Valyrie: A Resident Evil: VILLAGE OC Fanfiction

The Veiled Angel

Flashes. Violent visions of rage, terror, agony, and despair shoot in flashes through my mind. I can hear my blood pumping in my veins and excruciating screams echo all around me. What's happening, why can't I move? My mouth and throat ache with a strong iron taste and I'm not even sure if I'm breathing. Everything aches and I feel so tired. The visions zip across my eyes more rapidly and horrifying noises get louder and more prominent in my ears. The sounds of flies buzzing, eating away at flesh, blades slicing through bones, roars and growls of unknown creatures, shrill laughter, water gurgling, and glass breaking grows louder and louder, mixing together into an ear-splitting cacophony pounding in my brain until I can't even hear my own thoughts. Make it stop, please! The sound of roaring wind in booming echos overpowers the disturbance. A shattered moon's bloody face clouds my vision, piercing my soul with dead white eyes, and I hear it's voice thunder, "WAKE UP". In a panic, my eyes snap open with a yelp and I sit up, forcing myself out of the nightmare. My heart is rapidly pounding against my ribs, I'm dripping in cold sweat, and my face is burning hot. Steady now, it was only a dream, just breathe. I take a few deep breaths to calm myself, feeling my heartbeat slow and my mind stop shouting in pain as I try to make my clouded eyes adjust to the surroundings. Everything's so dark, and it doesn't seem to be getting any clearer no matter how many times I blink or try to focus. Oh no...am I blind? I reach up and touch where my eyes are and feel something soft and cottony against my face. Thank god, it's just a blindfold...why am I blindfolded? Curious, I reach behind my head and try to undo the blindfold only to discover that it's wrapped around my head like bandages. The wrappings on the back of my head feel a little damp and sticky. Damn, I'm hurt pretty bad. I shiver and stop messing with them, afraid to mess the bandaging up or hurt myself further. Having my vision completely compromised, I rely on my other senses to try to figure out where I'm at. My nose seems to be working, so I take a few sniffs around. Everything smells old, and very strongly of well aged wood and fabric. My nose tickles and I sneeze violently a few times in a row. According to my allergies, there's also a lot of dust around. So, now I know that I'm in a dusty, old, wooden room sitting on a bed. The blankets under my hands feel thick and stuffed, similar to how quilts feel. The metal springs creak and scream as I move around. The atmosphere of the room feels cool. Not cold, but not exactly warm. I'm guessing this place is not insulated well or there isn't enough heat from the source to circulate throughout the entire residence. I shiver and rub up my arms yet I don't feel my coat or shirt. Panicking slightly, I put my hand on my shoulder, feeling for a bra strap just to find that it's missing as well. Am I naked??? I reach down and touch my leg. Pants are gone too, along with boots and socks. Feeling all over my body, I breath a sigh of relief to find that at least I was still wearing underwear. Jeez, no wonder it feels a bit chilly in here. I also feel something wiry across the left side of my stomach, like some sort of stitching. I guess I hurt my stomach too. Okay, so now I know that I'm in an old, dusty, wooden room with poor heating and a creaky bed with quilted covers. Whereever I'm at is starting to feel a lot like my grandmother's house. Other than the rusty squeaks of the bed the wind blowing outside, all is quiet. Wait, there is something else. Soft, little pitter patters grow louder and pass by somewhere outside the room. They sound too close together to be an animal's footsteps, but not nearly loud enough or far apart enough to be a human's. The pitter patters are followed by gentle footsteps that pass by shortly after. There's other people here. "Hey!", I call out without even thinking. All is quiet once more and I wonder if I've made a mistake by making my presence known. Either that, or they didn't hear me and just kept walking. I start to get up, making the bed squeak loudly until I hear a soft, *knock, knock, knock*. I hear the knocks coming from the front of the room and can guess that the door is somewhere in front of me. "Are you awake?", a gentle, feminine voice calls out from behind the door. It sounds very familiar, like I've heard it somewhere before. Hesitating slightly, I answer the voice, "Y-yes, I am". The door creaks open and the quick pitter patters grow closer and closer towards me. I nearly jump out of my own skin feeling something leap up on the bed next to me. Moving away from whatever it is slowly, I hear shrill giggles and feel it move closer to me. "Angie, stop it.. you're scaring them", the voice scolds. The giggles stop and 'Angie' moves away from me slightly while still remaining on the bed. I wouldn't be as scared if I could see. Footsteps approach me and I sit up eagerly facing towards them. "I'm sorry..she doesn't quite understand personal space sometimes", the voice apologizes. I simply nod as reassurance that it doesn't bother me, as I'm much more preoccupied with my current disability. "Can I see you, please..I just really need my eyes", I ask as calmly as I can. There is a moment of silence, then I feel something touching the sides of my face. I flinch and jerk back as an instant reflex. "I'm sorry, I'm just...trying to help", the voice apologizes. They sound very timid, I need to be patient. I nod again to reassure them and lean forward knowing that they are going to grant me my sight. I see their hands at the sides of my face again, their fingers sliding under the wrappings over my eyes and carefully pulling them up, allowing me to see without completely removing the bandages. Having my sight granted and blinking to properly focus, I'm met with my gentle caretaker. She's dressed in all black from head to toe, I even assume that she's wearing black socks. Her dress is simple and worn and her buckle shoes look very tattered. I'm taken aback most by her appearance because she is wearing a large black veil over her face. She seems very familiar, but from where? "There, is that better?", she asks softly while stepping back. I look all around confirming what I had already imagined the room to be, although it's a lot smaller than I had assumed and much more plain. "Yes ma'am...thank you", I confirm. Suddenly, I feel something small touch my arm. I turn to my left and see a large, very scary looking doll standing up on the bed next to me and pressing into my arm with its tiny fingers. The doll's face looks very similar to the broken moon's face I saw in my dream and it's wearing a very dirty, very tattered, whiteish wedding dress with the veil flipped back unlike its owner. Since the doll is very animated and so close to me, I can assume that this is Angie. Realizing I'm still not clothed, I jerk the quilt up and wrap it around me tightly. Angie giggles and tugs on the quilt teasingly. Her creepy movements startle me, but I force myself not to show any sign of fear and feed into her enjoyment of harrasing me. Wait a minute, I've seen this doll before, from Jackson's journal! But...how? I look back at the veiled woman, searching for any confirmation to her identity and trying to figure out if I'm still dreaming before claiming, "You're....you're the Beneviento ghost....you're Lady Beneviento".
"OoOo, she said ghost!", Angie squeals. Lady Beneviento cowers slightly and protests, "Oh, no no, please...just call me Donna". She pauses slightly then continues with, "I'm not a ghost". Still dumbfounded, I just nod agreeing with her and continue to stare in stunned silence. How is she alive??? On the way here, Jackson said that the Beneviento family was wiped out due to some kind of mold plague in the 50's..along with a huge population of the people in Eastern Europe...we even passed by tombstones of her family members...she's the only survivor..and she has a living doll, something feels as if there are bigger powers at play. We stare at each other in silence for a few moments before I decide to speak up. "I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, but.....how did you survive the plague that wiped out the rest of your family?", I ask watching her carefully. She seems confused, but it's difficult to read her expressions. "What plague?", Angie asks shrilly. Even the doll isn't sure what I'm talking about. Does she not remember what happened? Pausing, I think carefully of how to word this and if I should say it to Donna or Angie. Though the doll appears sentient, Donna would likely remember more easily what happened. "Your family, they died from some kind of bubonic plague a few years ago.....right?", I question. Donna seems very taken aback and twiddles her hands nervously as if she is unsure of what to say. Luckily, she doesn't have to say anything, at least not directly. "Mother's gift affects everyone differently..some can change, adapt and handle the great power she bestows and others can not..unfortunately our family could not handle it, but we did", Angie explains. Mother's gift? Who is 'Mother', What power does she bestow? I feel like I have more questions than answers as to what exactly is going on, but I know there definitely wasn't a plague that killed all those people. Unprovoked, Donna flips her veil up, revealing her face and showing me how Mother's gift altered her. There's a large, pulsating, mutated growth over her right eye stretching down her cheek and across her forehead. Her other eye is an unusually sharp yellow brown in color. Aside from that, she looks beautiful and as young as she did in the portrait photo Jackson has of her and Angie. She's a mutant, this 'Mother' character is making mutants...oh my god..all those people....how many more are there? Without another word, Donna approaches me and begins unwrapping the bandages around my head. She's very focused and I start to wonder why now is a good time to re-examine my injury. As soon as she's finished, she pulls my head forward, making me look down at her shoes and I feel Angie move around to my back. Her finger traces along the back of my head. Why can't I feel my hair? Donna gasps, sounding a bit happy and Angie giggles in delight. She pulls my head back up and looks into my eyes with stifled joy. Smiling softly, Donna whispers, "I did it....I saved you....you're like me...not exactly and you're much prettier...but I did it". My heart drops and my mind starts swimming in circles around her words. You're like me, you're like me, you're like me. She grabs a mirror off of the dresser next to the bed and shows me my reflection. My hair is gone, all shaved off and my once rockshade colored eyes are now a fiery yellow. You're like me, you're like me.....you're a mutant too. Nothing feels real right now, my mind is so mixed up that I actually feel nauseous and my words are stuck like knives in my throat. Why...oh god...why..The smile fades from Donna's face and she says, "You seem upset". So many wild emotions are racing through my head and I feel like I'm going to explode. "Why d-....why did you....why, why", I choke. She cowers slightly and Angie takes over once again. "We had to, you were dying, you should be grateful!", Angie scolds. I turn a give Angie a deadly glare, making her cower as much as Donna. "You wanted to live...you told me...I didn't know what else to do...I'm sorry", Donna answers, her voice breaking. My glare softens as I turn back to Donna. All of my anger and pain start to melt away sensing her extreme fearfulness. She looks away and twiddles her hands more to distract herself. A moment of silence passes by before she shakily speaks again. "I know you're upset...but I was just trying to help...and I thought maybe...you could be my friend as well...I'm sorry", she stammers nervously. I stare at this poor, timid woman in awe. She saw someone, grieviously injured, dying and begging for their life and in her kindness feeling they truly deserved a chance to live, she gave it to them the only way she knew how. Despite my horrible, newfound circumstance, I am grateful for this veiled angel and feel it only necessary to thank her for saving me even if it meant turning me into a mutant. I stay frozen in my thoughts and she waits anxiously for my response. We need hugs. Carefully and slowly trying not to frighten her, I extend my arms around her and she watches me nervously. "Can I have a hug please?", I ask her, forcing back tears. Donna freezes as if unsure of what to do for several moments, then just as gently as I did, extends her arms towards me and wraps them around me in a tight embrace. Even Angie holds my shoulder to comfort me. "Thank you...thank you so much", I sob. We hold each other allowing all of our pain, fear, anxiety, and anger to wash away in a tender moment of gratitude and happiness. I almost don't want to let her go, but as her grip loosens, I finally release my hold. Her soft grin returns and she asks, "Do you remember your name"? Oh jeez, I forgot to introduce myself. I sigh deeply, centering myself and answer, "Yes ma'am..my name is Val, and it's a pleasure to meet you".