Thicker than Water

First topic message reminder :

Alex Chambers stood on the helicopter landing pad his fingers pressed to his forehead to block out the morning sun. He was dancing from one foot to the other, unable to hide his excitement.
"I see them!" He shouted back to his mother, who was standing near the entrance with a medical team. None of them knew what kind of shape their heroes would return to them in but Alex didn't seem to care. Already he was hopping up and down waving at the chopper as it drew closer. He cheered when Chris Redfield waved to him and repeated the action when Jill Valentine did the same. But as the helicopter touched down his smile began to fade. Not everyone he'd hoped to see was stepping out.
"What happened?" Rebecca Chambers soon came to stand beside her son, her lips set in a thin line as she looked from Chris to Jill. "Where is Parker?" She'd done her best to keep herself from saying this man's name first but she couldn't seem to help herself. "Where's Jessica?" She added, hoping this would make for a decent cover up.

"You don't have to be anything you don't want to be." Sophie said firmly, her own grey eyes resting on Violet's face. "Do you hear me? You don't have to be whatever your father is. You just be Violet. Okay?"

"And what is Violet?" She replied, a sadness in her eyes that no child should have ever known. "What about parents who have a baby, just so they can use its bone marrow for their first born who has cancer? I'm no different. I'm only alive... So Alex can go on living."

"Poppycock, girl!" Sophie said again, shaking her head. "That's talk that will only make others able to control you. You are your own person. Don't let anyone tell you different." She added. She was already plotting exactly what she was going to say to Violet's father and not a bit of it was nice.

Violet pulled the ice away from her lip and sighed quietly. "Thanks... But I should probably return to my room now. The evil headmistress is mean if she finds anyone roaming around after curfew."

Sophie nodded, sighing softly as she watched the young girl walking away. She hated men who were cruel to their children. Especially those as bright as Violet.

Sophie had been right. It had stated raining before Violet managed to make it back to her room. The young girl had gotten caught in the storm and was dripping by the time she was back within her own personal sanctuary.

Wesker would find his phone ringing the moment he had stepped out of the elevator and away from Jill and Chris. Sophie was fit to be tied and she was about to let him have it.

Alex was sitting in the tall tree, watching Violet as she ran beneath him. He wondered why she seemed so sad and why she seemed to hate him so much. Didn't she realize she needed a friend as much as he did?

"How did you get this number?." Wesker snarled as he answered the phone, not recognising the number that was calling.

In her bedroom Violet sat by the window, the sond of the rain on the glass soothing to her as she opened her book. She scowled a little when her wet hair dripped onto one of the pages. Once again she couldnt chase Alex's face from her thoughts. He was so lucky... And didn't even realise it.

"You, sir, are a pig!" Sophie snapped. This wasn't at all like she had planned to start out but it was better than nothing. "How dare you treat your little girl like she's less than human...like she's just a safeguard for another child! What kind of monster are you?!" She demanded.

"Are you going to talk to me now?" Alex asked as he invited himself into her room and sat on her bed. "I can keep following you, you know."

Wesker's mouth twitched slightly, somewhat amused by the way this woman was speaking to him. "The kind you would not wish to hold a grudge against you." He replied coolly. "If this is about Violet, she isn't a little girl. Speak to your headmistress. I don't have time for this."

"Why bother?" Violet asked without looking up. "I'm not a very interesting person to follow."

"I am speaking to you." Sophie said firmly, not intimidated by his cool tone. "You have no right to talk about the Violet as if she were a wayward puppy. She is a little girl. Your little girl and she deserves to be treated with respect and love. It is not right for you to even speak to her the way you do!"

"You're interesting to me." Alex admitted, leaning over the side of her bed to pick up one of the many books that were staked there. "Look...I want a friend and I don't see why we can't be that. You're not even giving me a chance."

"Love?" Wesker scoffed. "You have been reading too many romance novels by the sounds of it. To make a child strong, love is useless. Love makes them weak, and dependent. I am confident that abandoned in a remote location somewhere... Violet would survive as she is right now. Can you say the same for any other eleven year old?"

Violet set her book down in her lap, looking over at Alex with a curious gaze. "Until you pissed her off, Nicole was interested in making you part of her group. Why did you reject her?"

"What a terrible thing to say!" Sophie scoffed. "If we were standing face to face I swear I would slap you in the face and you'd deserve it. You obviously know nothing about raising a child! It's a good thing that Violet is here and not with you. She deserves the chance to be nothing but a little girl. you're keeping her from being a child and that is by far crueler than abandoning her in a remote location!"

"She's so shallow." Alex told her, turning the book over and over in his fingers. "I hate that she only has one dimension. It's so boring. Lots of kids at my old school were like that but...I am afraid to be alone and it's better than being stuck in some lab all day."

"You don't have any children, do you?" Wesker retorted. "Violet knows her place in the world, and has never questioned it. If more people accepted their lot in life, things would run far more smoothly. Violet knows she is inferior to Alex, and accepts that."

"Why are you afraid to be alone?" Violet asked, daring to move from the window to sit cross legged on her bed near Alex.

"Oh my god. You really are that heartless. Violet is eleven. A child her age shouldn't know a place in the world aside from warm summer days and rainy after noons with a good book. If everyone accepted their lot in life, there would be no life, Mr. Wesker. Everyone would simply lay down and die. And I want you to tell me something. Where is the fun in that?"

"So many bad things happen when you're alone." Alex whispered, closing his eyes. "Nothing good ever comes of being by yourself. That whole saftey in numbers thing is true."

"Humanity as a whole is weak." Wesker replied. "Why should the strong carry the weak? Let them lay down and die, it is better for the race as a whole." He added, speaking slowly as though Sophie were the eleven year old child. Or course, he didn't mention his plans for a quicker way of dividing the string from the weak.

Violet was shaking her head. She had very early memories of being poked, prodded, injected... Even cut by strangers all leaning over her. "If I am alone, my pain is my own, I am both the cause and the blame of it." She told Alex in a whisper, as though worried that somehow word of this would get back to her father.

For a moment Sophie found herself unable to speak. A wave of pure horror washed over her and she could barely breathe. "That all depends on your view of weak." She said finally. "A child who is brave enough to be herself is far stronger than one who follows the rules. Those who are brave enough to stand up for what they love and believe in can never be considered weak except to the exceptionally stupid. I say, Mr. Wesker, you are exceptionally stupid!"

Alex nodded at this. It made sense. "Violet...you need to see that not everyone is cruel and wants to hurt you. Spend some time with me. Be my friend. I'll prove this to you. Please?"

Wesker genuinely laughed at this passionate response. He was liking this woman a little more already. "Well, I shall be certain to find you when I come and collect Alex, so you can tell me that to my face." He remarked, purposefully not saying whether he would be collecting Violet or not.

"I think this is proof of what other people are capable of..." Violet sighed, pointing to her busted lip. The dark haired girl was jealous of Alex. Not only had he gotten a normal life... Wesker genuinely cared for him in a way he never would her.

"Oh I will." Sophie promised him darkly. "Even if I have to slowly spell it out for you." She added, slamming the phone down as hard as she possibly could.
Still riled up, she lay back on her bed and took several deep breaths. If she did see Violet's father in person, she was sure she would do more than tell him he was stupid. She would do her best to slap some sense into him.

"Some but not all." Alex replied. "Ms. Sophie did a good job with that ice. Maybe it won't swell much more than that."

Wesker was still smiling to himself after the call ended. It was a long time since a woman had spoken to him like that. It was rather refreshing, given the way Excella threw herself at him and catered to his every whim.

"I guess you were following me then, huh?" Violet replied, smiling before she could stop herself, and her lip split open again. The little girl merely winced slightly, and dabbed at it with the sleeve of her nightdress.

"I saw the ice in her hand when you two came out of the other building." Alex explained, yawning ever so slightly. "I put two and two together. That's what smart kids are supposed to do, right?"

"I think you're supposed to do more than addition." Violet replied with another slight smile. "If you're tired, you can lay on my bed for a while. I'm usually up reading until late anyway."

Alex felt slightly accomplished when he saw Violet's tiny smile. "No. I'd better not wear out my welcome too soon. I want to keep hanging out with you, after all." He teased her. "Goodnight...friend." He said softly, getting up and leaving her alone in her room.

Violet returned to her vantage point by the window, though this time she didn't have her book. Until she had been sent to this school, she had never really been around other people, and she had been fine with that. But since meeting Alex, something seemed different, and it was the kind of something she knew Wesker would punish her deeply for.

Alex was waiting in the meal hall when Violet came down that morning. He offered her a winning smile and waved her over to his table. He seemed fully aware that Nicole and others were already giving him nasty looks.

Violet could feel their glares too, though did take a seat at Alex's table. "Did you see Nicole's black eye?" She asked as she set her tray down and began peeling her banana.

Alex snicked at this, nodding his head. "You missed her friend Michelle walking with a limp." He added, winking at her. "They're plotting ways to kill you using black magick."

"With me gone, they might turn that black magick on you and turn your into their willing slave." Violet replied, her voice filled with over exaggerated drama.

Alex laughed openly at this. "I think I'd make a good slave." He told her, tapping the books next to him. "Apparently, Ms. Medgismith thinks so. So...why not? Want me to be your slave to get some practice?"

Violet smirked slightly and took a bite of her banana. "My slave? Are you sure about that? My books are quite numerous." She told him before pausing to take another bite.