Chapter Text
China was worse, it was worse than anything Piers should have expected. Compared to Edonia, the sheer number of turned had escalated immensely.
Thinking back to Edonia, Piers has been feeling strange; like something was missing but he couldn't make sense of the sensation. At first he had thought it was because his Captain had gone missing but Chris was back and was back and was steadily returning to his old self. The feeling still hadn't faded.
Then Piers felt a tug as he glared at the circling helicopters and his gaze left the feral monsters and found Sherry and Jake standing under the glare of the helicopter lights. "Captain!" Piers called out to Chris making him aware of their presence. Though Piers' gaze didn't leave Jake as those blue eyes met green; Piers shivered until Chris' voice snapped him out of it as what he said caused them to argue.
He remembers the fight being tense, he remembers that feeling returning afterward but he didn't let it distract him from the mission. The mission took priority, it had to.
Their mission took his focus, hunting Ada down; running into Leon and Helena. All of that, he knew what was important. Leon confirmed Jake's connection to Wesker causing Piers to shudder, his gaze moving to his Captain. He wondered what was going through his mind with the confirmation, what did this mean for them? What does it mean for Jake? What does it mean for him? Another thought was forced from his mind. What does it matter? After we arrest Ada I won't have to think about Jake Muller ever again. Our paths won't have any reason to cross in the future, right?
He closed his eyes as he ignored the ache in his chest with that last thought.
They parted ways with Leon and Helena, reassuring their hunt for Ada; would lead to her arrest. They had even cornered her with the same intent to arrest her when someone else took her out from a distance. Is that the end of their mission then? It felt wrong, like something worse was waiting for them in the very shadows. Ada had even hinted at it. There was no possible way it would all end like this.
Then they found the missile that would cause even more chaos within the city. It likely had pheromones as well to give her monsters a target to kill and turn to ensure the chaos spread to the ends of the earth.
They did everything they could to ensure it wouldn't succeed but a large lycanthrope intervened and no matter how hard they tried, the missile launched right for the city. Piers felt his heart sink in his chest as he watched the city from jet while Chris spoke to Leon, until his Captain pulled him from his thoughts.
Jake and Sherry had been captured and were trapped in an underwater research facility. Piers bit down on his lip as he followed Chris to that facility.
All of that had lead him to this current point of deja vu. As he moved through long metal hallways alone with Jake Muller, separated from Chris and Sherry once again.
"What did I do to deserve this?" Piers muttered, shaking his head.
"Do you think I'm any happier about it?" Jake remarked while they walked.
It felt like they were standing too close, but whenever they would put space between them; they would end up closer when they weren't focusing on it, until they gave up on fighting it.
The back of Jake's gloved hand kept brushing against Piers' gloved hand and it felt like his skin kept heating up in response, even though their skin wasn't even making contact.
Thankfully feral monsters kept coming at them between some of the walk to distract Piers from these feelings. It gave the both of them an outlet for their frustrations; until they stopped coming at them with that frequency. "How deep do these tunnels even go?" Jake laughed in response at that question and Piers couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Grow up Muller."
Jake smirked at him, beautiful blue eyes lit with fire and amusement. Piers had to force himself to look away, picking up his pace a little so he could scout ahead to give himself something to focus on that wasn't Jake.
He slammed a door open that lead to yet another room filled with more of the monsters and yet another fight that filled the room with the smell of blood and sweat. Piers leaned against a wall to catch his breath, adjusting his rifle's position while Muller searched one of the nearby computers.
Piers couldn't explain it, but even against the faint glow of that monitor; Jake looked paler than normal. "What are you staring so hard for Puppy? Is there something on my face?"
Piers made a face at that. "Yeah, there will be a bruise if you keep calling me that. You're lucky you're still alive right now, if you had killed Captain Redfield I would have shot you." Jake turned to him and crossed his arms.
"Is that right? How are you going to bruise something you can't even hit Puppy?" Piers clenched his teeth and he set his rifle down against the wall and he adjusted his scarf.
"Who says I can't hit you?"
"You couldn't hit me in Edonia, you can't hit me now."
"You want to bet your life on that?"
"What do I get if I win that bet?" That gave Piers pause, hesitation flickering in the snipers eyes.
"What do you want?" Jake stared at him and Piers had to force himself not to avert his gaze on reflex.
"Your blood." Piers visibly shivered, his eyes widening as he stared back at Jake. "Not all of it, obviously. I've gone too long without drinking anything, I want just enough to stay in control." Jake moved closer to Piers until they were standing close enough that he might have felt his breath on his ear, if of course, the other even needed to breathe. "Who knows, you might even like it." Piers' cheeks filled with warmth at those words while Jake stepped back, giving Piers space again. He had heard stories about how being bitten was a pleasurable experience.
Chris would be furious with him though if he took on this bet. It was crazy, a member of the BSAA willingly agreeing to being bit went against so many rules.
"So what will it be Puppy? Is it a deal?" Jake was entirely focused on him, making it feel like Piers was the only person left in the world. The world, the fate of the very world was in Jake's hands; running through his undead veins.
It would be stupid to take this bet, they both knew this but as they stared at each other in that bloody room. Piers reached up and pulled his scarf off, exposing his throat; setting the scarf on his rifle.
He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, clenching his hands into fists. He glared right into Jake's eyes without flinching. "Deal."
Piers launched himself at Jake, swinging right for his face as he moved. Jake moved out of his reach on faster feet. Of course he had all of the advantages Piers didn't but in this moment Piers didn't care.
In this moment, in this contained room. The rest of the world no longer mattered. All of the buried frustrations and other emotions were set loose within that room.
Every step, every swing of a fist; of a leg. Every block and counter swing.
Dances in motion, voicing every thing that had been left unsaid; vulnerable yet secure. Heaven and Hell.
Piers kept trying to hit him, even as his arms were caught and forced away. Even when Jake would twist his arms behind his back and force him to struggle free, to get creative. Despite how tired he was getting, despite the sweat falling from his skin. Piers was smiling, he felt alive. A fire was lit deep inside his core and he was enjoying it, even with his loss there on the horizon.
One of Jake's kicks knocked him off balance and his arm was caught and trapped against his back; pressed against Jake's stomach. "You lose Puppy." Piers was breathing heavily and he shivered at the words that had been spoken against heated skin.
His gaze fell toward the ground, eyelids sliding closed. "Next time, I'll hit you next time. I'll wipe that smug smile off your stupid face Muller." He felt Jake's lips lift into that smirk against his neck.
"I'll hold you to that Puppy." Then there was an almost gentle press of those lips against Piers' neck causing Piers to hold his breath; then a brief sharp pain as the fangs sank in.
The pain becoming something warm that caused the breath Piers had been holding to escape him. It was warm and then it was hot, like he was being melted from the inside out. Pleasure, the pleasure was there on its edges and his legs shook as a low groan escaped him. The arm that had been trapped behind him was set free, but the arm that had been holding it moved around his waist and pulled him closer so his heated back was tightly held to Jake's cold chest.
The pressure against his neck was harder but Piers barely registered it as the relief of the cold skin contrasted with the overwhelming heat. He was getting lightheaded, was it from the pleasure? He tried to focus but that was starting to slip away. "J-Jake..." He gripped at the arm that held him in place, weakly trying to pull it away so he could free himself. "Too much...You're taking..."
Piers couldn't finish the warning as his legs lost their strength to support him and had Jake not held him so tightly against him, he likely would have hit the floor as consciousness fled him.
He doesn't know how long he was out of it. The world around him truly no longer existed but when he opened his eyes again. His head was resting on Jake's lap.
"Good, you're awake. You had me worried." Piers furrowed his eyes at that and he tried to sit up, Jake supporting him when he suddenly felt dizzy.
"What happened?"
"Some asshole snuck up on us and knocked you out. I took care of him but you took a serious blow, just take it easy for a minute." Piers rubbed at his eyes while he thought over what Jake said, it made sense.
"We let our guard down, we shouldn't have gotten distracted." Piers frowned against his hands and moved to his feet, ignoring how lightheaded he felt as he got his scarf from where he left it on his rifle. As he put it on, Jake leaned over his shoulder with a smirk on his stupidly punchable handsome face.
"Don't act like you didn't like it." Piers blushed and then he glared up at Jake.
"I'm not acting like anything. What do you want me to say?" Jake's arms moved, trapping Piers against the wall.
"Admit you liked it." Piers turned to face him and tried to ignore his rising embarrassment. He was close, so close that if Piers moved even slightly he could find out what kissing Jake would feel like.
The thought almost made his gaze move to those pale lips but he focused on Jake's eyes instead. "Fine, I liked it." He admitted with a huff. "Happy now? Come on, we're wasting time. Captain Redfield and Sherry are waiting for us." He grabbed his rifle and ducked under Jake's arms to avoid further temptation by the vampire mercenary.
It took a few hours, but eventually they had finally reunited with Chris and Sherry. Chris had voiced his concern about them taking so long but Piers made an excuse that there had been a large number of enemies was all. Chris accepted the answer with some reluctance and they continued on with their mission. The deeper they traveled into the facility the more enemies they faced until they found it. HAOS, the largest monster Ada had created that she planned to unleash on the world.
And it hatched not long after their discovery. Chris and Piers pushed Jake and Sherry out of harms way and made certain they escaped before the two of them faced down the giant monster on their own.
The fight took a great toll on them both, Piers had lost his right arm and in a moment of desperation; as Chris' life was on the line. Something monstrous within Piers was unleashed. Something Piers never thought he was capable of as an electric wolflike limb formed and he tore HAOS apart on an even footing.
Piers felt drained from the experience. The monstrous desire to keep fighting and to tear everything apart remained even after HAOS' demise. He could feel it trying to consume him, he could only fight it for so long. They moved to the escape pods and Piers, knowing he was now one of the very monsters the BSAA fought against. He forced Chris into the last escape pod alone, despite the orders and pleas. He watched his Captain escape without him. His own body wracked with pain and a feral rage as he slid to the ground, staring ahead with mismatched eyes.
It's strange, as he sat there. His final thoughts were of Jake Muller and how; they never really had a proper goodbye.