Chapter Text
"A kind husband and loving father who put family before all else."
Death. A foreign yet familiar concept to fragile beings, lives of which are as faint as a spark in roaring storm. One day they might be off to a good start, normal day in their pitiful life and next instant, they meet death.
Such was the life of humans, and such was the life of Ethan Winter, whose life turned from a common occurrence to an adventure that showed him pain, grief and the truth about his fragile life. Yet he persisted, he lasted. Longer than any human should have, longer than any fragile creature should have. He not only persisted but also accomplished his goal. He kept his family safe.
Yet, despite his efforts, he could not break free from the chains that restrained those who dared to defy fate. Eventually, death caught up to him after many losses.
Truth be told, it is quite ironic that people often meet their fate on the very path they choose to avoid.
*****
Ethan Winters.
While others may argue that he was of the most ’humane human’ to ever exist, he knows better. True that he did what most if not all people would back off form but that did not mean that he was any better. What he did for his family was something that would shake others just thinking about it but he followed through not just because he was some Macho guy who did not feel pain, no, on the contrary, he did feel pain. But that was it, the pain could not overpower the immense love he had for his family, it just lacked behind, far.
Yet… what was the point. No, don’t get him wrong, he does not regret it one bit. Saving Mia and Rose was the one thing he was absolutely confident in that he did right. But at the end, he was not there with his daughter was he? He did not get to live his life now did he?
It is not fair…
While religiously, there is supposed to be an afterlife after death but if God was really there, why would he let humanity get so fucked up? How could he let those disgusting creatures drunk on power that did not belong to them pose as gods.
So no, gods don’t exist, and so doesn’t afterlife.
Then why? Why did Ethan wake up breathing heavily like he hadn’t breathed in quite a while? Looking around frantically with eyes as wide as he could get like he hadn’t opened them in a long while. Like, like he has been dead…
*****
*HUFF*
Ethan woke up panting heavily, grasping for the glass of water by the bed side like and barely managing to get hold of it without dropping it.
*gulp*
It was quite the struggle to even gulp down water which does not make sense since it was a subconscious task and shouldn’t really be a problem yet when Ethan took a sip of that water, he finally felt refreshed and relived.
Damn…
The water was meant to be refreshing but the relief that Ethan recognized, due to Mia consistently feeding him with books about psychology, really made him question what he ate in dinner tonight.
What did he feel relieved from?
Ethan looked to his right to see Mia asleep while hugging her pillow. She was quite a heavy sleeper since she slept through most of her time during the Louisiana event. Ethan would try his best not to remember those events but they were a part of his life, a major one. He couldn’t really forget it.
If only…
Standing up from his bed, he decided to check up on his sweet little daughter, Rosemary, Rose for short. He did not turn on the lights since he could see very well in the dark. Perks of being victim of a bio-weapon I guess. Chuckling at the joke inwardly, he finally made his way to his daughter’s room only to be hit by a headache just as he entered the room. Ow, what did I really eat tonight?
Ignoring the headache since it was only for an instant, he walked forward to Rosemary’s cradle only to get hit with intense vertigo the moment he saw Rose’s face and falling down face first onto the thick carpet a moment later.
Mia really choose the best carpet….
*****
While Death often made people feel morbid, sad and fearful of its unknown nature, humans have managed to create a few methods to cope with the loss of others.
And one of the methods was to recall the unfortunate event as some kind of achievement. A brave Death, A hero’s death, a meaningful death… really, humans found many methods to fool themselves in believing that death was but a small matter. They managed to cope with it by fooling their hearts into believing that their loved ones after death would be in a safe and blissful haven.
Really, there is no lack of fools in this world…
But then again, how much will they fool themselves…
*****
“-an!”
“Ethan!”
Jolted awake by constant shaking and shouting of his name in his ears, Ethan woke up to find himself in the arms of the love of his life.
Mia Winters. His wife who he pledge to keep safe. The wife who he loved with every fiber of his being yet when he looked at her face, the only thing he felt was unfamiliarity.
Distrust. Hostility.
However, it was not just some baseless feeling this time. It was with proof. Proof embedded deep in his skull, just like those foreign memories that felt familiar yet not.
Is it really true?
Ethan asked himself that question as there was a fine line between delusion and insanity and he believed himself to be tipping towards both as he could not comprehend what had just occurred. Or maybe he could but just did not want to acknowledge it.
Since the Eveline incident in Louisiana, he had been accustomed to weird shit happening in his life, especially during the year he spent with Chris Redfield learning more about these viruses and extracted the one he had in himself. But he was certain what happened to him this time was not because of the MOLD. It was truly an otherworldly experience as Ethan never felt rush clarity in his life, ever. It was as if he has control of his body while before he had not. It was truly magical. But with the almost heavenly experience came something dreadful.
No, it was not the first time Ethan had foreign memories take a refuge in his mind but this was something different as it was not just memories, it was also, emotions.
Ethan recalled the talk he had with Rebecca when he was in protection of the BSAA ….
*****
The room is brightly lit with tens of small lights in each corner of the room. The room had no windows revealing that the room was deep in the building or deep underground. There was a bed in the middle with a man lying on it and a chair next to it with a brunette sitting on it.
“Ethan, you just have to put much pressure on your brain. We are pretty much clear that those memories are Eveline’s-“
The girl was cut halfway as the blonde laying on the bed could not agree with her anymore.
“Yes, Yes I know they are her memories but I want to know why they are with me?! Rebecca, you don’t understand-“
And he was met with a brutal reply.
“NO, it is you who doesn’t understand that your brain won’t be able to handle this much pressure if you keep probing it, especially since we had to remove the MOLD cells from your brain too.”
The girl huffed and turned around to tap on the keyboard that was lying on the desk next to her with the large monitor screen flicking with images on what looked like DNA and brain-like-structure.
“Look.” Said the girl, now recognized as Rebecca, pointing at the brain shown on the screen.” This is your brain and if the extremely red colour all over it is not clear enough, let me make it crystal clear that your brain has received damage. Maybe it was Eveline trying to get into your head or maybe it was the Mold but something did affect your brain. And with you putting such efforts for a meaningless endeavour, I-I-“
The girl immediately regretted her words as she saw the face of that man collapse with despair and sadness. She knew she over spoke but she couldn’t help it, whenever science is evolves, especially involving viruses that have haunted mankind, she just like herself go.
“Maybe you are right.” Ethan said sitting up by the side of the bed. “Maybe what I am doing is a meaningless endeavour but Rebecca, don’t you want to know what really happened to Eveline or why it really happened. These memories, while unclear, hint at the origin of this, this mess. I can feel it, I just need to reach out and-“
Cutting him off again, Rebecca consoled Ethan while putting her hand on his hand.
“Even if reaching out may cause you to lose all you have worked to gain?”
*****
Since that day, Ethan hadn’t tried to look inside his memories in fear of losing all he holds dear. For Mia, for Rose, and for himself, he has put all of it behind him, forgetting it as just some Meaningless Endeavor. Maybe not for him, since there wasn't a day that went by without him thinking about Eveline and the hell she went through. But, pushing forward for Mia and Rose, he just acted like he didn't.
And now, everything had come undone. The memories that he had to put efforts to see for even a second were now crystal clear and so was the fact that the one in front of him was not Mia.
The other set of memories he gained was something truly bizarre. Those memories were not his but rather his. And as weird as it sounds, it does make a lot of fucking sense.
While chances are that it might be that it is just some new virus that affected him and made his nightmares manifest or some weird shit from the fifty shades of viruses that caused him to form memories that were not his own…
But what if it is really true…
What if in the smallest chance, those memories turned out to be true?
It wasn’t as if he wasn’t doubtful but really, what those memories showed while not exactly the same but showed an uncanny resemblance to what happened in Dulvey Parish, Louisiana.
I mean, those women who manifested from insects, insects like those Marguerite controlled…
Since he had always been anxious about the origins of the Eveline, the MOLD and whatnot, it wasn’t too odd that the dreams focused on his goals.
I mean, Black God and Mother Miranda… If something like that does exist, then…
But then again, Ethan hasn’t felt his instincts going haywire in like, forever. And while Ethan might not be sure what was real and what was not, he knew one thing. That his instincts never betrayed him no matter what.
And that only meant one thing, the women who is holding him right now-no the women has been holding his very life for the past few days was not Mia but rather, Miranda.
As far as his new memories were concerned, she pioneered research on the Mold and used it to conduct experiments on local villagers for over a century in hopes of finding a vessel for her daughter, a perfect vessel.
Every parent wants the best for their children don’t they?
Chuckling inwardly at his own morbid joke, Ethan dived further into his memories.
Today is 2nd of February, Which meant that only 7 days were left until Chris and his army of civilians will ensure chaos like bunch of idiots that they are…
No, don’t misunderstand him, he had nothing against Chris and his team members but he never thought of them as anything other than civilians since they were pretty much incapable of handling any situation on their own always needing to rely on Chris and that funky-haired-guy to do anything even remotely related to bio-weapons.
The only use they were of was distraction and even that at the cost of their lives, in simpler terms, Cannon-Fodder.
”Ethan here take this…”
Mia, no, Miranda hands him a glass of water as he has not been very responsive considering he has been processing what in the fuck was going on hence only subconsciously following orders. That said, it must’ve been hard for Mia to drag him to the sofa considering she want panting lightly and sat down next to him in an exhausted position and… that was a lie.
Tens for wonderful acting Miranda… Ethan thought while finally focusing his eyes on Miranda, now disguised as Mia, and taking the glass of water from her.
Truth be told, if the part where Miranda had to sacrifice Rose and where she ordered the lycans to massacre the villagers just because they had exhausted their use, she was pretty much a diligent parent who has been looking out for her daughter for over a century and Ethan could relate to her considering his new memories.
But that doesn’t mean I will go easy on you bitch. It would cost one dearly if they thought they could put wool over Ethan’s eyes, especially not after they had or at least will cut his daughter into 4 pieces and store her like some scientific study matter.
“E-Ethan? What happened? Y-You weren’t there when I woke up so I went to Rose’s room found you lying there on the floor.” Miranda said while hugging him close. “I-I-“
“Shh, it’s fine now. I wanted to wish Rose her half-birthday early and fell asleep when I sat down.”
“But you didn’t wak-“
“It is quite hard to sleep on the cold carpet so I was disoriented for a while and I had a nightmare.”
“Nightmare you say!?” Mia said while holding him close and cuddling him. If Ethan felt any discomfort, he did not show it.
This bitch! How much did she fucking spy on us!?
After the Dulvey incident, Mia confessed everything to Ethan, about what she did for work and how she was afraid that it might affect their relationship if she revealed it to Ethan. And while Ethan never told her but he was heartbroken because of her lies. Not to mention that what she was doing was not just some harmless crime but something that led to destruction of not just the Bakers but also many others, innocent or not. And true it may be that she was not the one main perpetrator, the damned Connection was, she was nonetheless involved.
And since then, to rebuild their relationship better than ever, she never lied to him and never held back her thoughts. And one such thought was about how the Mold was still infecting their thoughts and projecting its opinions through nightmares and such.
So for Miranda to even know the conversation they had months back was scary to say the least.
Ethan consoled Mia as he stood up, no longer able to hold his thoughts to himself any longer and made a dash to the bathroom, yelling that he needed a shower to refresh his mind.
The disguised Miranda shook her head at her ‘husband’s’ antics and went about to make breakfast while also catering Rose who had woken up, seemingly sensing her father’s distress.
*****
The cold water droplets were like boulder that seemed to weight heavy on the head, trickling down the chest like someone tearing his chest wide open with their claws. The water filling his ears sounding like insects buzzing trying to wrench his eardrums open, the water gathering at his feet like quicksand trying to dissolve all of him inside it, with the despair that surrounded him almost taking a physical form.
But all of that did nothing to the father who seemed frozen like those statues that saw medusa in the eyes. His hands clenched with anger and unwillingness that seemed gather between his furrowed brows.
Right now, Ethan felt hopeless like never before. Half of his life was missing somewhere out captured while the other half, he had left with the captor. He felt, scared.
As Ethan reflected on his situation, he recalled a piece of advice given to him by an old friend during his time in Louisiana. This friend, who had also battled against unimaginable horrors, once told Ethan, "Sometimes, the greatest strength comes from accepting our vulnerabilities." This wisdom resonated with Ethan as he grappled with his current situation, reminding him that it's okay to feel afraid or uncertain.
He knew that while the knowledge and experience he gained from those memories worth no more than 10 days did help him use the Mold to his advantage, he still was lacking behind when it came to the ability to kill.
Alright, it is a bit risky but you can try to do it…
In these moments of despair, Ethan with his indomitable has thought out an ingenious plan that while may seem crazy, his situation what not something normal anyway.
What was the plan? Well…
Yup! Easy 5 step program to freedom.
Step One. Seduce Miranda so she favours you.
Step two. Find Mia.
Step Three. Get the fuck away.
Step Four. Ask Chris to Nuke the Goddamn place.
Fuck the innocents. If I have to choose between my family and those innocents then hell, here I come.
The Idea was not bad. Not bad at all if we exclude the fact that Mr. Seducer here had negative skills in talking to ladies much less seducing a woman who has forgone a husband for over a century and is capable of committing genocide just to get her already dead daughter back.
But I have the home advantage for fucks sake! She is taking my wife’s place right now and if nothing goes wrong, it will continue for the next few days…
Yup! I just have to-
“Ethan!” Mia knocked on the bathroom door pulling Ethan out of his fantasies. “The breakfast is ready dear, come on. Rose if waiting for you.”
Rose…
And then it hit Ethan that with how much he overworked his brain to save his family, he forgot to cherish the moment he was in, forgot to cherish his Rose. And he even went as far as to plan about seducing that evil witch and that hurt, as if he was doing the same thing Mia had years ago, almost like he was betraying her.
Putting a stop to those thoughts, Ethan got out of his shower and dressed up in just his boxers and pants, going out bare chest. With a towel wrapped around his neck while cold water dripped down from the hair onto the towel, preventing him from getting wet all over again.
“Dear, Can you hold Ro-?”
The moment Ethan’s eyes met Mia’s, he realized that she was not his Mia, she was Miranda. And that gave him enough hint that the amount of information loaded and processed in his brain in the past half an hour has surpassed his processing capability. I geek terms, his brain has heated up due to overclocking and thus needed to reset back to default.
And when Ethan came back to his sense a moment later, he found quite a comical scene unfolding in front of eyes.
The demi-goddess disguised as his wife was gaping at him with a lascivious look in her eyes and the same eyes scanning each and every part of his body form his collarbone to the V cut going down his pants.
He while never buffed was always quite fit since college. When he got to knew Mia, to impress her, her started to exercise regularly. With Chris now being his instructor for the past year, he was developed quite an inviting body. He had trained every muscle to as extreme as he could without losing his mobility while also maintain his lean looks since while he might not admit it out loud, he liked getting complimented by the love of his life.
As Mia admired each part of Ethan's upper body, Ethan worries increased. When he saw how Miranda imitated Mia so precisely that it was uncanny.
When Miranda’s eyes met his again, they widened as a reddish hue crept up her face as she ran back to the kitchen.
I guess the plan still stands…?
*****
As the early morning sun cast a golden glow over the rustic Romanian countryside, Ethan sat with while holding rose in his arms and his bare chest now covered with a Cartoon themed T-shirt. It was one of Rose’s favourite, The Peppa Pig.
The aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the air, mingling with the scent of warm bread and sizzling bacon.
While they were in Romania, they had only moved in a few weeks prior and they were by no means capable of eating heavy breakfast in the morning, well Ethan wasn’t but since they had to adapt one they, Mia and Ethan had decided on trying to adjust as fast as they can.
So when Miranda brought out the local cuisine, Ethan did not say anything despite having the chance to point it out as there was not benefit in trying to provoke her and even less in getting a reaction out of her.
Not to mention, since the ‘accident’ this morning, Miranda has been avoiding Ethan by tending to different household task while Ethan put no effort in going against it since it meant more time for him with his daughter.
“Go-Goo-Gaa-Gaa”
Yup. Ever since she saw a baby doing that in the animated movie she watched, which was very old by the way, she has been goo-goo-gaa-gaa-ing since she knew that it would be the best way to grab the attention of the two people who showered her with affection, especially the man who made funny faces to her so she can laugh all day. She liked that man.
“Alright-Alright! Daddy is going to feed Rose today since mother has other things to do!”
Ethan said while cradling her in his arms and taking the feeding bottle with had milk in it from the table. He then put the nipple in her mouth while laying down on the sofa with head on the armrests. This way rose had her face towards the TV while she laid on her father’s chest. She loved watching her cartoons while drinking Milk.
“Tch… how could you mess up so fucking badly?”
While that was not meant for Ethan, he still hear it, thanks to his enhanced hearing due to the Mold. He knew that this was his chance to seduce Miranda to his advantage. And as much as Ethan did not want to be unfaithful to his Wife, Mia, he did not have the luxury to not do anything and expect everything to happen on its own.
No, in fact, as far as he was concerned, even the wolf, Chris Redfield is incapable of killing Miranda as creatures of the Mold can only be killed by those alike. Just like how Eveline was only killed by the D series and in his memories, he could only kill Miranda due to some very extreme conditions being met and him being a creature of Mold.
This caused him to utter a long sigh as problems kept on adding up. Be it about his family or his personal existential crisis or even the enemies lurking in the shadows, Ethan was extremely worried about it.
What can I do…?
“Alright!!”
Shouting and rising up at instant, Ethan exclaimed as he seemed to have gotten the answer to his question. And he may have startled poor rosemary as she started crying which made him feel guilty. After setting her right, he coaxed her into drinking the milk again and since not much was left, she consumed it quickly in not much time.
Setting Rose on the couch, Ethan went to the balcony to get his favourite jacket. The jacket was Sage Green in colour and was something he got as a gift from Mia. Wearing sports pants and buttoning his jacket to hide the childish T-shirt, he went down to pick up Rose who was goo-goo-gaa-gaa-ing for her father.
He then dressed rose in a warm sweater and pants and an overcoat which he brought form her cupboard upstairs. He then put a Barbie themed ear muff on her head which had cat-like ears on the top. He picked her up and cleaned her mouth with his handkerchief.
With rose in his hands, he went past the kitchen to get the front door. He was not leaving his Rose with that crazy bitch.
“Where are you going? The breakfast is almost ready, I was just servin-“
Cutting Miranda off, Ethan came close and hugged her. Internally cringing, he kissed her forehead as a weird feeling came over him. He was kissing someone who looked exactly like his wife with a one-to-one ratio. Backing up, seeing the familiar face made it easier to swallow that he just kissed someone who is holding in hostage in his own fucking house. Goddamn it Ethan…
“Nothing darling, just going for a walk with rose, it feels nice, with be back soon.”
Saying so, Ethan while did not ran, he did walk as fast as he could.
As far as he was concerned, Miranda would not let wither him or rose out of her sight and definitely out of the house on their lonesome. So taking advantage of the fact that she was not yet used to physical touch that came along with her disguise, Ethan took that chance and delivered a critical blow, stunning her.
Yes, it was a cheap shot but what matters is that his plans succeeded. Plus it was never a fair fight in the first place, he was fighting a century old witch for fucks sake.
Ignoring everything, Ethan walked aimlessly into the cold morning where there was barely any shine in the sky due to winter.
Feeling the cold wind on his face, Ethan realized something.
I have always been passive haven’t I?
From college to the incident in Louisiana to the shifting to Europe to the memories of his future, he has not been aggressive even one. He was always a sitting duck waiting for someone to comes and mess his life and only then, will he strike back.
However, not this time…
You wanted to mess me huh?
You thought I was an easy target huh?
Not this time…
This time…
Ethan.Winters.Will.Strike.
FIRST!!!