Into the Clouds

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Wesker had removed the hood from the mystery man and Chris could barely find his ability to breathe. 
All he really wanted to do was step forward and take his lover into his arms and beg forgiveness. The floor fell away. None of it mattered. Not even the hand on his arm or the sharp hiss in front of him mattered. His life had been restored. 

Rebecca wasn't far behind. She had instructed Carlos to go ahead and make sure Chris and Sheva were safe. Finding out the mess that Umbrella had left behind was becoming an enormous task. Finding out Wesker was involved only added to her stress.

"The fuck is wrong with you!" Carlos shouted at Chris.
"He's not going to listen... I need to talk... " Rebecca was trying to get up, though she truly couldn't feel anything. " Don't use those... It will... Kill him... "

"Fuck you!" Chris leapt over Sheva's body and ran after Wesker. He was followed closely by Carlos." I'm going to send you to hell!"

“Noted.” Jill breathed, though it didn’t come from a place of concern. “Carlos!” She shouted her friend’s name loudly. “She says the injections will him! You need more! Overdose him!” 

Wesker was taking both men on now, though he barely needed to put the effort in. The doors of the hangar were opening. He was simply toying with them until his jet could clear the opening.

Rebecca turned, her fingers reaching out for the battling men. She couldn't stop him. But Jill's misunderstanding of her words just might save her love. 

Carlos shoved another syringe into Wesker, barely able to catch his breath. 
"She's dead. You can stop fighting..." Chris gasped out. "You have nothing left. Your perfect fucking world will be empty!"

Wesker could hear what Chris couldn’t. He grabbed the younger man, one arm hooked under Chris’ left arm to restrain him, the other closing over Chris’ own first, his right arm now held out, gun included as he pointed it in Jill’s direction. “Funny, I believe the same for you.” He snarled against Chris’ ear. The shot that rang out seemed almost deafening as Wesker’s finger squeezed over Chris’ on the trigger, the bullet catching Jill in the chest where she was still knelt beside Rebecca.

Carlos was the one who let out a wail. He shoved past the two men, catching Jill before she hit the ground. "I've got you, super cop." He breathed. "You can't leave me."

This was the moment that Chris shut down. He no longer knew he was moving until he was lying on the floor of the chopper beside Carlos and Jill.

Jill’s breathing was shallow and rather wet, though she was clinging on. Carlos had all but carried her here himself. If not for the T Virus in her body, along with the lingering affects of the serum Wesker had been using, she would already be dead. It was only once they were in the air that she forced her eyes open. “Hey, fuck face.” She rasped, offering Carlos the best smile she could muster. “This doesn’t count as you saving me, for the record.”

Carlos laughed, his eyes barely open. "I'm ahead. For the record." He rested his head against hers. 
Chris sat up, slamming a fist into the side of the helicopter. "We lost everything!" He shouted. "Nothing went the way it was supposed to!"

Jill hadn’t alerted either of them to the fact that her body had already expelled the bullet from the wound. That was a can of worms she didn’t wish to open. “Hey…” Her voice was soft as her attention rested on Chris. “I don’t know what your mission was, but Wesker is gone. Isn’t that a win?” She breathed, sitting up and resting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Chris jumped, not expecting the hand or the lightning that shot through his body. It had been so long since he'd felt that. "Yes. I suppose." He whispered. "I hate your hair, Valentine." He added with a grumble. "Claire is going to eat you alive with dumb blonde jokes."

Rebecca refused help. She was right behind Chris and the others with an extraction team. She claimed that it was to get back what Wesker had stolen. After all, the man was utterly dead.

Jill felt her stomach quiver when he growled her name like that. It was a delicious feeling that somewhere deep, deep down her subconscious was well aware of. “So what’s your excuse then, Redfield?” She asked with a teasing grin. “You seem like the strong dumb type yourself.” 

Death almost seemed meaningless in their world. The smallest amount of DNA could always survive. Or the body could endure enough that it would shut down to heal…

"You sure you don't remember anything?" Chris asked as he sat next to Jill. They were in an observation room while medical staff kept them isolated. The fact that both of them healed quickly seemed to terrify everyone involved. "Did he really make you forget everything but him?" He was pulling at his nails in thought, wondering why it was she knew who Carlos was and how he seemed to be there just when the moment was right.

Rebecca had placed her beloved into a dark chamber and locked it tightly before coming to her own injuries. It would be weeks before she was able to return.

Jill’s eyes had been fixed on her bare toes. They had been through decontamination, and the small room they had been sat in left them little option but to sit side by side. Chris was close enough that Jill could feel how warm his skin was in comparison to her own where their bare arm and leg touched. When his voice broke into her thoughts she lifted her head, turning steel coloured eyes on the man she had confessed her love to many times over. “It’s hard. There are great dark holes in my memory, which now I know must be where he tried to erase all memory of you.” She breathed, feeling her chest constrict when she saw him picking at his nails. Her cool hand rested over Chris’ to steady his nervous habit. “I see how hard this is for you, and I wish I could make it better.”

Chris was quick to pull his hands away. "It's probably best you don't remember me. Not after the way I acted in there. I shot one of our own for fucks sake." He ran his hands through his hair and closed his eyes. "And then Sheva...I need a cigarette. Or four." 

Rebecca pushed her hands into the crusted frame in front of her. She chewed on the pencil between her lips as she worked. 
Frowning she  shook her head, she mumbled to the man standing next to her. She didn't even consider her couldn't hear her.

Jill wasn’t quite quick enough to hide her wounded expression when Chris snatched his hands away so quick it was as though he watch catch something from her. Something else at least. There was already speculation that his healing factor was thanks to his intimate relationship with Jill herself. “Those things will kill you.” She responded quietly, turning her gaze back out in front of her. 

“Sorry?” The man beside Rebecca seemed somewhat agitated, as though her mumbling was something he was already sick of. “Look, I can’t assist if I don’t even know what you’re doing!” He finally snapped.

"You always say that." Chris said without realizing what it was he was saying. He stared at the ocean below and frowned. They were on an army base. This wasn't good. 

"Calm your tits." Rebecca shot back, managing to spit the pencil out. "I need you to go and grab as much burn cream as you can find. Get Courtney in here with the..." as she spoke a tentacle reached out of the hole she had made and wrapped around her wrist. "Uroburos serum. Now!" She was never usually so forceful. But it was never this important.

“Doesn’t make it any less true.” Jill countered, pulling her hair out of its restraint and running her fingers through it. She had never enjoyed wearing it this long. 

The man all but rolled out of the room as he stumbled over his own feet in his haste to get away from the tentacles. “COURT!” He was howling the other woman’s name as he ran down the hallway. “Chambers needs the cream!”

"He made you wear it like that because you hate it, didn't he?" Chris asked watching Jill's reflection. "Or was it because perfection like him? Like a Wesker thing?" He had so much he needed to tell the real Jill. But he wasn't sure she would ever be that woman again. Not that he blamed her.

Rebecca smiled ever so slightly at the corpse that lay on the table. She'd felt the heart still beating deep within. "It's okay." She breathed. "I can fix this. Just sleep for now. I'm here." Gently she began to push a number of sedatives into her liver agonized frame. He would live. She would see to it.

Jill held his gaze in the reflection, hating how sad he looked. “Blondes really don’t have more fun, trust me on that.” She breathed. Her fingers twitched, wanting to reach out for his hand again, but after the last time, she stopped herself. 

It was as she was depressing the final injection, charred fingers snapped out and curled around Rebecca’s slender wrist. He didn’t speak, and soon his fingers fell heavily back to his side.

Chris sat back down next to her and snorted. "I dated this one girl named Buffy. Huge rack. She was an absolute joy." He teased. "Better than a bounce house."

“Ahhh, so you’re a breast guy?” Jill responded with a smirk, bumping him playfully with her shoulder. There was that skin on skin contact again, bringing the glitter in her stomach.

Chris laughed. "Only when my options are limited. She worked at this bar called Chicken Shack. You would have hated it. Chickens everywhere." He turned to her, and enormous grin on his face. "They had this one giant mechanical rooster that you would ride on...all the girls did it. It was so disgusting. Covered in puke. On the weekends they put jelly on the floor around it. I swear it was crying instead of crowing!" He was laughing genuinely now, a rare sight indeed.

Jill arched her brow, clearly quite amused by this. “Girls and jelly? You sure this was a chicken shack?” She asked, leaning in a little closer. Seeing the laughter in those blue eyes almost had her sighing softly, wishing she remembered whatever her past with this man was. Were they ever more than friends? Or is that what the flutter in her belly was; unrequited love?

A few weeks later Chris sat outside the BSAA building, a cigarette between his lips. They still hadn't released Jill no matter how much he argued with everyone involved. 
Carlos was more than happy to walk by and allow Chris to know that Jill remembered him. He even kept the other man up to date on everything that was happening with her. 
But what none of them knew was that Jill was not the only monster recovering within.

Rebecca sat beside Wesker's bed. She was reading from a news report, knowing how much he loved to keep up on it. She did this daily, often memorizing, then repeating it as she worked on healing him. 
But today she was exhausted, she could barely hold her eyes open as she tried to finish a report about the rebuilding of an old mid western town.

Jill was only too aware of the true reason they kept her confined within the building. She and Chris had come out of observation, and he had been sent on his way, while she was interrogated for eighteen hours. They thought her a mole. Here to do little more than report back to her employer. Over and over she told them every detail she recalled of the awful experiments performed on her. Nothing mattered. They didn’t want the truth, not really. They wanted control. They knew she was stronger, faster than any soldier they could train, and they needed to know how to control her. So far… They believed Carlos was the way. They allowed him to visit each day, briefly. Any questions she had about ‘Redfield’ were ignored. 

“You… missed… a bit.” His voice was hoarse from disuse, but there was no mistaking it. Clearly he had been listening to all the times she had been reading that report to him that day, and noticed when she glossed over several details. Wesker’s eyes remained closed however, his body otherwise still.

A young man came in that morning with a tray of vials. It wasn't the first time he'd been there. In fact, he came daily to draw blood and bone marrow. Unfortunately for Jill he wasn't very good at it and it hurt like hell. 
"So...you got anywhere I haven't bruised yet?" Jack asked, blushing ever so slightly. "You sure there's any blood left?" He set down his tray. "Good part is...I remembered the cookies that...uh...guy...you came in with told me you like these pastries with cream. He sent some for you so it will help raise your blood sugar when we're done." He opened a box for Jill, showing her the confections were still warm. 

Rebecca jumped hard in her chair. She'd almost been asleep again. She was sure she'd heard his voice. 
"It just sounds morbid..." she yawned, standing up and rubbing at her eyes. "Who would rebuild at town like that? It's going to turn into an side show attraction."

Jill side eyes the box, though showed little other reaction. “Those are supposed to make me forget I’m a human pin cushion to you people?” She asked with a snort. She was lying down on the tiny cot that was her bed, staring up at the ceiling. “I want to speak to Redfield. Until you bring him in here, you’re not getting anywhere near me with any of this.” Apparently Jill had finally reached breaking point. 

“And?” Wesker asked, not yet able to open his eyes. “What do you care? It’s not your home any more. It’s just a town.”

"Im just here to draw blood." Jack said, holding up his hands and dropping a syringe on the floor. "If you want anything done, talk to Dr. Chambers." His hands shook as he got up, sniffing softly. 

Rebecca looked down at her tablet. When had she missed the name of the town. She read over the article again and out loud so Wesker could hear the details he'd missed. "Are you kidding me?" She breathed. "Who the hell would think this is a good idea?!"

“Yeah, like that’s happening any time soon.” Jill snorted. She didn’t care how short she was with Jack, it was no different to how defensive she had been when first meeting Carlos, and he hadn’t been jabbing her with needles. “You want my blood? Then you’ll have to bleed a little of your own.” She added, simply to scare the young man. 

“You really have to ask?” Wesker replied. “Think of all the umbrella secrets buried there. I could name a dozen parties with interest without even thinking.” He added, making an attempt to try and flex his fingers this time.

"Do you realize how hot that is?" Carlos asked as he entered the room. "What's the big thing about seeing the guy you hate anyway?" He asked, reaching down and picking up the syringe. "I thought you liked a Carlos world better anyway." He added.

"There's nothing there!" Rebecca said, those odd feelings of terror returning. "I can't go back there..." she didn't notice his fingers. She was having a panic attack.

Jill didn’t yet sit up, though she did turn her head to look at Carlos. “You, they let me see. Redfield… they couldn’t get us apart quick enough, and block me speaking to him. That doesn’t seem odd to you? I thought I was his partner, or whatever?” She asked. “I have this feeling I should be asking him something.” 

Before Rebecca could react she was pulled into powerful arms, her head tucked under Wesker’s chin as he pulled her into his lap. Hearing her struggle for breath had somehow allowed him to regain use of his body. It was like her pain was his own now. “Who is asking you to go back there?”