ʟᴀᴅʏ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ʟʏᴄᴀɴs : ᴋᴀʀʟ ʜᴇɪꜱᴇɴʙᴇʀɢ

ɪᴛ'ꜱ ʙᴇɢɪɴɴɪɴɢ

Chris offered Sophia a change of clothes, which she happily took and he led her to a blocked in space of the tent to give her some privacy.

Weight was relieved off her shoulders as the beaded dress pooled around her feet and she stepped out of it. Her eyes travelled over her skin, noticing that most of her marks had faded, which she was thankful for.

The entire outfit was black, and it was on the tactical side. Long sleeve turtle neck, cargo pants, a vest, and a pair of combat boots that just so happened to be her size. She was braiding her hair back to keep it out of her face when she heard Karl on the other side of the curtain, "Knock, knock?"

"Come in," she answered softly as she tied the ends of her hair together with a leather strap.

Karl poked his head through the curtain first, a low whistle escaping rounded lips when he saw her in her new get up. A chuckle escaped between a bashful smile, and she lowered her head to hide her flushed cheeks. He smiled at her behavior, feeling a sense of accomplishment that he could get her flustered like that.

He stepped into the confined space and approached her. Placing his hands on her hips, she lifted her head and met his tender gaze. She read his expression like a book. Like everything he wanted to say was written on his face in bold black letters. She hated that those bold black letters looked like they were saying goodbye, and she was nowhere near ready to say goodbye.

"Hey," she lifted her hand and cupped his cheek, "it's going to be okay. We're going to get out of this...together."

He watched her lips curve into a small smile as she spoke to him and he couldn't help but smile back, "Just be careful, Soph."

However, the smile didn't compensate for the worry in his voice. Without really thinking, Sophia wrapped her arms around his neck for a hug. His arms went tightly around her waist, placing a kiss on the side of her head, before resting his chin onto her shoulder.

"You too," she whispered in return, holding onto him as much as she could.

The clearing of a throat startled the two and they released one another, Sophia being the one to look at who had interrupted them.

Chris stood in between the two pieces of cloth, his eyes adjusted on the floor, "You ready?"

Sophia nodded, "Yes, of course." She looked back at Karl one last time, planting a lingering kiss on his cheek, "Give that bitch hell for me."

He chuckles, "You got it."

She smiled shyly and left the space leaving the two men alone. "Ethan is waiting for you," Chris told Karl firmly and turned around to leave only to be stopped by him.

"Redfield."

Chris stops, though he wasn't sure why. It wasn't like he owned the guy anything.

"If anything happens to her...you're next."

The bulky man huffed unamused by Karl's behavior, "Don't worry, metal man. I wasn't going to." And with that Chris left and met Sophia outside the tent.

He found her at the edge, overlooking the village, a solemn expression upon her face.

"Look at it," he walked over to her slowly, letting her soft voice lure him over. The village was being torn apart by the werewolf like creatures. Fires raged from the homes, you could feel the heat all the way from where they stood. Chris looked at the white haired woman and could see the flames reflecting in her eyes, "Believe it or not, this place was beautiful once. It had life." He could see the sorrow wash over her as she watched her home be destroyed, "Before Miranda started letting the lords have free rein over everything..." 

He hated to interrupt her, she was clearly going through something, but like she said earlier...they didn't have a lot of time. 

He placed his hand firmly on her shoulder to pull her out of her slump, "C'mon, Sophia. We got work to do." 

"Right," she mumbled, "Sorry."

"You know how to use one of these?" He asked her revealing a handgun to her from behind him. 

She looked at the weapon with wide eyes and shook her head, "This isn't really my area of expertise." 

He sighed roughly, "Look, you're gonna want one if you're fighting any of those things." 

She chuckled softly and looked at him with smiling eyes, "Things? You mean the lycans?" 

His brows knitted together at her reaction, almost questioning himself, "Yes?" 

Sophia laughed this time, "We aren't going to have to worry them, Captain Redfield."

Chris couldn't comprehend what she was telling him, "Is she nuts?" 

"Just follow my lead, Chris." She said confidently as she brushed passed him and went down the path. 

"She is nuts," he concludes, but runs after her to keep up.

"The Megamycete is under the center of the village. More specifically, under that..." she points to the giant tentacles waving around in the dark sky, "That's Miranda's handiwork." 

"I have one of my men at the ready with an airstrike..." he pulls a small laser device from his pocket, "we'll use this to mark it." 

"You guys are prepared for just about anything aren't you?" She asks through a  smirk.

"It's our job," he tells her frankly. 

The pair make it to the village and Chris immediately readies his weapon as lycans surrounded them. But, Sophia showed them no fear. Instead, she held out her hands and started...communicating with them. "Come now, boys. It's me...it's Sophia." They snarled and snapped at her and Chris instinctively stepped forward, grimacing. But she stopped him by placing her hand in front of his stomach, "Chris, no." A few seconds later, her same hand gently pushes down the barrel of his gun, "Put it down, you're scaring them." 

"I'm scaring them?" Chris asks, shocked by the words coming out of her mouth. 

"It's all right, see?" She coos at them, "He isn't going to hurt you, I promise. He's with me." Slowly, the beasts start to retreat back, clearing a path for them to walk. "Go slow," she whispers over her shoulder to the man and together they take ginger steps forward.

"What the fuck was that?" Chris growls, not out of anger, but pure confusion once they made into the narrow dirt roads of the village. 

Sophia, who was finding Chris's bewilderment very amusing, chuckled, "How much research have you done on this little village, Captain?" 

"Obviously, not enough..." he utters and she laughs. 

"Obviously. Now keep up, it's not much further." 

He couldn't help but laugh now, "What a spirited one she is." 

A/N: We're getting into it...tehehe