Epilogue

The night sang with bugs and frogs as Chris reached to unlock his front door. He inserted the house key and turned, only to realize that the door was already unlocked. Chris' eyes widened as he took a step back and pulled out his Albert-01 from his holster. The pistol looked precisely like the Samurai Edge that his old captain had, but was modified to have a more powerful hit and with a sharper range.

Chris pointed his gun ahead and aimed calmly as firmly slammed his foot against his own front door. The door swung open easily as Chris took several steps in. He heard a sharp yelp in reaction to the door as it crashed open. Immediately he aimed at the direction of the sudden cry.

Claire sat on his dark brown lazy chair in the living room to the right of the front door and main hall. The living room was dimly lit from the side table lamp being the only light on as she was holding a book from his home office. Claire wore a simple white leather jacket. Under that, was a black silk shirt that hugged her form perfectly. As always, her legs adorned skin-tight blue jeans and her feet were nicely fitted with brown ankle boots. The look on her face was shocked as her body was in the middle recoiling from the door that slammed open.

Her blue eyes stared at Chris. Quickly she relaxed and gave a soft sigh, "Ugh! Mind using a door normally next time?" she giggled lightly as she closed the book and stood out of the chair.

Chris lowered his gun and gave a frustrated and irritated glare at his sister and then to the broken hinges of his front door, "Yeah. Thought someone broke in. Clearly, I'm in the wrong," Chris felt anxiety slowly creep in. After the report was given to him today, Claire was the last person he really wanted to see. Sure, he missed her and had not seen her in such a long time, but he really could not see her after knowing that his team had failed to retrieve someone so close to her.

Chris pushed his door closed and scoffed at the damage he made. This house had been funded by the BSAA and insurance ever since he got it, so he could easily get someone to put in a new door. Chris relaxed as he then holstered his gun. He then undid his belt and hung his belt in the closet next to the front door. He closed the closet door and turned. Claire stood ahead of him with a calm grin. Chris looked exhausted. The serene look she gave could not help but make Chris smile tiredly. He reached for a hug and she happily hugged him back. Claire gave a small groan before she spoke, "Oh, you had a bad day, huh?"

Chris groaned back in their hug, "Mmmhmm..." he broke the hug and knew that she was going to find out tonight, whether it was going to be from him slipping it or confessing it. He walked aside Claire and sat in his lazy chair. Chris relaxed as Claire pulled a chair from the kitchen and sat ahead of him, faced him directly, almost demanding Chris to face her as well. That was when Chris realized her smile was not exactly showing happiness, but desperation. A look of shame suddenly washed over Chris as he spoke, "Carlos told you, didn't he?"

"Told me what?" her tone sharpened and she broke the facade. She knows. Chris glared at her with his tired eyes, "You want me to admit it," Claire gave a nod to his statement. Chris sharply inhaled then calmly exhaled before he confessed, "...Steve is alive," Claire's eyes did not show any shock or surprise. Claire looked like she was uncertain about how to react to such news. Chris continued, "My team failed to retrieve him. A mistake happened, and Steve murdered a member of Cara's team. After that, the board had declared Steve a class S BOW. A genuine threat to the whole world. They don't want to take risks now that "men have fallen" to retrieve Steve... And the fact that this mission was done behind the board's back."

Claire's face was stuck with a look of confusion and concern. She tried to relax a bit. Claire tilted her head, "Why so much secrecy? Why didn't you think of getting TerraSave involved? They would have easily made demands to prevent Steve from becoming a threat. Steve... He... Wouldn't kill someone. At least, he would have had a really good reason. Do you really think he's a threat to the world?"

Chris's tired eyes stared at his sister as she told him this abundance of questions and statements that were not even considered when he was in the thick of planning to obtain Steve. Chris groaned as he leaned forward to rub his face. He spoke in his hands, "I don't know. I was confident that I could handle this. I didn't want the BSAA thinking that TerraSave was going to cause a movement because we had a human under our custody being labeled as a BOW."

Claire leaned forward as she tried to face him eye to eye, "IS he a BOW?"

Chris looked at Claire. The moment she asked that Chris lowered his hands a faced her, "I can't say. The second Lieutenant says that he is not a BOW, But he also noted that Steve sees himself as less than human. The only distinct way to confirm that statement was that the report openly states that Steve's eyes had orange glowing irises."

Claire's lips parted as the shock she felt became denser. She spoke in a hushed whisper, "Like Wesker?"

Chris gave a nod as he showed a rather melancholy look in his soured expression, "I know he's not Wesker. Why does that bastard have to haunt us like this? His damn eyes are in the eyes of your dead friend. It's infuriating!"

Claire looked at Chris and rested her hand on his shoulder as she tried to comfort him. She wanted comfort too but it was clear how much this bothered Chris more. She knew how much he hated failing others. Even if they never met, Chris had felt responsible for Steve's death in the Antarctic facility. Mostly because of Wesker. Claire spoke softly, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Chris averted her gaze now as it was obvious he felt shame one way or another, "I didn't... Want to put you in any dang-"

"NO!" Claire shouted at him as she showed genuine anger, "What's the REAL reason?"

Chris recoiled. He knew that excuse had lasted. Especially since the last time he used it, Claire dropped out of college and spent nearly a whole year to find him, only to end up captured by Umbrella. Chris sighed and looked at her with his cold and honest eyes, "Because getting you involved would compromise my emotions. You're my sister, Claire. If you ended up involved in this, I'd want you safe and protected and I know that's not what you'd want. You would want to be out there trying to help Steve. It's obvious you'd throw yourself into the situation."

"Of course, I would!" Claire glared back at Chris as she pretty much, proved him right, "This is the first boy who ever admitted to loving me! If he's alive, I would want to confirm it!"

Chris stood and walked away to gain some distance from claire as he exaggerated his frustration, "Which is exactly I avoided you getting involved! I have no idea if he was even on our side, Claire! what if he didn't remember you and saw you as a threat?! I can't take that risk!! I made a promise to Mom and Dad that I would-" Chris halted his words knowing that claire has heard this argument too often. He growled in frustration and tried to calm himself down.

Claire stood up slowly and spoke calmly, "And you DO keep your promises..." Claire took a heavy sigh as she looked at Chris and gave a nod, " I understand, Chris. I'm not upset or disappointed in you. I just wish I knew."

Chris nodded to her words. He knew that was probably worse for her than it was for him. He relaxed a bit. He was glad to know Claire was not upset with him like how she often would. It seemed like she really did grow up.

Claire gave him a glance. She was now caught up so she did not see the harm in knowing more. She asked, "So... What's next? It's obvious you're not stopping here."

Chris looked over at Claire and gave a nod. There WAS no harm in letting her know now, "It's only a matter of time before the BSAA understands that too, so I'm going to use my vacation time while I still can. I'll be going to Afghanistan."

"Is that where Steve is?" Claire asked.

Chris shook his head lightly, "No. There's somebody there who could help us in helping Steve. The only problem is that he's going to want a large sum of money to help us."