I sat there, hands folded atop the other, my breath shallow—each inhale thin and sour, as if filtered through the white cloth that had smothered my face.
The phantom of jute rasped against my neck, the slow tightening of its noose growing with every minute I dared to exist. Fastening the holy veil in place like a kiss bestowed by the gallows.
My head still hung low. The executioner's knot had never been cut—only the hands holding it had changed.
And I...I welcomed it.
I leaned into the tether. I worshipped the gallows, grateful just to kneel beneath a master who still found me worth leashing.
Grateful that my new God still found me worth hanging.
Lord Eye.
And I would cling to the noose, even if it killed me.
My hand drifted unconsciously to the rosary buried under my tactical jacket—the rusted ridges of Los Illuminados crucifix biting into my flesh.
A habit.
A muscle memory from a life long dead.
A relic from a master I failed to follow into the grave.
"And the blood?"
"No matter, the drop of sample is enough. Confirm the integration of Plaga in Kennedy's DNA."
Lord Eye and the superiors spoke around me, their voices drifting as I forced myself to stay chained to the present.
"Why such roundabout ways to trap him?"
"We already had Anabel test his aptitude with Alec. Don't underestimate him—he rummaged through an entire army to save her."
"We still don't know how she discovered this factory."
The discussion steered to the Little Mouse.
The unworthy girl for whom my Lord disregarded my efforts, my devotion—my life.
My fingers tightened around the crucifix, shame bleeding into my palm. I didn't flinch.
Let it cut.
Let it remind me of that moment—kneeling before him, waiting to be erased if Ashley Graham had willed. One breath from her, and he would've brought down the guillotine.
Severing me from him.
Indifferent.
Like I wasn't worth keeping around.
"How'd she know?"
"Only one way to find out—for now, let's finish the preparations."
They planned to burn this factory and pin it on Ada Wong. Everything was set in motion. The alcohol produced here would feed the fire, and Wong would be the perfect wick. Her betrayal was woven in my Lord's plan.
He was always five moves ahead. It's what made him divine.
And yet...
Even he hadn't anticipated Graham. The uncontrolled variable—stupid and unpredictable.
It didn't matter. She only disrupted the plan—barely.
The scent of smoke hadn't yet reached the chamber, but the match had already been struck. It would all be ash by dawn—every trace of our work here, erased like the Island.
Destruction and fire followed the Little Mouse. Silently trailing behind her. Unnoticeable at first. Then consuming.
But I suppose that's what happens when the world insists on saving the wrong girl.
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RESIDENT EVIL • Assignment Ashley: Rescue Condor One (RE4)
FanfictionIt's been 5 years since the traumatic experience which permanently changed Ashley Graham's life. Even though she tries to put it all behind herself, she knows she can never go back to being the girl she was before the kidnapping. Therefore, instead...
