Oh my gosh. Okay. So. -claps hands together- Shadow of Rose is perfection. I had a few things I needed to go back and edit. For example, Sasha's name is now Lucy since Capcom gave the voice from the memories a name. Other than that, let's get into these DLC chapters cause we are set up very nicely. Spoiler warning. This does include info from Shadow of Rose going forward. If you do not want spoilers for that DLC please wait to continue reading until you've finished playing.
Song Suggestions: It's my party by Lesley Gore
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Capcom is the owner of Resident Evil. I just like playing in their sandbox. Fair warning this chapter contains moments of medical distress and bullying. I'll include a spark notes version at the end in case you want to check and see if you should skip the chapter.
The small snow family continued to stand guard outside of the Redfield house as warm, comforting light from the windows illuminated the frosty protectors. While night had blanketed the neighborhood and invited sleep, the invitation was ignored by most as new years eve had begun. An ever-tired Chris sat on the couch, leaning enough to rest the back of his head on the couch and close his eyes as his phone played the usual radio station.
"Looks like it's past someone's bedtime. Are you sure you don't want to go to sleep?" Rose teasingly asked Chris from her place sitting on the other couch next to Duke.
"I'm fine, just resting my eyes," Chris replied while annunciating his words to try and hide any grogginess.
"Also called sleeping," Rose rebutted but returned her focus to her phone to try and continue to play her game. A task that was much more difficult thanks to the toddler that had curled up in her lap and fallen asleep.
"Sure," He folded his arms and shifted to get more comfortable.
As he did so, Emma walked over with the traditional bottle of wine and two glasses to place them next to Chris's phone. "Speaking of sleepy. Looks like Piers conked out." Once her hands were free, she walked over to Rose. "Thanks for watching him. Here, I'll take him to his room."
"It's okay. I don't mind," Rose quietly stated to avoid waking the sleeping toddler but handed him over to Emma all the same.
Duke got up and followed Emma as she walked away. Shortly after, the annoying commercial jingles came to an end, and the radio hosts returned. "Brr, it sure is cold outside tonight, isn't it Jim?"
"It is, though I suppose that can't be helped with the rain,"
Hearing this caused Chris to raise an eyebrow as an eye peeked open to check the window. "It's raining?"
"Hmm," Rose shifted to look out the window as well. "Hard to say. I don't see anything. It's either a mist, or it's just raining where ever they are."
"Hm," Well fair enough, rain happens. Looking over at Rose caused a new question to come to mind. "Don't you have school tomorrow or something?"
"Nope. Winter vacation goes until the 5th." Rose happily replied as she relaxed and once more focused on her game. "pretty sure you have work though."
Chris cleared his throat as he shifted to sit up properly. "Yeah well. I always have that. Speaking of. You'll need to start coming into the BSAA again for checkups soon. The medical ward is back intact. After that, you'll be able to start training again with the rest of the team."
Rose winced. "Do I have to?"
"You need to train to be ready for missions," Chris frowned as he moved to rest his elbows on his knees.
"I don't know if I really want to keep doing those though," Rose hesitantly replied as she curled up to hold her legs while pretending to continue playing her game.
"What's this about school starting soon?" Emma asked as she walked back in to cut the conversation off there. She'd heard enough to know it was about to devolve into an argument. "Are you excited to go back?"
"To school? Yeah," Rose clarified while Emma took her seat next to Chris. "I got invited to a birthday party that's supposed to be coming up soon."
"Birthday parties are fun," Let's stick with that subject; That's not going to cause shouting at midnight, Emma contently thought.
Before Rose could get in another word, the radio cut in. "Let's start that countdown, Jim," the female announcer cheered and shortly after, a crowd around them could be heard chanting the numbers with them.
As the countdown continued and while Chris was distracted with getting the wine bottle open, Rose got up and walked over to the kitchen to get a glass of her own. She wasn't sure where the wine glasses were, so a regular cup would do just as well.
Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
"Happy New Years!" The radio cheered. Rose stuck her tongue out in disgust as she noticed her parents kiss while she walked back over. It proved to only be a short distraction for the pair.
"A cup?" Emma asked as she noticed Rose walk over to the coffee table where the half-empty wine bottle was resting with their filled glasses.
"Yeah, you forgot to get one for me," Rose answered, only for Emma to reach forward and move the wine bottle to the other side of the table.
"Nope. No. I told you no at thanksgiving. You're not old enough yet," Emma repeated while remaining ready to move the bottle again if Rose grabbed for it. "There's some soda in the fridge."
Rose glanced from her empty cup to Chris a few times while staying in place.
Chris heaved a tired sigh before leaning forward to pick up the two glasses and offering one to Emma. "Hey Em?"
Emma accepted the glass. "Hm?"
A moment of hesitation was filled by Chris sipping at his glass. "Remind me, how old were you when you started drinking?"
Hearing the question and Rose's snickering caused Emma's eyes to widen in shock. "That. Is not the point." You have five seconds to about-face.
"I'm just thinking out loud," He answered. "It's better for her to try this shit if she's with us than run off to do that anyways on her own."
Low blow. "Fine. Fine," he better not be expecting anything later.
"Really?" Rose asked as she looked between the two to see if there was some sort of catch.
"Go ahead. But only pour a little so you can try it," Emma reluctantly relented.
Rose happily obliged and poured a swigs worth into her cup.
"To a year of good health and prosperity," Chris stated while holding out his glass.
"Cheers," Emma replied as she and Rose clinked their glass and cup against his.
Before any further warning or instruction could be given, rose downed the full content in one gulp only to cough and sputter.
"That is not how you drink wine," Chris stated while suppressing a chuckle. "You're supposed to sip at it."
"It tastes awful," Rose managed to reply while covering her mouth to prepare for any remaining coughing from the weird tingling sensation. It didn't burn, but it certainly felt weird.
Okay. Maybe Chris had a point. "Try again. Sip at it this time," Emma instructed as she pushed back her earlier crankiness. Emma waited for Rose to refill her small portion and take a seat again. "So you were saying something about a birthday party?" It was good to hear she was making friends.
"Yeah, it's a sleepover. And she said there would be lots of other kids from my grade too. She's gonna help me make more friends," Rose explained with continued excitement.
"A sleepover?"Chris asked as his eyebrows knit together.
Oh no. Emma nudged Chris.
"What are you nudging me for? You know why she can't do that." Chris asked as he turned his attention to Emma. "The BSAA was just attacked. It's not safe. How would she be monitored?"
"What?" Rose whined before looking at Emma as well. "Mom. come on. Please. That was months ago. I already said I could go. This is my chance to make more friends." She pleaded with panicked fear.
"Your father has a fair point," Emma admitted as she bobbed her head. While she partially wanted to take Rose's side because of the wine kerfuffle, She honestly didn't feel any more comfortable about that than he did.
"Or. Counteroffer. Maybe I don't need to be monitored? I'm old enough to be on my own for a night," Rose insisted as she scrunched her nose.
"That's not a counteroffer," Chris grumbled as he took a sip from his own glass to avoid saying anything else.
"I'd feel more comfortable if Gary was at least nearby. Or maybe someone from Hound Wolf if he's got other assignments. But. I do agree that you're old enough to be on your own for a short period of time. It's just not safe to test that right now when there's an active threat." Emma stated, trying to offer a more genuine middle ground between the two since arguing seemed inevitable despite her earlier efforts. "If they're at a distance and outside, they'll avoid being a distraction."
"There's always an active threat." Rose pouted before sipping at the weird grape juice again. Yeah, sipping didn't make it taste better.
"I know Rosey," Emma sympathetically replied. "If you want to go though, I think we both agree someone needs to be nearby."
"Agreed," Chris confirmed.
"If the others see Gary, they're going to think I'm weird. People are already starting to figure out that he's following me around the school." Rose pushed back once more.
"Well, It's Gary, a member of hound wolf, or I can go with," Chris offered.
"Gary's fine."
Yeah, he figured. "Alright. When you know the date, let us know, and we'll work out who has time to watch from a distance.
'*'*'*'*'
Rose relished each of her remaining days of winter vacation. Sure she still had homework to do, but she got a break from carrying around her book bag and had time to relax and mess around with her new presents. Redecorating her room a few times before setting on its new order and contently playing her game with Summer when Piers wasn't pulling on her hair or arm to get her attention.
But as nice as it was, the break soon came to an end, and she happily made her way through the halls toward her homeroom. While rounding a corner towards the staircase, Rose caught a glimpse of a tall, dark figure standing in the corner, which caused her to jolt. "What the-" She quickly turned to more actively look at the corner and found no one was there.
"...Gary this isn't funny," Rose whispered to herself as she walked over to the corner to try and see if she could figure out where her usual shadow when. While investigating, the same sense of being watched pricked the back of her neck as she could see the figure staring at her from the corner of her eye. Just like last time, the second she tried to face them, they were gone.
"What is she doing?"
"Is there something over there?"
"I don't see anything."
"Why is she staring into space like that?"
Hearing the whispers of other students passing by snapped Rose out of it, but even then, she could still see and feel the figure watching her. Despite her attempts to ignore it, her steps slowly increased from a calm walk to a brisk jog to get to her homeroom class as quickly as possible.
"Rose? No running in the hallway. What's wrong?" asked her homeroom teacher who was waiting by the door and marking down the attendance as students entered the room.
"Sorry Mrs. Bezio. I- Hm. I think someone's following me," Rose squeaked out. If it was Gary he'd have to come out and say something now. to keep his cover and stop scaring her.
"I donno. They're wearing all black. They're over there," Rose explained while trying to subtly gesture to the person that kept showing up in her peripherals.
Mrs. Bezio looked over before looking at Rose with a mixture of concern and annoyance. "No one's there."
"What?" Rose quickly turned, and just like before, no one was there. But there had to be. They were there when she pointed them out to the teacher. There couldn't just be no one.
"Maybe you should go to the nurse. They can send you home for the day and get some rest,"
"No! No. I-I'm fine. Honest," Rose insisted.
"Rose, if you're seeing things, that's not fine," The teacher frowned while some chattering could be heard from the other students in the class and around her in the hall.
She's seeing things?
She's the one that caused Francis to freak out before, right?
Do you think she can see ghosts or something?
What a freak.
"It was just a prank. Haha. gotcha," Rose quickly said to cover for herself. She only barely got Chris and Emma to agree to let her go to the sleepover.
"That isn't funny. Go take your seat." Mrs. Bezio sharply instructed as she marked Rose as present.
The figure, however, did not go away. It would give her brief moments of respite. Often for hours at a time, but for just as long, it would loom in the distance. Just far enough away that it was hard to make out any feature. As the days continued, Rose pushed past the unwanted guest. Strangely enough, while the figure was omnipresent, even in her own home. Lucy was almost impossible to find. Not that she was completely gone. Rose would still see her in the halls, but whenever she tried catching up, it was like Lucy was mad at her again. Lucy would seemingly disappear and was nowhere to be seen during lunch.
Three days of effort eventually produced results as Rose found Lucy in the lunch line.
"Lucy, hey. Wait up," Rose called as she hurried over with her own tray. This time, Lucy complied.
"Hey, Rose," Lucy replied with an unusually strained smile. "Long time no see. How was your vacation?"
"It was fine. How about yours?" Rose asked and motioned for Lucy to walk with her.
"It was fine," She agreed and hesitantly followed Rose to sit together, feeling dozens of eyes on her.
"Well, that's good. So about your birthday. When is that?" Rose asked as they sat down and put their bookbags down next to their seats.
"My birthday?"
"Yeah, you mentioned your 16th birthday is coming up. You said I should come and that you wanted me to meet your friends?" Rose explained with a raised eyebrow.
"Right! Yeah. Um." She paused to think it over. "Yeah, here. almost forgot." She admitted as she shifted to take a neatly printed piece of card stock from her backpack and handed it to Rose. "That has all the information you should need on it."
Rose happily accepted the paper and looked it over. The party was on the 17th, A little over a week away. "Thanks, I'll make sure to be there."
"Great. Oh, um. I think I see someone calling for me. I gotta go. Talk to you later," Lucy said as she quickly packed up.
"Oh. O-okay, see you later," Rose waved as Lucy hurried off. Maybe she could see the figure too? A breath of defeat escaped her as she focused on eating her lunch by herself. She'd go to the party, and everything would be fine. She'll get Lucy a really cool gift, and whatever is going on will stop.
Rose kept repeating this to herself as she made it through the rest of the day. She was excited, she was happy, and she was fine. There wasn't a creepy figure that would randomly appear and watch her. Everything was great. She could handle this.
Classes commenced, Homework was assigned, and everyone continued to give her a wide birth. It made walking through the hallways easier, at least, and it made her walk to the bus that much faster too. Which was appreciated.
One arduous bus ride later and Rose found herself back at home. Lonely, no one else around, home. Rose paid Duke's attention fee, giving him a few pats and a belly rub before taking off her shoes and heading over to the dining room table, where she got started on her homework for the day. She tapped her pencil against the table as she tried to focus and ignore the figure that just reappeared. Rose sneered as she got up and walked over to go and check her medicine box. Sure enough, the box labeled 'Wednesday' was empty. She kept checking it wasn't that she forgot to take her medicine. She'd been pretty consistent with that. Hell, she never missed a day.
Frustrated by this, Rose didn't bother turning to face them, knowing full well they'd disappear if she did. "Would you please just leave me alone!" She shouted.
As always. she received no reply. The house remained quiet and empty, leaving Rose to grumble to herself as she went back to the table to continue her homework. However, the lonely status of the house only lasted for a few hours before the garage door was heard.
"We're home," Emma called into the house.
"Osey!" Piers happily cheered as he hurried over to the table.
"Welcome back," Rose replied while focusing on her history assignment. "Can I borrow your laptop later? I have an essay for English class."
"Sure," Emma agreed and walked over as well. "How was school? Were you able to find out what day the party is?"
"Oh, yeah that. Here," Rose said as she handed over the invitation that Lucy gave her. "Can we go shopping after dinner?"
"Hmm," Emma read over the invitation and looked at Rose's sunken face. She'd been tired for some time. She's pushing herself too hard... "How about you take a break from your homework, we go shopping now, and we can pick up some dinner on the way back?"
"Really?" Rose asked as she straightened her posture in hopeful excitement.
"Yep, Piers still has his shoes on," Emma leaned to check. "Well. One of them." He'd probably fuss about going back into the car, too, but that's not for Rose to worry about. She needed a break.
"Sweet!" Rose quickly got up to go put her own shoes back on as well.
While Rose did this, Emma dug through her purse to get her phone. "I'll give you a budget of thirty dollars for your friend's gift. If you want to get her anything more expensive than that, you'll need to cover the difference." She explained as she unlocked her phone.
[Emma] Hey, are you still at the office?
[Chris] Yeah. I won't have leave for a few more days. What's up?
[Emma] Can you talk to Gary about the party? Just heard back from Rose. It's on the 17th.
[Chris] That's shorter notice than I was expecting... I'll see what I can do.
Once that conversation was taken care of, Emma found Pier's missing shoe and helped him back into the car, where Rose was already waiting in the passenger seat. Emma made her way over to the driver's side, and the family was on their way. "So, what do you want for dinner?" She asked to try and fill the time.
"Hmm. Something spicy?" Rose suggested.
"Spicy? hm." Emma thought it over. "There's that Indian place down the road from the target. Or we could get hot wings."
"They have garlic naan at the Indian restaurant, right?"
"Yep, pretty sure they do," Emma confirmed. If not, it wouldn't be hard to put a bit of garlic powder on after.
"Hmmm." Rose peeked at her little brother from the rearview mirror. Did they have a kid's menu? They didn't order from there often, so there's a good chance they didn't... "Wings."
Emma laughed at the sudden answer. "I thought you wanted garlic naan?"
"Well. yeah." Rose hesitated. "I changed my mind."
"Okay," Emma smiled all the same as she focused on getting them to the store. Finding a parking spot proved to be a difficult task, but before long, the car was parked, and a shopping cart was acquired so the three could look around. "So. What would your friend like?"
"Um," Rose paused and looked around. What did she like? They mostly just talked about school. "Uhhh."
"Why don't we walk around and see if anything catches your attention," Emma suggested earning a nod from Rose.
This was her first birthday party, and she couldn't afford to mess this up. Rose intently looked around as they went through various isles of the store.
Thirty minutes passed. Then an hour. Two hours of looking, and they had nothing aside from a few bits and bobs that Emma put into the cart.
"What about a gift card?" Emma suggested as they made their third run through the toy isles.
"Too impersonal," Rose replied.
"You don't seem to mind getting them," Emma pointed out with a concerned frown. Did she mind?
"I mean, sure, but I wanna make a good impression, is all," Rose replied as Emma's phone went off.
Emma picked it up to check it.
[Chris] Bad news, Gary can't do it. Work stuff. Good news, Canine agreed to watch her since he has that day off.
Well, that was one problem resolved. Now to fix the one that was standing in the way of dinner. "It's a sleepover, right? What about a spa kit? Some face masks, Nail polish, and stuff like that. You can pick out all the different parts, and it will be personalized."
Rose paused to think it over. "You think that will work?"
"Yeah, we can pick out a nice basket to put it all in, and she can use it right away at the party. Or a bath bomb-making kit," Emma further suggested. It's a teenage girl. She's probably all for the whole cheap glitter body spray thing because it makes them feel like an adult when it's solidly a teen product.
"Okay, let's try that," Rose happily agreed.
'*'*'*'*'
The next week seemed to fly by as excitement and dread both swirled around in Rose's mind. The school day came and went. She hurried to her room to pack her bag, and before long, Canine arrived to drive her over to the party. A drive that was filled by Rose repeating what was and was not allowed until the car stopped near Lucy's house.
"Here we are, one sleepover party for street wolf," Canine stated before scratching at the beginning of some scruff. These longer hours made it difficult to do, well. Anything. He'd take care of that once he got home.
"Thanks. What are the rules again?" Rose asked to see if Canine had been paying attention.
"I am not to approach the house and avoid drawing attention to myself by constantly watching the house," Canine repeated the rules that Rose insisted on, even if it was already the plan for this particular job. "Trust me; I'm not going to put myself at risk of getting arrested. But if something happens, I will be stepping in."
Rose winced hearing that. "Just. Try and be subtle. Please?" She requested through a grimace. "Like. Just say you're my Uncle K and that my parents asked you to pick me up because of family matters."
"Uncle K?" Canine asked with an amused smile. Not that he minded the title, but. "You realize I do have a real name besides canine, right?"
This caused Rose to pause. She had only ever heard people call him Canine. "Well, Uncle K sounds cooler," Rose stated in an attempt to cover for the fact she didn't know his name.
"Alright, alright." He conceded. "Well, Maybe I should go with you to drop you off, so the parents are at least familiar with me. It's gonna be weird if this random guy shows up claiming to be someone's uncle when they've never met before."
"The goal is to avoid having to claim you're my uncle," Rose pointed out as she pushed through another dizzy spell. Of course, this had to happen today. The figure hadn't shown up all day, but instead, her head was spinning. "It's gonna be fine." A little dizzy spell wasn't going to stop her. She just needed to get inside, sit down, and it would pass. She was probably just carsick. All day. "Besides, I have my phone in my bag, and mom made me pack an emergency pack. If something starts going weird, I'll just call you and come out on my own. I am an adult; I can handle this."
"Fair enough," Even he had to admit that the BSAA was a little too strict with her. She would probably be fine. "Have a good time. Try and sneak me a slice of pizza or something."
"Deal, but later," Rose agreed as she put her bag over her shoulder so she could carry the neatly wrapped gift she picked out.
The sharp breeze of the winter night harshly contrasted the gentle warmth from the car's heater, leaving rose to shiver as she quickly hurried over to the house mentioned on the invitation. Once she made it to the door, she rang the doorbell and impatiently waited for someone to respond. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other to try and stay warm.
"Gracious, you look pale as a sheet. It's cold out there. Please come in." the woman said as she ushered Rose inside.
"Thanks," Rose said, unsure how else to respond, as she hurried into the house.
"Of course. The girls are set up in the living room. Dinner will be here in two hours. If you need anything, just let me know. I'll be around," Lucy's mother replied before leaning to call further into the house as she closed the door behind Rose. "Lucy! One of your friends just arrived!"
"Coming!" Lucy called back.
Lucy's mother left to go back to what she was doing before, giving Rose some time to absorb her surroundings more. The place was rather large, larger than her home, at least. Garlands and lights neatly wound around staircases and banisters while tiny houses covered in fake snow sat on decorative shelves. These clashed with bright and colorful streamers and pennant flag banners that hung from any remaining space.
"Oh. Rose. You made it," Lucy greeted as she walked over.
"Yeah, good to see you" Lucy was smiling, but why didn't she seem happy? "You still have your holiday decorations up?"
"Hm? oh yeah, I like having them up for my birthday. It's like getting two Christmases. So mom and dad agreed to leave them up a little longer." Lucy explained before motioning for Rose to follow her.
"Oh, neat," Rose nervously replied and followed after. The living room was as grand as the rest of the house. Decorated from wall to wall, including the tree that was still up and had presents under it. 7 other girls were sitting around the room as well, and all went silent as Rose walked in. No one was saying anything. "Hi," Rose greeted before holding her gift up a bit more. "Nice to meet you all. Should I just put this with the others?"
"Obviously," One of the other girls replied in a strange voice, which caused the others to snicker.
"What's so funny?" Rose asked as she didn't get the joke if there was one.
"It's a harry potter reference," Lucy explained.
"Oh. Cool." Well, she missed that opportunity by a mile. Rose tried not to wince as she moved to put the present down, only to notice an odd bucket by the tree labeled tree food.
"You're tree needs food?" Rose asked as she gestured to the bucket before placing her bookbag down with a few others on the other side of the tree.
"huh?" Lucy looked over at the bucket. "Oh, that. It's just water with some drops in it to keep the tree fresh longer." Lucy explained with a nervous smile as she glanced between rose and the others in the room.
"You really are weird," One of the other girls chimed in, causing the others to giggle.
Lucy half-heartedly glared at the one before another spoke up.
"Can you really see ghosts?" The third girl asked.
"Yeah. Oh did you pack like an ouija board or something?" asked another.
"What is that? was I supposed to?" Rose asked as further confusion set in. What were they talking about?
"You don't know what that is. Suuure. You're the freaky witch, right? You always staring off into space, and that one time you made Francis freak out over nothing." Yet another said as they seemed to hold at least some genuine curiosity about Rose. "can you teach us some spells?"
"Oh my gosh, that's right! What happened with that?"
"What? Nothing happened," Rose glanced to Lucy for help only to find her frowning and looking elsewhere. "He just snapped."
"That can't be it. He just conveniently freaked out and hasn't said a peep since? Did you curse him?"
"Yeah, I heard you were shouting about seeing things that weren't there a few weeks ago. Are you still seeing them?"
"So scary; I don't wanna stay in a house with a ghost magnet!"
Lucy's frown etched further into her face. Why did she have to go and open her mouth before? Rose caused trouble, and now she was freaking everyone out.
Rose was about to explain when a wave of cold washed over her.
"I bless you!" Lucy said as she dumped the water on Rose, causing the others to howl in laughter. "See, she's cleansed now. Can we please move on and get back to the party?"
"Oh my gosh, Lucy. What was that?" one pointed out through her chuckles as Rose ran off to try and find a bathroom.
She just needed a place to hide the warm sting of tears that were starting to form. While it took a few moments, Rose eventually found solace by locking herself into the first-floor bathroom, where she sat between the sink and toilet and held her legs to try and get the world to stop spinning. She could just say she ran off to dry off. Pretend that she thought it was funny too. But that water hurt for some reason. Everything ached as she started to shake, and her breathing labored. She thought sitting down would make her dizziness better, not worse.
She tried running a hand through her hair only to stop and quickly pull her hand away to look at it. Seeing three blurry hands where there should only be one, with white goo seeping out in a vein-like pattern. Rose tried to stifle a panicked shout. That was new. That's bad. Oh gosh. She pushed herself to try and stand and clung to the sink of dear life as she looked into the mirror.
Flashes of different faces replaced her own. Some were familiar, some she'd never seen before though all of them seemed to melt and decay the longer she stared.
"What is wrong with me?" Rose whimpered as any form of thought only caused her head to hurt and the spinning to get worse. This had never happened before. She had aches in the past, but that stopped once she started taking her medic-
Her medicine. She took that today, right? Rose thought harder and harder but couldn't remember. T-the emergency pack. Emma put one in there, right? She'd have to go in front of the others to get it, though. Maybe she could call K? No, Her phone's in her bag too. Ugh. Rose puked into the sink as the Nausea got to her, finding remnants of a similar white ooze in the sink.
She had to get out of there. Rose held her stomach with one hand as she opened the bathroom door with the other and hobbled back to the living room. Screw all of this; she was going home.
"Oh my god, Rose is so weird."
"I know, it's like she can see things that aren't there. Creepy."
Rose winced as she staggered into the room all the same and ignored the other girls in favor of trying to get to her backpack.
"What is wrong with her?"
"Ew, something just moved on her hand!" the realization caused the girls to scream in terror.
"Stay away from us, you freak!" one cried as they tried to move away from Rose.
Rose continued to ignore the shouting as she fumbled to try and open her bag. The edge of her vision started to grow darker, which continued to spread. She could hear the girls screaming as the front door burst open before passing out.
Hearing the more of the girls picking on rose from the car with the aid of listening devices was hard enough, but the second she started puking, he started sprinting for the house. "Rose? Rose! Shit." Canine hurried over and gently picked her up as Lucy's mother hurried over as well.
"Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my house? Get away from them!"
"Agent Dion Wilson." He said as he fumbled to get his badge out and toss that over to Lucy's mother. "I'm going to need you to cooperate as much as possible and get the other girls into a different room. We were alerted to a medical emergency. The rest of my team will be here shortly."
'*'*'*'*'
A little over a week had passed since then. Rose stared up at the bland white ceiling of the BSAA medical ward. A full week of tests, boring food, and no one to talk to. So, honestly, it wasn't too different from school in the end. If anything, she preferred it since it allowed her to avoid a likely very awkward conversation with Lucy about ruining her party.
She was about to shift to fall back asleep for her third nap of the day when a knocking at the door caught her attention.
"Knock knock," Said a cheerful woman's voice as Rebecca peeked around the door. The doctor that always showed up when something wasn't going well. "you have a few visitors."
The addition to the greeting caused Rose to raise an eyebrow and push herself to sit up enough to see who else was there. Finding Chris, Emma, Piers, and surprisingly, Canine.
"We have good news; you're not contagious. So everyone wanted to come and see you," Rebecca said as Piers pulled away from Emma, who was holding his hand, and hurried over to Rose's bed.
"Hi guys," Rose replied as she moved to sit properly on the edge of the bed.
"How are you holding up, Rosey? Do you need anything?" Emma asked.
"I'm fine mom. I just wanna get out of here," Rose quietly answered as she leaned over to pick up Piers.
"Well, I have more good news then," Rebecca adds. "You should be free to go back to go home in a few days and back to school starting next week," She listed off. "It took a bit of testing, but this does seem to be a side effect of the medicine. Taking it for extended periods of time causes a build-up and that's what you were sweating out."
"So she's not in danger," Chris asked as he looked between Rose and Rebecca.
"Nope, no danger. The excrement appears to be gray cells. so if anything getting those out of her system is a good thing." Rebecca confirmed. "It's just when there's too much of a build-up. This is the result. So going forward. Only take the medicine during the week and give yourself the weekend to rest and recover."
Rose, however, was able to read between the lines well enough. "This is going to keep happening?"
"To some effect, yes. You'll still sweat out the grey cells that build-up, but the hallucinating and stuff should stop. If it doesn't, then we'll have to cut back on how often you take it a little further. I'll keep working on the recipe to see if I can mitigate the side effects now that I know they exist."
Chris and Emma breathe a collective sigh of relief. "She's okay to keep taking it?" Emma asked as she'd feared they fell back to square one.
Rebecca nodded, "She can keep taking it once this current back is out of her system."
"How long is that going to take?" Rose asked, which caused Rebecca to wince.
"It's hard to say. It's slowed down significantly so. maybe a few more weeks?" Rebecca hesitantly answered. "but it is safe enough for you to go back to school since it's only showing up on your hands at this point. It shouldn't be too disruptive."
Too disruptive? Any amount of disruption was going to be a problem. People were calling her a witch and a freak as it is! Despite these thoughts, Rose nodded.
Rebecca smiled sympathetically as she dug through the pocket of her lab coat and pulled out a small package of cloth handkerchiefs. "Here, It's not much, but this should help," she said as she walked over to offer the pack to Rose, Which Piers happily accepted on her behalf. "They're white, so no one will notice if you use them to wipe your hands off. There should be enough in there for a week of school. Just bring a different one each day and wash them in between.
This whole school thing just got more complicated. "Thanks. Um. I'm still kinda tired." Rose announced to try and get everyone to leave.
"Sure. We can come back another time," Rebecca agreed as Emma walked over to take Piers. "Can you say bye-bye?"
"Nooo!" Piers cried as he clung to the pack of handkerchief.
Chris walked over to help get Piers off of Rose before placing a gentle hand on top of her head. "You got this. If you need anything, you can call me. I'm here."
"I know," Rose replied before glancing at Canine, who had been quiet the whole time.
As the others walked out, Canine stayed behind.
"...Did you tell them?" Rose hesitantly asked.
"If I did, Alpha would probably be in jail by now," Canine replied.
Hearing this caused Rose to chuckle for the first time since the incident. Fair enough, if Chris found out what happened at the party, he'd probably go ballistic. "I kinda meant the others at the party."
"Nah. I just said I was alerted to a medical emergency. You can tell them you sent a text," Canine further explained.
It wasn't much but knowing this gave Rose some semblance of relief. "Thanks, K."
Hearing the shortened nickname caused him to smile. He could get used to being the cool uncle. "No problem. If you need to talk about it though, just ask."
At this point, I assume you're accepting the risk of spoilers for Shadow of Rose So, FanNatic explanation time.
While I could go back and fix the "first day of school" scenario, especially since it largely matched what I wrote, I'm calling some BS on CapCom that Rose had a ruined reputation off the bat to the point no one would talk to her for 4 months. I was the new kid that started a new school in the middle of the school year. Kids are usually okay with talking to 'the new kid' since it's generally pretty rare to have a 'new kid' start in the middle of the school year. The extra attention tends to make people more willing to talk to you. So I'm sticking with my timeline that Lucy started talking to her relatively shortly after she started school, and Rose slowly deteriorated her reputation over time because of her powers.
Sparknotes:
Rose, Chris, and Emma stay up for new years eve, and Rose gets to try wine thanks to a bit of help from Chris. Rose determines she's not a fan. During the conversation, Rose brings up the impending sleepover, which Chris and Emma hesitantly agree to, so long as Someone stays nearby to watch rose. Rose is annoyed by this but accepts the condition.
She goes back to school after winter break, and during her first day back, she starts seeing a figure out of the corner of her eye. No matter what she does to try and catch them, they always move out of the way, so Rose goes to a teacher to get help. The teacher confirms no one is there and suggests sending rose to the Nurse. Rose knows that she won't get to go to the party if Chris and Emma think she's sick, so she lies and says it was a prank. Stories spread around school about rose seeing things that aren't there, which doesn't help after the Francis incident.
Rose notices that Lucy is once again difficult to get ahold of but does manage to talk to her long enough to get an invite to the party. Rose goes home after this and is getting tired of the figure in the corner of her eye and, without turning to face them, tells them to leave her alone. This doesn't work. When Emma comes home a few hours later, she tells Emma the official Date of the party, and Emma passes along the information to Chris so he can find a guardian for Rose during the party.
Canine ends up volunteering. Rose insists that if he has to intervene, he needs to be calm and introduce himself as her Uncle K. since Canine is not a normal name. To which Canine points out he does have a real name. Rose insists on K as it's cooler before heading into the party, where Rose picks up signals once more that Lucy wasn't super thrilled for Rose to be around and even seemed nervous. Upon meeting the other girls, Rose figures out that Lucy was so unhappy because everyone else thought Rose was either possessed, a witch, or some kind of ghost magnet. It takes a large amount of the attention away from Lucy, who in her frustration, dumps water on Rose, claiming she's been cleansed and everyone can go back to having fun.
Rose is upset and runs off to the bathroom. Where she starts feeling sick and realizes that she forgot to take her medicine for the day. This results in hallucinations, and a strange white Ooze starts seeping out of her hand. Rose panics and hurries back to her book bag to try and get either her phone or the spare pill in her emergency bag, only for the other girls to freak out as she faints. Canine hurries in to get Rose out and quarantines the area with white Ooze.
A week later, Rose is still in the BSAA Medical wing, but it's been confirmed by Rebecca that the white ooze is actually the gray cells leaving the body, and she needs to be taking breaks from the medicine for short periods of time to get rid of build-ups. Chris and Emma are relieved Rose is okay, but Rose is worried about going to school. Rebecca gives Rose a pack of white handkerchiefs before she leaves alongside Chris and Emma. Canine stops by and confirms he did not tell anyone at the party about Rose being a bio-weapon and that he did not tell Chris/Emma what happened at the party, knowing if he did, Chris would probably be in jail by now. Rose appreciates that Canine is respecting her privacy and continues calling him K.
