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He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe –
Couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, could barely stay sitting upright. He wanted to find the shore again, wanted to find the dry land that was the world he had known. There had been a tidal wave, a sudden current that had swept him out to sea. His hands were shaking, his heart racing, his stomach twisting. He couldn’t move, couldn’t talk –
They were talking around him, people’s voices passing overhead like clouds in the sky and just as impossible for him to catch.
Hands everywhere, voices melting together, he was falling apart again –
“My darling,” a whisper in his ear finally gave him something to hold onto. A line cast into the water, a shelter from a storm, a raft in the middle of the ocean. There were two hands on him, holding him steady. Pulsing lines of black, formed into a body. New and ancient, a combination of science and magic. Eddie’s warmth anchored him, gave him a place to land. “Oh, darling, look at me.”
The voices had stopped.
When Waylon could make his body respond, he looked up. Walker was standing in between him and someone else, his body a slowly growing system of spores and plants. There was enough there that Waylon could identify him. Miles stood next to him, moving with him like they always did.
Eddie was kneeling in front of Waylon, one hand pressed against Waylon’s chest. The other was on his thigh.
“…Lisa?” Waylon blinked a couple of times. “I saw – I thought I saw—”
“You saw me,” Lisa’s voice was an old familiarity. She stepped out from behind Walker, clearing her throat. “I…I’ve been told some of what happened the day we were separated, Waylon.” He knew that look, that gleam in her eyes – Lisa had always hated crying in front of people. So many had accused her of using her tears to manipulate or be overdramatic, she’d once told him he was one of the few she felt safe crying in front of. “I’ve also been told about some of what happened to you, honey.”
She moved closer, a little stilted and slowed with a cane in her hand, but she was there.
She was alive.
Eddie shifted slowly, making room for Lisa to settle into a chair next to Waylon. There wasn’t anything to call his movements but protective and hovering. “I took – I took my ring off, Lisa,” he pulled the chain out from under his shirt, hands shaking the entire time. “You were gone. You were…You were gone. I took my ring off, you were gone.” He felt the frantic laughter that tried to bubble out of him and let Eddie take his free hand, squeezing. “Gone. All gone.”
When he looked at her again, Lisa had wide eyes, and tears were rolling down her cheeks. “Waylon, honey,” she whispered. “I think you went somewhere I can’t follow you.”
“Different now than I was then,” Waylon giggled, squeezing Eddie’s hand again. “But not alone. I’m okay, I’m not alone.”
“I think,” Lisa reached out slowly, brushing his hair out of his face. “That this is probably what’s best for you.” She looked at Eddie – he didn’t really have a face, yet, but he looked at her too – and smiled. “Thank you for taking care of him. I know there are extenuating circumstances surrounding all of this, but…”
“I will always do so,” Eddie’s voice was a little hoarse, but Waylon could definitely hear it outside of his own head now. He could be heard by the world; their bodies were building. “Miss Walker should have time with her brother, if that were to be something both of them are interested in.” He uncurled, standing up, and Waylon leaned into him. Eddie’s hand slid down his spine.
Anchor me, Waylon felt the words pounding through his body, his hands shaking again. Anchor me and keep me sane.
“Oh, this is so strange,” Lisa whispered.
Waylon laughed, the feeling hollow in his chest. “The boys,” he muttered. “Are the boys alright? Are they safe?” He picked at the beds of his nails, feeling them itch, the skin too tight as he tried to hold onto the current moment. “Are the boys okay?”
“They’re fine, Waylon,” Lisa crouched in front of him. Her hand was still on his face, holding his cheek. “Waylon, they’re okay. You left them with my parents.”
He did, didn’t he.
He remembered that.
Somewhere, a long time ago, before he’d become what he was. Back when he’d been Waylon Park, software engineer and programmer. Before the Walrider had become attached to him, before Miles had died, before most of what he’d gone through. After Mount Massive, though. Everything had happened after Mount Massive. Jeremy Blaire had been during.
But everything else had been after.
He wasn’t meant for her anymore. He was pretty sure the man she’d been married to had died the moment he’d heard her flatline in the hospital. Waylon Park was gone, Waylon Park had died, he was just…Waylon, now. Hunted and haunted and followed by his ghosts.
“You did good, Waylon,” Lisa murmured. “The boys will be okay.”
When she stood up, struggling a little, Eddie managed to help her to her feet – more solid by the hour – and she stepped back, letting her hand fall from Waylon’s face. “Will he be safe, here?” she asked someone.
“We’ll make sure of it.”
That was Chris Redfield’s voice, Waylon could identify that. When had he arrived?
“Thank you,” Lisa stared at Waylon for a second longer, then walked away. He understood. He knew why. It only hurt a little.
Waylon lay down when someone led him to a bed, pulling the covers up around him. There was a warmth to the blankets, surrounding him without making it hard to breathe. Eddie was there, at his side, a constant. The same way he’d been since Mount Massive. Less dangerous to him, now, but still there. “Darling,” Eddie’s voice was growing louder, more alive, and it felt like a tether back to reality. “Take a deep breath for me.”
Waylon did, closing his eyes.
“Again.”
He listened.
“They are taking you off of missions, for the time being,” Eddie continued talking. “They want you to stay here, with Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters. With the lovely Miss Beneviento, as well. They want you to help the five of them integrate into their new lives. They trust you; you are one of the only ones they trust.”
A job to do, a purpose to fulfill.
He could do that.
Waylon opened his eyes again, looking up to see the light bending around Eddie’s body as it pieced itself together, growing from the spores he had picked up in the village. “Will you stay with me?” he asked, his voice quiet. “Even if things get strange?”
“Oh, my darling Waylon,” Eddie chuckled. “Things got strange some time ago. But I will stay, yes. I will always stay.”
Waylon smiled.