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Claire opened her eyes, blinking a few times before grimacing.
"What's that stench- oh."
She stared at the dead monster not far from her, before looking away, slowly getting on her feet.
"Right…" she said softly.
Once she was done recovering from her near-death in the Hunter's Dream, Aeon had woken her up, and now she was once again alone in this monster-infested island trying to find a way out.
She threw one last look at the dead monster, before shaking her head.
A part of her remembered her near death, the pain and fear of it all…
But then she remembered the peace of the Hunter's Dream, the comforting presence of Aeon, and in hindsight death didn't appear quite so terrifying anymore.
That didn't mean, however, that she had any intention of dying anytime soon.
As Aeon pointed out, dying sucked.
Nearly dying had been bad enough.
She took a few steps forward-
Only for the ground to rumble, and reveal itself as a descending platform.
I guess it's already time to go kill more zombies, she thought wryly.
And she was proven right not long after, as she had to go through room after room full of them.
Thank God for the sheer ammo capacity of these las-pistols, she thought… before pausing.
Well, more like thanks Aeon, actually, she corrected herself with amusement.
More rooms, she noted. Just how large is this facility?!
Oh great, zombie dogs. She grimaced.Why must it always be zombie dogs?! At this point, I wouldn't mind seeing some variety in the damn zombies...
"Bring back the dogs! Bring back the damn dogs!" she yelled, running at full speed while the giant worm behind her always remained a second away from eating her whole.
She really should have known better than to taunt Murphy… or Aeon, as the case may be.
Claire eagerly claimed the grenade launcher who was for some reason just laying on a random box, happily noting that it was loaded already.
Sure, she would need more grenades after the first one, but at least she now had a grenade-launcher!
And she had the emblem and card she needed to keep moving, too!
"Progress!" she declared with a smile, holding on to her new grenade launcher with all the anticipation of someone eager to ruin someone else's day.
Preferably that damn aristocrat from Umbrella.
Claire paused, considering the fact that she was essentially thinking of committing murder.
Then she remembered all the zombies she came across, and the prison cells, and everything she knew about Umbrella…
Her expression darkened.
You know what? If killing that bastard makes me a murderer, then so be it. I'm fine with that.
Also, he did try to kill me first, so I'm pretty sure I can claim self-defense here…
Claire entered the security room, only to find-
Corpses.
She paused, nudged the nearest one with her boot, before shrugging when it didn't start moaning, moving, or otherwise indicate any sign of undeath.
Well, would you look at that? Corpses that are actually dead, she marveled.
Then she rethought that thought, more carefully this time.
And she sighed deeply.
Fucking Umbrella. Corpses aren't supposed to be moving, but now I'm actually shocked when they aren't… she mentally grumbled.
She then used the security cameras to find the secret code to unlock the lab where she saw that umbrella scientist die a while back.
She smiled-
And then turned, her gun leveled high and instinctively fired to blow off the head of one of the previously unmoving corpses in the room.
Then she scowled.
Because her first emotion when she had heard it moving had been fucking relief, of all things, that yes there was indeed a moving corpse in the room.
I wonder if Aeon can be used to help me with-
She snorted at the very thought of going to him for help when it comes to sanity.
What would he say at a time like this?
Remember Claire: if you have doubts, blow all their heads off! It's the only way to be sure!
She snickered. Yeah, that sounds like his kind of "helpful" suggestions, alright…
The worst part... was that it would actually fucking work.
"All right, here we go…" she whispered, putting the code in.
She smiled as the door to the lab opened, before carefully going into the room, taking the painting hanging on the wall-
And then some kind of slimy thing the size of her forearm broke through the room through the air duct, activating the purge protocol.
Claire cursed, and then ran back towards and through the open door of the lab, dodging the increasing amount of the slimy monsters before running down the stairs.
A step after she crossed the stairs, a heavily reinforced shutter slammed down behind her back.
She sagged in relief, leaning against the nearest wall as she gathered her breath, before scowling.
"Great, now I have to worry about some kind of slimy, bloodthirsty leeches, too."
She looked up, towards the nearest door leading outside…
Where the giant worm waited, somewhere.
"Aeon? After this, be a good boyfriend and let's go somewhere nice. With a nice sun, and a nice beach, with nice warm water. And absolutely no flesh and blood hungry monsters. I'll wear my best bikini and you can stare all you want, but for the love of everything good and holy, I need a fucking vacation after this!"
After putting the painting at a special spot which opened a sliding wall and getting a gold key, and then dodging zombies, zombie dogs and the giant worm, Claire could only confirm that yes, everyone in Umbrella were insane maniacs with insane security systems.
The fact that she then had to push a number of switches under several paintings in a certain order in order to open a sliding wall containing a queen ant gold model of all things did not dissuade her newfound belief any.
Quite the opposite.
At the very least, she was eventually able to enter what had to be Alfred's personal office, where she once again found a recording of him and his sister feeding a dragonfly to a bunch of ants.
And naturally, playing that recording allowed her to discover a secret passage.
Because fucking Umbrella.
At that point, she was so done with this nonsense that, when the window broke as one of those big one-armed zombies jumped in the room, she pushed the barrel of her gun straight between its eyes and didn't stop firing until the damn thing no longer had a head.
Needless to say, going through the newly revealed corridor to find herself staring up a hill with a small mansion on top, visible through the storm currently raging outside only through the flashes of the lightning, did not help her mood.
The number of those one-armed freaks patrolling around the building was just the icing on the cake.
With a blank look on her face, Claire slowly put away the las-pistol, took the grenade launcher, checked how many grenades she had… and then, she smiled.
And took a step forward.
"Groowwlll-"
*KA-BOOM*
"RAAAAGGGHHH-"
*KA-BOOM*
"GGGGGGGRRRRRRR-"
*KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! KA-BOOOOM!*
Claire finished loading a new grenade, then looked up.
Right in front of her stood the entrance to the mansion on top of the hill.
She glanced behind her, noticing the puddles of gores and blown-out pieces of smoking flesh, the scattered stones and glowing craters everywhere, and nodded to herself.
"Note to self: when life gives you nightmares in the flesh, remember that there are no troubles that can't be solved with proper application of explosives."
And then she turned and blew off the doors of the entrance.
After having looked through the first level of the building, Claire took the stairs, opened the door to the corridor beyond-
"You must focus, brother." declared a high-pitched voice.
Claire paused, before walking cautiously forward, trying not to be seen.
"Our enemy is only a little girl. So why is it taking so long?"
Claire's face twisted at the "little girl" comment, but otherwise stayed silent.
"My apologies, Alexia." said Alfred, voice more pitiful and whiny than ever. "But I have been doing my best!"
"The revival of the Ashford family depends on your success, brother."
"I am aware of that, Alexia. I will revive the family name myself and make you the master of the glorious Ashford family."
"Do not worry, brother. I will handle them both myself."
Claire leaned up, trying to see both speakers-
And then the ground groaned.
Claire leaned back, even as the high-pitched voice screamed "Who's there?!"
Claire quickly backed away into the nearest corner, while the feminine voice came closer. "Is someone there in the corridor?"
"What is it, Alexia?" said Alfred after a moment.
"No-nothing. I believe I must have been imagining things. Let us go, brother."
Claire exhaled softly as the footsteps grew fainter.
Is the sister there, too? Strange, I only heard one set of footsteps…
After a moment, she shrugged.
She had better things to worry about, like how to leave this damn island.
Cautiously entering the bedroom, she made her way towards a music box currently playing, closing it down… which revealed a secret opening where a key could be seen.
Before taking the key, she put the queen ant model on top of the music box… which unlocked it again, and after a moment of hesitation she took the music disk, then the newly revealed key before leaving the room.
Right then, I think that key opens a room back in the other mansion, so time to backtrack…
Claire turned the key in the lock, smiling when the previously locked door opened.
After killing two monsters, a document laying on a nearby desk caught her attention.
Reading the name of the writer made her frown in confusion.
"HUNK?" she read.
"Interesting…" Claire blinked, then looked at her side where Aeon suddenly was, reading through the paper in her hand.
She looked back at the document. It wasn't the first time he just appeared out of nowhere, after all.
"You know him?"
Aeon nodded. "Agent HUNK, for Human Unit Never Killed. The best USS soldier of Umbrella, so good that he never failed a mission, even when he was the only survivor… and he often is. Both facts earned him the nickname of Mr. Death. He was one of the only Umbrella soldiers who made it out of Raccoon City."
Claire blinked.
"He was there in Racoon City?"
Aeon glanced at her.
"He was the team leader of the group that ended up killing Sherry's father. Remember the videos we found? He was the one angry at William Birkin's death, since he was supposed to bring him back alive."
"Huh."
She frowned, looking back at the document.
"Any idea about what this is about?"
Aeon hummed thoughtfully.
"I do believe so. You may have noticed, but there are two Ashford heirs. The male one is Alfred, and the other Alexia. But the second officially disappeared fifteen years ago. The truth was that she went into cryo-sleep, in order to allow a virus she was working on to properly bond to her body. This must be referencing a recent change of location for her cryo-stasis pod."
Claire frowned. "But I could have sworn I heard the sister not five minutes ago…"
"Oh, that? Nah, it was just Alfred being insane and pretending to be his own sister."
She blinked.
"What."
Aeon glanced at her with amusement. "What, you didn't actually expect someone important for Umbrella to be sane, did you?"
Claire opened her mouth.
Closed it.
"... You know what? Never mind."
She looked back at the document.
"So, any idea where the sister was sent to? Because I don't think I'd like whatever new virus she created unleashed on the world."
"You wouldn't." confirmed Aeon, and his tone of voice was far too knowing for her liking. "And again, I have an idea… But I won't say anything yet. I think you'll end up there on your own eventually, after all."
"... I'm totally going to have to fight the mutated sister, aren't I?" she said bluntly, resigned to her fate.
Aeon grinned at her. "See? You're learning! Still, don't worry about it. It'll happen when it'll happen, for now just focus on getting out of this island."
And then he disappeared, leaving Claire alone once again.
She sighed.
"Well, back to killing zombies I guess…"
Claire carefully entered the next room, finding it to be an infirmary.
None of the corpses in the room seemed to be moving, but her instincts were still screaming at her.
She narrowed her eyes at the closest zombie… and shot him in the head.
The las-bolt blew the head off into smoking chunks… and awakened the other corpses in the room, revealing them all to be zombies.
Called it, she thought as she gunned them all down.
Then she made her way to the next room-
And paused in stunned horror the moment she opened the door.
The tools of torture and massive blood puddles splattered all over the room made it clear what this place was for.
"They didn't even bother hiding behind science anymore, this is straight-up a torture room! Fucking sadistic assholes!" she cursed, shivering at the sight of the room and it's content.
The fact that she herself had been a prisoner made her wonder how long it would have taken before she'd had been sent here herself, if things had turned out differently.
Truly, each time she thought she had found how evil Umbrella truly was, they still managed to go above and beyond in proving her wrong…
Claire shook her head. Everyone here was already dead, there was nothing to be done except escaping this place.
After checking around for anything valuable, and trying her best not to vomit at the sights and stench of the place, she left the room, soon discovering a secret passage in the infirmary.
Said passage led to her finding out a piano roll, which she had no doubt would let her unlock yet another secret path…
But, first thing first: she had to go back to her old prison cell.
The wounded guard that freed her should hopefully be still alive, and she had the medicine to help him now…
After successfully making her way back to the prison cells, she carefully entered the room where she had left the wounded guard.
Lighting up her lighter, she made her way towards the unmoving form of the wounded guard, currently laying face down on a desk-
Claire tensed as the guard moved, pointing his gun at her.
For a long moment, both sides stared at one another in tense silence…
Before the guard sighed, putting his gun down.
"What are you doing here?" he asked tiredly.
Claire slowly walked closer and put the medicine in front of him.
"That medicine…" he looked down, then back up at her. "How kind of you."
He leaned back, taking the bottle in hand. "Thanks." he said softly, staring at it with a complex look in his eyes.
She came closer. "Here, let me help you with that-"
"Thanks, but I can take care of myself." he said firmly, stopping her in her tracks.
His eyes narrowed. "Just go."
Claire stared at him for a moment, then down at her lighter, gently putting it on the table.
"Keep it." she declared. "It was a gift from my brother, but…"
I don't want you to stay here all alone, forgotten in the dark, she thought but did not say.
"Thanks." he replied, after a moment of hesitation. Then he took something out of his pocket and gave it to her. "Here. You might need this later on. Now go… forget about me." he said, closing his eyes and obviously putting an end to the conversation.
Claire looked down at the lockpick in her hand, then back at the wounded guard.
"Thank you."
And then, with a heavy heart, she turned around and left.
Once she was far enough away to not be heard, she spoke up. "Aeon, can you help him?"
A second later, Aeon appeared by her side, expression kind but resigned.
"I'm sorry, Claire. I could help him… but at this point, he wouldn't want me to."
Claire opened her mouth… but Aeon smiled sadly.
"He's waiting to be reunited with his family, Claire."
She stared at him in incomprehension.
"His dead family."
"Oh."
Claire looked away.
There was nothing else to say at this point.
Aeon put a hand on her shoulder, gently squeezing in comfort, a sad, knowing and sympathetic look in his eyes.
They walked in silence for a while after that.
Claire walked the stairs towards the Ashford Mansion. There were still many things that needed to be done before she could leave this place, and she sadly couldn't focus on the people that she couldn't save.
For now, she needed to focus on surviving this place herself.
She put her hand on the doors-
"Greetings. You must be the lovely Claire Redfield."
Claire slowly turned, staring at a man dressed in all black with black shades on his face slowly walking towards her.
More worryingly, all of her instincts were screaming at her that this man was dangerous… immensely so.
"Who are you?" she asked cautiously, ready to fight at any moment.
The man smiled slightly, still slowly walking towards her.
"Let's just say that I'm a ghost, coming back to haunt your… dear brother." he replied, the slightest hint of hate in his voice at the last two words.
Claire's eyes narrowed.
"Wesker?" she said, remembering that Aeon had warned her that he was here on the island.
The man's smile widened.
"It seems that there isn't much left to do, is there?" he replied, sounding pleased. "I was the one who attacked this island. Who would have thought that you'd be hanging about!"
He started laughing, and Claire felt a shiver going down her back at the cold malice in that laugh.
"All the better for me." Wesker declared with relish. "Now that the cat dragged this nice surprise, your dear brother definitely should show up. I must thank you for being such good bait!"
"And I'm sure that my brother will be delighted to see you." she sarcastically replied, before her eyes widened as suddenly Wesker was right there, holding her face tightly in his gloved right hand with a snarl on his lips.
"I despise Chris." he hissed coldly.
"What are you going to do to him?" she demanded, fear and anger in her heart at the thought of Wesker harming her brother.
From what she knew, Wesker already tried to get him killed at the Mansion around Raccoon City, if they met up again…
Claire gasped as Wesker threw her away with shocking strength, though her training with Aeon allowed her to land without hurting herself.
"Hm." Wesker tilted his head slightly at the sight, before he once again slowly walked towards her.
"Oh, how your brother will love to see you. Hahahaha!"
Suddenly, Wesker paused, a hand coming to his ear.
"What? What is it?" he declared coldly.
He turned away, looking in the distance. "Stay there. I'm coming."
He looked back at her, and then she gasped when he was suddenly once again right in front of her, slapping her hard enough to make her fall.
"It appears that you can be of further use to me. I'm going to let you live… a little longer."
Claire's eyes widened as his shades suddenly glowed red for a second, before he turned away, and then Wesker jumped, going easily above the nearby several feet tall walls surrounding the mansion and going out of sight.
Aeon and the others had told her that Wesker had gained inhuman powers, but seeing it was very different than just hearing about it.
She had never seen Aeon going that fast… though she suspected that it was because he never had a reason to do so around her.
"So. What did you think of Wesker? Charming guy, wasn't he?"
Claire turned, seeing Aeon casually sitting on nearby stairs as he stared at where Wesker left, sarcasm clear in his voice.
Claire snorted. "Yeah. You can say that again."
She hesitated, but Aeon glanced at her, a knowing look in his eyes. "Ask, I know you have questions."
Claire bit her lip, but did as requested.
"How strong is he, compared to you?"
Aeon shrugged. "Really weak." he replied bluntly.
Claire gaped at him.
Aeon snickered, but nodded. "He's stronger than any human otherwise, but I'm, well, me. Jill would probably win against Wesker on her own, and definitely if Rebecca helps her. He's good, don't get me wrong, but he isn't used to fighting people at his current level. And despite his newfound powers, he's still limited to physical abilities. All told? I'd kill him easily enough."
He sighed. "But it's not my job to do him in. That's Chris's, or Jill's. It's personal for them, after all, and I won't take that away from them."
Claire nodded slowly. To her eyes, Wesker had been shockingly fast… but Aeon wasn't truly human. Or rather, he was something more than human.
And so were Jill and Rebecca.
"Is that why you didn't intervene?" she wondered.
Aeon blinked. "Well, that, and you didn't ask."
Claire stared at him.
Aeon smirked.
"What? You're here to learn and grow stronger. If he had actually tried to kill you, I would have stopped him, and if you had asked I would have stepped in, but as it is you won't grow if I'm always hovering around you and protecting you from everything."
Claire sighed. "I'm pretty sure that, as a boyfriend, you aren't supposed to let me get slapped around, literally, without lifting a finger…"
"As your boyfriend I agree. As your mentor? I'm telling you to tough it up. You weren't really hurt, anyway, and if you want to fight zombies and worse, you can't break down at every danger threatening you."
Claire snorted. "Tough love, is it?"
Aeon grinned. "You should see what Jill and Rebecca have to deal with. It's much worse, I can assure you."
Claire rolled her eyes, smirking. "My boyfriend is a sadist. That's certainly good to know." she replied sarcastically.
Aeon laughed. "Just wait to see the sex dungeon!"
Claire blinked.
Then blinked again.
"Wait, what?!"
Naturally, Aeon was already gone, only the faint echo of laughter in the air to mark he was ever here in the first place.
Claire chuckled nervously.
"I'm in danger... '' she paused, then swallowed as her throat suddenly went dry as she imagined Aeon in a sexy dom male outfit.
"... The unfairly hot kind."
Claire eventually went back to the building on top of the hill after finding a king ant replica, using it to open another music box in what had to be Alfred's room and using the music disk of the other music box to open a secret path.
In it, she found a silver dragonfly replica, which she used to open yet another secret path.
That path revealed a small study which contained a newspaper clip about Alexia Ashford, the 10 year old genius employed by Umbrella, and an emblem hidden beneath Alfred's Ashford diary, which revealed only how insane and zealous the man was towards his sister.
Shaking her head, she went back into Alfred's bedroom-
"Claire Redfield." declared a high-pitched voice.
Claire turned, seeing "Alexia" staring back at her, rifle in hand.
"Hold it right there."
Alexia slowly walked towards Claire. "We meet together at last. A pity I must say goodbye so soon. I am Alexia Ashford, for the pride of the Ashford Family, I will kill you." she snarled.
Jump, Claire. Jump!
Claire's eyes widened and she jumped to the side, the bullet Alexia fired whistling by her side and hitting only the door behind her.
Kill, or be killed, Claire.
Claire grimaced at Aeon's whisper… but did as asked.
Both sides fired almost at the same time, but Alexia was a second late since she had to reload… when Claire did not.
Alexia fell backward, holding her wounded right shoulder with a grimace of agony, while Claire exhaled in relief as once again, the bullet flew wide.
Claire looked up as Alexia fled, having frozen for a second or two in relief at still being alive, and her eyes widened as she saw the entrance of a secret door.
She quickly followed, finding herself in Alexia's room, blood visibly leading to a blonde wig.
She cautiously walked towards it, seeing no one around her.
"This must be-"
"Raaaaagh!"
Claire ducked as Alfred revealed himself from the top of the bed, jumping down right where she had been, and for a moment both of them struggled against one another-
Until Claire finally pushed her would-be killer back with a knee to the guts.
And both sides froze as Alfred found himself face to face with a mirror, while Claire was left staring at a crossdressing Alfred.
"What? No! No!" screamed Alfred, eyes wide in shock as his insanity was quite literally staring him in the face… before he fled, screaming in horror as he did.
Leaving Claire alone, blinking.
"Well that's just happened." she numbly declared.
"I did warn you."
Claire glanced at Aeon, who was looking at her calmly while sitting nearby… though there was a certain amount of concern in his eyes.
"You did."
For a moment, both fell silent… before Claire sighed deeply.
"I almost died. Again."
"Yes."
"If it hadn't been for your voice… If…" Claire took a deep breath.
"Thank you." she declared, sending a deeply grateful look at Aeon.
He nodded, before pursing his lips slightly.
"You hesitated."
Claire flinched, but nodded sadly.
"I froze up. I just... "
"He was human. The worst of scum, but human. And you hesitated."
Aeon's voice was gentle, kind… but grim.
And Claire could only nod, feeling a confusing mix of shame and sadness and relief and more.
Aeon opened his mouth, paused, and then sighed softly.
"It's not easy, to kill, is it? Monsters, undead, it's one thing. But an actual human being…"
Aeon gave her a long look.
"Tell me, have you ever thought of it? After Raccoon City? When you infiltrated various Umbrella facilities in search of your brother? Have you ever thought about actually killing someone?"
Claire grimaced. "A few times, yes. I don't want to kill people unless absolutely necessary, and after everything I've seen on this island frankly the world would be better without Alfred in it, but…"
"It's one thing to think that, another to actually do it?"
"Yeah." finished Claire, softly.
Aeon nodded. "I won't tell you what to do. That's not a choice I can make, that's something that you must choose for yourself. I helped here because it was literally life or death, and you were panicking, but something like killing can't be anything but a choice made of one's free will. All I can do is be here if you want to talk."
For a moment, both stay silent… until Claire asked a question that had been bothering her for some time.
"Aeon… you've killed a lot of people, haven't you? Does it get… easier, over time?"
Aeon stayed silent, face so expressionless he could have been carved from stone, before he finally answered, a sad smile on his face.
"In my experience… The problem is that it becomes too easy."
He got up, and then turned away.
"And then people like me become necessary."
He extended a hand, and Claire glimpsed an old medallion of a crow in it.
And then he disappeared, and for a split second Claire thought she saw him wear a cape made of crow feathers for some reason…
-
Claire ran, as around her automated systems of the facility announced that the self-destruct system had been initiated.
Apparently, Alfred was a very sore loser, and having decided he couldn't kill her himself, he'd settled for blowing her sky high instead.
She quickly went into the submarine that she had taken before to go to the underwater research base, going back into it to get to the plane she had seen when she went there last time.
She hadn't been able to access it, but with the emblems she had collected since then she should be able to use it now.
Once she was in it however, she noticed that the bridge in front of the plane needed to be removed from a platform inside the facility, and with a stream of curses she ran out of the plane and towards the platform.
Which naturally required her to go through corridor after corridor, dodging the occasional surviving zombie along the way to finally-
"Yes! There!" she screamed as she finally spotted the required platform, raising the lever on it and with it, the offending bridge got out of the way of the plane.
And then she cursed as she had to run all the way back to the plane, while once again dodging any zombies along the way.
"I'm never… asking Aeon again about… why we need to do so much cardio in training... after this…" she panted as she kept running.
As she ran towards the plane, she suddenly got a chill down her spine-
And then she was sent flying as what she recognized as some kind of Tyrant caused a nearby explosion, before turning towards her.
Claire blinked.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
She took her grenade launcher, glared at the stupid monster blocking her path, and prepared herself for a fight.
"I don't have time to play with you you asshole, so die quickly or no one will find so much as a shard of bone left of you!"
And with that she pressed the trigger.
The Tyrant put one of its arms in the way, tanking the ensuing explosion before advancing on Claire.
Considering the rather small passage they were in, there really wasn't anywhere for either of them to dodge attacks.
So Claire just kept throwing grenade after grenade at the grey monstrosity in front of her, snarled in hatred at every step it took, until it finally stumbled and fell to a knee.
If she had more time, she'd had just kept shooting more grenades… but she didn't have that time.
So she rushed forward and put her grenade launcher straight into the Tyrant's mouth, snarling "Eat this!" and pressed the trigger.
A moment later Claire blinked, wondering when she had decided to lie on the ground and why she couldn't hear anything.
Then she looked beyond her, and noticed that the explosion from the grenade had blown the upper half of the Tyrant to smoking chunks of flesh… and sent her flying several feet backwards.
Oh, and her right arm was broken.
Shit.
She painfully got on her feet, and then limped forward towards the damn plane.
She had no idea how she was going to get it moving, especially with one working arm, but that was a problem for later.
For now, she'd just focus on getting one foot after the other towards the plane.
Claire let out a sigh of relief as she finally dragged herself up the stairs leading into the plane, grimacing slightly as the pain her body was in.
Her hearing was still shot, her arm was still broken, her whole body felt like shit… but hey, she was still alive!
Good enough.
And then she paused when she saw Aeon already in the pilot seat, turning to give her a thumb-up before focusing back on getting the plane moving.
Claire stared for a second, then decided that she certainly wasn't going to complain about her amazing boyfriend bailing her out of here and promptly dragged herself in the nearest seat.
She was out like a light seconds later.
"Come on, sleeping beauty. Rise and shine, you've rested enough as it is!"
Claire grumbled a bit, shifting and yawning.
"What…?"
She blinked, looking around and seeing the inside of the plane she barely remembered reaching before passing out, and the amused look on Aeon's face as he shook her awake.
"Aeon! Where are we? What happened?" she exclaimed, getting to her feet- before pausing.
Huh. No pain? She thought in confusion.
"I healed you." bluntly declared Aeon, before shaking his head at her. "Honestly Claire, you're supposed to throw a grenade in the monster's mouth, not put the damn grenade launcher in it! You're lucky you didn't die. Save that kind of stuff for if you become a Hunter! Then you can afford to do that kind of nonsense without the risk of killing yourself." finished Aeon, an exasperated look on his face, obviously understanding the source of her confusion considering the state of her body when she showed up in the plane.
Claire smiled sheepishly. "Sorry! I just wanted to kill that Tyrant quickly and it kind of backfired."
She grimaced. "Literally."
Aeon snorted. "I noticed."
He then shook his head again, before waving at the outside of the plane.
"Well, in other news we are currently headed for the Antarctic. Alfred Ashford definitely is no quitter, and used his access code to remotely control the plane to send us toward an hidden Umbrella base in the region. Apparently, he really wants to see you dead. I could have stopped him, but if he wants to die that badly, that's fine with me."
"Antarctica. We're going to Antarctica." she said numbly.
"Yup. Look on the bright side! At least we're not going towards the Mountains of Madness, so it's all good." cheerfully replied Aeon.
"The what now?" she asked, blinking.
He waved her off. "Don't worry, they don't exist in this universe. Anyway, point is, we're going to Antarctica. Ever wondered what it looked like? Because you're about to find out!"
Claire said nothing for a long moment… before sighing deeply.
"And I still don't have my parka-"
Aeon gave her her parka.
Claire blinked. "How-?"
"God." he said smugly.
She stared at him.
Then she nodded. "If you can promise me that, after all of this we get to go somewhere warm, sunny, zombie free, and with beaches, I'll damn well kiss you."
"Deal!"
Claire was more than happy to take that deal.
Especially when Aeon proved to be as good a kisser as she remembered him being.
Claire jumped down from the broken hatch of the plane, itself broken down from having crashed straight into the secret Umbrella base.
Thankfully Aeon had been there, so she didn't take so much as a single injury from the crash, though Aeon had once again disappeared once the plane had stopped and Claire was ready to head out in the facility.
Though not before warning her first that both of the Ashford heirs were in this place alongside their father, who had apparently been used as some kind of first try at the new virus experimentation… which naturally went wrong.
So not only did she had to deal with that cross-dressing bastard Alfred, but the rest of his mutated family too.
Great.
… At least the make-out session with Aeon had been amazing.
And she had her parka! Things truly could be worse.
Of course, because she couldn't have nice things as long as Umbrella existed, the next room was full of zombies.
And the corridor after that had some kind of green-ish webs all over the walls, trapping a number of zombies within… and unquestionably indicating some kind of mutated insect being in the facility.
And here we go again, dryly thought Claire as she blew off the head of yet another zombie.
-
She stared at the corpse hanging from a number of webs…
The one with some kind of mutated flying insect pumping the corpse's body full of eggs through a deep wound on it's back.
"Nope. Fuck that." she declared flatly, as she threw a grenade at the two.
Naturally, the ensuing explosion caused a large number of those flying insects to come investigate.
Unfortunately for those insects, Claire had quite a few grenades left.
So it was with a wide grin that she loaded the next one in her grenade launcher.
Claire pulled the lever, smiling as the power returned to the long-abandoned facility and the lights turned back on.
Considering that she had to fight zombies, zombie dogs, weird egg-laying flying insects and giant spiders (all of this with very little light) to get there, she felt that her glee was rather well warranted… and well-earned.
Then she made her way through more of the facility, killing zombies, finding a gas mask that would hopefully protect her from any chemicals still in the facility and even helping a mouse escape a closed locker.
… She had no idea how that mouse was still alive, but at this point Claire had long since learned not to question that kind of thing.
Of course, then that locker slide away to reveal a hidden room overlooking a bound humanoid monster of some kind, and Claire had the sneaking suspicion she had just found the late Ashford senior.
Correct.
… Oh, great. She thought back at Aeon, trusting him to pick up on her thoughts. He was apparently omniscient, right? He's totally going to wake up and be a problem, isn't it?
Yup.
Claire considered the bound monster underneath her for a long moment.
Then she nodded.
And put her gun away for her grenade launcher.
As she walked away with a smirk, the sound that filled her mind was Aeon's proud and enthusiastic clapping.
Oh, and the sound of rubble falling down from what used to be a containment cell.
After all, even the most minutious of scientists would have to agree that, all things considered, someone certainly gave their absolute best at disproving the notion that true emptiness did not exist.
The rather spectacular hole behind Claire stood as a rather poignant testament of that fact.
Claire stepped towards the vehicle which should allow her to break through the wall of the research base. Once outside, she should be able to make her way towards some kind of plane or snowmobile from which she should be able to find a way to escape from the Antarctic.
"Right, I should be able to escape from here with this..."
"Think again, Claire!"
Claire turned, eyes widening at the sight of Alfred pointing his rifle at her with a look of cruel anticipation on his face.
"I will enjoy seeing you shriek in agony!"
Claire jumped away a second before Alfred fired, shooting back at the Ashford heir with her las-pistol.
She scrambled behind the nearest bit of cover, before exchanging fire with Alfred, who had taken cover behind the metal railing he was on.
Then Claire paused, seeing the holes in the wall beyond Alfred that her shots created… and shot straight at his cover instead.
At the third shot, Alfred screamed, standing up and holding his wounded side as the las-bolt finally penetrated through the sheet of metal protecting him.
Stumbling, Claire's eyes widened as he suddenly went over the railing… and straight into a massive hole in the ice below.
"Aaaaaaahhhhh…" Alfred's scream of terror trailed off as he fell deep beneath the ice.
For a moment, Claire merely stared at the hole where Alfred fell into, before slowly getting out of cover.
"Is he dead?" she wondered.
"Not yet. But soon, now. He was already wounded, he won't survive the new wounds you gave him."
Claire kept staring at the hole in the ice, hardly acknowledging Aeon's presence at her side.
"I had wondered what I would feel when I… when I finally would kill him."
She fell silent.
"And?" gently asked Aeon.
"... Is it bad if all I feel is relief that he's dead? Or satisfaction that he won't hurt me, or anyone else, ever again?"
Aeon shook his head. "I do not believe so. He was a cruel man, Claire, a thoroughly evil one who would have laughed over the destruction of the world. Earth is better off without him in it."
Claire mused on that for a moment, before nodding.
"It still feels strange, though. He's been trying to kill me for a while now, and just like that he's dead."
And it could have easily been me. If he had shot first, instead of gloating...
She sighed softly.
"I guess you were right. Killing truly is easy… too easy."
Aeon put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
As a man who had killed and been killed many times, he knew all too well how true that was.
"As long as you remember why you kill, as long as your reasons are good ones, like self-defense here… As long as you stay yourself… It'll be alright. It's when you lose yourself to it, when you start to enjoy it, that it becomes a problem."
Claire remembered Yharnam, and what she had learned of it.
"I guess you would know, huh?"
Aeon smiled, though there was little humor in it.
"Yes. I do."
He looked at the hole in where Alfed had fallen into.
"I know all too well the beasts that men can become when they forget to value their humanity."
Claire smiled as she took in the sight of the snowmobile. With that, she should hopefully be able to leave this place, and drive straight towards the nearby Australian base that she found the coordinates of.
Jumping into it, she smiled wider as it turned on without issue, and she started driving it off away from the Umbrella base.
"Well done. You made it out of the base on your own."
Claire grinned at Aeon's words, as he suddenly sat in the seat by her side.
"I did! And now I should be able to go straight for the Australian base."
She paused, before frowning.
"Though I've yet to meet Alfred's sister… I would have thought I'd meet her by now, honestly…"
Aeon smiled sadly.
"I'm afraid that you are about to. Unfortunately, it has been 15 years since she went into cryo… and the 15 years she needed are up."
Claire stared at him.
"And considering she woke up to find her brother bleeding out to death in front of her… well she isn't exactly happy right now."
She opened her mouth-
And then let out a scream of shock as a massive tentacle broke out of the ground and sent the snowmobile flying.
Claire felt the snowmobile crash on the ground-
And then her head hit something, and everything went dark.
Elsewhere, on an isolated island.
Following up on a lead about his sister, Chris Redfield arrived on Rockford Island to save her from Umbrella's grasp.
From what he had learned, his sister had been captured by Umbrella and sent here, but then the island suffered an outbreak and was attacked by an unknown group searching for something.
So here Chris was, trying to find one person on an island full of zombies and potentially hostile mercenaries.
As he cautiously walked through a cave network leading up to the umbrella facility, he paused as the ground shook, a distant inhuman scream making him tense.
Once the tremors had calmed down, he cautiously walked forward, until he came across the slumped form of a wounded man, leaning painfully against a wall.
"I didn't… expect to find another living person… on this island." said the wounded man, looking up curiously at Chris.
"Who are you?"
Chris hesitated, but decided to answer.
"I came here to find a certain girl."
Chris knelt by the side of the wounded man, whose eyes lit up in recognition.
"A girl?" he said softly.
"Have you seen anyone named Claire Redfield?" asked Chris.
The man coughed, but looked at him with increasing curiosity.
"Did you say… Claire?"
Chris' eyes narrowed.
"You know who she is… don't you?" he demanded.
"Don't worry about her." the man replied. "I helped her escape. A silver plane took off from the island not long ago. While I can't say for certain… She was probably on it."
Chris stared at the man… and then sighed in relief. "I see."
He smiled slightly, relaxing. "I guess my sister owes you. Thanks for helping her."
The man nodded. "Everyone's gone… We may be the only other people left. Go on. Follow your sister and get off this island."
Chris nodded, getting on his feet-
Only to stumble and gasp in shock as a massive worm suddenly rose up the ground.
His eyes widened as the worm focused on the wounded man… and then lunged towards him, swallowing him whole before disappearing in the ground, a cut-off scream the only mark of what happened to him.
Chris leaned against the wall at his back for support, his heart beating fast at how close to dying he had just been, but his thoughts immediately turned to the desperate hope of saving the man who helped his sister.
He rushed forward, entering a wide open cave and taking his shotgun in hands.
The ground suddenly trembled, and he paused, waiting-
*SKKKRRREEEE-*
The worm burst out of the ground, Chris acting on sheer instinct as he opened fire, pumping buckshot of lead after buckshot of lead into the giant monster-
Until it screamed one last time, thrashing about and suddenly spitting out the wounded man who helped out his sister on the ground.
The man screamed in pain, writhing on the ground, but Chris focused on firing again and again against the dying worm until, finally, it fell on the ground dead.
Chris waited for a few seconds to ensure it was truly dead, before rushing to the side of the wounded man.
"Hold on! Don't give up!"
The man grimaced… and then began laughing tiredly, even as he smiled in relief.
"Looks like… I can be with my family… Again. Here, take this…"
He slowly, painfully took something out of his pocket, Chris' eyes widening at the sight of the lighter he once gifted Claire with.
"She gave this… to me… as a token of thanks for saving her…" he chuckled weakly. "I… won't need it… anymore…"
The man slumped down, closing his eyes.
Chris checked his pulse… and grimaced.
Looking down sadly at the dead man on the ground, Chris sighed.
"I hope that we both will be able to meet up with our family, then."
Chris slowly got up, gave one last look at the dead man on the ground… and then walked away, carefully putting the lighter in one of his pockets.
He'll give it back to Claire once he meets up with her… and he will let her know of this man's fate.
It was the least he could do.
Chris went up the stairs, trying to find any confirmation that his sister did leave the island, and if so where exactly had she gone to.
He was also on his guard, because he felt that something was wrong. He'd come across a number of drones in the place who seemed programmed to track him down specifically, acting as beacons for a number of B.O.W's that would rush towards him if the drones caught sight of him.
Someone here wanted him dead, that was very clear-
He froze, as a laugh he knew all too well came from behind him.
"Hahahaha. Long time no see, Chris."
Chris slowly turned, eyes widening and then narrowing into angry slits as he stared at-
"Wesker?!"
He snarled. "You're still alive?! So Aeon's intel was true... "
Wesker sneered. "Aeon. It figures that he knew I survived and warned you… That man is truly an annoyance."
Chris smirked, pleased at Wesker's annoyance at his survival already being known, but still furious at the sight of his traitorous ex-superior.
"What are you doing here, Wesker?" he demanded.
"I came for Alexia." the traitorous bastard replied.
"Who?" he asked, confused.
"An organization asked me to capture her."
"Wait… You attacked the island!" realized Chris. "And… my sister!"
Chris raised his gun-
Only to gasp, eyes wide as Wesker suddenly moved, crossing the distance between them in a blink of an eye and punching him straight across the room.
Chris groaned in pain, before choking when Wesker crossed the room in an instant and seized him by the throat.
"Hahaha." Wesker laughed, enjoying the pain Chris was in. "You have no idea how much I hate you. You destroyed my plans, you and the rest of S.T.A.R.S. alongside Aeon. So now, I've sold my soul to a new Organization. Now…"
Wesker smiled darkly. "Die." he declared, almost purring the words with hateful relish.
Chris punched Wesker, snapping the man's head to the left, sending the man's shades flying…
But Wesker merely turned his head back, unfazed, revealing slitted yellow eyes looking at him with inhuman coldness and hatred.
Chris' eyes widened, fully understanding how correct Aeon had been when he had warned the surviving S.T.A.R.S. members that Wesker had become something beyond human.
Wesker smiled coldly. "Here's a little secret, Chris. Your sister is now in the depths of the Antarctic… with Alexia. It's too bad you won't be seeing her again. Hahahaha!" he cruelly mocked, slowly squeezing tighter and tighter his grip around Chris's neck, while Chris himself could only choke and gasp feebly for air, his vision slowly darkening-
"Hahahahaha!"
Wesker froze as a female voice began laughing, his head turning to look at a nearby screen where Alexia's face could be seen before the connection cut.
Wesker snarled, throwing Chris away and quickly running away, while Chris desperately gasped for air… before stiffening as a nearby pod opened, revealing a strange one-armed creature looking straight at him.
Chris rolled away, taking his fallen weapon from when Wesker punched him and gunning down the strange monster, before finally relaxing, breathing deeply.
"That… had been way too close." he whispered hoarsely, his throat hurting after the tight grip Wesker had used to try and kill him slowly.
Aeon had told them that Wesker was currently beyond them, unless they were Hunters at least, but Chris hadn't fully believed him.
Well, he was certainly convinced, now. The sheer speed and strength Wesker had possessed… he'd never seen anything like it.
If Wesker had been going straight for the kill, instead of playing around with him…
Chris shuddered at the thought. He'd have died, probably before he even knew he was in danger.
Thank God for his arrogance and sadism… err, thank Aeon, I guess?
"You're welcome, though I didn't actually do anything."
Chris turned towards where the deadpanned words had been spoken, staring at Aeon who was leaning with his arm crossed against a nearby wall, a slight smirk on his face.
Chris opened his mouth, but paused as Aeon waved his right hand, a golden glow surrounding Chris before disappearing, removing all pain he was in.
He sighed in relief, before nodding in thanks. "Thank you. I really didn't expect him to be… well, so strong."
Aeon gave him a look. "I warned you. Can't say I didn't."
Chris grimaced.
"Yeah. But then again, I didn't exactly have a lot of options."
"Fair." agreed Aeon with a sigh. "If you want to fight him off, you need to be tricky. A straight fight will have you lose horribly, Chris. Keep that in mind, when you meet him again."
Chris turned grim. "So I'll meet him again… Aeon, about my sister-"
"She's currently a prisoner of Alexia, though you don't have to worry too much. She won't harm her until she has more time to control her new powers, so you have some time to make it to Antarctica."
Chris clenched his fists. "If she's harmed-"
"She won't be." declared Aeon, and this time there was no humor in his voice, only ice-cold certainty. "I'd know the second Alexia thinks of it. I'm letting Claire grow stronger, but trust me, I won't let her face something beyond her. If it looks like Alexia will do anything to her while she can't fight back, I'll personally intervene…" Aeon smiled coldly. "And you better trust me that she would be dealt with shortly."
Chris stared at Aon for a long moment… before nodding.
"Alright. But first, tell me everything you know about what's going on here. If I want to save Claire, I need to know what I'm walking into."
"Fair enough. Listen well then, because it's something of a long story…"
Aeon chuckled. "But don't worry about being late, I've stopped time around us while we talked."
Chris blinked. Right, I almost forgot for a second how bullshit Aeon truly is...
Claire blinked, then blinked again when she recognized the night sky from the Hunter's Dream above her.
"Did I die?"
"No, you just got captured. You're unconscious right now, so that's why I brought your consciousness here."
Claire turned, looking up at Aeon, before sighing.
"Well, great. That whole escape attempt didn't exactly work out… I guess I should have known better than to let a loose end like Alexia be without it biting me in the ass sooner or later."
Aeon grinned. "To be fair, it's a great ass."
She snorted, getting up and glancing at Aeon.
"So what now? I can't imagine that you didn't see this coming. Did I fail, or…"
"Nope. You're right, if you had gone out of your way to try and kill Alexia things might have ended differently, but as it is you'll simply have to wait for plan B to come rescue you."
Claire blinked. "And what's plan B? Or who, rather?"
Aeon smiled. "Well, you did ensure that your brother would know about Rockford island, remember?"
Her eyes widened. "Chris! He's coming to Antarctica?!"
Aeon nodded. "Yup. I told him about Alexia, and he crossed paths with Wesker too. Right now, he's in a plane headed straight for your position. So all we need to do for now is wait for him to arrive, make his way to you, and then you can escape and deal with Alexia on the way out."
He grinned. "I did promise that you would be reunited with your brother by the end of things, didn't I?"
She smiled widely. "You did." she replied, before leaning forward and giving him a quick kiss.
Aeon's grin widened, before he turned and walked away, waving at her to follow.
"Well, until he arrives Oedon has some new tea she wants you to try. So how about we check that out?"
Claire grinned… and then began snickering.
At Aeon's raised eyebrow, she shrugged slightly. "I'm just thinking of how amusing Alexia's face would be if she knew I was casually having tea while she has me prisoner."
She frowned. "She isn't going to do anything while I'm unconscious, right?"
"Nah, she wants to wait before enjoying her revenge against you. Needless to say, that's a very big mistake she's making."
Claire smiled. "Then sure, I wouldn't mind some tea."
Chris' eyes widened at the sight of his sister stuck in some kind of yellow webs, before quickly taking his knife and setting to the task of freeing his sister.
After finding and using a plane to go from Rockford Island to Antarctica, he had made his way through this secret Umbrella facility dedicated to the Ashford's family research on the T-Veronica virus.
He had even found the corpse of Alfred Ahford, and the journals of Alexia Ashford on the experiments on the T-Veronica virus… and how she had first used her own father as guinea pig in her research to successfully bond with the virus.
Needless to say, after the horrors he had discovered in this place, he wouldn't mind a chance to kill her and wipe this entire place out of existence, but he had yet to come across Alexia as of yet.
Though he had a very bad feeling about that big cocoon surrounded by ants he had come across in one of the rooms…
Ah well. A concern for later- for now, he needed to free Claire.
Cutting through the yellow webs, he took her in his arms, stepping away from her former prison.
"Claire…" he whispered, fear gripping his heart at her unconscious state.
True, Aeon had promised she'd be fine, but-
Claire groaned softly, blinking her eyes open…
And then they widened, and a warm, relieved smile spread across her lips.
"Chris!" she exclaimed, hugging him tightly a second later, a hug he was more than happy to reciprocate even as he exhaled in relief.
"I missed you so much…" she muttered in his shoulder.
He smiled at her. "I know. We can catch up later, but first we have to get out of here. You're alright?"
"I'm fine." she replied, getting up. "Aeon brought me to his realm while I was unconscious, actually. I was just finishing a cup of tea with him and Oedon when you woke me up." she declared, some amusement in her voice.
Chris opened his mouth, closed it, and then sighed, shaking his head with a smile.
"Of course you were. I have a lot of questions… but that can wait later. For now, let's get out of here."
"Alright, but first we need to take care of Alexia. We can't let her survive Chris, she would endanger the entire world as she is!"
Chris wanted to argue, declare that Claire's safety took priority… but a single look in her determined blue eyes told him everything he needed to know.
"You've changed." he said softly, instead. His sister was always headstrong, but this… this kind of determination to protect the world and do the right thing despite the dangers was more something he would have expected from Jill.
Claire smiled shyly, looking hesitant for a second before turning determined. "I know. But after everything I went through to try and find you… I had to change."
Chris barely held back a grimace. Knowing that, even indirectly, he was the cause of so much trouble for his sister was a blow straight to the heart.
Unfortunately, it was far too late to do anything about it.
"Come on, we can talk more later. We need to end this!" Claire declared, and once again Chris couldn't help but marvel at how fearlessly she talked of fighting her way through an Umbrella research facility filled with monsters.
Chris felt a mix of pride and sadness, pride at how she had grown and sadness at not being here for her when she needed him most.
Still, he was here now, and he wasn't going anywhere.
"Right." he firmly replied. "Let's end this."