"A fortnight ago, I thought I was human. I know better now. I'm some kind of thing, and I don't understand it. I'm Rose's father. That's who I choose to be. She needs me. My daughter needs me."
— Ethan Winters
Let's See How Special I Am is a Resident Evil fanfiction written by Hydroxide
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The story is set during the events of Resident Evil Village, with one small change: Ethan Winters is aware of his true nature from the start. From there, things turn out quite a bit differently.
It can be read on Archive of Our Own here.
Spoilers for Village are unmarked.
Let's See How Special I Am contains examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Ethan. While he was badass in canon, here he's already aware of what he really is and thus is able to make better use of his abilities much sooner.
- Ascended Extra: Leonardo only appeared for a handful of scenes in canon before turning into a Lycan and subsequently dying to advance the plot. Here, he survives thanks to accidentally ingesting Ethan's blood, and it appears he'll be taking a more active role in events going forward.
- The Assimilator: Ethan can gain others' memories and abilities after consuming them.
- Back from the Dead: Ethan's blood seemingly has the ability to revive the dead, which he uses to restore Bela from her crystallized state.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Ethan has the ability to form blades of calcified fungal matter from one or both forearms.
- Blank White Eyes: Ethan has pupil-less, white eyes in his mutated state.
- Body Horror: As expected, this story has quite a bit of it.
- Break Them by Talking: Ethan gets Bela to tell him what she knows about Rosemary's whereabouts by doing this, though it's less of what he says and more of what he doesn't say that gets her talking.
- Eldritch Abomination: Bela describes Ethan as one in chapter 5.
- Expy: Ethan's abilities and nature as a non-human entity with human memories are very similar to Alex Mercer.
- Healing Factor: Present and accounted for.
- Horrifying the Horror: Bela is rightfully terrified after seeing what Ethan is capable of.
- Humanoid Abomination: Ethan looks human, but his abilities make it very clear that he is not.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Leonardo is capable of incredible shots with a firearm, including a headshot from over 200 feet, shooting and destroying another man's gun from the same distance, and landing a second headshot with a quickdraw of a pistol, all within a howling blizzard that would throw any other man's bullet off-course. This was well before he became a biohazardous mold abomination.
- In a Single Bound: Ethan demonstrates the ability to jump great distances after consuming Uriaș.
- Lovecraftian Superpower: Ethan's mutations manifest as these. Bonus points for the author having taken inspiration from the works of Lovecraft himself.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Ethan has several large, sharp fangs in his mutated form.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Leonardo was once a Romanian anti-Ceaușescu rebel known as the "Wolf", who killed hundreds and was capable of inhuman feats of marksmanship.
- People Puppets: In chapter 6, Ethan demonstrates the ability to control the bodies of those that have consumed his blood.
- Seeing Through Another's Eyes: Whenever Ethan accesses the memories of another individual, he experiences the memory from their perspective.
- Shout-Out:
- A few to [PROTOTYPE]. The first chapter is titled "Consume, Become," and Ethan's "support" is hinted to be the original Alex Mercer himself judging by the initials on the scientific notes and a brief mention he makes of GENTEK in chapter 6.
- The story Lady Dimitrescu reads to her daughters in chapter 3 is "Cool Air" by H. P. Lovecraft, which is about a dead man attempting to stave off his own decomposition by refrigerating his body. Rather appropriate, given the setting.
- One of the chapter tags at the end of chapter 5 is "Ethan "Ah yes, the Negotiator" Winters".
- Spared by the Adaptation: Leonardo.
- Split Personality: Ethan turns out to have one in the form of The Rake, a product of a dissociative episode after mutilating a fellow child when he was a kid, and reinforced and temporarily suppressed via psychiatric therapy.
- Superhuman Transfusion: Leonardo gains superhuman abilities after accidentally consuming Ethan's blood.
- Super-Senses: Ethan gains these after consuming a Vârcolac. Leonardo also gets these.
- Super-Strength: Ethan is strong enough to pick up the large hammer wielded by Uriaș as easily as if it was a toy.
- That Man Is Dead: In chapter 6:"Leonardo Lupu would not be able to save his family. Leonardo Lupu had been a sixty-five-year-old farmer, a half-cripple who would curse with every step up a flight of stairs. Leonardo Lupu, who made Drob de miel each spring solstice with his own hands, had died on that gurney, feverish and in pain. What had risen again is not Leonardo Lupu—could not be, because Leonardo Lupu would never be enough. Not for this world gone to hell."
- Voice with an Internet Connection: Alex mainly communicates with Ethan by phone.
