"You're gonna be okay"
Older Mentor!Leon Kennedy x DSO Agent!Reader Slowburn πͺ»π»π₯
β18+ MDNIβ
Chapter 30
thanks again for the unwavering support you guys continue to give this story as it reaches its end, i hope you enjoy these angsty chapters π
Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 TBA
cw: mentions of vomit
An odorless vapor releases from the four corners of the room at the end of the ominous countdown, but you don't pay it mind, your head focused on one thing and one thing onlyβsaving Leon.
Holding your breath not to breathe it in and hopefully stall the nerve agentβs debilitating effects, you place your fingers on the keyboard, ready to begin.
The screen flashes with a series of codes you are meant to input, only you did not expect the series to be so long and for the codes to have specific placements within a form youβre meant to fill.
This will take forever.
The realization dawns on you with a gulp, but your fingers start to work nonetheless as you try and fail to ignore the pounding on the door behind you.
Outside, Leon has completely lost it. His palms are red from all the slamming he has done against the immovable steel, and now he has moved on to try and break the glass with anything he might find.
He doesn't care if the mist will seep out to infect him as well, he quite literally would rather die than let you do it for him.
βKidβ Kiddoββ he babbles to himself in a wavering voice as his eyes frantically roam around the place, like calling out to you will somehow keep you safe.
His gaze lands on a fire extinguisher, and he doesn't stall to grab it with shaky hands, just to bang it against the window so hard he feels an electric jolt through his bones.
Smash after smash and the window won't budge. The room is sealed air tight not to let out the compound, and he feels like he wants to claw at the walls to make them yield open so he can get to you.
Every passing second brings him closer to delirium, and he knowsβhe knowsβif this is the end, if this is how you die while he watches, then at least he has a gun he can put to his head. Fuck your sacrifice. Heβs not doing this shit without you.
Only a couple of minutes pass of typing out the endless sequence when you begin to feel your eyes burn. Thereβs beading sweat on your temple, and a bitter, metallic taste is settling on your tongue. Even without breathing it in, the toxic mist has started to affect you, and you know this is only the start.
Your lungs protest when they reach their limit. So, with abnormally shaky hands you reach for the long skirt of your dress to lift it to your mouth, using the silk fabric as a makeshift mask. It won't do much, but it might give you a few extra precious seconds.
You don't dare waste a single moment to look back at Leon who is causing a ruckus, throwing every possible object he can find at the unyielding door.
He tried a metal trashcan, a chair from a nearby room, and now heβs pointing his pistol at the glass knowing fully it will ricochet against the bulletproof material.
Sure enough, it rebounds and grazes his shoulder with a sharp sting, but he barely pauses to acknowledge it before heβs pounding at the door again like a madman.
βFuck!!β he curses in a broken sob, and takes a moment to watch you inside only to have his heart shatter all over again.
There you are, repeatedly blinking hard against the growing blurriness of your vision. Your muscles have started twitching, your chest constricting with every labored breath. At some point you drop the fabric you were holding against your mouthβitβs useless, and you would rather use two hands to type quickly as long as you're able to.
Leon wipes his tears roughly with the back of his hand, a new wave of determination hitting him at the sight of you still there, still trying. He won't stop trying either.
A sudden idea comes to mind and he sprints before he can even think if itβs a good one.
He reaches the bathroom in record speed, unlocking the special mechanism you had used earlier to keep the guards confined, then kicks the door open with his gun pointed.
The two men inside already have their weapons drawn, no doubt having heard the loud commotion heβs making. He can feel adrenaline pumping through his veins so thickly it's like time slows around him.
Without hesitation, Leon mercilessly shoots the first guard through the chest, the latterβs body falling on the tile with a startled groan. Then, taking advantage of the second manβs shock, he disarms him quicker than he can retaliate.
βWith me,β the agent simply grits out, wrenching the worker's arm behind his back and placing his firearmβs muzzle to his temple.
He drags him forcibly back to the control room, every laborious effort feeling like itβs eating at his soul when he can't get there in the light speed he wishes he had.
βW-what the hell do you want?β the guard manages to squeak out, only to be met by a smack to the side of the head with the handgun's handle.
βOpen the fucking door,β Leon hisses and shoves him against the metal.Β
The man looks at him cluelessly, then peers inside to see the vapor engulfed room and blinking red light. His eyes widen with realization of what's happening.
βI-I can't, badges donβt work during the override!β he gestures to his lanyard.
Behind him, Leon can see you past the manβs shoulder. You have fallen to your knees, every muscle spasming, and breathing faster than a rabbitβs pulse. There's snot and drool leaking down your face in addition to tears, the compound causing an overstimulation in secretory glands.Β
The numbers blur together as you fight your own body to continue inputting the correct series. You have to hone every bit of fraying brain power to not enter the wrong code, deleting and retyping every time you make a mistake.Β
Each and every cell in your body burns. The nerve agent blocks the very enzyme that allows your muscles to relax, to function, and you can feel yourself reach the very end when the splitting headache you're experiencing goes from throbbing to pounding. You can barely hear yourself think through the pain.
Outside, Leon punches the man so hard he sees double. βFucking open it!β
The guard brings a hand to his bleeding lip, and in a trembling voice shakes his head in desolation. βI told you, manβ¦ The badges don't wβArgh!β
Heβs interrupted by a bullet to the thigh, the agentβs furious scowl wild like that of a feral animal in a cage as he glares at him. βI will rip your fucking guts out if you don't open it,β he seethes.
But even as he grips his gun tight enough the stock indents his palm, ready to inflict more harm to force the man to comply, Leon knows his attempts are futile. So when the guard just cowers in fear, shielding his face with trembling arms, he simply grabs him by the hair and slams his head hard enough against the unbudging door that he passes out.
Never has he acted so unnecessarily violent towards anyone, but heβs certain he has officially lost all mental capacity of rationale and logical thinking.
With the bloodied manβs body limp on the floor, all that is left to do is watch you again through the window, resting his forehead against the screen as all hope drains out of him.
Youβre throwing up the little contents of your stomach on the floor on all fours, dry heaving and quivering as the last remnants of strength leave you. You try to get back to the keyboard, but fall face first on the tile, your arms giving out from under you.
Leon feels his own knees buckle, but he holds himself upβhe won't look away. He wants to watch you until the very end since his company is all he can offer you through the cruelly resolute steel separating you.
After years of vowing he will do everything he can to keep you safe, he has failed miserably. This is the price to pay for holding something precious in his life. He should've known. You were never meant to be tainted by his proximity. He ruins everything he touches, and now you will be added to the ever growing pile of skeletons in his closet. Hurt, destroyed, desecrated, and left to die in a puddle of vomit.
Maybe he never should've returned with ice cream that day.
He can still remember it like it just happened, when the emergency services came to your front porch. He had stayed by your side as you sobbed, a hand on your shoulder because that was the only way he knew how to support the poor teenager whose zombie father he just put down.
Your cries wouldn't stop no matter what measly words of reassurance he gave, but you still sat by him, unmoving even as first responders showed up.
When an FBI agent asked you to get into the ambulance so they could take you for a checkup, you shook your head, then scooted closer to him to his great surprise.
Leon never saw himself as someone who could provide comfort. The last time he had to give a pep talk was an awkward attempt with Ashley Graham, the presidentβs daughter he was tasked to save. It worked well enough it got her to calm down, but he still cringed at himself later for not doing better.
And yet, his lame βyouβre gonna be okayβ seemed to be all you needed to hear, because no matter who they brought to talk to you, you stuck to him and even reached for his sleeve when he was about to move away.
βDo you want me to ride the ambulance with you?β he asked quietly as he used his body to shield you from the view of the hazmat suits collecting your fatherβs corpse.
βYes,β you responded in a quiet whisper, the first word you ever uttered to him.
And just like that, he was sitting beside you in the vehicle five minutes later, while EMTs checked your vitals and any signs of injury. He heard your name when the workers asked for it, repeating it in his head, and he remembers you stealing a glance his way that would have made him smile if not for the terribly sad situation.
βIβm Leon Kennedy,β he murmured softly while your temperature was being checked. βIβm, uhβ¦ a special agent.βΒ
He distinctly remembers the twinkle in your eye from his introduction.
When you arrived at the hospital, he couldn't go in with you past the intake point, but he made sure to repeatedly tell the staff you weren't infected. Heβd knowβitβs his job to deal with the flesh-eating kind.
βAre you, umβ¦ Are you going to be here when I finish?β you asked in a tiny voice when the nurses began guiding you away.
Leon felt his heart squeeze in that moment, and that's when he knew he would do anything he could to help you. βYeah, Iβll be here... Promise.β
It was never part of the plan. It wasn't part of his job either. But an hour later, when you were done with medical checks and being escorted around by a fed, he showed back up.
Your eyes lit up when you saw him despite the weariness of your features, even more so when you noticed the two ice cream cones he held in hand.
βI heard the place across the street has decent stuff,β he muttered awkwardly, looking down at the sticky cream dripping down his knuckles and questioning his stupid choice of treat. βI didn't know what flavor you like, soβ¦ I got two.β
A ghost of a smile spread on your lips at the sight of the mess he was making on the bleach-smelling floor tiles. Then, with a tentative hand, you reached to grab the cone that looked the most enticing.Β
βThank youβ¦ Leon,β you whispered gratefully. From that day onwards, vanilla with rainbow sprinkles became your favorite.
Through the fog of unconsciousness, a tiny voice in your head asks you to get up. You try to listen to it, but find the task impossible. It gets louder, βyouβre so close,β it says in an echoey yell, and you recognize its smooth timber, but your brain is too messed up to think of who it belongs to.
When it shouts one more time, you finally manage to raise a shaky arm, your vision entirely blurry and spotted in black when your hand thuds lifelessly on the keyboard and makes it clatter to the floor beside you.
There, with your cheek pressed to the cold tile, you can see the single final step towards hope. If you can just reach far enough, you can press the βenterβ key, and it will be okay. You think. You hope.
At least, that's what he said.
A pathetic gasp leaves your saliva leaking mouth when your spasming palm slides across the floor. And then, with a final shuddering breath, your index presses the button weakly.
You can barely hear a muffled robotic voice echoing around you, but the blinking red lights turn into a steady white, and you finally let yourself close your eyes when you realize⦠You did it. You saved Leon.
Next chapter coming soon.
i'm so sorry leon :(
