Choosing sides

First topic message reminder :

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 lingered in the doorway, watching Leon with a sad expression. “She always was a slob.” She breathed with a half smile, now wearing what looked to be an old STARS button up shirt that was clearly Chris’. It covered the bruises she was already showing on her arms from their gauntlet over here. Jill glanced around the room herself, wishing she could make some sort of sense of all this, if only to console Leon.

“Little Lizzy… so focused on the future she wishes to forget the past.” Al tutted. “1998… you don’t remember any of it?” He asked, moving a little closer. “Are you really that much of a Redfield jarhead?” He seemed to be taunting her now, no longer the kindly man she had been conversing with only weeks earlier.

"We have to get out of here." Leon said, looking up at Jill. "This whole thing is...I don't know. Put that back. We need to leave." He got to his feet and shook his head, trying to clear it. "We'll contact the military. Burn this place..."

Lizzie closed her eyes, flashes of a bar in Israel sweeping though her memory. Redfield jarhead. She'd been called that alot. But not by her cousin...
"Al...I don't understand..." She said softly. "I don't remember."

Jill scoffed and shook her head, turning her back on Leon. “They nuked this place once already!” She declared, picking up Claire’s silver necklace where it sat on the nightstand. “You think that ever solves anything?! We need answers, Leon, not to just act like this never happened!”

“1994… Bosnia. You were a wide eyed NATO recruit… we’re you not?” He continued to press. “So eager to please her commander…” he was circling her like a shark now, threading a finger through a wave of her deep red hair.

Leon grabbed the necklace and slammed it onto the dresser. "Jill. This isn't normal. These things are gone. You know that. I don't know why they're here but it's wrong." For a long moment he stared at the dresser. "Maybe you're right. Someone went to a lot of trouble for this. What if it's a trap?" He sighed deeply. "Let's figure this out before more people get hurt..." He moved past her, taking the gun from beneath the pillow. "And Jill..if you don't love Chris anymore...you might want to leave the shirt." He teased.

Elizabeth reached out and grabbed the front of Wesker's shirt. "You...kept calling me weak...you kept telling me to go home." They were inches from one another now, their lips almost touching. "You made my life hell..."

“I never said I didn’t love him.” Jill replied softly, staring down at a small tear in the cuff of the shirt. “You can’t understand this Leon… RC wasn’t your home.” She added, simply as a reminder. “Chris was all I had left after it was gone, and even then he couldn’t fight for us.”

“You’re alive, aren’t you?” Wesker purred, smiling down at the soft face that he found even more beautiful when it was contorted in anger.

"Maybe he was so afraid of losing you he lost you anyway." Chris said from the doorway. He'd come back to see if he could find his old gun. "Jill...I'm so sorry..." His voice cracked. But no matter how much he wanted to he didn't dare get closer to her. The next move was hers.

Emerald eyes searched his face, trying to remember...
"Again." Commander Wesker threw her on the ground when she'd thrown a punch at him. It was hot. She was exhausted. 
She pushed herself up from the scorching sand and ran at him. She only managed to knock him off his feet because he'd expected her to go for another punch. 
Somehow she still landed on the ground. "Still weak, Redfield." Her commander purred. "Whatever will I do with you?" He added as his lips touched hers...
"Albert..." Elizabeth whispered, reaching up and removing his glasses. "Where have you been?"

Jill whipped round so quickly she was sure it rattled her brain. Wide blue eyes were looking up at the man she thought she would never see again, seemingly frozen to the spot. Seeing him here, in their old apartment… it was like seeing him for the first time. She wanted to tell him he looked like hell, but that was a lie. Apparently time away from her suited him. “You’ll never lose me… Red.” She finally managed to breathe, quite obvious tears pricking at her dark lashes.

“You lost your way, Lizard.” Wesker breathed, snake like eyes continuing to watch her closely. “You got… soft.” He added, a rough thumb lightly tracing against her full lower lip as his fingers tilted her chin up.

Chris stepped forward and grabbed Jill, wrapping his arms around her. For a long moment he stood that way. "Don't leave me again. Next time I do something stupid just...break my nose or something..." He fell to his knees and pressed his face to her stomach. "You are my world Jill. I need you."

"You liked my soft skin." Elizabeth's breath shuddered as she fought to keep his eyes. "What happened to you? You don't look like I remember. And..." There was something else, a faded memory something that seemed to have her huddling with a child while men stormed their home. But them it was gone.

“You were supposed to stop me!” Jill sobbed in return, the tears finally spilling free as she slid her fingers into Chris’ hair. “I am not breakable, and I don’t need protecting, dammit! I just… I needed you! Just you!”

“Skin yes. But here…” He let go of her chin and slowly traced his fingers down her chest to rest against her heart. “That does you no favours, only gets you killed. Did I not reach you that?”

"I love you enough to let you go." Chris whispered. "I thought I was making you happy...I thought I could." He got to his feet and kissed her hard. "You're mine Jill Valentine. I'll go to hell and back to prove it."

"But did I die?" Elizabeth asked him, wrinkling her nose. "You're a terrible commander. And a bully." She laughed softly. "You broke your own rule."

Little did Chris know, he would one day prove those words as the truth. Jill pushed Chris roughly to the wall beside the door, leaping into his arms with her legs clamped around him as she kissed him again. It had been a long time, and luck for them making it out of here alive was not on their side.

“I doubt that.” Wesker sniffed. “My only rule was that there are no rules.” He teased, his gaze drifting to where his fingers were again toying with her silken hair. “Everybody dies… Lizard…”

Leon sat outside the apartment until Chris and Jill were finished "apologizing". He wished he could call Claire and tell her instead of keep himself distracted by counting zombies that were stacking up below the fire ladder. 
To be honest he was jealous. Of course Jill got her Chris back. Would Claire never come back to him?

Elizabeth rested her hand over Wesker's and kissed him deeply. This brought back a vague memory of the two of them getting married in a rushed ceremony in Las Vegas Resort. No one else had known about it. "How...did I forget?" She breathed when she finally pulled away.

Life had a funny way of kicking you when you were down. The metal of the fire escape swayed slightly and then a gun was suddenly in Leon's face as the owner dropped from the ladder above him. 
"Looking for something?" Familiar sapphire eyes were watching Leon closely, long ponytail swaying in the sudden wind. 

Wesker took a step back and turned away from Elizabeth, seemingly checking their surroundings. "Ask your cousin." He snorted. "I will never understand how you share DNA with those damn Redfields."