Chapter Text
Wesker held his breath as he splashed cold water onto his face. He used the tips of his fingers to massage his temples as he deeply exhaled, feeling the refreshing water dripping away from his skin back into the sink he was leaning over. He groaned at the aching in his chest as he took slow and steadying breaths, counting down from twenty. In his head he chanted a soothing self made mantra of control to himself. Once he reached zero, he opened his eyes and looked into the mirror at himself only for his gaze to immediately shift to the second face close behind him in the reflection. It was sickly pale with blue and purple tinted veins stretching under the nearly translucent skin, various bloodied scrapes and bruises marred the visible parts of the body. The skull was misshapen due to a slight cave in on the left side, a fatal injury that spilled blood down brown hair and graying skin alike reaching past the ear and down the neck. Foggy eyes the shade of the deep ocean clouded over by death’s touch watched him through the reflective surface, the whites obstructed with obvious bloodshot irritation. The ghoulish face seemed angry with the widened eyes glaring at him menacingly but he wasn’t afraid.
“Hello Chris.” the blond simply stated as he reached for a paper towel to dry his face with.
“Damn it!” he heard the other huff in frustration and disappointment as he backed away from him. It made Wesker smirk as he tossed the now wet paper towel into the trash and grabbed another for his hands. To any other that may have been terrifying but Wesker was long used to the sight of death by now, it didn’t scare him like it used to when he was young and new to this job. He wasn’t alarmed that he hadn’t heard the man enter the room, he knew he didn’t make any ambient sounds to hear even as he crossed a closed door.
“A simple ‘welcome back’ would suffice.”
“I will scare you.” the transparent man behind him declared with an accusing point of his finger.
“That’d be the day.” Wesker murmured and enjoyed the way the brunet’s expression fell to disapproval. “Is there something you need or are you simply here to bother me?” the other huffed at that but crossed his arms as he got more serious.
“Look… I know you don’t care about my opinion but your team seems pretty worn down, can’t you try to take it a little easier on them today?” Chris almost pleaded with his brows upturned in a concerned expression that didn’t match his gruesome appearance. Crimson dripped from the blood soaked side of his uniform where there was a wide and very deep puncture wound but the drop would never reach the floor, they never did.
“Aren’t you usually the one tormenting my team?” Wesker questioned as he checked over himself in the mirror to make sure his hair was in place and his uniform was straight.
“I’m backing off too.” the other stated more seriously over the accusation.
“You ran your team as you saw fit.” the blond stated as he straightened his composure, fully turning to look at the other with him in the room. “I’ll do the same and that means I’ll push where needed.” without waiting for a response, he walked through the transparent man to leave the bathroom even knowing full well that Chris hated that.
“You know you take the whole ‘iron fist’ thing too far sometimes.” the lingering soul now snapped at him as he followed, angered both from being walked through and having his opinion once again ignored. He walked across the ground though he didn’t need to, he could float or drift or whatever it could be called, but Chris always chose to act as though he were walking as if he were still human- or alive. “You have to consider the team’s morale if you want to be more successful or-”
“Do not speak to me about being successful Chris.” Wesker snapped back at the apparition that pursued him which actually surprised the brunet since he didn’t usually talk to him in more public spaces even if there was no one around. “Your entire team- yourself included, was killed under your command so how successful could you have been?” that shut the brunet up though he didn’t back down from the harshness of the reminder. Instead he hardened and set a glare on the living man that was made even more threatening by the cloudy hollows of his once blue eyes. He didn’t have a response for that so Wesker scoffed knowingly with a shake of his head and continued his journey back to his department.
The hallway was quiet even as he neared the SWAT office, pushing the door open still had him met with the same uncomfortable silence that was present when he left. Everyone was sitting at their desks with their work pulled up though no one was actually working on anything. Wesker opened his mouth to remind everyone they needed to have their reports done in a timely manner to hand over to the other departments but he stopped himself. Everyone looked so defeated and uninvested in anything other than their own gloomy thoughts. He sighed and headed into the small side room that was the captain’s personal office- his office. Perhaps his intruder had been correct about going a little easier on them for now so he’d let them take a little more time than usual to complete their after mission reports if that’s what they needed.
Not needing the break, he got to work on his own assignment. He was aware of Chris’ presence in their workspace again when he heard a light strumming on the guitar kept in the office. Most weren’t aware of who it belonged to anymore, it’s been in one corner of the room since before the Raccoon City SWAT team was formed and any attempts to remove it were met with hostility and bad luck- or so it was said. Wesker learned a long time ago it belonged to Chris Redfield, the former captain of the famed STARS unit which was the predecessor of the city’s SWAT team which Wesker now oversaw. Whatever bad luck everyone claimed befell the team was simply the long deceased man’s often childish ghost retaliating in a vengeful fit. He didn’t like the SWAT team, he resented the very concept of a replacement for STARS. But things had calmed down since Wesker took over the team, able to see and communicate with the lingering soul to be able to make arrangements to keep him as docile as possible to not hinder their work. The guitar was one of those arrangements. Wesker hated the damn thing but it kept Chris happy so they all just had to deal with the sound occasionally resounding through the room.
It wasn’t a secret that the SWAT office was haunted since Chris was as obvious as he could be about his presence though his ability to actually affect material things varied. For how long he’d been dead, just over thirty years, you would think there would have been a longer trace of him but it’s really only been the last five or so years that he’s been noticeable enough to draw any kind of attention. Much to Chris’ dismay, that made identifying him to those that believed in supernatural entities such as ghosts much more difficult since they looked to more recent possibilities- deaths that took place around the time he became more active. No one suspected it was him and that frustrated him. For every believer there were five times as many skeptics who argued that there was no such thing as ghosts and that whatever misfortunate things happened were simply the result of coincidence or poor skill. Any way he looked at it Wesker was caught in a rather awkward position since he didn’t believe in coincidence and he knew his team’s skill to be well above the rest of the force but he couldn’t very well go around claiming a ghost was behind the misdeeds- even if it was often the truth. So he toed the line of vagueness whenever it got brought up.
Unable to actually play a song, the strumming was short but slow as if the former STARS captain was trying to play a short soothing tune. Wesker knew he was trying to calm everyone’s nerves to make up for their own captain’s lack of support. Unfortunately everyone thought the soul’s invisible plucking of strings was unsettling which defeated the purpose of his attempt. He didn’t appreciate Chris interfering with the management of his team but it was better than the tantrums he used to throw so he did nothing about it especially since it soon stopped. Of course his harsh comment wasn’t enough to stop the ghost from joining him in his personal office to pester him again. He knew Chris was there when he felt the additional chill that was actually rather welcome since it was a warmer day and his office was usually the first to start feeling stuffy, at least before Chris started unintentionally helping with that.
“Talk to them.” Chris pleaded with a low but sincere tone. He must have realized that he had only managed to make a few people more tense. Most of the current SWAT did believe in the ghost, even if it was only to joke about it but on a day like today no one was in the mood for joking.
“You hate SWAT, why should you be bothered with how we fare?” Wesker was still feeling spiteful toward the building’s permanent resident right now. He knew Chris had gotten over whatever issue he had with SWAT some time ago as he settled down and then got to know the people here rather than just thinking of them all as intruders in his former office turned home. Then Chris’ deathly face was almost in his, having leaned over his desk to make him take notice of his stern expression.
“Talk to them.” the brunet now demanded, his voice harder but still full of concern. Wesker sighed, sitting back in his chair as he rubbed his chest.
“I wouldn’t know what to say.” he admitted. He was an excellent leader but perhaps the one area he lacked in was reassuring speeches. He debriefed the team, strategized with the other departments they may be working with, laid out the plan, listened to feedback, made adjustments, assigned roles, and then got to work. He allowed his members room to build their own morale but he wasn’t good at contributing to the effort. The ghost of the man sighed though he didn’t need any breath and walked around the captain’s large desk to stand next to his chair. As if he couldn’t just walk through it, even after all this time he still didn’t like phasing through things- except for doors, he had to get more used to that just to be able to get around but he still went for the door rather than the wall. That meant he really didn’t like it when people walked through him, if he didn’t like going through objects or furniture then he really didn’t like going through people… it just made him sad. That’s why it was so much worse when Wesker did it, he knew he was there and still went through him like he wasn’t real. Talk about depressing but that turned to anger since the blond did it on purpose.
Looking at Wesker’s laptop to read over what he’d already gotten done of his own report didn’t help in figuring out what happened to make everyone so glum since he apparently hadn’t gotten to that part. It seemed like a pretty standard case so far. SWAT had been asked to assist in apprehending a dangerous criminal once his hiding spot was located and the man fled so they gave chase. When Chris was alive STARS had been on a dozen missions just like it so what about this one made everyone so gloomy?
“What happened?”
“He came across a little boy playing nearby and took him hostage. Talking him down failed and we lost the kid.” Wesker explained shortly and Chris cursed under his breath as he now understood the depressed atmosphere looming over the recently returned team.
“I didn’t know…” his tone was now apologetic but the blond waved him off, knowing he was regretting trying to frighten him in the bathroom after such a thing had happened to them.
“I don’t find you to be frightening anyway.” he sat straight again to try to get back to work, intent on ignoring the ghost now that he’d told him what he wanted to know and he didn’t want to hear any “comforting” words since he didn’t need them. Then Chris was gone, probably to go look over the rest of the team to see what else he may be able to do about the situation. The captain wasn’t sure what else the dead man thought he could do, he’d most likely used up whatever energy he had in his attempt to play the others a song. At least that’s how he thought it worked but the ghost often surprised him with how much he was able to do at times. He didn’t hear anything else outside his walls though so Chris must understand that anything he tried to do would only further upset everyone else right now.
“Talk to them.” the brunet’s insistent voice begged yet again and Wesker groaned.
“You’re beginning to irritate me.” he warned but the other ignored it.
“I can help you with what to say.” the ghost was getting excited about the idea of getting to speak to the team through their captain but he quickly shot the idea down.
“No, now go bother someone else.” Wesker grunted in annoyance before he tried to get back to his report. That was, until a hand came at him from inside his computer and he instinctively leaned away from it though he knew that hand couldn’t touch him. He glared up at Chris for the startling blocking of his screen- he loathed it when Chris did that and the dead man knew it.
“Chriiis!” he growled the ghost’s name through his teeth to keep from yelling it and being heard by the rest of the SWAT team.
“I’m gonna keep bothering you until you talk to them .” the brunet stated as he moved his arm out of the computer, the screen glitching briefly as he did. During his long haunt of this building- specifically this office, Chris had killed a large number of electronics. There was even a time that they stopped using them here but Wesker had refused to follow that once he had taken over. However it wasn’t necessary anymore since Chris had someone to bother. He didn’t have to interfere with their equipment as much in order to get attention now that Wesker was around for him to interact with.
“I thought you said you were backing off today or did that exclude me?”
“Maybe I’m still pissed over what you said.” his glare told of the truth behind that and Wesker sighed as he leaned back in his chair again. He turned his wrist to look down at his watch, not time yet. He rubbed idly at his chest again as he considered what he could possibly say to his team to make them feel better in order to pacify the soul that haunted their office before he decided to make more trouble. “But it’s because of what you said that you have to talk to them. You think you have all the time in the world to just do it later and go about your life.” that was a laugh, Wesker knew better than anyone- maybe other than Chris, that time was limited. But he wasn’t going to ruin the dead man’s speech to correct him. “I’m an example of how it can all suddenly end. It’s been so long since…” he hesitated as his expression fell to depression. “I… I don’t… I can’t really remember the faces of my team anymore…” that was… they’d talked about his team before, back when Wesker had first acknowledged Chris and the old captain had explained who he was. But he never told him that he couldn’t remember their faces. There was a plaque both in the lobby and in the SWAT office memorializing the old STARS team but it only displayed the fallen members’ names, there was no picture. In fact Wesker had only seen one but he had to search for it when he was fact checking Chris’ story. A cloudy blue gaze returned to the SWAT captain. “Appreciate your team while you have them. They need you now so be there for them now.” Wesker sighed again and thought it over for a moment before standing up.
“Fine.” he stated unkindly to show his annoyance over being forced to do this though he then tried to hide it as he stepped out of his personal office into the large room. Some eyes turned to him as he stood in the middle of the room with his arms folded and he loudly cleared his throat to get the rest of his members to look at him. He really didn’t want to be doing this but he knew Chris would make his job even more stressful if he didn’t. He wasn’t sure if he trusted Chris’ abilities in speech giving since he hadn’t ever had an example- plus he hadn’t fully interacted with another person aside from Wesker in a number of decades… but he was sure he could improvise something satisfactory should the phantom fail him. When the dead man began talking, speaking as if to the team rather than Wesker, the blond repeated what he said though not verbatim since he put it into his own words and added his own touches.
“We work a mentally draining job, trying to deceive ourselves of that fact would be lunacy. For every person we help there may be twice as many that we can't. For every threat resolved there may be a dozen other crimes that don’t even get reported. We have to live with the knowledge that we can't help everybody.” as the SWAT captain listened to Chris speak so solemnly, he was sure the ghost was drawing this from cases he’d had where they weren’t able to help someone. So far so good. “Today we were faced with a situation where there was a chance we could have saved someone. That boy did not deserve what happened to him, he didn't deserve to have his life taken from him so early.” now Chris was getting more emotional and dramatic with his speech, something Wesker had to temper back in his own repeated speech since he was not about to go into the brunet’s kind of dramatics. “Maybe we could have stepped in earlier, gotten there faster, negotiated better- maybe, maybe, maybe. That's all those thoughts are now, ‘maybes’ and ‘what ifs’. In the end we did what we could to help him and we have to accept that it simply didn’t go in our favor this time and strive to make sure it does the next time.” since he was still wearing his sunglasses, he didn’t have to bother trying to make an effort to look more at the faces around him than at the brunet talking through him. “Not every person is able to be saved and holding that knowledge can take an immense mental toll on many. We can not let that weight prevent us from doing our job because if we do then there may be another boy out there we could have actually helped and didn't. Don't try to bottle up anything that you are feeling- talk about it, see that you are not alone, and seek help if needed.” Chris had actually included himself, or rather Wesker, as a source of comfort and guidance but that wasn’t going to happen, however the instruction to seek out another if needed was still good advice. Chris opened his mouth again to continue but the blond thought that was enough so he spoke for himself now to wrap this up and be done with it.
“This will likely not be the last time we see something like this and we need to be prepared for when it does happen again. Think of the ones we do save rather than the ones we don’t and hold yourselves together for the sake of helping others.” now fully looking over his team, he saw most were still down but there were small smiles of appreciation and a few hopeful nods. He wasn’t sure how well they had done of “cheering them up” but he was done. “Take a couple more minutes to reflect and consider how best to personally move forward from this then get back to work.” he turned and walked back into his own office before anyone could make any comment on his sudden out of character motivational speech. He wasn’t up for any conversation that would lead him to have to navigate around their unwanted resident. It was still a bit early but he didn’t care anymore, he took the next dose of his medication which should ease the pain in his chest.
“That went really well, they’re talking more about you now instead of acting all gloomy.” Chris called with a proud smile as he walked through the closed- and locked door to the captain’s office. The blond didn’t respond, not caring what his team was currently up to. Instead he leaned forward in his chair to put his elbows on his desk and rest his head in his hands as he waited for the pain to ease a little. “Another headache?” the ghost asked, concern lacing his voice and the living man simply nodded to avoid having to explain anything.
“I did what you asked, won’t you leave me alone now?” he sighed the question out and noticed Chris’ expression fall. He wouldn’t want to leave Wesker alone, he never did, especially if he couldn’t entertain himself by pestering the rest of the team since he said he was going to leave them alone for the day as well. The ghost got bored easily and had spent so long in isolation that he relished every moment Wesker was in the building since he was the only one that’s been able to fully interact with him in the many years he’s haunted the RPD.
“Yeah… I guess that’s only fair.” the brunet sighed reluctantly. “I’ll be hanging around… somewhere I guess… until something interesting happens.” he was stalling, slowly backing up towards the door as he waited to see if Wesker had any response. He didn’t. He knew saying anything at all would only give the other an excuse to stay and talk more for as long as he could get away with it. He wasn’t going to give him that so he said nothing, didn’t even acknowledge him and only looked up to verify he had finally left once he couldn’t feel the chill of his presence anymore. Chris was gone. Wesker breathed a slow inhale and even slower exhale as he told himself that he was fine then repeated another chant he used to strengthen himself.
He could last the rest of the day, he could last tomorrow, he could last the week, he could last the month, he could last the year. He could last.