Chapter Text
The adrenaline that consumed Ethan's body throughout his journey in the Romani village was enough for him to ignore every ache, every small inconvenience. The only moment he had to actually feel what happened was during his talk with Eveline, but even then he felt like it wasn't the time to be in pain.
He got out barely alive, his fingers missing, his hand once again had been cut off and his heart had been ripped from his core and squeezed in the face of some maniac bitch who had taken his baby. After all that, he took a plane ride home and was tied to a hospital bed for three weeks.
Ethan didn't complain, he was too exhausted and could barely speak back then, he heard the news about Mia being dead and Rose being taken under military wing but didn't really feel anything, it almost felt like the capacity of being sad or mourn had also been ripped off from his body.
He did have companionship though, after a week at the hospital, his savior of two times; Chris Redfield showed up and decided to stay. Chris would sit beside Ethan's bed and frown at the chains around his wrists and the many machines monitoring every single thing that happened inside his body.
Chris talked about Rose, because he and his team were the military care she had been taken with, he talked about the way she distracted all of the team with her intense cuteness, how she bit Rolando's finger and everybody had laughed about it for over a week.
He could feel the Mold dancing around his chest and guts when Chris talked about Rose, it felt happy but he was unable to express it. Chris also talked about Mia, and it made him feel sick, which the Captain was clearly able to see and just stopped talking overall.
At night, when Chris thought Ethan was sound asleep, he would talk on the phone with a woman who sounded far too young to be a partner of some sort. They would talk for hours about Ethan, about Chris' work, about her work and about a guy named Leon, who Chris was fond of in a strange way.
By week three, he was released but had to be in a quarantine period before being able to go back to the outside world once again. Ethan didn't complain while the doctor talked, which made him gain a groan from Chris, who clearly wanted Ethan to keep fighting to be finally free from all this bullshit.
He was settled in a tiny but nice apartment, it felt cozy and warm, there were various plants and a tiny backyard which made him feel at home in a strange way, like the soil was calling him and claiming him.
"So this is goodbye." Chris spoke, he had been right behind Ethan this entire time. His entire body weight leaning against the open front door, his eyes slowly scanning every single corner of the place.
"It doesn't have to be." Ethan said, his voice soft and quiet, like he was murmuring to himself instead of talking to Chris. He heard the older man chuckle under his breath.
"Do you want me around?" Chris' tone was plagued with disbelief and insecurity, the Mold inside Ethan jumped at the sudden change of personality, welcoming it and embracing it, trying to get Ethan to push on the softer side of the man.
"Who else do I have?" Ethan turned around, his gaze locked with Chris', he could see the man become stiff and tense. His brow was furrowed and his lips were in a straight line.
"Ethan.."
Before Chris could even begin his sentence, Ethan felt an intense ache on his head and his view was suddenly blurry, his knees were weak and he couldn't feel his toes anymore. Ethan could hear Chris calling for his name and he saw him running at full speed to catch him before his head hit the kitchen table through blurry eyes.
It was all blank after that, he didn't really remember what exactly had happened but he had faint memories of an ambulance, and the bright lights of the hospital hallway.
He woke up in a bed similar to the other one a week later, his aching head was killing him and once again there were cuffs around his wrists, making it impossible and painful for him to move his hands. The only difference in this room was the soft blue tone in the wall and the curtains that had tiny caricature characters on them.
This is the pediatric aisle, Ethan thought to himself as he scanned the room with less tired eyes, everything seemed gentle and tender, totally different to the way things were in the intense care aisle. There was a shelf that contained children's books and for the first time in a month, Ethan felt the need to escape the situation he was in.
He tried to use his newfound strength against the cuffs, but it barely worked as he was weak and tired. He also tried to focus and let the Mold take over to help him out of this but there was an unsettling silence inside of him, the creature was still there but it was calm, quiet, reserving all its energy.
However, his attempts to free himself didn't go unnoticed, a red light was shining above his bed and the sound of various steps came from the hallway outside. Ethan sighed, prepared to be tased or sedated, those things the doctors loved to do when he wasn't cooperating.
Ethan was taken by surprise as the doors opened to reveal a worried Chris and multiple doctors following right behind him, they all had weird looks on their faces. Chris was the first one to take a step inside the room, careful and stealthy.
"Hey, Ethan." His voice was soft, Ethan quirked an eyebrow towards him and gave him his best what the fuck are you doing face, which made Chris' expression soften up and his entire body language changed, he waved at the medical team to come forward.
There were two men and a woman, who towered over the dudes and had an intimidating image. Images of the lady super-sized bitch came back to Ethan's mind, making him shiver.
She was the first to say a word. "Mr. Winters, are you capable of remembering what happened?" Ethan tried, he really did but it was all a big blur, plus he had an unbearable headache and was suddenly way too thirsty to even speak. "I see.."
They whispered between each other in a circle, Chris got closer to Ethan and watched him for a minute, his eyes scanning the younger man's body carefully, which made him unsettled.
"Mr. Redfield, we asked you to not engage." One of the male doctors said in rather an annoyed manner, Chris took some steps back and Ethan rolled his eyes.
"And who the fuck are you people?" They were startled as Ethan's voice came out deeper than he had ever sounded before, even Chris was surprised to hear him.
"No need to get angry, Ethan." Chris said, his eyes tried to warn him about something but honestly it was too much to figure out, Ethan only scoffed and closed his eyes, trying to give out the 'i'm tired, please leave' message.
"Open your mouth." The female doctor said, Ethan's eyes fluttered open at the words. She was looking straight at him with a concerned look on her face, Chris was right beside her, looking at her like she was asking for Ethan to put on a good clown show.
He figured that fighting would get him nowhere, he sighed deeply and opened his mouth on command. Ethan was startled and almost broke his wrist when he felt his gum tear space apart for the new habitants on his mouth: fangs.
"Incredible." She said, excitement filling her tone and her expression. The male doctors behind her started writing down in their notebooks and Ethan closed his mouth, suddenly feeling overwhelmed
Ethan was confused, he also felt sick and dizzy, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes once again, this time something changed; he could smell everybody in the room. Not their perfume or cologne, their blood.
The male doctors smelled quite similar, boring, nothing to be excited about, quickly rejected by his newfound ability. The female doctor was more interesting, her blood was pumping through her veins rather quickly, her smell was sweet and she was fairly young, or at least that's what Ethan deduced.
And then, Ethan caught a sniff of Chris, who made his braincells jump around and his mouth water, he smelled sweet as well but there was something else to him, something Ethan couldn't put his finger on. Chris smelled like a really good steak, which was a weird thing to say but that's how Ethan felt like expressing it. A gourmet meal given to him as a prize.
"Ethan?" Chris' voice echoed through his brain like a very soothing song, Ethan looked at him and was met with curious eyes and raised eyebrows. "Uh, you're drooling a bit."
Ethan raised two fingers towards his mouth and felt the stickiness of saliva on his fingertips, he used the back of his hand to wipe it off and cleared his throat. "What's going on?" He asked, not meeting Chris' gaze, who was filled with questions that Ethan would later have to answer.
"Uh, we believe that when you faced Miss Dimitrescu you were infected with her.. abilities, let's say." One of the male doctors explained, Ethan remembered his journey through the castle and the memory of being cut and getting his blood sucked was brought back.
"Yeah, she cut my hand and sucked my blood, told me I was going stale." Ethan said, paying no mind to whatever was going on, he already had way too many things bothering him right now.
"Oh.. that's.." The medical team looked at each other with disbelief. "You didn't tell anybody about that?"
"Well, my entire body was wounded and my heart was ripped off my chest and then it grew back, the least of my worries was telling the doctor 'uh yeah, the mistress of the castle bit my fingie'" Ethan said in a mocking tone, the doctors hummed in unison and chatted between them for a few minutes.
He didn't even knew what was wrong with Lady Dimitrescu, Ethan was just some guy who had gone through the worst of human kind to save his family and was now tied to a bed in the kid's section of the hospital.
"Okay, Ethan, this is how things will go." The female doctor spoke, taking very confident steps towards the bed and standing beside it. "You're lacking nutrients and you need food, but we don't know yet what is it that you need so we'll test it and you'll speak up, telling us what you enjoy and what you don't. You'll be released soon but you gotta be a good boy, okay?"
Ethan groaned at the infant treatment he was getting, he wasn't a boy, he was a man who had saved everybody's asses a few times already and he at least deserved to be able to move his hands. Still, he nodded, not quite ready to fight it.
"Good, we'll be seeing you soon."
Her condescending tone was annoying Ethan, so he was happy to see her and the other losers go away, disappearing in the hallway. Chris stood in the room, though, he was leaning against the blue wall and his eyes were focused on the pristine clean tiles on the floor.
"Bunch of idiots." Ethan spat, words filled with venom. Chris sighed and took one of the plastic chairs laying around, setting it next to Ethan's bed and sitting there, staring at him. "You're training for a staring contest or what?"
"Why didn't you say anything about the bite?" He asked, clearly annoyed at Ethan's lack of care towards his wounds. The younger man shifted on the bed slightly, his legs had started to ache and he was already feeling like breaking free again.
"You know why, you saw me walk out of there half dead. The only thing in my mind was Rosemary, my own well-being wasn't something that needed to be discussed." Ethan explained, he knew Chris understood but he could see the worry painted on the other man's face.
"Did you let her or..?" Ethan laughed loudly, he did remember the chatting of the two men outside his old hospital room about the monster he had faced, the favoritism towards Miss Dimitrescu was clear.
"No, her daughters hung me up like Jesus on the Cross and cut my hand, the one with my missing fingers, she sucked me because she looked forward to eating my flesh." Chris clenched his teeth at Ethan's words, he was playing with his fingers in a nervous manner and his leg was bouncing up and down.
There was a silence, it wasn't awkward but it wasn't comfortable either, Ethan felt like going to sleep but also wanted to be awake, he needed a meal, maybe even a bath.
"You tried to bite me." Chris confessed, his eyes met Ethan's and the blonde felt his breath get caught on his throat. "You weren't conscious, I think but I saw your fangs first, you tried to sink them onto my hand.
I laughed at first, because I thought you were pulling a funny one on me but.." Chris sighed, he rubbed his forehead with his fingertips. "I had to punch you, knock you out basically, you barely felt it too."
Ethan laughed, almost maniacally which startled Chris, the Captain looked at him with curiosity. "That's like the fifth time in our relationship."
He didn't mean for the sentence to come off as it did, but he had a stupid mouth and wasn't careful with his words. After he said it tension filled the room, the word relationship clearly catching Chris with his guard down.
"Shit, sorry, uh.." Ethan tried to explain himself, but before he could say any other word Chris rose up from his chair, pushing it back with his leg.
"I'll see you next week, Ethan." He said, voice deep and rough, the shift on his mood made the blond confused and he tried to wave goodbye, failing due to the cuffs.
Chris exited the room and didn't look back, his shoulders stiff and his expression severe, the way his back flexed clearly through his shirt brought back the memories of Chris' smell, which only made Ethan's hunger even worse.
He sat there, unable to sleep, unable to talk to anybody, slowly sinking down into insanity by himself, waiting to be fed like a dog in a cage. Thinking about how the only friend he had it this world might just possibly never wanna see him again.
Ethan cursed himself under his breath and just gave in, letting the feeling of loneliness take over him. He thought about everything and nothing at all as he waited