sunken eyes and no mouth.
"Open fire!" Chris shouted while doing exactly that. Rose ducked and curled up instead, as the rest of the team did as they were instructed.
A banshee like screeching rang through the air as the creature's form became blurry. One second it was there, the next it was gone and back again in another location, then gone again. The ground around them began to shake and pull a part, forcing them away from each other. and into a seemingly endless darkness.
Chris, like the others, found himself completely alone in a dark and empty void that grew colder and colder to the point he could see his breath. "Rose! Rose where are you?!"
nothing.
"Damn it!" Despite urging his body to move forward, he found himself frozen in fear. "Umber eye? Lobo, Night Howl, Canine?! Anyone!" He shouted.
A calm even voice replied from behind him. "What about me?"
Standing at the front of a group of long departed faces was Ethan Winters.
"Ethan?" Chris paused. No. He'd been here before. He'd felt this. before. "No." He winced as he tried to push through the Illusion, causing the friendly face to warp and crack, becoming more and more doll like. "Damn it not again. This ends here!" Chris Readied his weapon.
As he did so Rose was similarly left alone in the expansive darkness. "No. Nonono," Rose continued to try and cover her ears and kept her eyes tightly shut, though it seemed to do nothing to dampen the aggressive consistent ringing screech of the creature. As panic welled up, she allowed herself to scream back at the shrieking creature. As her shouting began to match the pitch and volume of the monster's the illusion it created began to break and fall away.
Chris blinked, and as he did so he found himself facing his own team, who all had turned to face each other with weapons at the ready.
"What the fuck," Lobo stumbled back in shock as he quickly lowered his aim.
"Watch out!" Umber eye warned and quickly fired at the creature that had been standing behind Lobo.
Hearing the familiar voices was enough to get Rose to open her eyes and stop screaming. Everyone was back. and yet slowly but surely the darkness began to slowly creep back around them.
"Everyone stay sharp! it's an illusion! Rose! I don't know what you did, but keep doing it!" Chris ordered.
Rose rapidly nodded before closing her eyes again. She needed time to breathe, and as she did so, the adults were left to their separate purgatories once more. One more Deep breath and Rose started to scream again. As she did so she could feel every fiber of her being being to ache in pain which caused her to start to sob.
As she screamed, the others would have the chance to fight, but the pain would inevitably be too much and she'd need to stop. Scream and fight then sob and fight and scream and fight. the cycle continued for what felt like ages.
By the third round of this, Chris came to the realization they were making no progress. "Retreat! Fall back, we need to get out of here NOW," The longer they were here, the more and more pieces fell together that this had been a trap the whole time. the building was intact, no one was running because they were all supposed to be here to begin with. The only room that was damaged was this one.
"Let's go!" Umber eye agreed followed by a course of agreement as Chris picked up Rose.
"Cover me!" Chris barked as they tried to use the last bit of time that rose bought them to get out of the room. Did her hair get longer? God, he was going crazy.
Leaving proved more difficult than getting in, making it all the clearer that they were supposed to get it. It was all part of a plan that had been laid out just for them. Each time the darkness started to creep in closer and hide the looming threats around them, Rose would scream as long as she could to drown out the monster's cry. What previously took them 20 minutes to clear through, took 40 minutes to back track between dodging attacks and ducking out of the line of fire.
Salvation came in the form of a door that led to the blinding, sunlit airfield.
"Run for it! Go go go!" Chris ordered as the pack began to sprint back to the helicopter. "Lobo get us in the air!"
"On it boss! clear a path for me!" Lobo shouted back, earning confirmation from the remaining 3 who did exactly that. Clearing a path and taking down hostiles that were blocking the way. Lobo was the first to jump in, and the others filed in after. once everyone was inside, Umber eye slammed the door shut behind them, giving Chris time to focus on putting Rose down and bucking her in to her seat.
"Shhh shshsh. It's okay. It's okay now," He quietly urged as his previous observation was proven correct. Her hair did get longer. A good foot longer, actually. "You're safe. It's okay."
"Boss, what are we going to do about the infection?" Canine asks as slowly, but surely, Lobo managed to get the helicopter into the air as the occasional ping of a bullet striking the craft could be heard.
"Call it in to HQ. It's The European branch's problem at this point. They're the ones that said we're not allowed to bring high-grade explosives with us anymore, so they can get rid of it."
So yeah. I'm kind of doubling down on Rose having advanced aging at the moment since this is a scene I've been wanting to write and kind of hinting at. I really really. REALLY wanted to write an Alcina+Donna+Miranda amalgamation. So I went ahead and included the Medusa vs Rose content because there is still a way for me to go about this while respecting canon lore.
Now for the poll, Here are the options I managed to very quickly write up that won't require me to go back and re-write about 60% of the story.
Option A: Flip off CapCom in return and stick to the original plan. Keep the advanced aging, have Rebecca's cure work, but Rose's powers remain and the story pauses at chapter 100. Once the DLC drops and I have enough time to really dive into it, add 6 more chapters at minimum to cover that. She goes to school tires to live a normal life and gets bullied, resulting in further hated of her powers and leads into Shadow of rose DLC. The only real canon divergence here would be that events happen out of order. Rose will still be 16 when RE9 starts.
Option B: Pull a McGuffin and try to as gracefully as possible veer back towards canon lore territory in the next 8 chapters. While the trailer said the DLC happened 16 years after, it didn't explain what happened during those 16 years, so it's technically possible she did have an aging problem during that time so long as it was fixed. So. Have Rebecca return with a cure and explain that while it works in theory, she's not sure what will happen in application. It results in Rose Crystallizing. The crystal breaks, revealing a 4yr old Rose with no memories. Chris and Emma get a second chance with raising Rose and we're not really going to be able to use the DLC plot until well after RE9 is released by keeping things in order.
Option C: A bit of both. This is definitely the messier option. Stick to the current plan for now, since Capcom is known for being misleading in their promotional material. Pause at chapter 100 and once the DLC comes out, check to confirm that rose doesn't have advanced aging. If there are Hard dates(ex: documents dated 2037) in the DLC, that confirms she does not have advanced aging and we need to adjust course. So, have Rebecca make a medicine for now, and add a bonus chapter after if age correcting is needed where Rebecca makes a shot that could remove Rose's dependency on the medicine it works but reverts her to a 4-year-old. We still can't use shadow of rose until after RE9 is released in this scenario, since the goal is fixing the timeline.
You can vote here or in a comment on the chapter
strawpoll .me/46080931
