After Midnight

Sequel to Nightfall - AO3 Link

Summary: Three months after her near-death entanglement with Albert Wesker, Claire Redfield remains fettered to him as both lover and prisoner. As such, he once again pulls her into his dark games of power and control. Adamant at having her all to himself, Wesker's hold on her tightens as he pulls them both towards an unsatiable holy grail. But this is to be just the beginning of what would become an absolute nightmare...

Claire/Wesker, Chris/Jill, slight Claire/Leon and Ada/Leon. (also big focus on Wesker and William's friendship and past). Pre-RE1- Code Veronica time frame.

Chapter 1: Behind Blue Eyes

November 4th, 1971…

“The world needed your mother. She was essential. To modern science. To the future. Not you. You are disposable. An expedient…no, an anathema upon this world.”

His father’s last words to him repeated in his head, again and again. 

Then he was left behind at this strange facility with all the white coats.

That was after spending his birthday two days ago flying across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States.

Chicago, he recalled. That’s where he was. A research facility in Chicago. His father had spoken with the man in charge here…something about compensation for his “participation”. Anything to get that funding he always talked about for his research…

The doctors here poked and prodded him. Drew a lot of blood. Ran numerous tests. Nothing he wasn’t used to.

The young boy sat on an examination table in a small white-walled room for what felt like hours, the lights irradiant, just like the rooms he had often found himself in back home. The brightness hurt his eyes. He winced and squeezed his blue eyes shut. If he didn’t, he felt he would go blind.

He didn’t bother checking the door. He knew it would be locked. Everything in his life was controlled. When he could eat, when he could sleep, when he could leave. Isolated. All alone. Although that wasn’t anything new. He had always felt this way. His father abandoned him years ago, even if he had seen him every day of his life up until now.

Anathema…anathema, he thought over and over. He knew the word. A curse. Abomination. Something consigned for sacrificial offering and destruction.

The door opened. Instead of the usual apathy that accompanied him, always knowing it to be his father, a fleeting anxiety passed through him as two strangers entered.

One was the man in charge here his father had spoken to for “compensation”. He was quite important, a lord he’d overheard, but the boy knew nothing of who he was. The other man was a doctor and seemed to be friends with the lord. They both looked to be in their late 40s, although it was just a guess.

The lord wore a proud, triumphant smile, looking the boy over as though he was a prize of sorts.

“Hello, Albert,” he greeted politely, kneeling beside the boy. “It’s an honor to finally meet your acquaintance. I am a longstanding colleague of your father, Andric. My name is Lord Ozwell Spencer, but you may call me Ozwell.”

The lord extended his hand. Albert stared at it. Clean, soft skin. No scars. No calluses. There was a big ring with a familiar crest on its face. It made his head hurt as he tried to recall where he’d seen it. They had never met before, but the boy felt this man somehow knew all about him. He didn’t take the offered palm. The smile was camouflage, the handshake a venomous bite.

Ozwell’s British accent carried a mix of elegance and power. It was more evident than Albert’s father’s accent, which had lost much of its original Germanic cadence from working in England.

The lord didn’t seem displeased when Albert didn't take his hand. He softly chuckled, his eyes still not leaving the boy. “Strong, silent type, I see. I like that in a young man.” He motioned to Albert’s face. "Did you get into a fight at school?”

He was so used to it that Albert had forgotten all about it. “My father never appreciated me challenging him.” Albert glared at the lord. “Tell me, did my father get his just compensation for dropping me at this hellhole?”

Ozwell glanced back at the doctor with a pleased smirk. His friend didn’t smile back, looking more surprised than anything, and scribbled on his clipboard.

“I assure you, young man, that ‘compensation’ was for something else…something before you were born that I owed him. His research is valuable to my company. And so we thought it best I take you in for a bit so he could work away on a very important enterprise.”

Why did adults always lie? Did they think him gullible?

Nightfall (Epilogue)

Synopsis: Pre-Resident Evil 1, slight-AU/Canon Divergence. Claire Redfield comes home to visit her brother Chris for the holidays but gets caught up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Albert Wesker, the Captain of STARS, after stumbling upon dark secrets. She can’t call the law; Wesker is the law, and she can’t tell Chris. She is trapped…Claire/Wesker & Slight Chris/Jill (Wesker & William Bromance). Rated M for smut, language, violence, adult content. AO3 Link

Epilogue

One month later…

The closing discussion was nothing but blether in her ears. Professor Wendell prated on about next week's assignments, reiterating a few key points on the board before removing her glasses to wipe them with her shirt. Claire disregarded the noise, her blue eyes scrupulously scanning over the large class five minutes before the start of her weekend.

Some students were just as restless, just as inattentive to their professor as she was. Like a nearby couple ogling each other with knowing smiles. Most others paid close attention, jotting down notes. Like the girl next to her, absorbing all Professor Wendell had to say.

Claire shook out of her trance long enough to scribble down some important notes in the hum of her professor's chatter. Professor Wendell dismissed them not even twenty seconds later. Claire slammed her textbook shut, sliding it and her notebook into her backpack as others did the same. She slung it onto one shoulder, snatched her parka, and beelined for the exit. It was unlike her to be in such a hurry to get out of class, but it had been that way lately. Other students had the same idea as Claire, just as eager for freedom or in a hurry to get to their next class.

The hallways were filled in moments as a couple other classes ended. Claire adjusted her backpack while following the crowd, peeking into some classrooms still in session as she passed them by.

She listened to what was said around her. She observed each individual, inquisitive, perhaps even prying, wondering what their motives, feelings, and desires might be.

A guy Claire's age walked alone, even in the mass, eyes lowered and lost in thought. Was he sad? Lonely? Homesick? Had he lost a loved one?…His were unknown.

Two other guys snickered while talking about a "hot girl", one motioning out what could only be her figure. Theirs were plain as day.

You're doing it again…

The younger Redfield shook herself out of it once more. When had this habit become so excessive? She'd always enjoyed learning what made people tick, hence the Sociology major and Psychology minor, yet she had never felt the need to figure out every single person around her, not before him anyway. Wesker had certainly done something to her. Claire decided the reason was she wanted to understand why he deciphered people and how he was able to do it so effortlessly. More than anything…she wanted to understand Wesker himself. He was the ultimate enigma.

Someone snatched her bag and tugged backwards. Her mind instantly recalled when Roth and Bennett had jumped her. Claire tightened her grip on the strap, pulling forward and then spinning around to give whoever it was a painful slug to the chest.