Zeel held one blade at Alice's throat, staring into her eyes with an intensity that she had not seen before.
It was the eyes that Zeel used to look at Alice the first moment she walked down the stairs in the Resident Evil Universe.
It was the look that told Alice that she was his whole world in that single moment.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, couldn't bear to look Zeel in the eyes and bowed her head causing the blade to be aimed at her forehead.
The unworthiness bearing down on her shoulders made Elizabeth's struggle extremely vivid on her face.
It was as if Elizabeth was fighting against her instincts to say something, but her trembling lips didn't formulate any words at all.
Just as Zeel was about to move his eyes back to Alice, Elizabeth slowly raised her head, a blazing silver-gold sheen covering her eyes.
Zeel and Elizabeth both sensed Elizabeth's Felian blood boiling inside her body for the first time since she inherited the voice of her ancestors.
Both Alice and Zeel were startled because Elizabeth, who previously couldn't muster a world, suddenly began to speak to them as equals – something she had never done before.
"I remember somethin' about when we'all first met… I watched ya'll through the door of school… I was fixin' to fuck up some Mogadorians when I saw Zeel…
My Lorien Blood boiled for me to approach him, and Bless My Heart, the next thing I remember was shootin' through that door to kill Mogadorians while waving my hip's about…
I wanted him to see and hell, he looked for a moment, and there was a silence in my mind. It was so silent that you could hear a mosquito piss on cotton!
Since that moment, I knew we were the same typa people," Elizabeth said, alternating her gaze between Alice and Zeel.
Elizabeth sighed and reigned in her Southern accent once more. It was just another thing she changed about herself because it annoyed Zeel.
"I think I lost that part of myself … I always rely on you both and that makes me disgusted with myself…
I am so afraid of not being good enough for the both of you that I even tried to convince Alice to run away with me just so you would follow us and make me feel even slightly special again…
Standing here gave me perspective… I can see that you aren't even mad at Alice, just slightly disappointed but there is mockery in your eyes when you look at me," Elizabeth said, tears dripping onto the floor.
"The person you liked was the flirty, country Elizabeth who didn't give a fuck and did what she wanted, but I am no longer her… I have seen too much to not care about anything.
I count the number of steps I take when I approach you Zeel. I always make sure to walk slow enough so that you don't consider me a threat…
When did I become so spineless in front of my own man?"
As if to conclude her speech with a bang, there was a shattering sound, and Elizabeth's Mbeamer fell off her hand and onto the ground.
Of course, it was a symbolic gesture since the Mbeamer could not be so easily detached from Elizabeth without Zeel's permission.
"I didn't even know if I would have had the strength to do this until today," Elizabeth whispered, staring down at her empty wrist with despair on her face.
Alice and Zeel were so surprised that their Psychic-Imprint went out of phase for an instant.
For the first time since meeting Zeel, Alice was absolutely calm because she couldn't feel an intersection of their souls.
Ever since Zeel imprinted on her back in Resident Evil Universe, Alice had always felt connected to Zeel in some way but now she felt nothing at all.
The feeling of uncertainty made her reconnect with her human emotions and realize just how much she had changed in her time with Zeel.
Alice's mind revisited all the times she and Zeel spent together surviving in the Resident Evil Universe and shook her head as a tear slid from her eyes.
Alice cried because she realized how better they were as a family when Elizabeth came into the picture.
Elizabeth removing the Mbeamer was not only drawing a line between her and Zeel but also signifying her separation from Alice as a lover.
The Mbeamer was also an engagement ring that tied the three of them together as a Family, and unknown to Elizabeth, she had tossed away that bond.
Elizabeth only wanted to show that she would no longer be restrained around Zeel and Alice, but her lack of restraint led her to perform an action that had much harsher repercussions than she realized at the time.
There, the three of them stood for what felt like an uncountable period of time but was truly just a couple of seconds at most.
Nick, Jenny, and Henry still stood motionless in place, their eyes darting around the room questioning what exactly was the relation between the two women and Zeel.
Minutely, Zeel's hands would withdraw the blades by a millimeter and then advance the blades by a millimeter with a show of hesitance that should have been impossible for Homo-Superiors.
The atmosphere in the room lingered between Hell and Purgatory… everyone could feel that the situation would not end well.
The atmosphere gave off the feeling of hopelessness, but not the true type of hopelessness. It was more like the hopelessness of having to choose between losing a leg or your entire head.
No matter what you chose, you would still lose something precious.
Zeel's stared at Elizabeth as a small smile graced his face, a smile so genuine that Alice felt like she was seeing the true Zeel for the first time in her life.
'What's happening?' Zeel thought, feeling the smile that tugged on his lips.
For the first time since Universe Zero, Zeel had to finally acknowledge that he was something beyond a simple Homo-Superior.
Maybe… he had even fallen to somewhere below a Homo-Superior.
Logic and all reasonable course of actions dictate that he should end the lives of Alice and Elizabeth here and now, but there was still uncertainty lingering in his mind.
Zeel finally realized that he had become everything he hated in non-Homo-Superior species – indecisive.
The atmosphere returned to normal, Henry, Jenny, and Nick could move again. The dual blades in Zeel's hand broke apart into nanites that sunk into his skin once more.
Alice and Elizabeth were the only two people in the room that didn't budge even an inch from their location.
Zeel slowly walked in front of Elizabeth, knelt down, and picked up her Mbeamer from the ground.
Zeel played with the Mbeamer in his hands for a while, deciding whether he should simply destroy the Mbeamer or give it back to his lover.
Elizabeth, while not as important as Alice, also belonged to him and he would be lying if he said that she didn't bring a positive aura to the relationship between the three of them.
"It's okay," Zeel said, finally making a decision "The battle at that time was not the fault of you girls. I just didn't educate you about the conditions of using a Mindovarus,"
Alice smiled sincerely when Zeel admitted his mistake since it meant that her time was not wasted, he was indeed growing to be a better person.
After all, there was no reason Zeel couldn't be cruel and effective while also being kind when it was required.
Zeel stood up from the ground, took Elizabeth's hands into his own, and stared into her eyes with admiration that was once reserved for only Alice.
Elizabeth's breath hitched and she was soon lost in the deep gaze of Zeel's ruby-red eyes, but something about his gaze told Elizabeth it was a fake.
Still, a woman in love is a stupid person.
Even if it was strange that Zeel had chosen to acknowledge her, while also showing that he cared for her as much as he did for Alice.
"I love you," Elizabeth whispered, throwing her arms around Zeel, hugging him close for the first time in a decade or so.
When she embraced Zeel, Elizabeth would always feel like the 18-year-old girl that fucked the guy before falling in love.
Zeel always had a way of bringing out her childish side no matter the time or place.
After all, what more could a wife want from her husband was falling in love over again every time their eyes met?
Alice smiled and observed the duo as they embraced for the first time in a while.
Unlike Elizabeth, Alice was not prone to missing Zeel as much since they were always connected on some level.
Alice knew how hard it was for Elizabeth to stay away from Zeel over the years, and Elizabeth had matured a fair bit because of their time apart.
While they were embracing, Alice noticed something strange, the Ring Swords on Elizabeth's back vibrated slightly as if restrained by something.
Henry, Jenny, and Nick also smiled when they noticed that all the issues were resolved without turning violent.
At least that was the case until…
Zeel and Elizabeth embraced each other, both trapped in their own world of comfort…
Suddenly, Zeel's eyes returned to the indifference of his normal expression and before anyone could react, the nanites in his body gathered around the location of his heart.
*TRP*
With the sound of ripping through the air, everyone witnessed a large silver spike dart out of Zeel's body, penetrate through Elizabeth's chest, and partially split apart the ceiling.
The only sound that could be heard next was Elizabeth's choking on her golden-red blood before that also stopped.
Alice, Henry, Jenny, and Nick stood in the same place with their expressions frozen on their faces, even Zeel was in a daze after killing his 2nd Wife.
Nobody snapped out of their startled state until they felt the ground heating up and Alice's eyes disappearing, and what took their place were socket-less eyes of abyssal darkness.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Alice asked in a ghastly voice that killed all soldiers in the room and even made Jenny fall to her knees with bleeding ears.
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