After the Fact. -Ethan winters x Fem reader-

July 9th (pt 2)

July 9th, 2021.

Location: Chris's truck, middle of no where.

You were fiddling with the pop socket on your phone, you were nervous- no nervous was a understatement. You were terrified. Chris's eyes side eyed you. He noticed you were nervous. "Hey it's ok, you don't have to actually go into the village." He said, reassuringly. You let out a shaky sigh.

"No, I'm going in. I need closure. Plus me and Ethan made a friend and I wanna see if he's okay." You thought of Duke, you missed him a lot. Chris shook his head okay, and you opened your phone. Thinking if you should text Ethan.

You and his contact had a intense staring contest but you gave in. You opened his contact and began texting.

You: Hey just updating you, not there yet but about to board a plane to fly us the rest of the way.
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Read:2:17 PM
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Ethan: okay! Let me know when you board the plane, and call me when you can please. Love you!.

You hearted the message and closed your phone, this intense feeling of guilt took over you. You slumped into your seat and put your headphones in. Ignoring everything around you.

-Boarding the plane-

You let Ethan know you were boarding the plane? It was more of a jet but eh. You got on and found a small room, and dialed Ethan's number.

Ring...
Ring..
Ring..
Ring..
Ri-

"Hello?" You said, hoping to hear his voice. "Hey love! Got there safe?" He asked. You let out a sigh. "Yeah.. yeah I did. Chris says we will arrive at the village in about 7 hours. So I'll be asleep a lot." You said, messing with your nails. It got silent for a minute but then you heard Rose crying in the background. "Is she okay?" You asked. "Yeah, she wants you. I've fed her, changed her, we've watched tv. Nothing she wants you." You sighed. "It should be a easy week.. I'll be home before you know it" you said trying to sound reassuring.

"Y/n! We need you out here!" Chris yelled out. You frowned. "Well I'm needed, I love you Ethan." You hear him take a breath. "I love you too"

He hangs up and you walk out. "What's up?" You go over to Chris who is looking at some files. "Okay bad news or good news first?" He asks. "Oh.. uhm bad." He takes a breath. "There was movement found in the same area you and Ethan killed Miranda. But, the radar didn't show a giant tall figure, it showed a small one- a kid maybe." You dropped your arms. Someone was alive in the village you knew it!

"Okay.. and the good?" You hoped for something really good. "The kid figure isn't hostile as of what we know, one of my men got close and it ran off, But he didn't get a good enough look. So we don't know if it is a kid or not." You looked at Chris and nodded.

-

7 hours later, same day.

You woke up to the smell of rain. Guess this village barley saw sunshine. You stepped out of the jet, you got deja vu when you took the first steps. Everything was.. well gone but it was still like it was there. Sure there was rubbish everywhere, but the village still was what it was months ago.

Chris guided you to base, showing you your room and where the research post was. Informing you today was just a day where the researchers got their stuff ready so there was no exploration today. That relieved you.

You went to your room and fell on your bed, soon getting back up to unpack. You put everything up and plugged your phone in. The room wasn't bad, small but you could work with it. You walked in the bathroom and looked at yourself. Analyzing your features. Why were you doing it? After Louisiana, you didn't feel like you knew yourself anymore. And then after the village you definitely felt weird in your body.

So here you were analyzing how your h/c curled in some parts of your hair, the way your s/c was rough in some areas. Your e/c eyes, the way your eyelashes were curled from the other night, the way you really needed to trim your eyebrows. All the stuff you can visibly see on you. You looked at your wedding ring, and went to your bag, placing it in the front pocket. It was at risk of being lost or damaged and you didn't want that so you decided it would be better to take it off for now.

You sat down on the bed checking your phone, you let Ethan know you had settled down in base, but you were about to find Chris. He thumbs upped your message and you went to find Chris.

You eventually found him talking to one of his men, he saw you and walked over to you.

"Hey y/n! Found everything okay?" You nodded. "Is there a way.... I could possibly explore a little bit around here?" You asked fiddling with your nails. He sighed. "You can't go alone, so let me get my stuff ready and we can head out." You let out a happy gasp. "Yes! Thank you!" You followed him to his stuff and watched him grab his guns and stuff. He handed you a pistol. "Oh- uh.." you mumbled but then just set it in your holster. "You don't need a heavy duty gun, I'm with you. Your gun is only if we get separated." He threw you a couple magazine's.

You two ventured out, everything was.. well gone. There wasn't anything left of what was here a few months ago.

You and Chris walked to the square where you and Ethan put in the flasks. You instantly got that sense of deja vu again. You looked at where dukes carriage would be, the chalice, and the gates. All gone..

So far nothing was found, a few pieces of lei here and there which you gladly shoved into your pocket.

"Why are you collecting rusty pieces of gold?" You laughed a little. "It's for Ethan.. something we collected last time we were here." You shook your head, signaling for him not to worry about it.

You two eventually went back to base, there was no sign of the little girl and you didn't wanna be around here anymore. Chris took you back, dropping you off at your room.

"Thank you Chris, what time should I be up tomorrow?" You asked while standing by your door. "I'll come get you around 9 or 12 depends when the research team is done preparing." You nodded, thanking him again and closing the door.

You plopped down on your bed and called Ethan.

Ring

Ring

Ri-

"Hello!" Ethan said on the other end, rose was whining still. "Uh hi.. has she been crying-" her crying got louder. "No.. she just woke up and I can't find her pac- I found it oh my god!" The phone got silent and then Ethan came back to the phone. "Soo... you okay?" You ask, you kind of laughed a little while saying it. "Yeah! How is the first day?" You heard him sit down, "boring, me and Chris explored a little where we were located, and oh my god I found so much lei Ethan it's ridiculous. And some of Dukes old stuff, it's all in the room with me"

He laughed a little. "Well I'm glad you found something good out of that hell hole. Why did Chris call you away from me earlier?" He asked. "Oh they found a kid like figure on their radar, they don't know if it's a kid or not though." Ethan got silent.

"Y/n can you think for me real quick?" He asked, stern. "Yeah..?" You replied, with a little humor in your voice. "What 'kid figure' would be in a village where you are, and only show up once you arrive? The only 'kid' involved in a bunch of mess like this?" You thought for a second, and then it hit you. The kid is..

"Eveline."