Ethan's POV

Ethan Winters blinked in confusion as he opened his eyes to see a shifting white void. Trees and buildings made vague shapes through the fog before melting away, and as he took a step forward he could hear and feel the crunch of dirt and leaves under his feet.

W-where was he?

Ethan was positive he had fallen asleep in the hospital. It was just days after the horrifying events in Louisiana, and the BSAA had both him and Mia under quarantine.

He didn't like it, but he understood. He had been waltzing through biohazardous materials for a couple days. And then there was everything Mia had gone through…

Anyways, it was pretty safe to say that they were still under close watch. So how did he get here? In this place that was very much not the hospital?

"Hello?" Ethan called out hesitantly, wishing he had any of his firearms he'd obtained the last couple days.

For several minutes he actually thought he might be alone (wherever 'here' was) when the sound of whimpering caught his attention.

It was a small thing. So quiet it might have been missed it had there been any other sound in the void. The sound of a child trying to hide their pain.

Ethan found himself making his way to the sound without conscious thought.

Movement in this place was just… Odd. Ethan was moving his legs, which was moving his body, as one would expect. Yet as he moved, the scenery seemed to flow at a different rate.

And still, the sound of a child's cry was faintly heard and pushed him onward. Trying to figure out what was going on was secondary to getting to that source.

Within moments, he found himself at the ruins of what looked like a lab. Everything was still hazy and indistinct, but the crisp hallways and viewing windows showing various medical paraphernalia was telling.

Ethan was soon looking through one of the viewing windows that led into a small room, the only furniture being a small bed in the corner. And on that bed was the first truly solid thing he had seen.

"Eveline." Ethan murmured, feeling a mixture of fear, anger, and guilt at the sight of the girl.

There was no way he could ever mistake the girl for anybody else. It had only been a couple days since he had seen her, and she was the reason for all his suffering the last week or so.

But seeing her like this, alive and crying, finally helped Ethan realize what was happening.

He was dreaming.

He probably should have realized it earlier, what with the environment and everything, but he had never had a dream that felt like this before. Was this what people felt when they were lucid dreaming?

As to why he was dreaming of Eveline? It wasn't that hard for Ethan to figure out.

The last several days of being in quarantine had been quite boring, and while the peace and quiet had been welcome at first, it had quickly led to introspection. It was only natural for Eveline to come up in those thoughts.

It would be easy, so very easy, to say that everything was Eveline's fault. After all, she had trapped the Bakers and Mia in that house for years. She had driven them insane, twisting their bodies and minds, and had them kill and be killed multiple times.

That wasn't 'morally gray' crap that somebody could talk their way out of. That was straight up evil.

And yet…

"Listen. The girl just wants a family of her own."

And yet when you looked past all the 'fungus' and 'bio-weapon' crap, the simple fact was that this was a little girl with powers forced onto her against her will.

Eveline could have gone on and infected the nearby town if she wanted to - spread her mold to create another Racoon City.

But she didn't.

The only thing she had shown she wanted was a family. The problem was she didn't appear to know how to go about that because she had never learned.

Eveline was an abused, mentally ill child. With, uh, freaky mold powers.

Ethan didn't… he couldn't say he regretted what he did. Not really. At the time, it was quite frankly the only thing that he could do to save himself and Mia and stop the nightmare, and even that had almost been beyond him. Attempting to do anything else probably would have doomed him.

Also, it had to be remembered that what Eveline was doing was really really bad.

But despite that, he did regret that he had to do it. That he couldn't have helped Eveline at the same time.

It was that decision that had been haunting him the last couple days, and would probably continue to do so for a while yet.

So he wasn't all that surprised that he was dreaming of her right now.

Maybe this was his brain's way of trying to come to terms with what he did. Some sort of closure perhaps.

He didn't know enough about psychology to know if that's how that sort of thing would work, but since this was a dream… Why not?

Ethan made it to the open doorway when he came across the first snag.

His ears rang at the shrill shriek filled with panic.

"Get away!"

Of course, Ethan thought in dismay as he watched Eveline scramble to the edge of the bed, making herself as small as possible as she stared at him in terror.

Of course the Eveline that his mind would conjure would be terrified of him. He had just killed her after all.

"G-get out! Get out! J-just leave me alone!"

"Hey, it's alright." Ethan said in a soft voice, moving into the room slowly but staying far enough away to give her space. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Liar!" She shouted back, eyes filled with a mix of anger and fear. "You did! Y-You're just a meanie! Like everybody else!"

Ethan winced at the accusation, "I did." He admitted softly. "And I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry that you had to go through that Eveline." How exactly does one apologize for something like that? From her perspective, he might as well be The Devil.

He stayed where he was, crouched by the wall, as Eveline shivered and stared back. If she were any more scared, he'd be worried of her getting a heart attack.

You know, if this hadn't been a dream of course.

But what could he do…

Well, if this was a lucid dream, he should be able to control it to an extent, right?

Ethan concentrated hard, almost jumping as much as Eveline when it actually worked, a stuffed animal appearing in his hand.

It wasn't much. Just an old stuffed horse that he remembered from his childhood. Yet the sight of it caused Eveline to perk up ever so slightly in intrigue.

"Here," Ethan offered with an outstretched hand. "It's not much, but…"

'But it's better than anything here.' Went unsaid.

He kept his hand outstretched and waited patiently as Eveline's eyes darted between him and the horse.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the small girl crept off the bed and made her way towards him. He made sure to not move as she finally got within reach and, with a quick move, snatched the bear and darted back to the bed, hugging the stuffed animal while staring at him intently.

For all intents and purposes, she looked like a little animal cautiously accepting food from a human.

Eveline sniffled, but said nothing else as he slowly stood up and made his way to the bed, sitting down on the floor next to it.

"It's not much." Ethan offered, gesturing to the stuffed animal. "Just something I remember when I was young." He chuckled slightly. "Got it for my birthday, long time ago. Took it everywhere with me, not even letting it get washed. Though now that I think about it, I think my mom did it while I was asleep. There were definitely days where it was cleaner than the night before…"

Ethan chuckled to himself, observing the look of abject confusion on her face and he coughed.

What did he say? What could he say?

"Why?"

The question was so soft, he almost didn't hear it, and he wasn't sure if he was supposed to have.

Ethan hesitated for a moment before just diving in, "I wish I could have helped you. Given you the family you needed." He murmured back.

Ethan reached over cautiously and gently lay a hand on her knee, feeling sad when she even flinched at that. "I'm so sorry Eveline. You didn't deserve any of what happened to you."

He felt a small twitch, and suddenly he had Eveline attached to his side, giving him an almost desperate hug as tears finally began to overflow.

Ethan reached an arm around her. Carefully at first, in case she reacted poorly, but more firmly when it seemed she was alright with it.

They stayed like that for several minutes before the world seemed to fade from sight, and everything went dark.

Ethan woke up to a loud beep, and he jolted up just as the door opened and revealed a doctor in full bio-hazard gear.

"Mr. Winters. Breakfast is being prepared, we just have a few tests we'd like to go through before that."

"Yeah, alright." Ethan rasped, stretching as he got out of bed.

What a bizarre dream… Usually he didn't remember his dreams once he woke up, but this one remained unusually vivid.

It felt kinda silly, now that he was thinking back on it. It was just a dream after all, and probably a sign that he should talk to a therapist about all of this. But… it felt good to do something nice for the poor girl, even if it hadn't been real.

It was a shame that it was only the dream version of Eveline that had something nice occur to her.

Eveline's POV

"I wish I could have helped you. Given you the family you needed."

Eveline clutched the poor plushie, pressing her face into the fur. It felt like nostalgia and happiness, warm sun and grass and wind in the hair.

Yet even then, it was a poor substitute for the hug that she was being given not a few moments before.

How come the best hug she had ever received was given by the person that killed her?

She never had a name for this place. Never needed one. It was the one secret Eveline had been able to keep from the Doctors. A place that was solely her own. A place built off of memories and thoughts.

Maybe if more of her sisters had survived long enough she would have been able to share this with them. A family secret. A place to meet and laugh and play. But no… Eveline was the only of the E-series that lived.

Which meant that just like Eveline, this place was unique to her. Alone.

Eveline shuddered.

So if that were true, then how had he been here?

When Ethan had first come to the Baker's house, Eveline had been delighted.

Ethan was her Mommy's husband, so Eveline wanted him to be her Daddy. Somebody that would bring her in for a warm hug, would brush her hair while telling her that everything would be alright. And since Daddy would be here, Mommy would stop fighting.

It always broke her heart a little each time Mommy fought. Why did she struggle so much? Eveline didn't understand. Mommy had promised.

If the reason Mommy was fighting so much was because she wanted to be with Daddy, then if Daddy came, Mommy would have no reason to fight.

It was the perfect plan!

Except… things weren't perfect.

Ethan didn't come to be her Daddy. Even after she offered, giving him a gift and everything. No, he came to take Mommy away from her! He came to ruin their family!

Family protected each other. So she urged the rest of her family to take out the threat.

Only to watch in horror as Ethan took each of them down, never taking more damage that couldn't be healed with the very gift she had given to heal himself.

"I wish I could have helped you."

Then why didn't he?!

How dare he come here and be sad when she had been asking for him to join her every step of the way! It could have been perfect if not for him!

A fresh wave of tears came, and Eveline buried her face into her new plushie.

It had all fallen apart.

Daddy didn't want to be Daddy. Mommy lied and made promises that she broke, telling Daddy how to make the very thing that would kill her. Zoe struggled and resisted, never wanting to be Sister. And Lucas was a bad bad Brother that just pretended and worked with the Evil Doctors!

It was why she was here, in her memories of the lab instead of the Bakers House. Right now, her memories of that place would just hurt all the more. At least here, people were told the truth when they wanted to hurt her.

Eveline didn't realize she was shaking until the bed started squeaking.

Why?

Why did everybody hate her so much?

She tried to be a good daughter. She tried really hard!

Eveline gave gifts to her family, made them tougher and stronger. She helped out where she could and did her best to make sure nobody could separate them. So why did they hate her? What was she doing wrong?!

"You didn't deserve what happened to you."

Eveline sniffled into the plushie once more, luxuriating in the feelings of comfort that it gave.

Why did Ethan give it to her? Why did he care at all?

… Would he come back?

Eveline thought back to the hug he gave, to the overwhelming feeling of warmth and safety she got from it. It was so… Freeing. There were no dark corners with lies, no secrets. She didn't understand how or why, but he did.

She also had no idea how Ethan got here to begin with.

Ethan was full of surprises. Far more so than even Mia was aware of, if her thoughts were any indication.

But in the end, did it matter?

Obviously she couldn't trust him - he did kill her after all.

And yet…

If she could get that kind of hug more often, then regardless of how he did it, Eveline really hoped he'd find a way back again and again.

Author's Note:
This is a little plot bunny that I thought up. I was watching a youtuber play Resident Evil 7, and I just felt bad for Eveline... I mean, what she did was absolutely horrible, but I can see how she really was just trying her best, and just didn't know how. In the end, she just wanted a family. The way she went about it was messed up, but she didn't know any better.

Not sure if this will be continued, but it was a fun concept to write. If the story continues, Ethan will continue to think it's a dream, while Eveline grows attached to both him and, eventually, Rose.

As usual, I'd like to thank those who are currently supporting me on pa tr eon; I'm super grateful for the support they provide. For anybody that is interested or would like to support me, the link to that page is P a treon . com (slash) shdowstep. (remove the spaces).

To those of you who celebrate Halloween, I hope you all have a very spooky evening! And I'll see you in the next chapter, whichever story that is!