Blue on Black

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Leon Kennedy starred at his gun as he heard the truck shudder into the drop zone. It was never going to get any easier. It didn't matter how many times he came into these towns and cleaned them out. 
It had nothing to do with the people. It was Claire Redfield. He saw her everywhere. The same scenario played out in his mind. In the end he was in her arms. Except...he wasn't. For the most part, he was alone. Until he was calling a phone number that made his chest hurt just to make the chill inside him go away. 
"Claire..." He breathed as he stepped off the truck and looked around. "Will you ever forgive me?" 

Rebecca Chambers didn't share Leon's sense of loneliness. The mousy haired woman was rather happy living alone. She'd seen far too many of her friends and loved ones die to believe in anything but science. 
At the moment she was seated on the floor of her office chewing on her pen, watching a video about the bio-experiments that had been newly discovered from Raccoon city. She didn't seem to be buying a word of it.

Chris grabbed Jill and held her tightly, his face buried in her hair. "That song...I've never heard you sing it before. Tell me about it." He whispered.
Sherry smiled at Piers. "You have a sister. Me." She took the opportunity to slap a layer of burn cream on him and gently pushed it across his cheek. "You're healing well. The cream is just a precaution or whatever that word is. Don't want to ruin the Redfield face." She teased.

Rebecca was silent, realizing that her lover was no longer with her. His mind was somewhere else and she was now left to finish what she had started the day before with the boy she'd named Ethan Winters.

Chris was one of the few people in Jill’s life who knew even a little about her life before STARS. “Jacques used to sing it to me… a long time ago.” She breathed, her fingers beginning to pick at loose fibres on the front of Chris’ shirt. “He never intended to have a daughter… he didn’t know what to do when I cried.”
From his perch a few feet away Jake visibly bristled when Sherry passed comment on what was clearly her admitting Piers had his father’s handsome features. 
Piers seemed to look Sherry over uncertainly. “Then he must be Mr. Birkin?” He asked, gesturing to Jake. 

“Have you allowed him to gain conscious at all?” Wesker suddenly asked Rebecca. “What I mean to ask… is he aware of who he is?”

"I can't imagine you ever cried." Chris whispered. "Sing it for me. I want to hear it again."
Sherry laughed, missing the warning signs. "Nope. If his dad ever heard you call him that in polite society there would be hell to pay. My real parents were not the greatest people like yours."

"Huh?" Wesker's question but into her own thoughts as she was chewing on her thumbnail. She looked down to find she'd torn it to the quick.
"Actually...I was going to do that today." She admitted. "But I haven't told him anything if that's what you mean. No."

“I learned kind of quickly that crying solves nothing.” Jill breathed, he cheek pressed to Chris’ chest again. “what did you do when Claire cried?” She asked curiously. 
Piers snorted bitterly and shook his head. “Did you mom give you away? No? Then you lose.”

“So… he’s a blank slate.” It clearly wasnt a question. “You’ve done an exceptional job, what stopped you having the boy call you mother?” He asked curiously.

"I punched her." Chris laughed. "I've never really known how to deal with females that cried. It always made my insides feel weird and with Claire it always made me mad. I always had this idea that Redfields were unbreakable and crying was weakness." He didn't need to look at his lover to know what she was going to say to him. "After a while if she ever even thought about crying about anything she'd come find me and knock the shit out of me. Then I'd ask who I was going to kill and we'd solve things that way." He snorted. "Redfields never say die and all that." 

The expression she gave him was worse than the time he'd shot her in the chest. Quickly she turned away, grabbing a file from the table to the right of them. "I have a mountain of work to do. He's your plaything." She said, tripping over her shoelace as she stumbled through the doorway in her suddenly hasty exit. 
She believed her DNA inferior to the Redfields and certainly Wesker's. She was nothing like them. She certainly didn't deserve the right to be called mother no matter how much she wanted it.

“Chris!” Jill chastised, her head shooting up to look at him in horror. “No wonder Claire could never tell Leon how she felt, she couldn’t even begin to process her feelings! Crying over guys is part of being female! We have to do the crying bit before we get to the angry and throwing shit!” She added, punching him in the arm to prove her point as she wiped at her own tears. 

Wesker watched her leave, well aware he had placed his foot firmly in his mouth. But he would fix this. Not with the Kennedy plaything, he would give Rebecca what she truly wanted. He was still thinking about this as he stopped in front of the cage that held the elder Kennedy. “And to think, you had the perfect existence, if not for your weakness for Wong.” He sneered.

Chris gave her a strange look, shaking his head. "Claire is fine. She totally got over Leon cheating on her without crying about it." He kissed Jill on the forehead. "Girls are silly. You never cry either. And stop it. You're scaring me." 
Sherry gave Piers a dark look that lasted only a second. "My mother left me alone in a city filled with monsters. My father being the worst of them." She said softly. "My father knew that only my blood could handle the virus he'd created. But there was only one way to give it to me." She didn't finish her story as she got to her feet. "Don't talk to me about shitty parents, kid. Are you ready to go? We were going to get something to eat. You need a good meal." 

Leon shook his head. "I didn't do anything." He said firmly. "I don't know what the fuck they told you but that wasn't me!" He added with a roar, yanking on his chains. "Tell your bitch to tell Claire! I never went with Ada anywhere! Fuck you!"

“He did what?!” Jill hissed, taking a step back from Chris to fully take all this in. “When?! Tell me you didn’t waste time looking for me instead of kicking that shit’s ass!” Her brow was creased slightly, as though trying to rationalise what Chris was telling her. “No. No way would Leon do that, not to Claire…”
“Kid?” Piers asked with an arched brow. “You’re what, twenty, if that?” He looked her over again, which received another snarl from Jake. 

“And yet, here you are.” Wesker remarked with a smirk. He again scanned through notes Rebecca had made on her tablet about Leon. “Seems Claire doesn’t even miss you, in fact… she isn’t even looking for you. Packed up you little apartment and moved right on without you.”

"I saw the video and so did Claire. She split right after that. And yeah. I kicked the shit out of him. After we saved Becky from some pyscho guy." Chris chuckled, telling her all about Rebecca in a wedding dress, never knowing she'd seen the other woman in much less and far more often.
"You're younger but long story." Sherry said, holding a hand out to him. "We'll get to that. Now, nachos and beer." She grinned at him. "Jake knows the best recipe for nachos." She looked at her lover, pure love in her gaze.

Leon shook his head. "I heard you. You asked if she was here. You don't know. " He turned his face to look at the tube across from him. "What has she done? What is that thing?"

Even beneath the blood and grime she was still covered with, it was clear to see Jill’s face paled somewhat when Chris mentioned Rebecca’s name. “You… You’re still in contact with Rebecca?” She asked, having never thought the small woman had been playing both sides. 
“Let me guess, cheese?” Piers asked with a snort.
“Just for that, you ain’t getting any.” Jake responded, snaking a possessive arm around Sherry.

“No, but these notes are quite detailed.” Wesker replied, holding up the tablet he had been looking at. “Poor baby Redfield… betrayed by everyone she knew and loved.” He sneered. “All that time she spent wishing for a family…”

"Rebecca has been making sure everyone stays healthy." Chris said cheerfully, missing the pale look as he carried Jill away from Piers' observation room. "She keeps complaining about the Redfield Dna. Whatever that means. She hates that Claire and I don't get antidotes for the tvirus. But I... nevermind. We need to talk about something brighter. Like little Becky in a wedding dress." He chuckled. "I told her that if you ever saw it, she'd be the next one married. She gave me this really weird look. You think she's already married?"

Leon gave the other man a dark sneer. "No. The only one who betrayed her is your worthless bitch. She's a good little dog isn't she? Faithful. You don't even have to give her a bone like the others. Must be a good feeling to have one that works for free." He snarled, trying to see how far he could push the other man. "Think you could let Chris take another crack at her? Like he did a few months ago? He was hot for her in that wedding dress."

Jill was looking at her feet as they walked. Chris had no idea how dark Rebecca truly was. “If I saw her in it, it would be her funeral shroud.” She snarled before she could bite her tongue. 

Wesker smiled at Leon’s comment and glanced over his glasses at the younger man. “Oh I’m sure he was, after all… he will never see Valentine in one.” He purred. “She’s far too damaged for that now.” He glanced down at the tablet in his hand again and swiped through a few images, making various noises of approval. “Funny… you deemed little Rebecca worthy of your mission, but not Claire.” It wasn’t a question, it was an observation.

"Huh?" Chris had never heard Jill use such a dark tone before. Especially not when it involved her friends. "I have a feeling we have a lot to talk about while you get cleaned up, babe."

Leon snorted with an odd laugh. "So she does like to you." His eyes swept over Wesker as he continued to prod. "No one asked her to come along. No one wants your little bitch. She's a liability to people like us. She was kidnapped and..." He paused for a long moment, the silence enough. "It was simply because of what she looked like. Chris and I just happened to be there." He said with a sneer. "It's not my fault if she never told you. She probably liked it."

Jill wasn’t sure she wanted Chris to know this darkness. She wanted to spare him the pain of finding out someone he clearly trusted… Had lied to him for years. Had lied to him… while torturing his partner. “I’ll need clothes.” She finally breathed, deciding to hold off on telling him about Rebecca just yet. “Did you… keep any of my stuff?” Jill did look up this time, though the darkness was still right there behind her eyes.

“People like you?” Wesker snorted. “You truly think you were ever even worthy of my time? You merely got caught up in the Redfield wake. Everything you are… came from other people. All that time and training the government spent on you, and still… a civilian like baby Redfield could out perform you in every task.”

"I'll have to get them out of storage." Chris said gently. "We can do that tomorrow. But tonight you can wear my old Stars shirt and a pair of sweat pants or something." He gave her a wink. "I can call... Becky and see if she can get you something sooner?" He asked, wincing at the name though he really wasn't sure why. "Jill...why don't we go to a hotel and forget anything but food and us for a few days. That way you can catch me up with nothing to worry about."

Though his words hit their mark, Leon knew he'd managed to make a crack in Wesker's armor. "She was screaming for someone when I got there." He said as if he hadn't heard the other man. "Or maybe she was just screaming the old man's name. Huh...seems like little Becky does have a thing for old guys doesn't she?" He snorted.

“You mean it?” Jill asked with a hopeful smile as she stopped head in her tracks. Just the thought of shedding the awful battle suit to wrap herself up in Chris’ sweats made her feel a little bit more human. Once again being locked in a hotel with him conjured up memories of their road trip. The difference was, this time she knew they would end up talking, something neither of them had ever been able to accomplish when it came to hotels. Once more, Jill was reminded that Chris learning the truth about Rebecca could very well break his heart.

“She certainly is a screamer.” Wesker purred with a wicked grin. “But she her true talent lies in making others scream. Even a woman like Jill was eventually broken. She wept for her dear Chris. Just imagine what Rebecca could make Claire cry for…” That said, he finally turned away.

It wasn't until later the next day that Chris asked her about Rebecca again. They were laying in an enormous bed, covered in nothing but the sheet. 
"Do I need to kill her?" He asked, pulling gently on her long all but white hair.

Rebecca sat in the next room, her legs folded under her. She'd heard nothing of the conversation between the two men. 
She was busy writing in her journal, humming to herself. Once in a while she would look up at the screen. When he entered the room, she smiled at him, looking rather blissful. "I found Claire. Is that what you came to ask?"

Jill was silent, her fingers gently tracing over a faded scar along Chris’ ribs. The conversation simply couldn’t be avoided any longer. His fingers in her hair reminded her that she needed to buy hair dye the first chance she got. “Did Rebecca help you look for me?”

“No, but that’s good news.” Wesker commented, most likely surprising Rebecca by sitting down next to her, usually he enjoy towering over people. “But I did come to tell you, I am impressed with your work, not just on the Kennedy/Redfield creature.”

"I wish. But no. She and Claire have been really busy with Tricell. There's been so many people trying to steal the research...." He stopped talking and looked down at her, the scars between her breasts. "I always wondered if there was more going on than I gave her credit for..." He whispered.

Rebecca gave him a strange look, almost as if she'd never seen him before. "Thank you." She said, not really sure what to say. For a moment she found herself wondering if he was about to kill her.

Jill realised what he was looking as and rolled over onto her belly, attempting to hide the scars as she leaned on his chest with her arms folded under her chin. “You saw her in New York recently, right?” She asked. “Did she seem… different?”

Wesker saw the look for what it was, and couldn’t help but laugh. “If I wished you dead, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” He assured her. “I have been thinking about… Ethan.” He said the name slower, as though having to force himself to use a name, rather than refer to him as a creature. “Perhaps we should assign an agent as a caretaker when you wake him? Create a lie to keep him from discovering what he truly is?”

Chris frowned. He hadn't really thought much about her. He'd been too busy obsessing over a lead he'd found about Jill. "She was a bit short with me and Leon. But I didn't really blame her. I beat the shit out of Leon right in front of her right after we'd fought off a monster..." He laughed. "Hey! That was you that showed up to get her wasn't it?"

Rebecca nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. "Sounds like a plan. But that leaves us open to having nothing to do. Any ideas?" She asked, resting a hand on his thigh with a teasing grin.

Jill’s eyes were cast downwards now, long lashes almost seeming to brush her cheeks. “It was so hard. Seeing you right there, looking… like this…” She lightly traced her fingers over the muscle of his abdomen, but still didn’t look up into Chris’ face. “It wasn’t the first time I was that close to you either. I was in China too… and Edonia.” 

Wesker smirked and slid her hand a little higher. “One or two…” He breathed, his other hand tilting her face slightly and capturing her lips in a hard, almost desperate kiss.

"That was you?!" Chris hissed, trying to keep his heated thoughts away from the slender finger that was tracing down his bare skin. "You're the one who shot my scope. You bitch." He teased. He grabbed her wrist and kissed it. "Were you trying to kill me then? And what does that have to do with Becky?"

Rebecca found herself sifting though resumes of people who would be looking after Ethan. It was deep into the night and for once Albert Wesker was sleeping. 
She didn't like the prospects that had been sent her way. One woman and her partner were at the moment responsible for a strange girl that had been created in an Umbrella lab. The woman was begging for an out and swearing she had BSAA contacts. 
Worry once again had Rebecca chewing on her thumbnail. She didn't like any of this but she didn't know what else to do.
For the first time in a long time she found herself wishing she could call her best friend. She wished she knew where Claire was.

“Of course it was… who else would make that shot without taking out your eye?” Jill asked, the faintest smile tugging at the corners of her lips as his lips brushed her wrist. “But sorry to bruise your oh so manly ego, I didn’t have orders to kill you, because you weren’t on his list then. To think, if you were, his plans in Africa may have actually succeeded.” She mused, again dancing around the subject of Rebecca’s involvement. “You were a welcome distraction for me though. It was good to see you were still fighting our war, even if I wasn’t there at your side.”

Claire Redfield had been off the radar of every person who ever knew her. Though this wasn’t her choice. Everyone was so wrapped up in their own agendas, no one even realised that TerraSave had been attacked, and that for the last year Claire had been an unwilling guest of Alex Wesker. It unfortunately gave her far too much time with her thoughts, remembering the last time this had happened, and how Leon had abandoned her then too.

Chris Redfield began to make plans as another few months passed. His trust of all of the BSAA's connections had disappeared. He'd stopped speaking to everyone, no longer trusting even the closest of their allies. 
After hearing what Rebecca had done to Jill, he'd become furious. He was planning a raid against Tricell to wipe them out. But the BSAA committee was not on his side about this and he was beginning to suspect that there was a good reason for that. There were worms on the inside. 
However, that evening he wasn't worried about any of that. He was finally doing something he'd been dreaming about for what felt like a lifetime. He was standing on a beach with his sister, Sherry, and Piers, nervously waiting for the woman of his dreams to walk towards him and become his wife. 

Rebecca sat in the dark room, watching the wedding of her former friends. She hated them. While she was cleaning up yet another disaster they were enjoying life. Why were they always winning? 
Angrily she wiped a tear from her eyes as she watched Jill walking toward Chris. It was made worse when she saw him mouth I love you as she arrived and grabbed his hands. Everything was always perfect for them. She couldn't even get Wesker to say the words. 
Silently she sat with her knees up against her chest. This was not how she'd planned for things to be. She felt so alone.

Jill was still tempted to pinch herself as her bare feet padded across the sand. Their last argument before her accident had been Chris telling her wasn’t getting married on a beach in Bali, yet here they were. Jill had never really thought about her wedding, she had never been that kind of little girl, so never grew into that kind of woman. It had been a surprise even to her when she fell so hard and fast for a former flyboy the day she laid eyes on him. Even now as she stood before him, she looked up at Chris, wondering how she deserved someone like him. Jill had opted for a simple dress, nothing white or fancy. Even her jewellery was kept simple, the only thing she wore was her usual silver bar necklace. Valentine was engraved on one side, Redfield on the other. He had known from the moment he gave it to her they would end up right here, right where they were always meant to be. It had filled her with such joy to see he had been wearing her necklace when he he rescued her. All those years, and he had kept a piece of her close to his heart. 
Claire was sniffling slightly as she watched her brother and the woman he clearly loved with everything he had. This was all she had ever wanted for him, for both of them. That didn’t mean she hadn’t scanned the beach in hopes of perhaps seeing the missing piece of her own heart. It was all in vain, Leon hadn’t answered any of her attempts at contact before, not even when she tried to get a message to him about her being held by a Wesker none of them had even known existed… so why would now be any different. 
“Where’s your meathead?” Piers whispered to Sherry, though he kept his eyes on the two people not truly old enough to be his parents. The words weren’t said in true malice, he actually quite liked Sherry. 

“We know the location, I could always reposition a satellite and nuke them all from orbit.” Over the months there had been several shake ups in Tricell personnel, a lot of it due to them knowing that Chris Redfield was out for Rebecca’s blood now he knew the truth of who she truly was. This soldier had a deep gravelly voice, steel eyes that could smile even when his lips didn’t, and his dark jaw length hair was often pulled back and tied at the nape of his neck. He had taken it upon himself to strike up a friendship with Rebecca from the first time he had seen how miserable she was. He was stood no more than a few feet behind her now, watching the wedding on the same screen she was. “Getting married in Bali at sunset, could they be any more of a pathetic cliche?” He snorted.

Chris pressed his lips to Jill's, pulling her tightly against him. This moment was the one. The very one he'd been so sure would never happen. He'd fought so hard to get here. The world was perfect now. When he finally pulled away he glanced toward his sister and grinned. They were a family. Family... his eyes moved toward where Sherry and Piers were clapping for them and smiled. He had a bigger family than he could ever have hoped for. Wesker had truly lost. He hadn't managed to stop this from happening as he'd told him he would. 
"He broke up with me." Sherry said, trying to maintain a smile as she clapped for Chris and Jill. "He said that I talk too much. He's probably right. I mean you know that as much as anybody. I've probably told you the entire history of the family in one sitting." She sighed, leaning on Piers as Chris picked up Jill and carried her down the isle. 

Rebecca sniffed, wiping at her eyes and laughed softly at the idea of nuking them all. "It would be more fun if we could do it one by one." She said, reaching over to turn off the monitor. "I don't know why I care. They never cared about me. They left me to die in the mansion from the beginning. I've only been important when I could do something for them." She added bitterly. "But now that they know the truth..."

Jill was grinning uncontrollably, though soon it turned into shrieks of laughter as Chris tossed her over his shoulder, declaring ‘caveman Chris always get what he want’. It was a tiny slice of bliss she had thought they would never know. 
Piers slid an arm around Sherry and kissed the top of her head gently. “His loss, kid.” He breathed into her hair as she watched Chris toss Jill over his shoulder. He couldn’t help the sad smile, wondering how many years of marriage would’ve been behind those two if Umbrella never existed. 

“They’re out for your blood.” The man behind Rebecca finished bluntly. “Although… You may be onto something, about picking them off one by one. The boss man is busy, as always… Probably wouldn’t even notice if I stole you and we took a few ‘wedding gifts’ to them.” He added with the kind of smile that had women agreeing to anything.

Chris sat by the water long after everyone had gone to bed, worried that the wedding was to be his only moment of bliss. He replayed so many of the nightmares of their lives over in his head and even the tiny moments of joy had led to heartache. He couldn't tell Jill he was afraid. It would ruin everything. She didn't need that. Not now. 
He sighed heavily and took a long drag off his cigarette. He'd half expected Wesker to show up at the wedding. In fact he'd been sure he'd seen him once or twice at the reception. Was he really so paranoid? They'd blown the man up in a volcano. You couldn't get more dead than that. 
He checked his gun for the hundredth time to make sure it was still fully loaded and the safety was off. The man had been dead before. At this point nothing would surprise him. 

Rebecca found herself looking rather heartbroken. Wesker had promised her to take her out of the labs for the weekend. It was part of the reason she'd done nothing but stare at the monitors. He'd simply left with no word. Hearing conformation from his security staff made it even worse. He had no intention of keeping his word. 
"Sounds like a plan." She said softly. "Were you thinking any gifts in particular?" She got up from her chair and yanked on her STARS sweater. She was going to enjoy the end to her weekend one way or another. "But before we do anything...have you ever had chocolate coffee?" She grabbed the solider's hand and pulled him towards the exit with her, explaining all about her favorite drink.

“You know… Jill would use that on you if she caught you smoking again.” Claire sat down in the sand next to her brother, though didn’t look at him, or his gun. She stared out at the dark horizon, her forearms propped up on her knees where they were pulled toward her chest. Like her sibling, Claire carried a lot of fear within her in that moment too. Her life had seemed to find rock bottom, then just keep digging. She had been missing for 6 months, held captive and experimented on… but no one had even noticed. Did Leon know? Did he care? Despite all that, she had dropped everything the second she heard her brother and Jill were finally tying the knot. “You both looked so happy today.” She commented, still staring out at the water. “You are… happy, aren’t you?”

“That’s not coffee, that’s dessert!” The dark haired man exclaimed, unknowingly telling Rebecca something she had already heard. They were sat in a quiet little cafe now, Rebecca nursing her elaborate drink, her companion stuffing several glazed crullers into his mouth, punctuated every now and then by a stupid grin when she said something.