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Claire Redfield frowned deeply, thinking over everything she had learned from Aeon and the others.
Aeon's past had been downright horrifying, in as much as it was awe-inspiring.
To literally fight, kill and die against madmen, bloodthirsty beasts and gods alike…
The sheer amount of willpower required, even after her time in Raccoon City, was shocking to think of.
Or perhaps, because of it. She knew what it was like to fear for her life, now. To fight and kill for survival.
But the idea of fighting and killing gods… of knowingly walking towards certain death, over and over again, just so you could learn and grow stronger each and every time, so that eventually, maybe, just maybe, you would finally acquire the strength to beat the odds…
She swallowed. No, she could barely imagine such a thing. Not without breaking into pieces and going mad at some point.
But Aeon did it. Did it enough that he literally saved the world from the Eldritch Gods and the Curse of the Blood.
The idea that such evils could exist terrified her more than any monsters from Umbrella.
The fact that someone successfully won anyway… Well, that was its own level of mind-blowing.
She shook her head, looking around.
Leon was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and a frown on his face.
No doubt thinking of the latest revelations, much like her.
Sherry, meanwhile, was with Oedon, and one look on their faces told Claire that they were probably talking about the girl's parents.
They were far too solemn, if not downright grim, to be talking of anything else, though Oedon had a kind look on her face.
"You alright?"
Claire jumped slightly in surprise, turning her head to look at Aeon, who was smiling slightly in amusement at her shock.
"Sorry, you startled me. I just…"
"Lost in thought?" he asked, a knowing look in his eyes.
"Yeah."
He nodded in understanding.
"It's just…" she blew out a breath. "Eldritch Gods, magic, and so much more…"
She shook her head. "I really didn't expect… all of this when I went looking for my brother."
"The world is a much bigger place that most people realize." Aeon mused. "But what about you? What do you think of all of this?"
She snorted. "What do I think? I think it's all crazy."
She sighed. "But apparently the world's always been crazy, we just didn't know it. Either way… I still want to find my brother. After that… we'll see."
Aeon smirked. "Fair enough. So, on a totally different subject: any issues with dating an Eldritch God I should know about?"
She laughed. "Oh, don't get me started! I'm trying not to think of the fact that a god is interested in me. I'm not the kind to be terrified by much of anything, but dating a god is…"
She trailed off, feeling rather overwhelmed.
Dating several people at once was nothing compared to… that!
Aeon smiled kindly, though there was a bit of amusement in his eyes.
"Don't worry, we'll work things out somehow. And hey, we don't need to worry about money, I have literal magic, and I'm a great cook! Why, you could even say a divine one!" he declared with a smirk.
She gave him a look, though her lips were twitching in amusement… and her interest was definitely peaked.
"Oh, that good, eh?"
Aeon looked at her thoughtfully, then brought his right hand palm up… and a cookie appeared in it.
"Here. Try this."
Claire stared. "Did you just create a cookie?"
"Nah, I just took it from the pocket dimension it was kept in."
Claire blinked, then decided not to worry about the details.
Taking it, her eyebrows rose when she noticed it was still warm.
And then she took a bite.
And promptly froze.
Her eyes turned lidded, a thousand yard stare in them that stayed for a good 15 seconds.
She slowly chewed, before swallowing.
She looked at the cookie, then at Aeon, currently smirking smugly at her.
"So, what's the verdict?"
She looked back at the cookie.
Or, as far as she was concerned, the literal piece of paradise in the form of a cookie currently in her hand.
"What the hell did you put in that cookie? Concentrated happiness and bliss?!" she exclaimed, eyes wide.
Aeon chuckled. "Nah, when I did that Lucy ended up dragging me to the bedroom for hours afterwards."
He leaned to whisper in her ear with a grin. "You should have seen the look on her face when I turned the taste of my cum into the exact same flavour as the cookies. I was genuinely worried for a moment that I broke her mind, so blank was the look in her eyes."
Claire tried to picture that in her mind.
And promptly swallowed, her throat suddenly very, very dry.
Aeon smirked, the look on his face clearly indicating that he was thinking "A job well done." to himself while looking at her bright red face.
She gave him a weak glare for his words, but even she knew it was half-hearted at best.
So instead, she put the rest of the cookie in her mouth.
All the while trying desperately to not think of something else she really wanted in her mouth right about now.
"Are you sure you aren't a god of sex? Because damn but you're making it hard not to jump you right now." she grumbled.
He grinned. "Why not both?"
She bit her lip. This man…
It was really hard to think about existential nightmares when he whispered things like that in her ears!
Still, after a few more minutes, the break ended, Lucy calling them back to the table they had started this meeting on.
So much had already happened… and she had a strong feeling that there was much more yet to come.
And as it quickly turned out, she was right. Lucy talked about the full history of Umbrella, about the Federation of Pharmaceutical Companies and their crimes, about Albert Wesker and the Organization and more.
And eventually, they reached the topics of Gentek… and Blackwatch.
Which led to the RedLight and Blacklight viruses.
And how and why they were so much more terrifying that anything Umbrella possessed.
Needless to say, neither Chris nor Claire were happy about knowing that there were things out there that made the G-Virus look weak in comparison.
Nor, for that matter, that the ones in charge of it were the US government and Blackwatch.
"I have a question." declared Leon at the end, and at Lucy's nod he leaned forward.
"How much of the recent chaos in the US and beyond was your doing? And why hide so much still from the public?"
"To answer your first question, pretty much all of it." replied Lucy bluntly. "To your second question…" she sighed. "We were worried that, if we truly released all the data we had, we'd cause WW3."
There was a moment of deep, grim silence.
"That bad?" he asked softly.
Lucy nodded sadly.
Leon released a shaky breath, clenching his fists tightly, and Claire grimaced.
Considering that the one saying those words was a literal goddess… well.
"Damn." said Leon, and Claire thoroughly agreed.
"Exactly. As bad as things are right now, as long as things don't devolve into full blown war, they are… manageable. If things explode out of control, however… well. Mass B.O.W. usage could be done by desperate governments, armies in the streets, or even nukes deployed and used. If Simmons had had his way, Raccoon City would have been wiped out of the maps… And it would have been only the first of many."
"Right. Never mind then, forget I asked." Leon said, his sarcasm barely masking the grimness in his eyes.
Lucy smiled sadly and with understanding at him, well understanding the horror of being told that the world could easily fall into madness and chaos with shocking ease.
"So, now that all of this is done and over with, let's talk about something else." declared Aeon. "In this case, about your future after Raccoon City."
His eyes settled on Sherry first, his grim look softening.
"First, as you are all aware of, Sherry will live with us, being officially adopted by Oedon and myself. The US government, and especially Simmons despite his recent troubles, have been pushing hard for some access to Sherry. Unfortunately, a flat no just isn't possible. Thankfully, we do have the influence necessary to limit what access they do have, and we are going to limit that to only sending them what data we gather ourselves, only the occasional outside doctors being involved to confirm our findings and stuff like that."
"And they'll really agree to that?" said Leon, rather skeptical.
Aeon smirked.
"In this case? Yes. Simmons doesn't care about Sherry herself, only what use he can get out of her blood. As long as he gets enough results to satisfy him, he'll agree to us having her. After all…" he gaze darkened. "If he really needs her, he can just go for good old kidnapping to get what he wants."
There were grimaces at his words, but noticeably neither Oedon nor Lucy disagreed.
Though both had uncharacteristically dark and dangerous look in their eyes at his words…
"Still, the point is, neither the US government nor Simmons have the influence or actual desire to get Sherry herself, as long as they get enough data from her instead."
Claire glanced at Sherry, who looked scared but determined to try and make things work.
"And that leaves you two. Leon, Claire… after what you experienced in Raccoon City, what do you plan to do now?" Aeon asked.
"Well, you already know I want to find my brother… but you know where he is, don't you?" she replied, looking at Aeon.
The man nodded sharply, before sighing.
"I do, obviously. Thing is… if I let you try to find him on your own, it will lead to some massive headaches for Umbrella in the long run. Now, I can easily deal with things on my own if need be… but, if you want to actually help strike a blow to Umbrella yourself, it would be better to let you go find your brother by yourself. I'll give you some training, but otherwise it'll be all up to you until the time is right where I'll help you personally… well, if you need me in the first place." he finished with a smirk.
Claire bit her lip, looking hesitant.
"You promise he'll be alright?"
"I do." firmly replied Aeon.
"And I'll find him?"
"Well, you'll find each other… point is, you'll meet up, yes."
Claire stared at Aeon, before nodding.
"If you're telling the truth, and if it does cause damage to Umbrella… then alright. I trust you, Aeon. And I wouldn't mind giving Umbrella some payback for Raccoon City and trying to kill my brother." she declared, anger clear in her voice towards Umbrella.
Aeon smiled. "Thank you. Again, I promise: you will meet with your brother again."
Claire leaned back, satisfied that, if a literal god said those words, it was going to happen.
Then Aeon looked at Leon, who looked back thoughtfully.
"And what of you, Leon? There are many paths you could take from here on out."
Leon stayed silent for a moment, before answering.
"I think… that I'll join the government strike force against Umbrella, after all."
"Really?" exclaimed Claire, surprised.
But Aeon looked at Leon with a smirk, an approving look in his eyes.
"Let me guess: you want to keep an eye on the US government from the inside, huh? Especially after everything we told you about its many dark secrets."
Leon smiled grimly. "Someone needs to make sure the government simply doesn't claim all of Umbrella's data for their own uses, but actually destroy it or use it only to put the mad scientists of Umbrella behind bars. Might as well be me."
"You do understand you'll effectively be a spy against your own government?" asked Lucy.
"I do." replied Leon firmly. "But if said government could do… even a fraction of what you said in this meeting, then frankly someone needs to stop them. Like this, I can both fight Umbrella and ensure the US government doesn't become…" he paused, face twisting in a grimace. "As bad as Umbrella are."
"Leon…" said Claire, hesitating for a moment before sighing and giving him a weak smile.
"Be careful, okay?"
Leon smiled back, but his eyes only held determination.
"I will."
"Alright. That leaves only one last matter to go over. And that is: do either of you would be interested in becoming Hunters of the Dream?" Aeon asked, leaning forward with a serious look on his face as he stared at both Claire and Leon.
The two froze, before blinking in surprise.
"As in-"
"Yes. With everything that implies, immortality and all."
Leon hesitated, but shook his head.
"Maybe one day, but if I want to work with the government, I can't stand out like this."
Aeon nodded. "Understandable. Nonetheless, I just wanted to make it clear that the offer is on the table."
Leon smiled. "And I appreciate it. Considering how important such a thing is for you… I appreciate the show of trust and confidence in me, Aeon."
Aeon smiled. "You've got the heart and conviction for it, Leon. It's as simple as that."
Then he turned towards Claire, who swallowed, feeling torn for a moment… before shaking her head too.
"No, not yet at least. I've got to find my brother, and after that… I don't know. I don't want to let Umbrella and those like them be, but…" she sighed. "I'm not my brother, or Leon. Before Raccoon City, I never really thought about living a life full of battles. And now…"
She trailed off, before smiling apologetically at Aeon.
"I need some time to think about many things. It's not a no, just… not yet."
Aeon smiled sadly at her. "I understand. To be fair, if someone wants to stop being a Hunter, they can. They'll still end up changed by what they went through, however."
He hummed in thought. "I can take it all away if someone truly wants it, but… well, I feel that someone who went out of their way to be a Hunter deserves some rewards, you know? And if they are good enough to be Hunters, they can be trusted with power."
"That and considering some of the future projects for Insight Corp…" said Oedon, glancing at Aeon.
The man nodded. "Yeah, project Rejuvenate will certainly have a large impact on Human society…" he shook his head. "It's not for a while, though. For several reasons."
Oedon inclined her head in acknowledgement.
Then Aeon looked at Sherry with an apologetic smile.
"Sorry you had to sit there for so long listening to all of this, but we felt you deserved to hear all of this."
Sherry smiled back. "It's okay."
She fell silent, before speaking softly.
"The world is a lot more scary than I thought. But… I think I prefer knowing. After…" she stopped, swallowing. "After my parents did… what they did, I'd rather know than remain ignorant."
Aeon gave her a sad look. "Ignorance is bliss… but not everyone can afford that bliss. Unfortunately, that is true for everyone in this room."
"So. What now?" wondered Leon, as the meeting obviously reached its conclusion.
"Now?" repeated Lucy. "Now, we deal with what comes next. The Good, the Bad… and the Ugly."
-
"So… where do you live?"
I smiled at Sherry's question. Leon and Claire had left, Leon to get a job for the US government in the newly created US-STRATCOM, while Claire had gone to track down her brother, following a lead that I had given her that would eventually lead to the events of Resident Evil: Code Veronica.
Which meant that now it was time to finally focus on Sherry and welcome her properly.
"To be honest, we have homes and facilities all over the world. The official home we have is in Washington… but really, our real home is the Hunter's Dream. And that's where we are going right now. We've got a Lantern leading there nearby, so that's where we are headed."
Sherry blinked, while Lucy, Oedon and I kept leading her through various corridors until we reached Lucy's office.
Once there, Lucy opened a safe, which revealed said Lantern.
She took it, and I snapped my fingers, lighting it.
Unseen by Sherry, a few Messengers appeared, my lips twitching in amusement at the sight of what they were wearing.
"Really, Oedon?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about, dear Aeon." she declared with a straight face, but the amusement rolling off her easily betrayed her.
I stared at the poor Messengers.
In pink tutus.
I genuinely wasn't sure whether I wanted to laugh my ass off or beg for brain bleach right about now…
With a supreme effort of will, I turned my gaze away, smiling at the confused Sherry looking between me, Oedon and the seemingly normal Lantern in front of us.
I presented my right hand. "Here, take it, and follow me."
Sherry was obviously confused, but did as asked.
And then I touched the Lantern… and we left this dimension behind.
-
Sherry blinked, stumbling a little as the world seemingly disappeared from under her feet and then reappeared a moment later.
And then she took in her surroundings.
And her eyes went wide.
She found herself standing on a dirt path leading to a massive mansion, old graves and short iron fences surrounding the path, a wide open garden surrounded by large trees whose branches reached unnaturally high in the sky around both the mansion and the garden.
The garden itself glowed silver and white from the countless flowers in it, a veritable sea of illuminating flowers shining their light upon the land, whose glow was only surpassed by the massive silver moon overhead, itself surrounded by more shining stars Sherry ever remembered seeing in the night sky.
Awed by the beauty of it all, and the sudden feeling of peace and serenity of the place, she slowly turned around, her eyes widening again when she saw that they were on a small island seemingly floating on a sea of clouds, who could be seen spreading far into the horizon where they seemingly joined the night sky filled with twinkling constellations.
As she looked up, her blue eyes found what she recognized as beautiful Nebula across the sky, and a thought came to her mind.
This isn't Earth's sky.
"Enjoying the view?"
Sherry turned around, surprised by the sudden presence behind her.
Yet again, her eyes went wide at the sight in front of her.
"Aeon?" she asked, because the man in front of was…
Well, he was as tall as him, but…
He wore robes that looked exactly like the night sky above, stars and nebula included. His right eye glowed like a star, and the left…
She shivered. There was something inherently wrong with the darkness of his left eye, something that terrified her more than anything she saw in Raccoon City ever could.
She looked away, focusing on his right eye instead, which felt… warm?
The man smiled, a bit apologetic.
"Sorry about that. You only saw me when I looked human, so I am not surprised that this look would startle you. But I felt that you needed to see me like this too, if you are to live with us."
"Admit it: you just wanted to show off." came the amused voice of Lucy, and Sherry turned towards her, a bit relieved at seeing her and Oedon look like usual.
"You can prove nothing." replied Aeon, amusement clear in his voice.
Lucy rolled her eyes, but Oedon immediately hugged Sherry again.
"I believe that your left eye scared her a bit, dear Aeon." she declared.
She heard Aeon shift a bit at her words, a small sigh escaping him.
"Yes, I expected that, sadly. Even as she is, it would have some effect on her."
Even as I am? Sherry thought, confused.
"To be fair, that isn't something that is easy to handle, you know." remarked Lucy, sounding slightly apologetic.
"I am aware. But her lack of Insight should protect her from the worst of it. Maybe I should go around with an eye covering of some kind, fake a scar or something." Aeon joked.
"What are you all talking about? What's wrong with Aeon's eye?" Sherry asked, finally allowing her curiosity to take hold.
After all, she didn't remember him having any problems with his eyes before…
Oedon let her go, a look being shared between all three adults before they looked back at her.
"Sherry… you know I'm a god, correct?" rhetorically asked Aeon.
She nodded.
"Well, what you saw on Earth was a mortal avatar, one that exists to help your world. What you see now is… a more divine avatar, not anything truly approaching my godly self, but a… middle ground, as it were."
"And your eyes…" began Sherry.
He smiled slightly.
"Ever heard the saying that eyes are the windows to the soul? Well, I'm a dual-natured god, for the most part. Life and Death, Chaos and Order, Light and Darkness… Creation and Destruction. If my right eye is all about overall Good things, then the other is about the more… Evil things, at least by mortal understanding of such things. And while, as a mortal, you can only see so much of that part of my self, you can still feel something. In other words…"
He sighed. "In other words, when you looked into that eye you felt things that instinctively bring dread in a human. Darkness, Death, Destruction, and more, all at a scale you cannot even comprehend. Again, as a young mortal, you don't actually see anything, but your instincts and subconscious would react to it anyway."
He smiled sadly. "If you prefer, I can just look like my mortal self around you-"
He stopped when she hugged him.
"Don't. You helped save me. You saved my mom. I don't want you to hide from me." she said softly.
There was a moment of silence… before she felt Aeon hugged her gently.
"Very well." he replied gently.
She smiled, looking up at him.
And did so very deliberately looking into both of his eyes.
"So, how about you show me your home? It looks really big!" she brightly declared, refusing to be intimidated by the shiver going down her spine as his left eye almost felt like it was pulling her in, deeper and deeper into something she could never come back from.
After all, she knew he was a good person. He saved her, her mom, and fought hard to help people across the world against monsters!
He even had adopted her as his daughter, and no mere bad feelings would keep her away from him!
Aeon suddenly smiled, his right eye seemingly pulsing with light enough to banish the unnatural darkness from his left eye.
If only from a time.
"But of course. C'mon, let us give you the grand tour!"
-
"So, Sherry has been settling in well?"
I smiled at Rebecca.
"She has indeed. Of course, with Oedon around I expected nothing else. I swear, just making her room alone is worthy of an Epic in its own right! The number of changes that were done to that room…"
I shook my head.
"I had to put my foot down when Oedon began muttering about adding additional dimensions to the room."
Jill and Rebecca blinked.
"As in-"
"As in, I had to remind Oedon that no, Sherry didn't need a multidimensional room whose full size, all dimensions included, would make the Earth, as in the entire planet, look like a child's marble in comparison." I deadpanned.
They stared at me.
I shrugged slightly.
"I mean, it's not really that big by our standards, and had Sherry been a Great One child, I probably would have agreed, but as it is, it's a bit too much, really."
I hummed.
"So instead, we just went for a room fit for a queen, who was then linked to a few continent-sized dimensions with different biomes, with a few other rooms as playgrounds with games and music and stuff from a couple neighbouring dimensions gathered in them, with some time-dilation fields in them to give her a bit more free time in those days where she needs to relax. Basic stuff, really."
They kept staring.
I smiled at them. "Oh, but don't worry. It's not just all fun and games! I made sure to create a few libraries for her, too. That way, she'll have all the knowledge she could need!"
I scratched my chin. "I mean, I'm not sure why we needed to add books on that rather admittedly cute species from the Oda galaxy, and I do feel like adding books on higher multidimensional physics was a bit much, but Oedon was firm on the matter, so…"
I shrugged.
"Well, it can't hurt, right?"
Huh, they were still staring silently for some reason…
"I'm not sure whether I envy or feel bad for that kid…" suddenly muttered Rebecca.
"Agreed." replied Jill, staring blankly ahead.
I blinked.
What? It wasn't that much.
I mean, really, it wasn't like we gave her a world to shape to her will or anything!
That'll only come much later!
-
20th October, 1998.
I looked over the report on my desk, slowly smiling darkly in triumph.
The G-virus sample that HUNK had gotten out of Raccoon City was confirmed destroyed, along with the entire french facility where Annette Birkin and her husband had originally worked on the damn thing.
Even better, the entire facility's personnel was dead, including every researcher, every soldier and the Director herself, Countess Henri.
The only Umbrella-aligned member of that whole fiasco who did survive was, to my absolute lack of surprise, HUNK himself.
Moreover, the French military was heavily involved in this mess, especially when over a thousand people died in that clusterfuck, and the French government was naturally not amused at having to clean up this entire mess.
In short, Umbrella's operations in France (which, for records, were the same ones who created Nemesis) were fucked, the leadership of Umbrella lost yet another high-ranked member, and one of the most powerful countries in Europe now had a personal grudge against Umbrella, on top of the US.
And all of that thanks to whom?
I chuckled.
Ada Wong.
Well, she's certainly been busy.
Not that the rest of the Raccoon City group had been any less busy.
Leon wiped out a research facility in the US creating some kind of bat B.O.W's, which got him and the US government intel on Sheena Island and the fact that the navy of Umbrella were full of ships secretly hiding research labs.
Meanwhile, Jill, Chris and Barry were causing merry chaos in the rest of Europe for Umbrella, who were incredibly stupidly trying to kill them at all costs.
Because with each murder attempt that failed, (because when all you had was a hammer, all problems started looking like nails) the countries in question were definitely not pleased by having their people used as biological weapons against their will in the vain attempts at killing those three.
So on top of that mess in France, other European countries were getting pissed at Umbrella.
Including, for example, the UK and Germany.
Because really, unleashing B.O.W's in fucking London had to be one of the dumbest moves of all time.
Especially when there was more than enough evidence left by the end of it to point straight at Umbrella.
Morons.
I shook my head. Well, no one ever accused mad scientists of being smart, but the sheer panic and desperation in Umbrella's response to the recent events was just a picture perfect example of what not to do.
I had to genuinely wonder how the hell they existed this long, if this was how capable they were at handling problems they could neither bribe nor kill.
Well, whatever. I certainly wasn't going to complain about my enemies acting dumb.
Now then, time to get back to thinking up good training for Jill and Rebecca… and maybe Leon and Claire, too, while I'm at it...
-
"Alright you two, rise and shine!"
Claire and Leon jerked, blinking repeatedly before looking around… and then focusing on me.
I grinned at them.
"Welcome to Hunter training from Hell, the human version! I'm your host, Aeon the Good Hunter, and from tonight onwards I'll be training you two! Not to a typical Hunter's level, sadly, but at least high enough to be acceptable by my standards for human fighters!"
"Err… Aeon, where are we?" asked Claire, looking confused at the white room we were in.
"In a dream, of course! We don't have time in the material world for this, but in dreams? Well, that's an entirely different story!" I replied brightly.
"We're… in a dream?" said Leon, looking rather confused.
"Correct! And that means I can easily shape it to whatever I want it to be!"
I clapped my hands, the white, featureless room turning into a firing range.
"C'mon, up and at them, you two! We've got a lot of work ahead of us, you know!"
Both Claire and Leon gaped at the change in their environment, with Claire murmuring about whether this was real or not.
I scoffed. "Of course it is! Why, I can assure you, just because something is a Dream or a Nightmare doesn't mean they aren't real! Some can hold a great deal of power, I'll have you know! But enough wasting time. If I'm going to train you two to an acceptable level, we should get going!"
The two exchanged a glance, before Leon sighed, grumbled something about "Godly nonsense" to Claire, and they finally walked towards the firing range.
I smirked. The natural surreal experience of a dream causes them to roll with things more easily and quickly. Still, everything they would learn here would reflect on the material world, so I had no intention of letting them slack off!
They may not have chosen to be Hunters, but that just meant that they'll have to do the job of one without the powers, and that meant they better have the skills to pull that off.
Thankfully, they just so happened to have a friendly god willing and able to teach them!
And hey, if they do decide to become Hunters, then at least the basics of fighting will already be present.
A win for everyone, really!
-
December 1st, 1998.
I stood in the wreckage of the building, coldly looking around at what remained of the Umbrella facility in Sheena island.
"Ark Thomson really did a number on this place when he escaped. Thankfully, we managed to recover more than enough data, on top of what the man recovered by himself, to completely incriminate Umbrella for this."
"Good." I replied grimly to Oedon. "This place… I can still feel the residual psychic taint on it. The fear, the pain, the terror… the deaths. We knew what was required to create those damn Mr.X's, but even so…"
"Yet more memories of the Healing Church?" she asked softly.
I grunted. "Extracting the fluids released by the human brain while in a state of extreme terror, without any anesthetic, was bad enough on an industrial scale. Doing it when the victims were children, to boot…"
"I know." Oedon replied, and I could feel the disgust and rage in her.
For a moment, we stayed silent, while around us scientists of Insight Corp. tried to get as much information out of this wrecked facility as we could to add even more crimes to Umbrella's existing ones.
"Do we have a number of victims from this place?" softly asked Oedon.
I scowled.
And answered.
Oedon said nothing for a moment, before gently hugging me.
"End them, Good Hunter." she whispered. "End them all, those who could do such a thing without hesitation or guilt."
My hands tightened into fists.
For a second, my eyes glowed, countless spectral shades of dead children surrounding us, as I peered through Time and the veil of Life and Death.
I saw another me, both eyes dark voids from which no lights could escape, gently leading the souls of the children to that which came next.
There were… many.
Far too many.
And that wasn't even mentioning all the civilians on the island, who had died in the t-Virus outbreak deliberately unleashed by the former Director of this facility...
"I shall."
-
December 27, 1998.
Wake up, Claire. Wake up.
Claire gasped, blinking a few times and looked around, trying to remember where-
Oh, right. Damn. she thought, grimacing while getting up from the cold ground of her prison cell.
She had followed Aeon's intel up to an Umbrella facility in England, but then got caught and transferred here, to what was apparently Rockford Island.
As she looked around however, her eyes widened in surprise as the ground kept shaking, and she recognized the sounds coming from outside.
Bombs? Is the Island under attack? She thought, a part of her hoping it was Aeon and ISIS here to help free her.
Even if she was never going to hear the end of it from Aeon. Getting caught, even after all the training in her dreams she received? She held back a wince at the very thought of all the "remedial training" headed her way.
"Oh trust me, you'll definitely get all of that and more later."
She flinched in surprise, turning to stare wide eyes at Aeon, casually resting against a wall to her right.
"Aeon! Are you-" she stopped, wanting to say,''Are you a prisoner like me?", but the very thought was far too absurd.
Aeon frowned, looking out in the distance towards the explosions.
"You should make your way out of this island sooner rather than later, Claire. You don't want to meet either the owners of this place… or its attackers."
She blinked. "So, it isn't ISIS out there?"
He shook his head. "No. It's the HCF. In other words, the military branch of the Organization… led by Albert Wesker."
Claire grimaced at the name. From what she had learned from Aeon, the man who was once her brother's superior was bad news for many reasons.
Not the least of which is the fact he was currently faster and stronger than any non-Hunter in the world, nowadays.
She opened her mouth to ask more, but sounds coming from outside her cell made her turn her head, hearing someone coming.
Searching for anything on her that might help, she grimaced as the only thing she could find was a lighter she received years ago from her brother, miraculously not taken by any of Umbrella's goons yet.
Lighting it, she blinked when she came face to face with the very same man who had first captured her… except he was bleeding, and obviously not in good shape.
To her surprise however, he silently opened her cell, jerking his head to indicate to her that she was free to go.
The man then slowly, painfully walked toward a nearby chair, roughly falling in it with a relieved sigh.
He then took a bottle of some kind of medicine out of his pocket, only to find the bottle empty, throwing it on the ground with a frustrated "Perfect."
He then looked up back at her, grunting. "Go on." he declared, waving towards the exit. "Get out of here. This place is finished." he declared, shaking his head in disgust.
Claire slowly walked out, while the man continued grumbling.
"I don't know, I think it was some kind of special forces… but in any case this prison had been taken over. All our troops have been wiped out…"
"What are you saying?" she asked cautiously.
He stared at her tiredly. "You're free to leave the complex," he said. "But you may as well know, you have no chance of getting off this island."
"And what about you?" she wondered. "What are you going to do?"
"Don't worry about me." the man replied, before closing his eyes.
Slowly coming closer, she saw that he was actually unconscious, the wounds he took no doubt taking their toll.
She finally looked back, not really surprised that Aeon had disappeared.
Instead, she looked around for anything of value, such as a knife, some bullets and a green herb, before walking away, sending one last glance towards the wounded man on his chair as she did.
Maybe she could find some medicine for him?
After all, he may have been the reason she was captured, but he also went out of his way to free her when he could have easily left her to rot instead.
As she turned the next corner however, she came face to face with Aeon, once again leaning against a wall up ahead.
"One last warning," he said. "There's a t-Virus outbreak on the island, on top of everything else. I suggest you be careful."
Claire tightened her grip on her knife at the news, memories of Raccoon City flashing in her mind.
"Dammit. Again?"
He nodded. "I'm afraid so."
She grimaced. "Will you help me again, then? I mean, I don't know if you're needed elsewhere, or-"
"I'm mostly going to guide you when need be, but otherwise I'd prefer to let you win your own battles. If you want to grow stronger, I can't babysit you all the time." he replied with a smirk.
She scowled. "I don't need to be! I can handle myself!"
Aeon raised an eyebrow, before very deliberately looking around.
At the Umbrella prison.
In which she was kept in until now.
She scowled harder, but sighed.
Now wasn't the time to be stupid.
Not with zombies running around.
"Can I at least have a gun?"
"That, I can do." he said, holding his right hand, presenting a las-pistol in it.
She gladly took it, and then the additional energy packs for it.
"Alright, that's better. Thanks, Aeon!" she said, feeling safer with a las-pistol in hand than just a knife.
And a few bullets, but honestly she preferred a las-pistol. More shots, more power, and both were very useful against infected.
"Then I'll leave you to it. The only ones left on this island are people you should kill on sight, with the exception of the guy who freed you. So don't hesitate to shoot first, ask questions never." declared Aeon, and Claire turned grim.
So, basically she was stuck on an island with an unknown number of infected, Umbrella goons and mercenaries led by a man who her brother hates and who hates her brother.
And she had a las-pistol, a knife, and the clothes on her back, basically.
Great, just great…
"You know, is it me, or are things worse than in Raccoon City? At least back then, I had you and any soldiers I met were more likely to be friendly than hostile…"
Aeon snorted. "Consider it good training, then!" he said cheerfully.
She gave him a dry look.
He shrugged. "Still better than Yharnam."
She winced. Anything was better than that place, from what she had learned of it.
"Fine, I'll get going." she said, trying to appear as strong and confident as she could.
Aeon smiled softly, putting a hand on her right shoulder and squeezing gently in reassurance, before leaning back.
"You'll do fine. I have faith in you."
She blushed, before nodding, and then she turned and walked away, Aeon disappearing seconds later.
Right then. Me against all the horrors an Umbrella-controlled island could possess, here we go… she thought, blue eyes grim but determined.
-
As it turned out, it didn't take long before she did, in fact, meet a few zombies.
Thankfully, they were just standard infected, and a las-pistol proved as effective as ever to put them down quickly.
From there, she went to the nearest building, finding it to be a living space for prisoners, though all of them were zombies now.
She did find a map inside, so at least that would be useful.
Not so good news, she ended up having to put down several infected dogs. Thankfully, she had noticed signs of their presence before, so she wasn't caught by surprise when they attacked her.
The next building she entered forced her to give up any metal objects she had because of a metal detector at the entrance, and she had to grudgingly leave her weapons behind.
She blinked, however, when she found Aeon in one of the rooms, looking at a screen of a computer.
"Hey, Claire. Turns out that Umbrella was monitoring your brother. You might want to send a message out from here."
"My brother? Umbrella- Dammit, of course they were."
She came closer, Aeon stepping back and letting her use the computer to connect to the outside world.
"It's a good thing I have an outside connection from here…" she muttered.
"You know, you could just ask your brother to come and help you. There's the island coordinates in there, too. Maybe Leon can pass along a message?"
"Thanks! I'll do that."
"You're welcome. Well, I need to get going. I do suggest you start running soon, however- the windows of the corridor outside this room won't last long against all the zombies out there."
"Wait, what-" she turned around, but Aeon was already gone.
"Dammit." she cursed, before starting to run.
She made it halfway through the corridor before the zombies broke through, and then she had to dodge a few grabbing hands before being able to make it back to the entrance, taking back her guns and then leaving the building entirely.
At least she was able to get the bird emblem she needed from the building before the zombies broke in…
-
Claire entered the mansion that she came across, taking her lighter to light the room.
Up the stairs at the end of the room, the partially damaged painting of an aristocrat of some kind could be seen, probably some kind of high-ranked Umbrella leader.
She cautiously began looking around the mansion, finding first a study of some kind up the stairs where the butler left a diary where he complained about Sir Alfred and his sister Alexia.
A bit more searching allowed her to find an ID card, with which she was able to unlock the security system of the house, opening a number of doors.
After that, she found a room which displayed a mostly silent short film of a blond brother and sister taking off the wings of a dragonfly and dumping its body for a colony of ants to feed from, a melody echoing in the background.
Claire shook her head at the sight, but then blinked when a secret room was revealed after the short film was over.
Entering it, she took the item hidden in it and left, returning to the entrance hall-
Only to freeze, noticing the red dot on her body.
Turning, her eyes went wide at the sight of the brother she saw from the film aiming at her with a rifle from the balcony, and she immediately jumped towards the nearest pillar, hiding behind it while gunshots echoed in her ears… though thankfully, no pain, so she didn't get hit.
"Redfield! How dare you interfere with my operations!" came the haughty voice of what she suspected to be "Sir Alfred", if the butler's words were anything to go by.
"What are you talking about?!" she shouted back.
"You let yourself be captured so that you could lead your people back to this place!" he accused.
"I have no idea what you are babbling about!" she screamed back. Was he confusing the soldiers Aeon warned her about with people from ISIS? Seriously?
"You don't fool me!" he declared, and she could almost almost hear the sneer in his voice. "I am Alfred Ashford. Commander of this base!"
She scoffed. "Oh? You must be one of Umbrella's lower-officers if you command a backwater base like this one!" she snarked.
She winced as she heard him bang his rifle somewhere in anger.
"How dare you! The Ashford family is amongst the world's first and finest. My grandfather is one of the original founders of Umbrella Inc." he said, and she could hear the haughty disdain in his voice towards her, mixed with his family pride.
She merely rolled her eyes. Yes, truly, what a glorious legacy, than to be part of the founders of the worst company to ever exist!
"Now, tell me… Why have you attacked this installation!" he demanded.
"Attacked?!" she yelled. "Those troops outside aren't with me, you idiot! They answer to the Organization. We're not friends."
There was a moment of silence.
"Ah. So they must have kept an eye on you after Raccoon City, and followed you here when you were captured… Damn it. Fine then, you are nothing but a rat in a cage anyway! I'll be sure to keep you entertained before I dispose of you… ahahahaha!"
She heard him walk away, and eventually dared to peek out of her cover, seeing nothing and cautiously beginning to walk away from her pillar, before sighing.
"Well great, Now I'm stuck on the island with a crazy noble to boot… just great."
She left the mansion, taking a path that led her to an underground river.
Taking the item she found from the secret room, she blinked at the small submarine that appeared after she placed it where it was meant to be.
A submarine… fucking Umbrella, of course they have some of those… she thought darkly.
Shaking that thought away, she went inside, noticing that the only way to control it seemed to be a single lever.
Frowning, she pulled it, and then the submarine proceeded to take her away, straight into an underwater research base.
Letting out a sigh and remarking to herself that she wasn't even surprised at this point, she merely kept going…
And found more zombies.
Fucking Umbrella. Is even one of their research bases not filled with those?!
At this point, she was seriously starting to wonder…
-
I'm starting to really hate Umbrella bases, period.
After looking around the underwater research facility, fighting zombies and examining things, she just might have found something that could get her out of the island… except that she needed three emblems to get to where she needed to go.
And the research facility had only one.
So now she needed to go look across the mansion, and possibly beyond, hoping that somehow, someway, she'll find what she needed.
"Are you sure that you can't just teleport me to safety, Aeon?" she whined at the air, not really expecting an answer.
"Well I can, but that'll mean no longer being on the path to finding your brother anymore."
Claire twitched, suppressing her instincts to immediately start shooting at Aeon when he just popped out of nowhere, walking backward by her side with an easy smile on his face.
She scowled at him.
"Don't do that! I almost shot you!"
"If you had, then I would have praised your instincts. If you had hit, your speed and accuracy too." he replied, grinning.
She scowled harder.
"You think I can't hit you?"
He silently looked at her for a moment.
"Not even in your dreams, Claire. But who knows, I do so love it when people surprise me in a good way. Most often, they do the opposite."
She fell silent.
"And how many people do you watch over?"
"Don't you remember, Claire? We talked about that back in that meeting. All of them, Claire. I watch over them all."
He sighed, looking at the sky above.
"People are people, you know? They've got good days, they've got bad days. Most often, they just get somewhere in the middle. But sometimes, they get really bad days. And then? They make other people have very bad days, too. And those with good days? Sadly, they're a lot less likely to make good days for others. Sometimes, they do. And I enjoy watching over those most of all. After all, if human civilization has taught humanity anything, it's that something rare is more valuable. And people who make others have good days? Trust me. They're very valuable."
Claire said nothing. She wasn't sure what to reply to that. It's kind of hard to argue when the other side sees everything, after all.
Aeon smiled.
"But don't worry. I'm used to it. And yeah, sometimes things get worse, because trust me, you don't want to see what things were like back in the World Wars, but they are getting better. Slowly, but surely. It's just taking time. And time? I've got all the time in the world."
He chuckled.
"All worlds, really."
They kept walking, Aeon seemingly not even caring that he was still walking backwards.
"Oh, and speaking of bad days? Be careful about the giant worm."
Claire blinked, but Aeon had already left, disappearing as quickly as he arrived.
She frowned, thinking what giant worm? Even as she opened the doors towards the next courtyard.
Where a giant worm promptly burst from the ground, tried to eat her, and then left after she desperately jumped out of it's way.
Oh. That giant worm.
-
Claire put down the memo about the password for the research lab room right next to her, which only mentioned that the password was "with the skeleton."
So very useful… she thought sarcastically.
As she turned away however, the sirens in the lab room began ringing, and she cautiously came closer to the window.
*Slam.*
Claire jerked back, eyes wide as a scientist suddenly slammed into the window, covered in blood and obviously screaming for help, though she could hear nothing through the heavy glass.
She looked around, the man frantically banging on the window, but she could only look back helplessly.
"I can't open the door!" she yelled. "I don't know the code-"
She gasped when the man was suddenly slammed forward, blood covering the window, before he was dragged backward, going out of her sight into the darkness of the lab.
She grimaced, sighing, but after giving a regretful look at the bloodied window left the room.
Only to freeze again when an automated voice began giving a warning.
"Biohazard contamination detected. Level 3 emergency shutters will close. All personnel, evacuate immediately."
Claire broke into a run, eyes going wide as she saw the heavy shutters going down further ahead, and she jumped, rolling right beneath the descending shutters a mere second before they closed.
She exhaled deeply in relief.
"That was close." she whispered, swallowing, even as the alarm kept ringing.
Taking a deep breath, she kept going, leaving the building she was currently in for a small courtyard outside-
She gasped, spotting the red laser of that aristocrat's rifle go up towards her head, and she immediately threw herself to the side, the bullet whistling by her ear before crashing on a barrel of something that promptly exploded, blocking the doors leading out of the courtyard.
She quickly got up to her feet, running towards a nearby set of stairs and using the stone railing to hide behind while making her way up towards the Umbrella leader.
With a scowl, she noticed that he was nowhere to be seen by the time she made it upstairs.
She hesitated for a second between the door on her right or the one on the left, before going through the right side.
When she entered the room however, a heavy metal shutter fell down behind her, locking her in.
She slammed her fists on the shutters with an angry scowl, but as expected it did nothing.
"Hahahaha! Welcome, Claire!" declared Alfred, his voice coming from a nearby speaker and dripping with smug condescension. "I shuttered the area you are in… a special playground I have prepared just for you. Please, try and keep me amused. And do not disappoint me by dying too soon… I sooo want to enjoy this. Hahahahaha!"
She glared at the speaker.
Yeah? Well I'll enjoy punching your face in, asshole. Now if only I could get my hands on you, we'd see who would have the last laugh…
She shook her head, and took the nearest door.
Glancing around, she saw that she was now in some sort of small warehouse, and she cautiously stepped forward-
A nearby door opened, and she turned, eyes going wide at the sight of the… weird monster staring back at her.
She gasped when it threw it's own arm towards her, the arm unnaturally stretching far beyond its natural length, and she instinctively dodged, hours of training with Aeon and Leon being the only thing that saved her life as the deadly claws on the monster's hand passed her by by mere inches.
Her gun immediately came up, and she unleashed a storm of laser bolts on the monster, who thankfully died quickly, though not before trying again to kill her, forcing her to perform yet another last-second dodge to save her life.
As she stared at the now dead and smoking monster full of holes, she now understood exactly why Aeon was so insistent on being very flexible and agile during their training.
"So it wasn't just a sex thing… Huh. Guess I owe him an apology next time he shows up."
Shrugging that away for now, she kept going, entering the next room-
Only for another one of those monsters to show up.
Her eyes had barely had time to go wide before its arm reached out and went around her skull, and the next thing she knew it was holding her in the air by her head.
"Nooo!" she yelled, groaning in pain.
She tried to remember what Aeon taught her for moments like this, but the pressure on her skull was increasing so much…
And then it came back.
Remember, Claire, Aeon had told her, and there was an unusually grim look in his eyes as he spoke. We don't necessarily choose how we die. What we can choose, is how we face death. And perhaps, just as importantly, how we face our killers. Not everyone has to worry about such things, but for people like us? It will be important one day. Death itself, you can greet it like an old friend. It's death. It is not evil, it simply is. For some folks, it can even be a release. Dying, though? That, you struggle against. You spit in the face of those that wish to kill you. You rage against the dying of your light. You keep fighting, until not a muscle in your body can move, until you can't even glare in rage, until you truly are dead.
He had leaned forward, then, and the sheer determination and burning willpower in his dark eyes had silenced anything she could have said.
Remember this: You can't always choose how you die. But you can choose how to face death and dying. When it's time for the first? There's no point in raging. But for the second? You don't stop fighting. Because as long as you fight, you can live. Maybe the odds are against you. Maybe it seems hopeless. It doesn't matter. You keep fighting, and you refuse to give up. That's the only way to survive, against an universe that wants you dead.
Claire gritted her teeth… and then she screamed.
In rage against the monster, against its master, against Umbrella, against this damn fucking world that just wouldn't leave her and her brother live in peace!
With her left hand, she grasped a knife at her belt and began hacking and slashing at the arm holding her. With her right hand, she began firing at the monster with her laspistol, again and again and again.
She felt herself fall and then she ran and then she stabbed and fired and screamed.
And then everything went dark.
-
She woke up staring at the moon, and the stars.
The moon was larger than she ever remembered, the stars more numerous and more beautiful than in her memory.
The ground was soft, and warm, and blades of grass tickled her face, moving in a breeze that she could not feel.
She had never felt more at peace.
"Am I dead?" She wondered.
"No. But you certainly came closer than ever before."
She tilted her head, and there was Aeon, though he wore dark robes of night shining with constellations, and his right eye glowed like the brightest of stars.
There was something… more about him than usual, and that was saying something.
He always was handsome (supernaturally so), and charismatic, and it was almost as if the world gained colors when he was in a room, everything subtly, but unquestionably being more in some ways.
But Aeon as he stood now, sitting by her side, smiling gently at her, was so much more.
She could almost feel the warmth of the stars in his robes if she focused, the coldness of dark space beyond them, and the grass looked greener than she had ever seen, the silver flowers shining their light across the garden they were in glowing with moonlight that she could somehow almost smell.
And Aeon himself… he smelled faintly of starlight and moonlight and darkness and beautiful, everlasting Dreams.
"You…" she whispered.
He reached out gently, his right hand putting a lock of red hair behind her ear.
"Shh. Soon, you will wake up. Your journey is far from over, Claire. I dare say it has only begun. But certain lessons can only be learned by experience, and if you wish to be strong enough for the trials to come, you must be ready to face them on your own. I will always watch over you, Claire. But greatness cannot be given, not truly. Power can, and skills, and weapons and more, but true greatness is something that must be earned, and the trials to reach it can only be undertaken alone. With help along the way, certainly, but you must learn to stand on your own, before seeking to help others."
Claire said nothing, simply enjoying the beauty of the sky above, the gentle fingers of Aeon through her hairs, and the sheer peace of this place.
"I almost died." she said softly.
"Yes."
"I was so scared."
"I know. I was, too. The first time, at least. The second… Well, I was angry, instead."
She fell silent.
"I was, too. At the end. After everything in Raccoon City… after finally reaching the point where you promised me I would soon see my brother again… To die, just like that? At the hand of an ugly monster, one who looked ridiculous at that!" she complained.
"I mean, he was ugly, but he had only one arm! And he just looked weird! And ridiculous!"
"He was." Aeon replied, and there was definitely a measure of amusement in his voice.
"I mean, of all the things that almost killed me, why this one? And don't even get me started on his crazy, smug bastard of a master!" she raged.
"Indeed." Aeon said, visibly fighting off his laughter.
"I just-!" she raised her fist towards the sky, and then deflated.
"It was stupid."
"Yes."
"And I almost died."
"Yes."
She fell silent for a few seconds, Aeon remaining sitting by her side, ever patient.
"How do you do it? How did you do it? At least back in Raccoon City I had you. Now… I'm alone, and I'm terrified. Every noise makes me jump, every battle I'm terrified I'll screw up and die. But you… You did it. And so much more back in Yharnam. How?" she asked softly, wide blue eyes almost pleading as they looked up at him.
"Do you know what courage is, Claire?" he replied instead. "It's to feel fear, and do what you know is right anyway. There were so many things that could have gone wrong, back in Yharnam. So many. But I refused to just lay down and die. I refused to give up. When your back is against the wall, the only thing left to do is to break down or fight. And if death is coming for you anyway, might as well die proudly, on your feet. So that's what I did. And eventually? Well, humans can adapt and change depending on the circumstances they are faced with. And even death can be as an old friend, eventually. Even pain is something you can get used to, on some level. Not easily, but you can. When you've got something worth fighting for, well, everything else is just obstacles. Distractions. They don't matter, see? You just think they do, because that's what you expect. But then I experienced fear, and pain, and death, and I was still there, still fighting, and I understood that all of that didn't matter. And maybe humans aren't supposed to think like that, but humans aren't supposed to die and come back either, so I went fuck it, I have a world to save, and eventually I just didn't fear anymore. Pain was just an annoyance. Death an inconvenience. And at that point? Well. There wasn't a man left. There was just the Hunter. And the Hunter could only be slowed down, but never stopped. Because I wouldn't let anyone stop me. Not the beasts, not the madmen, not the gods, and above all not even myself."
Claire took that in for a moment.
Then she snorted.
"You know, I'm pretty sure most people can't just choose to keep going even after death."
Aeon chuckled softly.
"Have most people tried? Because you would be surprised. I certainly remember a certain damned knight who didn't let something as inconvenient as madness and damnation stop him from having his honorable death, and he got it, in the end."
Aeon fell silent, expression almost… nostalgic.
If not outright respectful.
For a moment, she could almost glimpse a great sword on his back, glowing green and full of dancing lights.
And then she blinked, and it was gone, like a mirage… or a dream.
"Aeon?"
"Yes, Claire?"
"Can I stay here for a moment?"
"Of course. Take all the time you need. Why, you could even say you've got all the time in the world while you're in here."
"Thank you."