MS. RESIDENT

Do you think Leon believes that his 21-year-old self would hate the person he has become. Because I think that Leon hold his 21-year-old self not like a lost soul but as a moral high ground, like he knows he was naive but he also thinks he was the best version of himself back then, that if he had preserved that part of him well he would be a better person, that he would be able to save more people. Also he thinks he failed not because he was young and dumb but because he was late, like this old man still thinks he would have stopped it if he was a day or so early, this is a deep rooted guilt in him, since the day he was orphaned, he is always late, hence he always fails.

The only person he had told this too (told, not them figuring out) was Ada, she was leaving him, again, so he sprew a bunch of sentence and one such disclosed this guilt in him, (Also Ada told him that the rookie changed her, in way she can't undo them) she sat with him, he talked, she listen, not giving him any input cause it was not about changing his mind but letting him get this burden off. She stayed that night, but when she was leaving in the morning she decided if she ever could she would come back to him, stay with him.

This thought process doesn't change until he meets Grace. She is so much like him, him 28 years ago. And that is one of the reasons he trusts her, others being that she survived the night without much help from him, so she understood what she was doing. He trusts himself more at age 21 than 49, because he thinks he is not a 'good enough person' but she is, she is a very good and kind person, so determined, so much like him. So when she puts him at a moral high, treating him as her corner stone, showing him that no his 21-year-old self wouldn't hate him. He also tells her thing about his past, no specifics, that will put her in danger, but whatever he can tell her just to see her reaction, to see if she would turn on him, but ofc she doesn't and that heals something in him. But to him Grace isn't just an image of his past self but a person of her own,yes she is a lot like him when is comes to her morals and thoughts but how she applies them are her own, how she tackles a suitation, she is smarter than him, and he wants to believe that is a natural talent not a survival tactics she learned.

Contain warning: self-loathing, suicidal thoughts, spiraling

Grace Ashcroft survived a nightmare that has destroyed so many lives. She escaped but not unscared, what happens when the scars start bleeding?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her ‘home’ was as empty as ever but darker than she remembered 

Let’s play

She stood frozen on the door of her apartment, the girl is gone, she can’t get you, she gone…she is gone, she was only a child, she didn’t deserve that

And you killed her

No, I didn’t have a choice

Keeping telling yourself that 

Her feet growing a mind of their own remained exactly where they were, “Miss is anything wrong” she jumped a little completely forgetting about the agent beside, shit I must look like an idiot, “Uh-um-no-o I am fine” great, just what she needed right now, embarrassment,which fueled her to take a step in, say thank you to the guy Grace,

“Th-Thanks” “Just doing my job” she nodded, atleast someone knows professionalism, she closed the door to reduce any other interaction. Now she stood in complete darkness, no no no no no no no, before she would comprehend her moves she was running around the tiny room apartment turning on every single light available, even the bathroom, she step on all the things she had left behind and something stung her feet, she worry about that later. Soon she was standing in front of her kitchen, it was the only one left

Click Click 

It doesn’t work, guess not going in there, are we. She slumped on the couch landing on some clothes and a charger? Anyways the apartment was luminated and silent, no hissing no screaming, it was just her, it is just her…now she laid face first on the couch, her whole body hurts, being tossed and thrown around like a rage doll is not fun, she is surprised she can still walk,, the last 48 hours were…what do you call it? Gruesome, horrifying, total batshit carzy… yeah that accurate, it started from a rusty burned down hotel to a secret bio-terrorist base in the ruins of the city where it all began, that place must be cursed. She had seen a lot in these 48 hours, zombies, monsters, scientists, killers, agents and a child, quite a bunch isn’t it? Emily… she is going to be fine, maybe she will get to meet her again, maybe take her in? Only if she wants to see her again… she hopes she does…

“What do I do now?” she asked the cushions, and they didn't answer, thank god that would be another problem if they did. As the adrenaline wore off realisation settled in, “I am adopted” she said to the thin air, that logical didn’t seem like a problem, but she was adopted by a narcissistic mad scientist who called himself Lord, the same person who started this bio-weapon program, “I was his atonement” she feels sick, like being reduced from a person to an object, after all the destruction that he caused, Elpis was his duty, nothing noble… but her… there was no reason to be conflict, Alyssa, might not be her bio-mom, she is the mother Grace grew up with, she was there for her when she had no one, that was the logic of the matter but emotions, they don’t work on logic, they have a mind of their own, they do whatever the fuck the want, and they did. Tears started to pour out of like a dam broke inside her, she was crying-no-wailing in the solitary of her apartment, her sobs were so loud that someone might file a noise complaint, but she couldn’t stop, it is just too much to bear, too much to bear all alone, she was alone, and she deserved it, she deserved to be locked way, not Emily, she deserved a hatchet to her neck, not her mother, she deserved the pain and guilt, not some like Leon who has done shit in his life, not like her sitting in corner watching people get what she deserved-”Ah!” there was a sharp pain coming from her core, it was unbearable, good she deserved this pain. 

It took her an embarrassing amount of time to identify that she was hungry, great she left her brain back at ARK.  

The ARK, what if she had destroyed Elpis… Leon would be dead, he too would die trying to save her, just like her mother, and just like then it would be all her fault. Only if she never have had that panic attack, her mother would still be alive and she would never let any of this happen, the experiments on Emily would never have taken place, she would have never been kidnapped and Leon would have never followed her back to his nightmare, not even one of them would through all that shit, it’s her, she is the problem, it all her fault!! Now she was having another of those stupid attacks, heaving like an idiot, clutching onto herself, why didn’t I just die…

Ring Ring 

“Hello… is anyone there??” 

“Grace?”

It was an old, wary voice, Mrs. Fawn, her 80 year-old neighbour. Why was she at her door? She tries to get up, a sharp searing pain stops her in her tracks, the world is spinning and she is sinking in, no no no no no I need to get up…

THUD 

Beep Beep 

“Ouch”

Her head felt heavy, is this what being ran-over felt like? She tried and failed to open her eyes, she must have slept for a long time, can’t remember when was the last time she did that. After a while she was able to command her eyelids to move and regretted it immediately, bright lights hung above her on a plain white ceiling made square tiles

Beep Beep Beep Beep 

She turned her head towards the sound, she couldn’t see much, maybe she didn’t have her lens on. She squinted to clear her vision…it was a heartbeat monitor… it was a heartbeat monitor… she was in a hospital, she was in a hospital. Her heart was fighting to rip out of her chest, the monitor picked its movement beeping intensely. SHE HAS TO GET OUT ignoring her body’s protest she got off the bed ripping the IV tube from her arm staggering to the door, this won’t happen again, no no no no no no it can’t happen again the heartbeat monitor gave a flat line its voice echoing through the room, the smell of medicine and bandages was a cruel reminder of the horrors she faced not even 24 hours ago, how is she back here?? Her steps were slow and painful, her head was not on her side, amplifying every little detail that would only mean one thing, they were not done with her, she needs to find a way out, how will she do this alone, will her boss notice…this time? She wouldn’t bet her marbles there. She finally reached the door, she turned the handle and all the pain was worth it when it opened the door, at least she was not locked. The halfway was quiet and the distinct hospital smell lingered around, there no one was here? This is a very bad idea, but she did it anyway, she ran using whatever strength she had left, her feet were burning with pain, her head had given up on her long ago, somewhere in her lower abdomen she felt being torn apart. It was so close, she will leave this place once and for all. The double door burst open and there were people now staring at her, nurse and doctor, as she halted,her body gave up. She fell, they rushed forward, no no no no no… they can’t catch her, no no no no not again I can’t do that again I can’t please, she tried to crawl away but it was so hard to do so. They got her, they were dragging her back to the room… “Please! No don’t th-this… ple-please…I-I am begging you” she was crying whatever will she had remaining in her  was used to get out of their grasp. Tears were rolling down her check, now her eyes burn too, no Grace you can’t give up, think of Emily you have to get out. So she put up a fight, elbowing one of them, kicking the other and just using her body weight to unbalance them, and she succeed, she fell to the ground crawling away from them, all her energy was sucked right out of, she looked back to see her progress only to see a trail of blood, was that hers? She will never find out as she knows she can't get away, not now, she is going to die here. 

I probably deserve this 

“You just can’t stay out of trouble can you?”

Did she travel through a wormhole… her eyes… oh not again…someone else was here…she has heard that voice somewhere… but where? Through heavy eyelids she scanned the room, she couldn’t see anyone, but she couldn’t move her head much so… it was still the same ceiling. Okay no rash decisions this time, she will get out. Her determination was worth a round of applause, because physically it seemed impossible to move at all, but she has too and she will. First step, get up, she couldn’t move… her hands were tied somewhere, shit shit shit shit, panic started to rise in her, she tugged at the restraints desperately, the heart rate monitor beeped dramatically. She was stopped, by force, someone was holding her still. She tried to look at them, her vision was blurry, still. “Hey calm down, you are going to be okay” she heard that somewhere, she tried to focus, the face felt familiar, but she couldn’t place it properly, she tried to break free, but it was no use whoever this was they were strong… the voice sounded like a man’s… “Grace, it's me Leon”  Leon…Leon! He is here too!! Oh no… well he can help now “W-we ne-need to l-leave-” she tried to get up but he pushes her gently back to her place “Grace, we are not in the care center” what then were? “W-what are you sa-saying?” “Grace the squad went to check on you, and found you passed out bleeding on your floor” he still had his hands on her shoulder “S-so th-theres no d-danger?” he sighs pulling his hands to his side “No” she sunk down on the pillow, looking back at the ceiling. She had hair in her eyes from all that shifting, she lifted her hand only to be stopped by the restrain, she looked at Leon asking him without words “You tried to ‘escape’ and I have to say you put up a good fight, unfortunately you popped your stitches a second time” she notice how he said escape, oh god she is an idiot “Are the staff injured…did I hurt them?” she whispered stopping herself from crying, no don’t cry in front of someone! “Hey they are fine and it’s not your fault these painkillers are pretty solid” she laughed not at the joke but at herself, how stupid would she have to be! Drunk on painkillers?! “You are not the only one who has done that” she hoped she looked annoyed but knew that was probably not what she looked like right now “I have a record myself, don’t even think of competing” his tone seemed humors but she could identify the worry behind it, she knew this avoidance all too well. 

She wanted to know more about it but didn’t want to press either “When I first woke up after… the incident… in the government facility… their painkillers were brain damaging… I attack the doctors… two of them had to seek medical attention… that was not the last time it happened…” he was staring at the floor, she felt bad for making him do that, but didn’t stop him either, her curiosity wining against her empathy “You don’t have to worry about it, I have got you, okay” he was looking her in the eye which she found difficult to hold but she did. In them she thinks she saw something, something she hadn’t seen for years, 8 years to be exact. It was overwhelming but she didn’t break the contact, a few seconds later he did. She has no idea how long they sat in silence, he didn’t leave, which in any other circumstances would be a gesture she wasn’t fond of but this was not her daily life, maybe it was now and somehow that wasn’t frightening… “Hey, when can I take these off” she pulled at the restraints yet again “Let me get a nurse and check if the drug has worn off” this was the first time he left her since she woke up. Grace was an analyst, she can very well track patterns and this is so similar to… a nurse entered with Leon behind her. He took his previous position as the nurse checked her. She seemed distant and a little scared, oh no what on Earth did she do? “All good” she said and rushed out “Let me help you” Leon got hold of her restraints and undid them. Did make much of a difference she still felt like shit, now with more mobility unlocked “Grace can I ask something of you?” He looked sad… “Yeah” god why does she sound like a little girl! “You can decline  if you want… but I would like to remain in contact with you, I know what you are going through right now, I have walked this path before and I can help you, things won’t become easy but… I won’t let it get worse, I promise, that is if you agree” now she was crying, she couldn’t stop, she was always afraid of being abandoned, of making the wrong decision…but that nightmare has taught her something, she has to move forward and she will. So while she had a million questions in her head and even more doubts she said “Thank you, I think we should, I am clearly a danger to myself” he laughed and leaned back in his chair, “Oh kid you don’t know ‘danger to oneself’ lucky for you I have got a manual” 

God is that a dad joke?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is my first Resident Evil fanfic. This has been sitting in my docs for so long, so why not let it see the light of day. I have no beta readers nor english is my mother tongue so if there is any mistake point it out (if you want) kindly and politely.

List of headcanons for Grace's Childhood.

She watched a ton of cartoons, specifically super hero cartoons spider-man, power puff girls etc. It was either these or something like Tom & Jerry or Scooby-Dobby-Doo. This was also due to her not having any friends.

Also she watched courage the cowardly dog

Since she watched a lot of these cartoons she grew up to read comics as a teenager and books in her college years.

She was always interested in mystery and thriller, so most of her reading list comprises such books but she reads some romance novels too squirming and burying her face in the pillow or her hand at the awkward and embarrassing scenes.

Also due to watching superhero material, she always wanted to be like one calm, collected and always brave. She thought of her mother in the same way, (And now she has Leon)

Coming to her mother, Alyssa was a busy woman but whatever time she had for herself she would give it to Grace, because she wanted the kid to feel home, she had no idea how Spencer treated her so she tried her best. A teen Grace made fun of her mother of not doing anything for herself, it was her way to push her to live a little ('Only on of us can be friendless and I can't have competition)

She was curious, creative and 'for science kid' trying out experiments you wouldn't even think of. As a kid she exhausted all her will power to try out things so much so that as a teenager and an adult she thinks 50000 times before doing anything. But this quality does not disappear it re-emerges in time of high anxiety allowing her to take quick actions

A few of her fears stem from events from her childhood which happened due to her 'experiments'

She played a lot of those pretend-games, usually she was a detective (because the 5 year old didn't understand what her mother did) or a superhero, maybe both. She would have well planned stories for these games, stories she will tell her mother when she came back

Grace had no favorite toys, most of her toys were left behind as they moved from one place to another, she also has nothing of her childhood up to the time her mother died, only a cloud file of her childhood photos that Alyssa created after she kept losing her pictures.

Grace always wears footwear, even on the bed because she is used to leaving abruptly and has felt place bare feet, naturally does not like it, so now she is always prepared.

She was a small child with almost white hair, so she was bullied for it in many places. The tables turned when Frozen was released now every kid wanted that hair. Also Elsa is her favorite Princess.

This one I made up just for the laughs. We know the events of re6 were very public for most of the part, news channels were covering live footages of the events, planes, trains, building everything and an 8 or 9 years old Grace asked her mother is she watching a spider-man movie her mother tells her it is the news and she became excited and asked "Does that mean Spider-man is real?!" (I might write a one-shot for this)

Thats all, might post more idk

So in the end credit of the game we see a group of soliders moving in the ARK

They were there to retrieve something, know this could be the missing vial of Elpis, so they could manufacture a virus that could surpass it, this is definitely an objective for them, but they mention the Hound Wolf Squad ("wolves") but we know they already have a access to Elips as mentioned by Leon (the sample they retrieved for Sherry) so what else could they be there for?

There are only two other things that can be that important, at least what comes to my mind:

Spencer's office: it is possible that it contains more research, valuable information that they might need. I mean they kept it intact for a reason (or Victor forced them to). The connection was still using ARK actively hiding it from the world. From the ARK they might have had full access to Spencer's project, this may be where they got enough info to make a Wesker clone. There might be some research on other alternatives to the Progenitor, now that they need it.

Zeno: Okay, call it a stretch but they didn't show us that face again for nothing. So here’s the thing, I don't think Wesker clones are mass produced, I don't even think there is another clone, it is just Zeno. My reason being it is hard and expensive. Think about it, Albert Weskers died inside a VOLCANO there is no way any biological data was left to use, the only thing they had was Spencer's work on project W, where he probably has some about of DNA and plasma from Albert, idk about resident evil cloning logic but real life cloning with just that is hard and expensive (not that much data is present on human cloning) so Zeno was a heavy project. So why not just pick up the remains instead of starting over, not to mention he has Elpis in him, even if they lose the vials they can extract it from him and study it, did I mention he is a Wesker clone, hence he has the 'perfect' genetic formula of Albert fucking Wesker. So maybe that is what they are after. And then maybe the 'patch him up' and put him back in action like nothing happened, they may or may not infect him again rather using his data to create something beyond him and Albert. Maybe he has a few memories of his 'past life' , maybe they are not all coherent, maybe he remembers things different then they actually were.

Additional ideas: This is just for fanfic and all. Maybe he thinks that he was killed by Grace or betrayed in some capacity, like she is the master-mind behind his demise, which I believe she is (our diva) and he reaches out of his way to get back at her. And for all the Zenace people out there, he just can't bring himself to do that, there is something building inside him that keeps him from doing so, there is this obsession that keeps him looking for her but also keeps him from taking revenge. Also one where he clashes path with the Hound wolf Squad, that would be feral (Take it however you may, I say to all Chrisker fans)

This is a rant about what I want, there are headcanons and may be theories coming along the way. I like writing so I have ideas I would like to share.

I have seen a few character studies for her and there are people who don't think they should bring her back, not because they don't like her but because they think that her story is complete and any extension may break her character, I don't agree because I think there is more for her. It is well established that she is not the one to run away no matter how scared she is, that was the essence of her character.

But I don't think she will go into it right after the Canon ending. I believe she will convince herself that she is not cut-out for this, and she CAN stay away. No one is more happy than Leon with this decision, he really doesn't want her to go through what he had suffered. But this does not last, from time to time she will see Leon or Sherry being hurt and it will bother her, but she will just tell herself she will only be a liability. From time to time she will hear them talk about it, she doesn't ask but she mentally jots the clues, something she will assemble into logic at the end of the night. Then her breaking point will come, that will likely be if one of her loved ones are in danger, Leon, Sherry or even Emily and then she will get involved, going through every shred of evidence just to find a solution and when it is all over she will confess she can't just watch from the sidelines knowing she can help and it is her decision to join them in this fight, one her mother fought and died trying.

But she will not jump into field work, she is their analyst, cracking the wall of logic to help them through, but this won't last either, everything that makes it to her has already lost a part of it, some big some small, which lead to errors, which leads to lives lost, this when she gets in action and hold your horses she ain't gonna be a agent like Leon or Sherry, she is more into investigation, find things before they become dangerous and this time she will collect evidence by herself so nothing slips away (I'm catching major eldest daughter vibes from her). And after hearing this Leon trains her because he can't handle the thought of her unable to fend herself (also healing his past trauma of his teacher) But even after the training Grace doesn't become some flashy rocket-launching diva, she is still a diva but in other ways, she knows her strength is her brain. She keeps her skills under wraps relying on her wits to clear her path before doing a BACKFLIP (sorry Leon). She can fight now and she knows 'knives are better for close encounters' but she avoids those encounters, half of it is survival the other half is the knowledge that these people can find a cure (I don't think Elpis cure everything, just viruses ig). This will maintain horror in her story and provide growth to her. Maybe she will be working for the FBI on papers but behind the scenes she will be helping Leon, Sherry maybe even the hound wolf squad (that be fun ngl). Leon would be constantly looking out of her, only for her to return the favor, she might team up with Sherry.

One of Leon's biggest concern is that she gets sucked into the same vortex as him, but Grace is known what happened with him hence knows that she might not always have a choice, so she builds a safety net, evidence against sitting officials, motivated by Ada (yes I ship, aeon) and alias keeping her name out of it so Emily doesn't get dragged into it.

I have seen everybody talk about the bite from the police officer in the being of the game and many have come up with a theories I would like to discuss and share my own

1st: She must be from the 10% immune population

So there is this thing in the re universe that 10% of the population is naturally immune to progenitor based virus, all are raccoon city survivors are part of it. This seems passable, but one thing that stands out is Grace was bitten in an unskippable scripted moment(correct me if I am wrong) that it a first I guess. I mean this is the 1st time a character has been bitten and no cure is administered or even talked about later, it happened and everyone forgot, this maybe left for DLC or something.

2nd: Victor gave her a cure

This I don't believe in. People say she was administered a cure but the thing they mention is just a miss spelled real life medicine for infection (this I found in a youtube video, I forgot the name tho) do you really think that will help against the T-virus. Also next thing in the observation was no sign of infection, if he had delivered the cure why would he observe for infection

3rd: This variation does not spread through bits

Well that is wrong because when we play as Leon in Wernwood if we are unable to intervene new zombies are created and we have to fight them too, soooo no.

4th: she was administered a dose of elpis

Now this is highly likely. The way Spencer said 'perfectly normal' was well maybe a hint towards this. Also there is a theory that the child was herself immune and elpis was created with her blood and that's why she was the blind hope, which sounds cool though.

5th: Spencer lied

Okay a ton of people believe this, I can see why. This guy wasn't the sanest person on earth. I think this is not the case as this will be very poor writing. Some people disagree that Spencer will ever be the good guy and I get that, hell I’ll even agree even with. But there is the reason that the re5 thing may not be canon and some say that was due to dementia.

My theory: this is more of a concept, story idea if will you

Okay so we know that Spencer was going nuts in his end time. His past and present personality were crashing with each other. So here the deal, when he said she was normal and not one of his test subjects, he was telling the truth or he thought so. He was losing his mind, he was a senile old man, what he told to Alyssa in that moment he was firmly believing in what he said. There were also times when he would be his old self and in those moments he did ran test on her, this is wwhy he even has her blood work in his notes which Victor finds, which he uses to confirm that Grace is the person they were looking for. He has some notes on it but they are not complete. Even if they find this they will never be able to find what excatly he had done to her. I also have a theory that Grace might be connected to Alex Wesker and her project but I don't know much about her and her project of I'll talk about that later

Okay so I will be honest, I myself have not played re9 Requiem, I can't afford it. I have watched the entire gameplay, so if you think my opinion does not matter to you then okay... I can't really do anything about it, you do you :) But that is not going to stop me from sharing it.

So I like writing, hence I like Resident evil for the well written character and stories and gameplay looks so cool. But I'm deviating from my rant...

The end of the game to me was tightened in, we still have things to discover but that would easily be left for the DLC or future games. The final boss fight was cool but I have a few ideas that I would have loved to see happen.

Who gets which boss, my only 'complain' with Grace's gameplay was there was only 1 boss fight, wouldn't it be amazing if we got to see her use that brain of hers to defeat just another creature, I know I know this is just a writer's thing, making your own character suffer, but but but listen to me, what if Victor was not a nemesis but something else, maybe some kind of snake-like-thingy and at the end he meets Grace for one final time, telling her exactly what he has planned for her 8 years ago, how he is the one responsible for her mother's dead calling Alyssa unworthy to be part of Spencer's grand plan, and something breaks in her, this man has taken so many lives but not even a drop of remorse flows through him. He thinks he gets Spencer so well but he can't feel his guilt or whatever that was. This will be the moment where Grace will fight for herself, not for Emily, not for Leon, but herself because she won't be able to live with herself if she let this man go unpunished. Here our mission will be to deliver him a dose of Elpis without getting killed and Grace doesn't kill me but even cured he does not give up and succumb to the injuries he induced from Leon.

Whereas for Leon, he fights Zeno, powers or not he is not useless and stops Leon from reaching Grace, forcing him to fight him, because Zeno refuses to go down without a fight, he is more than the viruses inside him. But ofc he doesn't succeed, Leon puts a bullet in his head (this is purely revenge for the bad ending). Then he finds Grace standing over the corpse of Victor and she is a bit conflicted and he goes Dad mode trying to convey the message that she was not accountable for his actions, only her own, she gave him a choice, he chose death, that's not on her.

And one more thing gets separated when the labs fall after the release of Elpis and Victor losing his marbles. Then rest is the same.

So what do you guys think? this just came up. I truly think Zeno was wasted, he should have gotten a boss fight.

Under normal circumstances he would despise having to take care of anyone, but she was special, she was the key, the key to his recognition, he will no longer be just an image, he will surpass that, surpass him. The blades of the helicopter are running in the background, Victor was ahead of them, he will have to get rid of him, at some point. That man was too devoted to one figure to continue in this world, in his world, that amount of devotion is doomed to mess with your cognitive skills and Victor has proven to be costly. Behind him was the reason he is here, she will pave the path to his success, she was ungodly slow, taking small hesitant steps towards where he stood. He knows she is thinking of an escape plan, how cute. She was still in the shade, and is moving sideways instead of straight, what are you up to?

Before he turned towards her she made a run towards the door controls, not on my watch. Before she even made it half way he was in front of her, her eyes widened at his chest as she bumped into it, she stumbled back but he was there to catch her, one could smell the fear of her, he felt his lips curl upwards.

"Let's not do that, shall we... Miss Ashcroft"

Her eyes stayed glued on his tie, she was shaking slightly and smelled like blood and sweat, it seemed Victor had failed to keep her 'safe', well that doesn't matter now, she is alive and that is enough, he will handle the rest.

"We have to go now" that was Victor, the helicopter has landed, he let his hand fall to his side, giving her free movement back,

"After you" she looked at the helicopter, though her eyes were unfocused, this time she moved with a reasonable speed, he let the cigarette fall to the ground and snubbed it with his foot. He watched her walk forward, leaving a huge gap between her and Victor. For someone so useful she was pretty scared, but it doesn't matter, if she can get what he wanted then so be it.

He was beside her within a second, she flinched but didn't move away. The pilot was joined by Victor, while he opened the door to the back letting her in, putting his hand on the small of her back, she is still shaking, less than before. She settled at the very end of the seat, leaving an arm's length between them. He could be the asshole and sit right beside her, but he will leave that for the next time, for now he settled at the other end.

"Lets take off" He sat crossed his leg, lighting another cigarette, he needed one, everything needs to go just the way he planned it, he can't fail, there is no room for error. On the other end Grace was gazing out of the window, nails digging in her skin, her knuckles were white, she needs a drag,

"Grace-" her head spanned towards him, for a moment he thought her head would fall off "Y-ye-yes" "Do you want one?" he lifted his hand to show the cigarette, he kept his voice low and monotonous, she wasn't looking at him but his hand "N-no-" then her eyes drop to his shoes, he turned his head away to take another drag, suppressing thousandth thought of possibly mishap.

"T-those are n-not...good for you" the last part came out as a short breath, he looked at her eyes burning holes in the floor, the bud went away from him, his eyes stuck on her, did she? how naive, yet so... enticing. He snubbed the cigarette on the seat, his hands rubbing against his lips taking care of any residue.

For the first time he was thinking of what would happen after his success, of who he will be then, of what will happen to her... and then a thought popped in his head, maybe after all this she could give him company, he might just convince her to that, he has... ways to get her favor. He turned way holding that thought in his head, until later

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------