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Village of Shadows - Ch.5 (Dark!DC/Resident Evil 8)

Series Masterlist Here

Summary: Just what exactly has John done?

Warnings: Dubcon/Noncon past mentions, angst

CHAPTER 5 - In Hot Water

*Do not replicate/rework/translate my work anywhere else without my express permission. This story is on A03/Tumblr/Wattpad. Anywhere else, it is likely stolen.*

“Luv, why are you looking at me like I've grown three heads?” John gets a little worried.

I wanted to ask him about what Superman had said before I went any further, just in case it was something terrible. From the sounds of it, it might be and I wasn't prepared to journey on with him at my side if that was the case.

“Spit it out!” he's shuffling nervously. “I don't like the way you're starin'.”

“Why did you impersonate my husband?” I finally ask.

I went for the direct route. If he was innocent, he could deny it but by giving a definitive statement rather than a question, if John was guilty he'd show me soon enough.

And show me he did.

He gaped for a moment, eyes blowing wide before he tried to speak a couple of times and failed utterly. All the colour drained from his face as well. From everything John had told me after the demon attack, he was quite the con artist, an accomplished liar so evidently this had caught him so off guard that he couldn't think of a lie quick enough to spout back.

“It's true?!” I step back. “Superman was right?!”

“It's...” he fumbles over the word. “It sounds bad. I know it does but I didn't mean any harm.”

“What did you do, John?” I took another step back.

“It were before you got up the duff,” he starts fiddling with a cigarette, picking at the loose tobacco at the end. “I promise I wasn't stalking you or owt. I'd not seen you since the tube station incident. I were just...I was in a really bad place. I'd lost someone I cared about again and spent weeks in a black hole of bad vices. I started thinking about you, memories of that weekend. You were the only person I ever had the sense to get far away from me before I started liking you too much. I should've done that with Jace too but the lad wouldn't leave me be and things went from there.”

“Get to the point.”

“I checked up on you. Saw you had a fella, nice house, nice life. I were jealous that you were so happy and loved up. Maybe I could've had that life with you, who knows? Oh who am I kidding? If you'dve been mine, you would be six feet underground by now. I just...I wanted to know what it felt like, to have a normal life, a spouse. You have no idea how many people I've buried over the years, lass. No idea.”

“So you stole my husband's identity,” I feel a little sick. “For how long?”

“Just a day, I swear!” he looks panicked. “I watched him for a time to get some mannerisms, spelled him to sleep for twenty four hours in the shed and lived a day as your husband. We went to a café for breakfast and you told me food puns about every single item on my plate. We got the weekly shopping in and you snuck a load of sweeties into the cart when you thought I weren't looking. You made me casserole for dinner and it were the best thing I've ever tasted because you made it with genuine affection. I remember everything about that day.”

I rolled back in my memories, trying to find the time he was talking about but something was sparking in my brain about a time when my husband was overly complimentary about my cooking rather than making jokes about it. I thought he was trying to butter me up about something and we'd ended up...

“But I had sex with him that day,” I realise with dawning horror. “After all the compliments, we used some of the dessert to have some fun and....that was you?!”

John starts biting his lip, “I...I didn't mean for it to go so far. I didn't. I promise you that wasn't the purpose of me shifting into his appearance.”

“You could've stopped me at any time, John. You could've said you weren't in the mood or whatever but you just let me carry on and you had sex with me. That's...”

“I know. I know,” he moves backwards himself, looking completely ashamed. “I can't justify it. What I did was unforgiveable, I know that. I felt terrible after that day and I swore I would never visit you again. This is the first time I've seen you since.”

“Was it worth it?”

“No,” he admits. “All it did was make me long for something I could never have. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Your husband was a good man and you were good for each other. I nearly ruined that with me own selfish needs.”

I feel numb, like I have no control over my body. I never thought he'd be capable of such deception but he'd blatantly said to my face he was a con artist. I just never imagined it would be to this degree.

Then a new wave of nausea hit as something else popped into my head.

“John...it wasn't long after that day I found out I was pregnant,” my voice is a little hitched at this point, my mind reeling.

“Wait...” I've never seen John so deathly pale. “No...”

“If my son is yours and that's why Superman has him, if that's why my husband was torn apart, I'm going to fucking kill you,” the steel has come back into my voice. “Stay the fuck away from me.”

I will my shaking legs to move further into Arthur's territory, not knowing exactly what to feel. There I was feeling guilty for sometimes fantasising about John and I'd unknowingly fucked him again. Not only that but he might be the father of my kid as well. I could understand the reasons why he'd taken my husband's appearance and I might have forgiven him for the ordinary day to day impersonation but I couldn't forgive the sex.

“You can't go alone,” he catches up to me. “I know you hate me but you can't do this by yourself.”

“What part of 'stay the fuck away' don't you get?!” I whirl around to face him. “Do you realise what you did?! If I'd of known it was you, I wouldn't have consented. You didn't give me that choice and you apparently didn't even feel guilty enough years later to stop me kissing you before I saw the psycho clown.”

Again he tries to speak a couple of times but can't get the words out. He seems defensive, like he wants to rebutt my statement but knows it won't go well for him if he does.

“Say it then,” I provoke him. “Let's get everything out into the open, shall we?”

“Fine,” John grits his jaw. “Don't pretend like you're a fucking saint, lass. That time I watched your house and studied your husband, I heard you getting yourself off while he was at work and it were my name you moaned. Once I might have thought was a fluke but it were a few times. Maybe if I'da strolled right in as meself you would've jumped on me like a bored little housewife and I wouldn't have had to do the whole song and dance with your husband's face.”

“You fucking bastard!” I go to punch him but he's expecting it this time, grabbing my wrists and pushing me backwards until I hit a tree. “I would never have done that!”

His expression softens, “I know. I know you would never have cheated on him. You're not me, you're not a fuck up. That day I was him was the most loved I've ever felt.”

“So why did you say that?”

“Because there's some part of me that hopes you don't want to cut me out completely after this, that you still want me,” his eyes are shining with unshed tears. “Hearing you cum with my name on your lips drove me mad.”

“It was a fantasy, John. We had such a wild weekend together, the kind of sex you see in really niche pornos and it's fun to remember sometimes. That doesn't mean I gave you permission to do what you did.”

“I'm sorry,” he repeats over and over, letting me go. “I know it was wrong, that's why I stayed away but I can't stay away now when your life is on the line. I definitely can't stay away now I might have a son whose life is on the line too.”

“No, you'll keep Superman away from me whilst I deal with Arthur alone,” I say clearly. “I've killed Diana and her daughters and I've outfoxed the Joker and Harley. I can do this on my own.”

I push past John and I half expect him to come after me but when I turn, he's leant his hand against the tree looking defeated. Slowly he meets my gaze.

“Alright then, go deal with Arthur but be careful. Please be careful. I'll keep things quiet out here but promise me you'll shout for Etrigan if you get in trouble.”

I just nod. That's all he's getting right now.

“I'm sorry,” he says a final time. “If I have to spend a lifetime saying it, I will and if your kid is mine, I will do whatever you want me to. No contact or full dad mode. Your decision.”

He leaves through the gate before there's a flash of swirling symbols and he vanishes from view.

Now I'm alone, wandering up the path that's getting progressively boggier as I go along and my boots keep nearly getting pulled off my feet as I walk. Mud is creeping over the lip of them, soaking into my socks and squelching in my shoes but I carry on, trying to step on more solid ground when I could see it.

I feel like I was too preoccupied with what had just happened, too deep in my own thoughts about what John had done and the fact my son might be his. What if he was right though? What if he'd shown up as himself instead, after all the not very innocent fantasising I'd done? I'd like to think I was a good and loving wife, that I would never do anything to harm my husband emotionally or physically but what if I wasn't as nice a person as I thought I was? What if the lure of a rose tinted memory was too strong in that moment? I mean, my husband had been dead for less than two weeks and I'd already kissed John.

Maybe I was just a terrible person in denial about my own sanctimoniousness.

I kept making mistakes as I got lost in my own mind and nearly fell into the bog until I finally got to a land barrier and saw a lake beyond it that flowed through a tunnel in the rock face.

I saw no boat, saw no bridge or way to get across other than swimming through the tunnel which was very dark and particularly uninviting. The water wasn't much better, not clear enough to see the bottom and I had no idea if anything was in it.

I couldn't go back now though, I couldn't go fetch John to help. I had to do this by myself.

I slipped into the water as gently as I could and yelped a little at how cold it was. The thin dress was doing nothing to keep me warm and the chill was already creeping into my soul as I got submerged. It took my arms a minute just to unlock before they'd start moving, propelling me through the cold water towards the tunnel. Once I'd gotten into it and my eyes had adjusted a little, I was at least pleased to see there were lights running along the top of the cave and I wasn't going to be swimming blind.

That joy only lasted a brief moment though before something grabbed my ankle from below and yanked me under the water.