Choosing sides

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Claire Redfield stood on the helipad as the chopper touched down. She was practically hopping from foot to foot she was so impatient, though she was having to shield her eyes from the wind being whipped up as she did so. Leon Kennedy, hero or no, was about to get a piece of her mind, and then some! Letting himself get caught up in a kidnap rescue? She didn’t care who it was, that wasn’t who HE was. They were supposed to be fighting bioterrorism, making the world a better place.

Jill felt her guru twist painfully when Leon spoke of marriage. She too wished she knew where he and Claire had gone wrong. “So nothing happened between you? Before she disappeared?” She asked, understanding his pain all too well. No matter how they hurt you; you didn’t simply stop loving a Redfield.

“Well, I still agree to your road trip.” Nik replied with a grin that didn’t quite reach his stone computed eyes. “How about we go from there? I say screw your cousin… and his partner.”

Chris Redfield was knee deep in the undead. It was so much easier to face a horror like this than to face the fact that he'd driven both his lover and his sister away. 
He had to push away those thoughts and fighting for answers as to why Umbrella still existed. Nevermind why Raccoon city itself still existed.

Elizabeth leaned against the side of a building, covered in sweat. She hadn't seen Nik in a while. Once they dropped down into the oddly still existing city she was alone. 
She slid to the ground, her muscles on fire. She sent another message to Al while she rested. She told him she missed him and she was sorry. 
She doubted seriously he would answer but at least it made her feel better. Now she had to meet up with Chris. If she could find him...

It can’t be real. Jill had been whispering that to herself like some sort of mantra since she and Leon had driven into the city. It was supposed to be a crater and nothing else, but the city looked just as she remembered. They had passed by Grady’s, and even the graffiti on the wall outside was the same. Even now, as she gunned down several more undead, Jill couldn’t ignore places that she and a Chris had gone on dates, that Claire had dragged her to to try out ‘the best burger she will ever eat’. So many memories even after all these years.

“Sorry?” Al had called Elizabeth after that last message. “Six months of ‘I’m busy’, and you finally reach out with ‘sorry’?” He mocked. He wasn’t as mad as he sounded, after all, it wasn’t as though he didn’t know exactly what she had been doing all this time.

Leon was sure that at some point he and Jill had died. They were in hell. The undead around them were much more ghoulish than before but that was to be expected. Hell wasn't a walk in the park. 
They'd passed the gas station a while back and he'd nearly fallen apart. Yes. This was hell. All he could do was see Claire and remember the first time he'd fallen in love. 

"Hey, you're the one who just dumped me." Liz said quietly, listening to the sound of something skittering above her.
 It sounded like a bug. She remembered those things. She hated them.

Jill had to wonder the same as Leon; was this death? Had she been called back here to die? Several ‘people’ were shuffling towards her and she felt nothing as she fired several shots into each of theirs heads. When had she gotten so jaded? She used to feel remorse, even sorrow for the people these creatures used to be. Now? Now they were simply in her way. She was shouting something to Keon about them being over run, they needed to get to Kendo’s, then check the RPD. History truly did repeat itself… she only hopes that didn’t mean ALL of her history from this city. Every now and then… it almost sounded like she heard ‘STARS…’ carried on the wind.

“You made other arrangements.” Al replied coolly. “You think I didn’t know? Was the Russian a better offer?” He snorted. Tapping in the background betrayed that he was typing on a computer.

It took Leon a moment to register what Jill had said. "Are you kidding? We can't go back there!" He shouted at her, stumbling at the pile of zombies pushed ever closer to them. That's the gates to hell, Jill. No way!"

"I don't know what you're getting pissy about. You don't own me." She hissed softly, her voice softer yet more furious than before. "You got what you wanted..." She paused, the skittering giving way to a loud hiss. "Fuck. I have to..." She dropped the phone, her boots pounding on the gravel as she ran. A moment later her scream echoed over the line.

“We need a defendable position! And we both know it’s the easiest access to the lab!” Jill insisted as she backed up while shooting.

Al didn’t call her name or anything quite so pedestrian. He saw what was hunting her on the monitor he sat in front of and smiled. He had missed his games. All the players were nearly here, and all it had taken was a little false information.

Leon very narrowly avoided a bite on the shoulder. He didn't avoid a scratch on the arm. He was too busy staring at Jill still in utter denial. "I'm not going back there. You have your nightmares. I have mine. I can't. I'd rather fuck Ada Wong then go back there." He didn't even notice the scratch yet he was still worried about going back to the RPD.

Elizabeth scream had come from sliding through a patch off mud and landing on her ankle. It was more out of surprise than anything else. 
It was lucky she had. The bug had been aiming for her and would have stabbed into her heart. But it settled for covering her in goo and trapping her there in the puddle while it called the others for dinner.

“This doesn’t bother you? Any of it?” Jill asked, bumping Leon out the way as the zombie made another lurch for him. Sadly, she had missed the first scratch he received. “It shouldn’t be here!” She added, firing several more shots and shoving Leon to get him moving away from the zombies.

The skittering of several more creatures wasn’t far away. They squealed, either in anticipation, or hunger. It was hard to tell which. The first one rounded the corner, only to be greeted by a shot to the face from the shadow.

All of it bothered Leon, but not enough to return to the place he considered to be his true hell. He pushed his way toward Jill and wrapped an arm around her waist. "There has to be somewhere else. Maybe the Clocktower? I can't think." He held her tightly, wishing that Claire was with him. 
If she was gone then he had nothing else to live for. Maybe Jill was right. Maybe he was supposed to return to hell. With that thought in mind he pulled Jill with him under the massive pile of zombies. 

Elizabeth heard the shots and groaned. If it wasn't death by bugs it was going to be humans. The latter was going to be worse. Humans who knew they were going to die were always worse. She dug her nails into her belt loop hoping to find the hilt of her knife. 
She was mumbling to herself, angry that she'd let herself get into this position. She should never sent Al a message. Why did she bother with that man when she knew how he felt about her? And then there was Nik...that shithead had left her to die. 
Where the hell did she meet these guys?

Jill had frozen the moment Leon mentioned the clock tower. That was when things had taken a serious turn for her. Until that point she was so focused on surviving… then suddenly she was helpless and fighting for her life, and wouldn’t be here now if not for the help of Carlos. She was aware she was breathing a little heavier, and quickly tried to snap herself out of it. “Anywhere, it just isn’t safe in the open!” She insisted as she returned to fighting off the mass of undead currently trying to swarm them.

Several more shots echoed, for lower by a distinctly female voice declaring that she once again wished to burn her clothes thanks to this damn city. “Lizard?” Claire rounded the corner, sapphire eyes wide as they fell in her cousin.

Chris ended up in the apartment he'd shared with Jill. Exhausted he laid down on the bed and closed his eyes. The sheets smelled like her. He didn't know how it was possible but everything was still the same, right down to the picture of her father she kept hidden in the left bedside drawer and the gun on top of it.  
It was easy to fall asleep here, he was home.

"Don't say it." Elizabeth grumbled when she saw her cousin. "I was on the phone..." Her pride was shattered. Things like this didn't happen to a Redfield.

It truly was home in every tiny detail, there was even one of his old STARS t shirts slumped over the back of the chair in the living room. Their dining table was rarely used for actually eating, and even here, in this bizarre replication of their home, it was littered with gun parts and empty shell casings. Jill’s beret hung on the bedpost, her gun holster hanging beneath it. Whoever had gone to all this trouble knew every detail of their lives. It wasn’t long after Chris had fallen asleep that the apartment door creaked open. The light footsteps gave the owner away as a svelte female. A moment later brown boots were kicked under the bed and the mattress dipped as their owner curled up against Chris.

Claire arched her brow and holstered her gun. “Right, the lizard was distracted by her boyfriend. Like that would ever happen!” She snorted as she extended a hand out to her cousin to help her back to her feet. “What… are you even doing here? Are the BSAA finally getting off their asses to do something?” Clearly there was still a lot of anger directed at her brother.

Chris gave a soft moan as he felt the warmth of what felt like Jill's body touch his own. When her warm fingers slid over his side and caressed his mid section he groaned. It had been so long. He ached for the woman he had once asked to be his wife. "Glad you came home, Valentine." He said gruffly, rolling over so that she was on top of him. "I guess you missed me?"

"Are you kidding? It was all Chris. He got buried under a mountain of paper work and got bored so he went hunting." Elizabeth took Claire's hand and got to her feet, brushing off the remainder of the bug trappings. "That's when he found that RC was still here and so was a part of Umbrella. I'm thinking he came here as a suicide mission. Wait...How did you get here? Where the hell have you been, little missy?" The elder Redfield put her hands on her hips as she always had. Since they were children she'd bossed Claire around, calling her 'little missy'. Some things never changed.

The Jill laying on top of Chris had much shorter hair, the same dark bob it had been when peeking from under her beret when they first met. Not only that, the scar in her left arm from the nemesis was gone and her grey blue eyes didn’t seem to reflect the horror they had seen. “Red, it’s been like three hours.” She teased, rubbing the tip of her pert nose against his unshaven cheek. “You’re supposed to be at the station.” She added, slender fingers returning to teasing up his ribs.

Claire arched her brow at Elizabeth, clearly quite amused. “I came looking for my idiot brother.” She responded. “I’m guessing he got himself in trouble if you’re here too.” She added, putting the safety on her gun and sliding it back in the holster at her thigh.

As much as he wanted to continue where this train of thought was leading him, Chris had to let it go. This was a stranger. His Jill was so much different. "What are you playing at?" He snapped, shoving the woman off him and grabbing for his pants. "What the hell is going on here?" 

"I thought so too. I got a message from him saying he was and then I get here and everything is garbled. My partner even disappears. For shitsake, Claire...I can't win. What the hell is going on lately? Did I get a cursed tattoo the last time I got drunk or something?"

‘Jill’ slid off the other side of the bed, ensuring it was between them as she quickly grabbed the gun in the nightstand. Her eyes were narrowed slightly now she saw what she had thought was her lover in the moonlight shining through the window. He certainly looked like Chris, only he was… bigger, and apparently had several extra miles on the clock. “You break into my apartment, sleep in my bed and still have the balls to ask ME what is going on?” She hissed, the gun aimed directly at his chest now. “I don’t know who you are, but what the fuck did you do with Redfield?”

“More cursed than that thing you got on your butt when we were in Seoul?” Claire teased. “Okay, missing partner. What happened? Did you get separated, or did they just get scared and leave?” It was odd that she didn’t ask about Leon.

Chris felt like he was in a time loop. His heart lurched. This was Jill as he had first met her. Before they'd learned what true darkness really was. "Uhm... I...Think there's been a mix up. Chris' cousin sent me here. Her name is Elizabeth...She gave me the key..." He shoved his fingers through his hair. At this stage Elizabeth was overseas in Desert Storm. His lie had to work. "My name is Lee." 

"I think he used me to get here." Elizabeth confessed, shaking her head. "I seem to be good at attracting that kind of man. Have you seen Leon? He's a mess. Take a messed up Chris and double it but without the drinking. You know how the boy scout is." She added with a snorting laugh.

Jill’s eyes quickly gave Chris another once over, though she didn’t lower her gun. “And you just climbed into the bed while neither of us were home?” She asked, clearly still suspicious. “Let me guess, you tasted the porridge in the fridge too?” She snorted.

There was a blank look on Claire’s face when Elizabeth mentioned Leon. “Sorry, I don’t really keep track of Chris’ work buddies. You know how cops are.” She snorted.

"Well, the bed was just right and the porridge was too." Chris muttered, knowing it was something younger Chris wouldn't have said. It was Claire who told the children's stories. Chris stayed grounded in guns, meat, beer and Jill. "Sorry about this. I'll just get my things and find a motel or something. Just...don't tell Chris. Okay? I know how he is about his girlfriend. It'll end in bloodshed and I...have a...well...I have things to do before I go to hell." He added softly. 

"What?" Elizabeth stared at the other woman for several minutes, feeling as if she'd missed something. "Did you hit your head or something? You know...Leon. The guy you already survived this mess with. The one you were talking about getting married to? Are you ok?"

Jill had always been quicker than her partner, more so now it was a younger version of her vs a weary Chris. She was over the bed and in his park before he could even reach the door. “I don’t need meathead to defend my honour or anything.” She snorted, the way she held her limbs in that moment was a tell Chris knew well; Jill was ready to attack if needed. “Now, you wanna tell me why you’re really here… right as the city goes to shit?”

Claire looked genuinely confused. “Lizzy… I came here alone, I’m STILL surviving this mess, and I’m not dropping out of college to marry some guy I don’t even know!”

Chris didn't answer her. His grey blue eyes glittered with grief as he met her gaze. He knew the stance she took and almost wished she had simply fired on him. He was so alone. Being here with her, her smell overwhelming his senses, it was making his wish he'd invited a zombie over for dinner. 
He kept backing toward the door, his fingers on the wall. It was all how he left it. He felt the keys, the gun cleaning kit and finally the knob. Finally, all he had to do was unlock.

"Claire..." Elizabeth began to step away from the other woman, taking out her gun. Her cousin had dropped out. This was something else entirely. "You need to tell me who you are before I put one between your eyes." She barked. "Show me your hands!"

Jill was watching each move Chris made, wise enough to know shooting first would get her no answers. “You smell like him.” She finally whispered. “Where is is he? What did you do with him!?” Her voice was rising again, fear creeping in as the thought slammed into her that maybe this intruder, no matter how much he reminded her of the other half of her, he may have done something terrible.

“Lizzie…” Claire laughed nervously. “What the hell… all because I don’t remember some guy you’re worried about?” She replied, though did hold her hands up. As she did so, a breeze picked up, wiping her long ponytail about. “We’re already in hell, you really want to…” Her words were instantly cut off, her mouth simply hanging agape as she looked down. Protruding from Claire’s chest was a blade long enough to push all the way from back to front where the blood now dripped off its tip.

Chris closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "He's probably helping Barry board up the station like the chief told him to do." He answered. "They're going to get attacked and he won't have a way to get back home. In the next few hours he'll try to call you and it will fail because the lines will be blocked by an outside force. But he'll be okay. He is okay. I haven't done anything to him." 
A part of him wondered if this woman had lost her mind. Or maybe he had. Either way for the moment he had to play along. 

Elizabeth's look mirrored her cousin's. "What the hell..." She lifted her gun to whatever had done this to Claire, her gun raised. "I'm going to kill you!" She roared, now unable to shake the image of her dying younger cousin from her mind. Her stomach was churning. How could she be this much of a failure? A Redfield didn't fail.

Jill was the one to back off this time. She skidded across the floor to the bed and grabbed the boots she had kicked there. No more than a few seconds later they were zipped up and she was grabbing the gun holster ha going on the bedpost. She had to get back to the station. They needed her, despite the Chief having ordered her home. This Jill wasn’t acting any differently to the original back in the initial outbreak; Chris simply hadn’t been there to see it. He may be able to recognise her, but time and terror had changed him.

Blood slipped past Claire’s lips and she slumped forward before being pushed off the blade. Once her lifeless form got the ground, Al was visible to Elizabeth. Everything was playing out how he wanted; this Claire had no further use to him.

Chris waited until he was sure Jill was gone and returned to the apartment. He dug through everything. He found a picture of his parents and one of the four of them the day they were going to board the plane. He found another of himself and Jill. He hadn't been able to save any of when he'd been forced to leave the city. But oddly here they were. He took what he could fit in his pockets that made sense and left, disappearing into the darkness. He missed his Jill and Leon by mere minutes. 

"What the hell?!" This time she said it with more force and anger. "Al..." Not sure what to make of what had just happened she stepped forward, still holding her gun in front of her.

The apartment door burst open and Jill swear her gun from left to right, checking the area was clear. “Fuck…” It took her breath away at how identical this was to her memory of the place. She shook it off however and helped Leon through the door. They were both filthy thanks to the gauntlet they ran to get here. Her gaze lingered on the wall opposite the bed… remembering well the memory of the Nemesis ploughing through it to toss her about like a rag doll.

Al smiled and crouched down to unceremoniously clean his knife on Claire’s own pink vest. That done, he sheathed the blade and rose back to his feet to give Elizabeth a once over. “That look on your face… perfectly Redfield.” He remarked with a snort.

Leon stared around them, seeing things that he was sure had once belonged to Jill and Chris. "What the hell is going on around here?" He didn't feel any better now than he did when he'd stepped into the doors of the building. They were no safer here than anywhere else. 
"If you guys are here somewhere does that mean that there's a Claire about to show up too?"

The tone in his voice sent a strange chill down her spine. It sounded eerily familiar. Not at all like the Al that she'd known. "What is that supposed to mean?" She asked, lowering her gun slightly. Al looked different. He was dressed all in black and he looked like a panther about to pounce. "What did you do?"

“I…” Jill glanced around the room, each innocuous item bringing back a flood of memories. She moved to the kitchen, picking up a photo that was pinned to the fridge with a magnet. In it she and Chris were at a carnival somewhere, they had been posing for the photo with him grinning at the camera, stood behind Jill with his arm draped across her waist, the other hand holding a candy apple. Just as the shutter snapped, Jill had turned her head, taking a bite out the the apple, the look of sudden horror on Chris’ face had made her love that photo so much. Happier times, before they knew what terror really was. “This can’t be real… how could…” She looked away, seeing her make up and hair products through the open bathroom door. Everything was perfect to the most minute detail.

“And you call each other family…” Al tutted. “You can’t tell your own cousin from a cheap imitation.” He suddenly smirked at his own words. “Well, not exactly cheap. None of this was cheap.” He added with a flourish of his arm to the street around them.

Leon made his way to a familiar looking room, seeing things that made his chest ache. Clothes were all over the place, her jacket was hanging on the bed post. Unsurprisingly, there was a gun barely peaking out from under the pillow. 
Grief slammed into him and he sat on the bed, her smell consuming him. He missed her. It was killing him. So much so that he was missing the signs that things weren't right.

Elizabeth shook her head. "Al...what are you talking about?" She paused to look around them, only seeing the dingy street and dark windows. "What's going on?"