Hello everyone! Hope you like part 4. I had fun writing this. (I have no clue as to what to ramble about so enjoy! I'm awkward)
Check out @polarspaz who created the Past Refraction AU
Also, here's a link to the other parts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
@hells-couch-potato @quasar-crew
Taking deep breaths, Leon tries to steady his panicked breathing into more controlled breaths as his mind continued to attack him. It’s self-destructive thoughts whispering his fears about being alone, about how he had no one again. And there was nothing he could do about it. That he just had to accept that everyone he cares about will not know him, but he’ll know them. That it’s going to tear him apart and laugh about it as he suffers alone. And he doesn’t know how he’s going to handle it or if he even can. But he knows he must keep going; he must meet up with Claire. The now young woman, that's not his Claire, and will never be his Claire. Making this fate feel worse than death on top of being stuck in this repeating nightmare.
He knows it's going to hurt seeing them when they look at him like he’s a stranger, especially Claire, one of the two women he survived hell with. He has to find her. Has to know she is OK. He has to make sure she isn’t still suffering like he was. Even if he knows she can handle herself and doesn’t need his protection. He has to find her and keep her by his side so that he can guarantee nothing bad will happen to her. And after that they’ll find Sherry together before getting out of this hell again.
He has too.
Otherwise, how will he live with himself, but he was dead, if something happened to them because he chose to not try. Chose instead to believe this was a fucked-up nightmare and let them die because he was too selfish to believe this was real. He had to try because his guilt would not allow him to do anything else.
He needed to focus. Needed to grab the medallions. Find Claire. Find Sherry. And get everyone out alive. That was his mission. His mission… he needed to focus.
Taking a stuttering deep breath, Leon forces himself to stop thinking, to focus, and steps up to the unicorn statue after regaining control of his limbs. He hesitates briefly for a second to recall the combination before rotating the brass patterns. Once the correct combination was displayed, the mechanism holding the medallion groaned and cracked as it released its grip. Reaching up, Leon slides the medallion free as he blankly stares at it with an inner turmoil of absolute loathing and relief washing over him. He really hated puzzles.
Shoving the medallion into one of his pockets, Leon made his way back into the library stepping over the unmoving rotted corpses to head the blue spade door to the right that led to the main hall. Unlocking the cursed door, he traverses the second-floor balcony towards the east wing where he will hopefully find a valve for the shower room along with bolt cutters. While over there he also hopes to meet up with Claire because if his memory serves him right then Leon will find her outside the fire escape in the east wing behind a locked gate like the first time, they were in this hell. This time around, he will find a way to break that lock.
Walking along the balcony, Leon passes the lion statue noticing the Lieutenant had done what he had requested and grabbed the medallion from its bronze paws. Walking past it without a second glance Leon instead looks down one of the man hall stairs as he walks getting a good look down below. Everything was the same as he had left not 30 minutes ago and the Lieutenant was back to sitting on the bench in the center of the room focused on the computer in his lap as Leon passed silently above him. Turning away, Leon continues down the balcony towards the lone door along the wall, completely missing the startled and unsettled look from below him.
Leon pulled out his flashlight and clicked it on as he entered the darkness of another hallway. Looking down either side of the hall, he is met with two corners either way and a door to his left. Quietly latching the door closed behind him, faint recollection told him to go right, but a gut feeling told him to check out the left before continuing his mission. Listening to the feeling that kept him alive in all his past missions, Leon steps down the left side of the hall and peaks around the corner where he heard the source of the banging of metal and groans of the damned. Ignoring the closed metal gate, he heads into the room and is met with old paintings and a marble statue missing an arm.
With further inspection of the room, Leon finds the security deposit card that likely accessed some of the lockers in there and gave him a reason to go into the room when he inevitably heads back that way. Pocketing It with the spade key, he exits the room after finding nothing else and makes his way down the right side of the hall and upon turning the corner he is greeted by the exit to the fire escape where he will find Claire.
A mix of hope and dread fueled him as he beelined for the door and exited the east wing into the drizzling rain and unnaturally quiet city. Cold water dripped down his neck while a muffled clanging sound followed his steps down the fire escape and into a small gated off section that connected to the courtyard where a red blur of Claire stood, waiting. Adrenaline flared as he rushed towards the gate reaching for his Claire, her relieved grin causing hope to flare in his chest as he stopped in front of the gate before her. He wanted to cry to hold her, but when he reached up to do so through the gate between them, she vanished. Her blurred visage melting away until an empty courtyard full of corpses and wired gate that was icy to the touch was all that remained.
Leon felt his hope drain from him as a cold feeling replaced it. His eyes stared blankly at where the visage once stood as his shattering mind struggled to understand what had happened. Slowly lowering his head, he lets it rest on the chain links as his hand grips the wires in pain.
She wasn’t here. It was just an illusion of his mind to torture him. To make him feel hope when there wasn’t any in the first place, because she wasn’t here. Why wasn’t Claire here? Where is she? Why wasn’t she here?! Was she ever here? Did Leon ever actually see her here the last time?! No!.. No. She was here last time. He knows this.... he knows this, but why isn’t she here now. What happened last time?... He had been searching through the east wing, then... then the helicopter crashed into the east wing by the fire escape and that’s what drew him towards where he met up with Claire.
With that remembrance, Leon felt a drip of hope return to the pool of cold as relief overtook his dread. Releasing his death grip on the gate he turns to look over his shoulder up at the building behind him. Its stone walls stood tall, bare from the burning inferno and gaping hole of twisting metal and debris that will later maul its surface.
Rain continued to soak his person and flatten his hair to his face as he looked away from the police department and glanced one last time at where the illusion of his Claire once stood. With that final glance, Leon turns away with a steadying breath as he takes in his surroundings more thoroughly. There was nothing much in the small sectioned off fire escape area other than the stairs themselves and a door on the ground level leading back into the east wing to his left. Stepping closer to the door, he saw the yellow chipped chains barring entry, but what made him feel like his luck hadn’t run dry were the red handled bolt cutters sitting in a bin next to the door.
He really didn’t understand this video game logic shit at times, Leon briefly thought as he picked up the large bolt cutters and took them to the chained door before him. The chain slid from the door, clinking against itself as it hit the ground freeing the wooden door and allowing Leon access. With one hand on the door handle and the other with bolt cutters he glances one last time at the gate debating on finding a way to break it now or after he swept the first floor. After a second, he ultimately decides to clear out the floor before coming back to break the lock on the gate, giving him a chance to make a clear path to the main hall for Claire and him.
Slipping a handle into the loop of his belt behind him, Leon switches it for his flashlight as he breaks the door open to the first floor. Slipping into the dark lit hall, the beam of light drifts around finding blood covering the floors and walls as well as a door to his right and across from him. Stepping quietly, he creaks the door open to his right and freezes almost immediately as the severed body of an officer lay at the end of the small room, blood pooling around its intestines that slid out of the open cavity where their legs should have been. Leon felt his blood run colder as the memory plagued him once more of trying to save officer Edward and failing.
Swallowing hard, Leon retracts his gloved hand from the door, allowing it to close slowly, cutting off his view from the very first person he failed to save. Stepping back from the door, Leon immediately tensed up and whipped around Matilda, drawn as a rotted corpse smashed through the window behind him, sending rain and glass to the dark floor. Three shots popped off striking the corpse in the head halting its progress through the window and forcing it to drape over the sill allowing Leon to march over to it but before he could reach it another rotted corpse launched at him from around the corner catching him unprepared and forcing him to stumble.
Anger flared through Leon at being momentarily distracted as his firing arm held off the snapping jaws of the corpse while he planted his feet firmly. The tread of his boots slid a path through the thick red liquid as the rotted corpse continuously threw itself at him, causing his arm to strain a bit at the dead weight. Leon growled out an angered noise as glass crunched under his boot and a hand wrapped tight around his ankle from the BOW half through the window. Ripping his leg free from its cold grasp Leon drops Matilda catching it in his left hand before retreating a step causing the corpse to stumble after him and using the small opening that gave him he gripped the front of its shirt and swung it into the wall with a loud bang.
The rotted corpse slid down the wall and moved to stumble off it, but Leon didn’t give it a chance as he kicked hard into its skull shattering bone as it caved under his boot and cracked the wall. The cold hand of the window corpse grabbed at him again, and he stepped back out of range before firing twice into its brain causing it to finally explode from the impact. Leon only had a few seconds to stew in his self-hatred and anger before the door to the left of him slammed open as three more rotted corpses forced their way into the dark hallway and locked their clouded white eyes onto him.
Leon felt burning hot anger spread through him as he switched Matilda back to his right hand and drew the tactical knife from his belt loop while he marched head on towards his rotted foes. He ducked past and shot one in the head as it launched at him stunning it before firing twice at the one two his right and driving his knife under the chin of the third one halting it mid lunge. Ripping the blade free, he splatters blood onto the front of his tactical vest before immediately spinning into a deadly kick, sending the previously stunned BOW away from him as he fires a shot at it one more time. Flipping the tactical blade in his hand, he swings slamming the blade in the temple of the second corpse that lunged at him, halting it in its tracks as its unseen eyes bore into him.
Pulling the blade free, he watches with cold eyes as it collapses like a puppet with its strings cut before stalking towards the remaining BOW that was slow to get back up. Kicking its back Leon forces it back into the floor as it growls and moans at him, but Leon went along with the fury and sick glee that raced through his veins as he slowly stepped onto the things' head. Gradually he applies pressure using his body weight as the thing before him struggles as its skull cracks audibly under his boot before caving under the steady pressure like a watermelon.
Leon stared at the corpse indifferently as the burning in his veins reseeds while the sick glee he felt started to twist into disgust and guilt. Leon pulled his boot free and was about to head into the room the three BOWs came out of when he heard and felt the reverberating sound of helicopter rotors. He stopped in the middle of the dark hall as the sound of the helicopter got closer, the rhythm of its blades vibrating through his skin and echoing through the hall.
A deafening crash hit the building as Leon flinched away from the noise while bringing an arm up instinctually to protect his face as the walls around him shook. Panic briefly welled in him as he spun around and exited the building back into the rain to where he got a view of the crash. Just like before, the helicopter broke through the exterior wall with rubble all around its now twisted metal form. Small fires ignited around it, and Leon knew it was bound to ketch the gasoline alight and cause an explosion without the knowledge that it had done it before.
“Leon!” A surprised but relieved voice shouted out catching Leon’s attention and causing his stomach to flip with worry, hope, and dread.
Turning around, Leon whispers her name, pain cracking his voice as he lays eyes on her slim but strong form. She looked so young and innocent but at the same time she looked just like his Claire, and it made his heart ache. Her fiery red hair was tied in a high ponytail with her bangs swept messily to the side with the same red ‘made in heaven’ leather jacket she wore everywhere. It reminded him so much of his Claire, but it wasn’t her because when she looked at him, she wasn’t seeing him.
Leon fought back his growing despair as he rushed towards Claire, grabbing onto the gate next to her hand and observed every inch of her. He didn’t see it, the inching plague of black veins that affected her as well and that made him relieved, but it also drove more home that this was not his Claire and will never be his Claire. She stared back at him with relieved blue eyes that showed her wariness and pain of what she had been going through that night.
They were so innocent. So young.
“Claire.” He whispered once more after swallowing hard to settle his growing sadness as he leaned closer towards the fence.
She laughed nervously and humorlessly and leaned closer as well. “Some first day as a cop huh?” She spoke, trying to lighten the mood through her wariness.
Leon forced a humorless huff as his heart tour itself apart more at the continued reminder of his Claire. “Yeah... some first day.” He responded and he saw her give him a soft look that made him want to grab her and hold her tight. To have his trusted companion once more.
An explosion rang behind him as heat flared at his back causing him to whip around body tense, but left hand still held firmly on the gate next to Claire’s smaller one. Shrill ringing followed the growing flames as the fire alarms were triggered by the explosion. Guttural groans sounded around him as he turned back towards Claire, who had pulled her gun with a stance prepared to move.
Looking back towards him as the once dormant corpses in the yard began to move, she spoke with a small amount of hope in her voice. “You wouldn’t happen to have a key to this gate, would you?”
Leon felt like he was hit by a truck as he was reminded of their situation. “No...” He started, and Claire’s brows pinched together in disappointment while he reached behind to pull free the bolt cutter. “But I have something better.” he states grabbing her attention causing a small smirk to cross her features.
“Well, you better hurry.” She said as she stepped away from the gate and aimed with both hands towards the slow-moving corpses. “These things love to bite.”
Leon felt a genuine huff of laughter leave him at her dark humor as he took the bolt cutters to what he could of the lock. Damaging it enough that he could brute force it open.
“Leon!” Claire shouted, voice somewhat panicked as the rotted corpses got closer towards her.
Leon straightened and stepped back from the gate as he prepared to kick it open. “Claire. Step back.” He commanded her and watched as she stepped away from the gate and further from the now shambling corpse, the aim of her gun never leaving it. With all the force he could summon Leon slammed his foot into the gate, bending metal as it shot open banging against the fence.
Surprise flitted across Claire's face before she rushed through the gate and further away from the walking corpses. “Damn Leon. Where have you been hiding that!” She laughed out as Leon led her towards the first-floor door he had exited earlier.
They entered the dark and bloody hall slamming the door behind them and reinforcing it with a desk Claire forced out from the room to their right. Once the door was blocked and banging on the other side made no progress in moving, they let out a relieved breath.
“Can’t say I’m enjoying the welcoming committee.” Leon cracked out his dark humor, helping him to cope with the situation. Claire rolled her eyes, but a snort of laughter left her anyway, and Leon felt his chest clench at the reaction that reminded him of his Claire.
“What should we do now?” Claire asked as she looked around the room, eyes momentarily lingering on the crushed heads of the corpses laying on the bloody floor. He watched her close her eyes and look away from the corpses causing Leon to feel ashamed about the brutality of how he delt with the threats.
Clearing his throat, Leon begins to answer. “We head to the main all. There is a survivor there is an officer; he's been helping me search for a way out of the RPD.” Leon says as he walks over to stand next to her. “Theres electronically locked gate on the other side of the room that we can go through to get to the main hall, but if I remember correctly its missing a fuse and I also need to find a valve that could be down here somewhere.”
She heaves out a tired sigh before gesturing ahead of them. “Lead the way, Hercules.”
Leon glances at her with a raised brow as she grins at him unapologetically before he instead shakes his head and goes for the door leading to the east wing offices. Swinging the door open, Leon readies Matilda as he sweeps the room with a lit flashlight finding no corpses in his line of sight. Stepping into the room, he motions for Claire to follow him as he goes left around the desks while Claire went right SLS 60 handgun raised and ready. The room was clear as he grabbed some ammo and herbs on his way to the single office past a window that he glanced out as he passed. Entering the small room Leon sweeps it before lowering him gun after finding no threats.
Almost sighing in relief, Leon holsters Matilda before picking up the red circular valve off the desk along with some yellow tinted gunpowder that he dropped into his hip pouch along with the ammo he will need to load into his magazines later.
“Hey Leon.” Claire calls from the other room and Leon turns exiting the room and meeting her at the end of the desks as she raises up a cylindrical yellow and white object up. “I think this is the fuse we might need for that gate.” She stated while extending it towards him.
“Yeah, that looks like the right fuse.” Leon says as he grabs it from her hand and heads for the door leading towards the gate to the main hall.
Putting his flashlight in the same hand as the valve Leon heads down the bloody and cluttered hall towards the fuse box a few feet from the sliding metal gate. Sliding the yellow and white fuse into place, the previously red light flickers green as screeching of the metal gate rising echoed throughout the hall.
“Thank god it was the right fuse.” Claire remarks as she holsters her own handgun and follows Leon through the gate. “Don’t think I could handle running around the whole building after running around the whole city.”
Leon doesn’t respond to that, but he could share the sentiment of not wanting to run around all over the place, but he must do that on every mission and practically plans for it every time. They walked into the well-lit main hall as Leon led Claire up a small set of steps towards the center of the room where the goddess statue and the Lieutenant were.
“Lieutenant Branagh,” Leon announces as he turned the corner towards the center of the hall. “I'm back and I brought a ... Friend” Leon said hoping they wouldn’t hear the brief pause as he and Claire stopped in front of the injured man that sat resting on the bench.
The man looked up at the both of them, face contorting briefly in pain as he repositions himself catching Claires immediate attention as she pulls out a small bundle of herbs moving to give them to him. “You’re in pain.” She states as she crouches next to him. “These should help to relieve it.”
The lieutenant stared at the green herbs before waving his hand. “Don’t waste that stuff on me. I’m not likely going to get out of here and you two need it more than me.” The man said voice gruff and dismissive.
Claire went to retort, but Leon beat her to it as anger welled in him again. “Lieutenant. We've been over this already.” Leon stated voice lower, catching both of their attention. “I am going to get all of us out of here alive. Even if I have to drag you out and force feed you those herbs to do it.” he firmly states as he crosses his arms over his chest and glares at the man. Claire stayed quite as she stared at Leon briefly shivering as the man beside her sighs before grinding out a ‘fine’.
Silence stretches between the three of them as Claire gives the green herbs to the man before her. “My names Claire Redfeild by the way.” She informs the lieutenant with a small smile. “I came here searching for my brother, Chris. Do you know where he is?” She asks hope clinging to her voice.
“Chris is your brother?” The man asks in confirmation and gets a nod in return. “He’s not here. Hasn't been for a while, long before the city went to hell.” The man said causing Claire's expression to deflate.
“If he’s not here, then where is he?” Claire asks.
“Last I heard he took a vacation in Europe and has been there since.” The lieutenant answered, pity crossing his expression.
Lepn stepped forwards and placed a comforting hand on Claire’s shoulder, noticing with confusion as Lieutenant Branagh stiffens at the action. “Everything will be alright. You will find him after this, I know you will.” Keon reassures heart aching at the thought of losing her again.
A smaller hand comes to rest on his as she stood up, a new fire now burning with conviction in her blue eyes. “Thanks Leon.” Patting his hand, she faces both of them and asks with determination. “Now. How do we get out of this hell hole?”
"Heavy is the burden that falls across crumbling pillers."
Bit of a future design for Leon in the Resident Evil Fanfic im writing. It just doesn't seem like anything goes well for him. Not even the return home from another mission.
you can find the fic here.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
I was going to have Leon and Claire meet up in this chapter/part but then I realized if I did add it then this would be a really long chapter so instead you get their encounter next chapter. All I have to say to that is damn myself for the need to be descriptive!! (I just love adding details to my stories! It's so fun until it screws my planning up, but I will never stop 😊) Also just want to apologize if the chapter feels drawn out or slow.
credit goes to @polarspaz for creating the Past Refraction AU
Hope you enjoy!
Leon’s figures threaded through the tear in the fabric, cold dread bleeding through his system as he blankly stares at where a bite mark should be. The bloody white cloth draped over his shoulder pulled hesitantly to the side revealing smooth pale skin underneath. Drying crimson blood painted the pale canvas of his skin, but no tear mauled its surface. No mold of rotted teeth indented in skin that clearly should have been there, but nothing remained, just the blood that briefly spilled.
He had been bitten but there was no proof. Just blood that could have come from anything. Could have come from the dead zombie in the main hall, but it was fresh. And that didn’t explain the two parallel tears in both his jacket and white shirt. Did he actually get bit, or had he ripped the clothes somehow? He couldn’t remember.
Why couldn’t he remember? He would know if he had been bitten. The feeling would never have left him. Some of them still have not. He could still feel the phantom pain in his forearm where he’d been bitten once. Acting up every time one of those things got close to him. But he hadn’t been bitten in Raccoon city; it only happens in his nightmares, right?
Leon let the fabric slip from his fingers and rest on his shoulders once more as his icy blue gaze drifted back to his dark colored jacket again. Its bunched-up form lay draped on the corner of the open crate with a leather-bound book balanced on top of it.
He had found it in his jacket pocket when taking it off, and it was only once he curiously opened it that he remembered what it was. Pages filled with notes and puzzles glared back at him as it hit him. It had been Elliott’s, a cop he had briefly met almost 30 years ago and failed to save, being ripped in half in front of his own eyes. It was not the worst death he had seen over the decades, but it was a death that still plagued him to this day and will likely continue too now that he’s failed a second time.
There’s nothing he could do now and there was nothing he could have done anyways having returned after the man’s death, but Leon still felt like he failed. That he could have done something when he knew that it was too late. He knows the man was dead when he arrived back, but he still blames himself. That he should have tried something.
Tiredly sighing, Leon drags calloused hands down his face, slightly hunching into himself as the air leaves his aching lungs. He could not dwell on this any longer. He had a mission to do and a promise to uphold. No matter how much he wished this to end. He had to do this. Had to try again.
Resigning himself to his fate, Leon reaches into the crate and pulls out the dark blue RPD uniform and hastily puts it on. Unlike before, the blue fabric sits heavy upon his shoulders, like a shadow of his past. There to remind him instead of protecting him.
Once done buttoning up the uniform over his white long sleeve shirt, he moves quickly on to putting the tactical vest over top. Expertly slipping it over his head, he straps it down tightly around his chest before attaching the necessary amenities. After securing the vest, he moves to put the combat boots on, replacing the sneakers he previously wore with more durable footwear.
Straightening back up, he reaches into the crate again to grab a thigh holster and the elbow and knee pads. After strapping everything into place, he picks up Matilda from the crate and holsters her before grabbing Elliott's leather-bound book in quick succession. Sparing one last glance at the tattered remains of his previous outfit, Leon swiftly turns and heads back up the few steps to where lieutenant Branagh sat.
His steps were light as he walked up to lieutenant Branagh who had done what Leon had pleaded and bandaged his wound that was now visible thanks to the unbuttoned uniform and raised bloody white shirt. The man had then preceded to lower the white shirt and pulled a laptop onto his leg as Leon stopped in front of him. The man glanced at Leon before lowing it to the book in Leon’s hand, raising an eyebrow as to ask where he’d gotten it.
Following his gaze Leon subconsciously tightens his grip on the leather bond book and lets out a barely audible ‘right’. Lifting his left-hand Leon extends the journal towards the Lieutenant. “I found this on an officer…” Leon starts as the ripped apart body of Elliott Edwards flashes across his vision. “I tried to help him, but I was too slow.” His voice started to crack as his throat involuntary tightened. “I couldn’t save him.”
Pity flashed across lieutenant Branagh‘s brown eyes as he gently reached up and took the book from Leon’s grasp. “I’m sure you tried your best…” Branagh assured but trailed off towards the end like he wanted to say more.
But Leon wasn’t really listening, true he had tried his best to save officer Edwards almost 30 years ago. At the time he didn’t know what was going on and he had been in pain when he had tried to pull the man from under the metal door and no matter how hard he had tried he had failed. That failure had haunted him for years; he could still feel the man’s flesh and bones tear apart as he desperately tried to save him. Back then it had been one of the most gruesome deaths he had ever seen but now. Leon’s seen so many gruesome deaths that it almost doesn’t bother him.
“It seems Elliott found a way out of here..” Branagh said drawing Leon’s attention back to the man. “Appears its underneath the goddess statue, if Elliott’s sketch is right.” The lieutenant continues before flipping the book around and handing it back to Leon to look over.
“That means we have a way out.” Leon states as he looks down a the crude sketch of their exit. “Now I just have to collect the keys to get out of here.”
Branagh furrows his brows at Leon, giving him a mildly suspicious glance before reaching up and flipping the page. “Yes, but the medallions are spread out all over the precinct. The lion is on the second floor of the main hall, and the unicorn I’ve seen in the lounge of the west wing on the second floor as well.” The lieutenant informs Leon as he points at each drawing with a bloody finger before coming to rest on the maiden statue sketch. “But the maiden statue? I don’t know. I’ve never seen it around, but it could be in the west wing.” Branagh states as he leans back into the bench. “There are a bunch of storage rooms I’ve never been in over there. Could be in one of those.”
Leon silently nodded after the lieutenant's explanation taking a moment to memorize the patterns before handing the notebook back to the man. “I’ll head to the west wing and search for the maiden medallion and grab the unicorn one as well, if you’re able to, head up and get the lion medallion. And when I get back, I’ll restock and we can figure out our next move.” Leon instructs, hashing out a small plan as he starts to check his gear, instinct and habit kicking in as he racks a bullet into the chamber of Matilda. “I’ll make sure to be quick.”
Turning on his heal, Leon makes his way towards the west wing entrance; Matilda held firm in his grasp. He had half expected the lieutenant to stop him and say something else, but the man was silent and from a subtle glance back the man had a strange look on his face. Like he didn’t know what to make of this situation they were in and that caused Leon’s brows to furrow slightly.
Ignoring the rising confusion, Leon stops in front of the taped off control panel of the electric emergency gate to the east wing. Immediately Leon reached back to grab his hatchet but froze when he was met with nothing. He’d forgotten the blade was not there, but its phantom weight still lingered like it was taunting him. Huffing Leon instead pulls out a pocketknife from his back pocket, something he had on him when he woke up and apparently had on him almost 30 years ago as well. Though he never used it and for good reason too. It would have done nothing but give these BOW's a paper cut.
Effortlessly slicing the yellow tape, Leon opens the metal panel while simultaneously snapping the pocket knife closed. With that out of the way he pulls down the lever before him, turning the previously red light green. An eerie groan echoes through the main hall as the mechanism gets traction and slowly opens the gate beside him allowing Leon to quickly duck under as it slowly rises.
Once inside Leon scans the warmly lit room of benches and corkboards. Nothing stood out to him as he made his way through the room other than a small box of ammo placed on the bench towards the end of the room. Grabbing the box with his empty hand he quickly checks its contents finding 5 bullets inside. Unbuttoning his hip pouch with his gun hand Leon dumps the ammo inside before tossing the empty box and snapping the pouch shut.
He’ll have to keep a look out for an extra magazine as he makes his way through the precinct. It will be dangerous and time consuming to continuously reload the one he has but he will have to make do for know and use his bullets sparingly. He can’t remember if he found any last time, but he hopes there are some around.
Leon quietly shoves the door open at the other side of the room making his way further into the west wing and down a dark and cluttered hallway. Blood coated the walls as he made his way down the hall sharp blue eyes sweeping over everything as he walked. Towards the end of the hall, he saw a still blue form of an officer sitting under the boarded window and kept an eye trained on him as he got closer. The rotting corpse didn’t show any signs of moving, so he silently turned the corner and swiftly stepped to the side to avoid running into a hanging body.
Letting out an irritated sigh, Leon moves past the hanging corpse noticing the door next to it, but he only stops briefly after seeing the stylized green clover on the dark wood. Ignoring the door for now, he continues down the hall, senses alert as rain pelted the windows next to him. He continues down the hall observing everything as he passes before focusing on another window at the end of the hall as a shadow sways behind it.
Readying Matilda, he doesn’t slow and doesn’t flinch when the glass breaks just feet from him with a rotten corpse stumbling over the sill. With one clean shot to the back of its head, he stuns the creature before closing the gap and slamming the heel of his boot into its weakened skull causing it to cave in with a wet ‘crunch’. Without missing a beat, he raises his gun down the adjacent hall, finding nothing but the doors to another room to the right. Getting his boot out of the wet remains of the rotten corpse, Leon goes into the empty warm lit room, clicking off his flashlight after he enters.
Scanning the room, he finds more ammo to his right as well as another corkboard at the far side of the room with a chained off door to its right. Tiredly sighing at the inconvenience that was most of Raccoon City Police Department doors and safes, Leon instead focusses on reloading his magazine while he was in a relatively safe place. Sliding the fully loaded magazine back in place, Leon moves to get a better look at the papers on the board, finding a mapped layout of the first-floor west wing.
Glancing one more time at the locked door, Leon wishes nothing more than for it to disappear. Raccoon city was just the start but for decades it felt like the world was against him with how many puzzles and locked doors he had to go through, and it never ceased to make him question the sanity of the people who created them. He honestly wished to meet the people that made his life all that much harder so he could beat the shit out of them for all the searching he did and time he wasted.
Turning away from the offending door, he looks around the room again for a way deeper into the precinct and sees the shattered window to his left. Climbing up onto a crate and through the window Leon thanks whatever sadistic god out there that the eternal pain in his back was reduced to almost nothing after practically three decades of being thrown around like a ragdoll. Though the pain he was feeling was more his head throbbing and a full body ache, than the back pain he was used to for the past couple of years. Ane there was also a subtle feeling of burning under his skin that he couldn’t quite place that reminded him of the intense burning he felt shortly after waking up. But for now, he ignored it as he squeezed through the shattered window.
Boots connected with shattered glass on tiles causing small crunching noise as he crouched to absorb the impact. A loud bang draws his aim up as he pivots right onto one knee towards a heftier zombie banging onto a destroyed vending machine. Raising from his crouched position, Leon fires three consecutive shots into the corpses' head causing it to explode like confetti at the third shot, crumbling its big form.
His face stayed neutral, but Leon felt bad for what used to be a man and potential fellow officer. The man's corpse had forever searched for food and that seemed like a terrible existence, and Leon remembered sparing the rotted corpse his first time through the department, finding no reason to waste ammo on the already distracted creature. But during his second time through the ruins of the Police department Leon felt great pity when he found the withered husk of said man still banging at the destroyed machine after decades had gone by. And after witnessing that he did not want the remains of the man to suffer the same fate again, even though he was already dead.
Hearing growling and moans further in the building he jogs down the hall and juts around the corner weapon raised as two more BOW’s shamble from another hall. He really has to wander why there were so many god damn halls in this building as he strides towards them shooting one twice in the head causing it to crumble, stunned, before shooting the other 4 times till its head explodes. The headless body hits the floor just as he reaches the other downed BOW and stomps twice into the stunned creatures' head until it caves under the force. Turning back towards the two adjacent doors, the metal one shudders then busts open as another corpse of an officer stumbles out towards Leon.
Two bullets later the corpse collapses unmoving, but Leon walks over and caves its head in anyways not wanting to take any chances with these things that don’t seem to like staying dead. Ejecting the last round in his chamber, Leon catches it before quickly reloading the magazine again. He should really conserve his ammo, but it was always a gamble with these things as to how many bullets it took to take them out. And he remembers finding ammo all over the precinct because at the time he thought it was stupid and irresponsible but not unwanted as he continued to run out of said ammo.
Turning from the metal storage locker room, Leon makes his way into the west office eyeing the dormant corpse resting at the corner desk but ultimately deciding to leave it be to save ammo. Making his way around the desks Leon grabs a cartilage of bullets and peaks into the captain's office, noticing another possible dormant corpse and a safe before making his way to where his desk would have been. Reaching his desk Leon tries to focus on the locks, but the reminder of what his future could have been hung over top of him like a haunting vestige. He enters the first initials of the names burnt into his memory of those who wished so much to have him join their department, and his hands trembled as he unlatched the desk and allowed it to roll open revealing the first and only gift from them.
Straightening up after grabbing the extended mag, Leon finally acknowledges the blue and yellow welcome banner above him, throat tightening. He really wished for this night to end. He didn’t want any more reminders of all of those he had failed to save. He didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to relive this. Why couldn’t he have died and just be done with this.
Clenching his jaw and swallowing hard, Leon forces his body to move and continue the mission. His body moved on auto pilot as he made for the second floor where the unicorn medallion was, automatically dispatching a rotten corpse trying to get in through a window at the bottom of the stairs. He jogs up the steps and stops at the top of the stairs where he sees the corpse of another officer. When it doesn’t move, he jogs past it and down the hall to where another lock free door stands. Entering the locker room, he felt warm mist greet him as steam hisses to his left, causing Leon to internally groan.
Right, he couldn’t get to the lounge or library this way; he had to go through the third-floor last time. And if he remembered correctly, that's also where the maiden medallion should be as well. He’s starting to regret repressing these memories, but he was bound to forget a few things in all the chaos that was his life. Wait now that he thinks about it didn’t he have to detonate an explosive in order to access the maiden statue. Damn, he was starting to remember another reason as to why he hated this place.
Sighing, Leon turns back around and makes his way out of the shower room and up to the third floor, briefly keeping an ear on the dormant corpse as his flashlight lit the steps in front of him. The floorboards creaked under his boots as he stepped through a destroyed wall and into a small room with a single lamp illuminating it. Nothing of use was in the small room aside from the blue spade key that Leon dropped into his front pants' pocket before continuing through the still intact door.
He quickly made his way down the hallway and into the storage room without any surprises, and just like he remembered, the maiden statue was barred off with some C4 stuck to planks of wood. Taking a quick sweep of the room, Leon bypasses everything and headed for the door barely visible behind a large pillar. Ducking underneath another hanging corpse, he quietly opens the thankfully unlocked door and enters the well-lit library. Groans of rotting corpses greats him from below, and Leon readies Matilda as he peaks over the railing and domes a feeding BOW in one shot, its head exploding into blood and gore.
Th sound of the gun fire draws the attention of the two other BOW’s shambling around in the library, their groans echoing off the high walls. Leon wastes no time in getting a couple of clean shots into them, stunning one and causing the other to stumble back. Not wanting to consume more ammo, he makes his way towards the stairs in the opposite side of the library giving himself some time to look around and spot a knife in the limp grasp of another officer at the bottom of the stairs.
Grabbing the tactical knife Leon raises up just in time to fire off a point-blank shot to the head into the rotting corpse that tried to lunge at, causing its momentum to be halted and allowing Leon to drive his newly acquired blade into its eye socket. Pulling the blade free with his left hand, he briefly shakes it splattering blood and brain matter onto the floor.
Dragging steps brought his attention back to the remaining walking corpse as it made its way towards Leon through the small path between two large bookshelves. Shifting his right foot back and bending his knees, he waits for the shambling corpse to lunge at him. In the millisecond he saw it lunge, Leon was throwing his weight into a spin and bringing his right foot up to catch the BOW in the jaw sending it to the ground and dislocating the jaw with a deadly ‘crunch’. Regaining his balance from an almost perfect round house kick, Leon strides over to the corpse and slams his heel into it, ceasing all its movements.
Taking a moment to breathe, Leon reloads the magazine in Matilda and uses the remaining bullets in his hip pouch to start filling the extended mag he got from his desk. Though it didn’t fill out the 24-slot mag, it gave him a better option than having to manually reload the same clip over and over again. Because now he can just switch out his mag before having to reload both again. After finishing up loading both clips Leon turns back around and heads for the door to the left of the stairs he had just come down. Opening the stained wood door, he was met with a small grey speckled room and bronze statue.
Finally, he made it to the lounge where Luetenant Branagh said the unicorn medallion was only after having to take the long way around to get here. But would it really be one of his missions if he was not inconvenienced in some way or had to go on a side quest to get some small but important item. Now all he had to do was just find the valve, the detonator, and get the maiden medallion so he and Lieutenent Branagh could get out of here. Then hopefully he can catch up to Claire and Sherry before...
Wait, Claire! He'd forgotten about Claire. Fuck how could he have forgotten about her. God she was going to kill him for that. Wait, she was going to kill him for dying on her after not telling her that he was going to investigate a lead on the Raccoon City Syndrome. Damn, how was he going to explain that to her. Fuck how was he supposed to explain that he was in the past and that he was about to....
Cold dread raced through his being as he realized he was stuck in the past. That the Claire he knew and grown to care for will not be the same Claire he was bound to find in this city. That she won’t know him. The Leon that survived so many outbreaks with her by his side, the one that had suffered in silence for decades, before she had finally forced him to talk about his problems. This Claire, the one in the past, the Claire who was only 19 years old, doesn't know him. And that makes him feel alone, like it's the world against one man, him.
He wants to scream. To punch something hard, but his body was frozen in place. Everyone he had met. Everyone who had become his family, who had supported him with little questions asked, were gone. Sherry who had been a scared young girl when they met, who had grown up to be a capable woman and was like a daughter to Leon was once again that scared young girl that didn’t even know Leon existed yet. And that tour his chest in two.
No one. Not Chris. Not Jill. Not Hunnigan. Not even Ada will remember him. And that makes everything feel all too real. It makes the weight pressing down on his shoulders all the more heavier, and he just wants it to stop. Why couldn’t anything go his way. Why did he have to continue to suffer. Why did he have to remember while everyone else has likely forgotten.
Why did the people he care most about have to forget him? How was he supposed to handle being around them when all he will be able to see is the people they become. It will tear him apart, more than the T-virus had already, and more than waking up in the past will. Everything he has done. Everything he has worked for and tried to fix was for nothing, because they won’t remember him.
Claire. His Claire. His friend. His trusted companion was gone.
I made a continuation of my previous One shot I did a few weeks ago based on @polarspaz Past Refraction AU. You can find the the series/story im the link bellow.
I hope you all enjoy!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/84629696
Pressure held him down like a sinking stone on the cool hard surface below him. The chilled marble draining what little warmth he had, but not the feeling of the previous burning that sent jolts of pain through him. Every bone in his body shivered, and his muscles ached, but nothing compared to the blinding fire and pain that radiated from his head. Though the pain was immense it was grounding like the cool floor beneath his skin. He felt muscles twitch as the aching and burning sensations subsided, but he could still not think clearly, his head exploding in white hot fire with every small tremor of movement. His chest rose and fell, each breath forcing aching but free lungs into movement necessary for life.
Sound came to him last, muffled and mute but with every noise hitting him like a railroad spike to his cranium. Numbness started settling in across his body, the floor and him becoming harder to distinguish apart, when hard irregular pressure jabbed him in the sensitive nerves of his shoulder. His body tried to react as his mind lagged behind, muscles twitching in an effort to convince his mind to react. To do something in their incapacitated state.
With more effort than wished necessary he ignored the throbbing in his head and focused on moving his numb limbs, pulling a sluggish hand up under him as he tried to move away from the object poking him. He immediately regretted the idea as the aching returned but thankfully more bare able than the burning before. Nausea hit him immediately afterwards as he sagged onto his right side, shoulder now digging uncomfortably into the ground, adding more pain to his shot and over stimulated nerves.
He tried to open his eyes but quickly shut them with a painful hiss escaping his hoarse throat as a flashbang of yellow entered his view sending more pain through his skull. After a readying breath he once again cracked his tired eyes open as the yellow light flooded him but he forced his eyes to stay open, squinting them as they slowly adjusted to his surroundings.
Everything was a blur of yellow and brown as his eyes slowly cleared revealing a large open hall that struck familiarity and pain in him but his mind was so fogged over that he could not remember, everything just kept drifting away from him. Something dark shifted in front of him and his eyes locked onto it, blurring from the sudden motion before hyper fixating on the two black masses inches from his face. His mind slowly registered the black shoes before slowly traveling up the still body to a man dressed in a blue uniform and firm expression.
“Leon?”
The man spoke and the fog in his mind shattered as everything came slamming back into him like a speeding freight train. His past. His present. All of it flashed through his mind adding to his growing headache. He remembered that the man now standing above, that was tightly gripping a standard Issued tactical knife, was supposed to be dead. That thought struck a cord in Leon as the distant sound of Grace screaming his name and the echoing sound of a gun going off rang through his ears. A shiver went down his spine as a trembling hand reached up to his head that continued to throb.
He had died. Shot through the skull before the leaching T-virus could finish him off. And now…
Leon’s eyes drifted once more around the room, the familiarity and pain returning as his focused eyes took in the more intact and softly lit structure of the main hall of the RPD. Everything was the same as that nightmare almost 30 years ago. The same dilapidated hell that started the downward spiral that was his life.
How was he here? Was this hell? If this was hell, then this was one rude awakening to death. Everything still hurts, especially his head. But why does everything still hurt. When you died weren’t you supposed to feel nothing, just cease to exist. And if this was hell, why was the Lieutenant here? He didn’t deserve this.
Shoving that away for another time he slowly shifts his gaze and makes eye contact with the dead man in front of him. “Lieutenant Branagh?” He grounded out, voice cracking and hoarse, the pitch higher than anything he had been used to for decades. It barely registered to him with all the confusion already racking his brain about the situation he’s already in and the migraine only makes it worse to try and figure it out.
Leon watched with furrowed brows as many emotions crossed the Lieutenants face, fear, confusion, anger, and many more Leon couldn’t catch with how fast they came and gone. He saw the man clench and unclench his whitening grip on the hilt of the blade causing silent anxiety to spike in Leon’s gut. With the sudden urge to move his aching body Leon carefully maneuvers to a sitting position with one leg awkwardly bent out stretching his hip, while the other was used as an arm rest for the hand still cradling his head. While shifting he saw the Lieutenant flinch but stand his guard and that only caused Leon’s confusion to grow, wandering what would cause this kind of reaction out of the man, because the injured Lieutenant had never acted this way before. At least not as far as Leon could remember of the man. He had only known his future potential colleague for a few hours after all.
Leon shifts his icy blue gaze back up to the Lieutenant after hearing the man shift on his feet and was met with a firm yet underlined fearful gaze. “What…” The Lieutenant started but seemed to shudder interrupting himself as he pressed harder on his wound and tightened his hold on the knife. “What the fuck was that!?” He started again voice hard and gravely causing Leon to suppress a flinch almost successfully.
The way he had said it almost made Leon wander if he killed the man’s puppy. He has no idea what could have caused this kind of reaction out of Lieutenant Branagh. The man had never reacted this way towards him before. Agitated, scared, and resigned, but not down right fearful, angry, and suspicious. This only caused his anxiety and confusion to spike as his headache worsened in his attempt to figure it out. “What?” Leon voiced his confusion, voice cracking painfully and causing him to wince.
But his obvious confusion didn’t stop the scared man from continuing. “You were just a… You just…just…” The Lieutenant started and kept stopping mid sentence like he couldn’t put words to what he just witnessed. “I don’t know what the fuck just happened!” The man growled, fear and aggression reverberating through him, before he pointed the sharp blade at Leon, causing said man’s eyes to widen. “You were…” Lieutenant Branagh started again but seemed to stop as he looked at Leon more closely.
Leon stayed completely still as the Lieutenant studied him with a suspicious and confused gaze. It felt like hours but was likely seconds went by before the man lowered the sharp blade from Leon’s face. He took a shaky breath he didn’t know he was holding in as the Lieutenant’s gaze seemed to soften ever so slightly.
“Do you even know what just happened?” The Lieutenant asked, voice more even, but stance no less prepared for action.
Leon simply continued to look up at the man brows knitted together as he started to absent mindedly rubbed at his temple in a poor attempt to soothe the throbbing pulse. He remembered what happened before he woke up and he knows it will be something that haunts him for a long time no matter the acceptance he felt at the time. He will always remember her plea and the all encompassing pain that briefly followed. But he doesn’t know what the Lieutenant is asking and that admittedly worries him.
With the way he is reacting, something rattled the man to his core and is unable to lower his guard around Leon, not that Lieutenant Branagh lowered it the last time, just felt safer then. But now? Leon didn’t know and it terrified him no matter how much he tried to suppress it like many other things that has happened to him. He felt so lost, but he kept his breathing even; the ache almost gone now from his chest as he tried to figure out what could have caused Lieutenant Branagh to react this way. Because if this was the afterlife than it was one hell of a welcoming and he desperately hoped it was the afterlife or whatever was out there, because the alternative was worse than dying itself.
Because if this is what his gut is telling him it is then everything he lived through for the past 3 decades was for nothing.
He felt dread wash over him as his lungs seized, forcing him to get them into motion again. He couldn’t think about it. He didn’t want think about. To know he might have to relive that nightmare all over again. It hurt. Reopening everything he shoved behind reinforced walls.
Silence stretched on as Leon found the courage to finally answer. “I don’t know.” He mumbled out before wetting his chapped lips. “I just woke up here.” It wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t the full truth and Leon doesn’t think he could voice the whole truth even if he tried.
Silence rained over them again as distant groans and growls put them on edge but Leon didn’t move right away and neither did lieutenant Branagh. His eyes drifted back down to the floor at his feet as he brought both hands up to rub at his aching skull. The throbbing was going away pain stakenly slow but that only allowed Leon to get more lost in his own thoughts. He didn’t know what was going on and truthfully he really didn’t want to know. He had just died, accepted his impending death long ago, but now he’s trapped in this never ending nightmare again that seems far to real. That shouldn’t be real. That shouldn’t be happening, but his instincts were telling him otherwise. And he wished nothing more than for them to be false.
The sound of shuffling feet and a pained grunt brought Leon’s attention back to the Lieutenant. The man had carefully sat himself down on the bench a few feet behind him that was centered in the middle of the main hall. He watched with continued dread as the Lieutenant carefully prodded at the wound on his abdomen, sneering when it caused him further pain. But what caught Leon’s trained eye was the beginnings of greying skin and dark veins reaching from the man’s wound. And it caused Leon’s blood to go cold and fingers to twitch as his decades of survival and hard trained instincts told him to take care of the problem before it became a threat.
Everything felt too real. Because no matter how much a wished it wasn’t. No matter how much a he tried to mentally block it. He was somehow back at the beginning. Back where it all started.
Everything went numb as his body started to move on autopilot, prepared to take on the mission at hand while his mind tried to block everything out. His legs moved underneath him as he stood, fumbling only once as the feeling flooded back through his tingling nerves. Sharp blue eyes scanned his surroundings trudging up every bad memory of this place while simultaneously overlapping it with the ruined remains of its future. Everything was meticulously swept over until his gaze landed on the rotten corpse directly behind him. Its still form that of the remains of an RPD officer, but what caused Leon’s brows to knit together was the way it was dispatched. Instead of a clean shot to the head the rotted corpse had been simply decapitated instead.
Leon took a few steps towards the corpse when his foot connected with something metal on the cluttered floor. It skidded a few inches towards the dead body as Leon’s blue eyes shot towards it. Stifling a groan he bent down to pick up the cold steal and familiar weight of the first fire arm that had brought him through hell, Matilda. The sight of the gun only solidified his fears as flashes of distant memories flooded his vision. The grip on his old gun grew tight as he clenched his eyes shut forcefully shoving those memories away.
Opening his eyes, Leon forced himself to relax as he focused on the rotted corpse before him. The way the thing had been killed set him on edge and the closer he got to it the more confused he felt. The head had clearly been forcefully cut from the body and Leon would even go as far as to say Marvin’s could have done it, but that felt wrong. The way the neck had been cleaved through reminded him of something else. Something he had found out after decades of hardship, was slightly better than a knife when facing bio-terrorism. It reminded him of how he dispatched threats with his hatchet and that realization alone made him physically check his person. Even after checking twice that he had no such blade on him Leon couldn’t help but feel its phantom weight.
Looking over his shoulder Leon couldn’t help the confusion painted all over his face as he studied the room around him again. Nothing was making sense. How was he back? How was he still breathing? How did the BOW get killed by a weapon that was not even here, wasn’t even in the room. It made no sense and the more he tries to figure it out, the more his head starts to hurt.
Pivoting on his toes Leon almost smoothly stands to his feet, vision blurring only momentarily, as he faces towards the Lieutenant again. If this really was the past, and he really didn’t want to think about it, but he knew what he had to do. What he needed to do. Even if he doesn’t believe he can change anything, or if he should change anything. He was going to try. No matter the mission. No matter the nightmare, he was going to try and help as many people as he could. It was the one thing the government could never shake him out of doing.
Walking over to the Lieutenant, Leon carefully put Matilda in the waist band behind his back before coming to a stop a few feet from the injured man. “we should bandage your wound.” Leon quietly stated causing the man to flinch a little even though he had watched Leon walk up to him.
Leon knows what is happening to the man, having experienced it himself, but he knew he will have more time at saving the stubborn man if they stopped the bleeding before it could weaken him more. It wouldn’t give him much time but whatever extra time he can get the Lieutenant, the better the chances the man will have, but Leon just had to find the cure. Because even if he still fails the lieutenant again he’s not going to give up so easily this time. He will keep trying even if he has to drag the man along with him.
The Lieutenant gave Leon a scrutinizing look before tiredly shaking his head. “Don’t waist the supplies on me.” The man stated firmly while half heartedly waving his hand. “I’m a lost cause. There’s nothing you can do.” He ground out as Leon started moving, carefully searching the surrounding area until he found what he was looking for.
Grabbing the mostly clean bandages and compression wrap found in a hastily discarded medic station, Leon countered the man. “No.” he firmly stated before heading back towards the Lieutenant. “Even if you believe yourself a lost cause.” Leon pointed out gruffly causing Branagh to flinch. “This could give us time to find a cure . For you or anyone else infected I come across.” He tried to compel as he came to a stop in front of the Lieutenant.
“Please, allow me to help.” Leon almost choked out, throat seizing as the words left him.
Lieutenant Branagh's dark brown gaze rested on him, eyes widened at the not so silent plea, but then it hardened as his jaw set as white knuckles grip tightened on the gleaming blade. “There is no point! I’ve lost too much blood already and I’m already infected!” The man growled out almost yelling, hand pressing harder onto his injured abdomen. “I’m going to become one of those things and there’s no use in prolonging the infection for misplaced hope!” He spat out, mindlessly waving the blade around as he spoke.
Leon felt his heart constrict as a similar conversation haunted him while Branagh spoke. His jaw flexed as his teeth ground against each other as he tried to focus on the man in front of him once again telling Leon he could not save him. He felt a fire burn deep inside him as he grit his teeth harder and ground out ,almost growling at the man who he was going to try and save.
“You are not a lost cause.” Leon proclaimed but something in Leon’s sharp gaze caused the lieutenant to freeze, a spike of fear running through the man. He felt himself stiffen but he couldn’t stop. He had to convince the man before him. “ I will get us out of here. I will find a cure. And I will save anyone that I can.” ‘unlike the first time.’ Leon vowed, voice softening as he spoke but determined nonetheless. “No matter what it takes. Even if I fail in the end. I won’t stop trying!”
Leon’s voice softened, scratching at his throat and expression relaxing as tiredness drained him. “So please. Allow me to bandage it.”
Branagh was stiff before him, gaze conflicted as he tried to study the young man in front of him. Instinct told the older officer to run, but everything else contradicted it. The young man in front of him was being earnest and was determined to help the lieutenant, though his instincts told him one wrong move and he was next. But he knew, deep down he knew, he was not going to win this small battle.
Wearily sighing the lieutenant relents. “Fine, but I can bandage myself. And if I start turning you will shoot me. No matter what you promise. Understood.”
Leon felt bone deep tiredness as his headache briefly throbbed causing his vision to double for a second. Though he grit his teeth and bore through it along with the idea of having to put the lieutenant out of his misery again. He understood the man’s request and he was going to do his best to make sure he will never have to act on it as he nods his head in response, short blond hair swaying slightly at the movement.
The Lieutenant groans as he shifts his weight, finally letting go of his knife in exchange to rub at his face with the now free hand. “If you’re really going to do this than you will need more suitable clothing and gear.” The lieutenant says lowing his hand and briefly glancing at Leon’s shoulder. “There’s an extra uniform that should fit you in the crates near the front desk, along with some gear that could be useful.”
Turning his head in the direction Branagh gestured and where Leon remembered the RPD uniform and riot gear were stored. He took a steadying breath as he knobbed his head again and quietly thanked the lieutenant before handing him the medical supplies. A sinking pit filled his gut as he turned from the injured man and walked towards where he pointed.
Leon was out of sight of the lieutenant when he stopped in front of the open crate of riot gear and police uniforms, his feet locking him in place as he caught sight of the dark blue fabric. The printed logo of the RPD stared back at him sending adrenaline and dread though his system, bringing up every haunting nightmare of this night. That night had been the first and only time he had worn the famed RPD uniform and he had never wished to see it again after everything he had went through. Its thick fabric had weighed heavily on him, brandishing his every wound and the Kevlar vest had constricted him like the nightmares that followed. But no matter what he did it followed him, everywhere he went and every time he closed his eyes, it was there. Doing nothing to protect him just like that night.
Clenching his hands tight Leon forced himself to move. He had too. He had a mission. He made a promise and he was going to do everything he could to keep it this time. To save Lieutenant Marvin Branagh, the Kendo’s, Claire, Sherry, everyone and anyone he found. No matter the cost he will get them out of this hell. He will make sure no one else died for his failures.
Had the idea of Sabastion Castellanos and Leon Kennedy meeting, so I drew a sketch of them hanging out. They are both tired and need a break. Its been a long few decades for them.
I started this a few days ago and finally finished it! Yay! This is a bit of my take on how he transforms in the past refraction au and it turned out pretty good. Im a little disappointed that the flames are hard to see but the dude wares a lot of black and I just had to choose that color for the fire.
Anyways thank you @polarspaz for the inspiration!!
@polarspaz 's Past Refraction AU has not left my mind since I found it and I was not planning on writing anything for it, but like a fish flying mock 5, it it in the side of the head while I was trying to go to sleep. So at 2am my plans changed and so spent the next 40 min jotting it down. And now I present the finished product!!
Thank you polarpaz for the inspiration once more!
The suspended platform bellow them shook and lurched in its downward decent into the abyss. His knees smacked the metal hard, his body giving into the dark slithering ache of his being, brought on by the black leaching veins visible on his pale skin. Labored breath escaped his bloody lips as the screeching of metal echoed in his ringing ears. His body sagged awkwardly on his knees as his tired gaze pleaded for the young blonde reaching so desperately for him on the ledge above to flee. To not suffer the trauma of his inevitable downfall. To survive this place unlike he will. To escape unlike so many in this cursed remains of a city. To live like so many he failed to save. To not be one of his so many regrets.
But at least he was able to save someone. To save her.
A weak cough scraped his throat and shot sparking pain through him as a White shadow moved to stand over him. He never lowered his head no matter how defeated he felt. No matter the acceptance. No matter the pain it brought. He stared down the barrel of the extended barrel of a modified weapon held in dark gloved hands. Even when his vision blurred and doubled. The audible click of the hammer resonated through him prepared for what was to come.
“LEON!!”
He heard her scream, voice hoarse and pained echoing around the large descending tunnel. Knowing her tears were there but unable to see them or comfort her. The concussive blast of the white shadows pistol deafened everything bring blinding white pain with it, but he could still hear distant call of his name resonating around him growing deeper. His head whipped back at the force of the bullet shattering his skull, blood spraying around him like a halo and the blurry world went abruptly black.
~~~~~~~~
Marvin Branagh’s breath hitched in his throat as the Rookie Leon S Kennedy who was told to stay away days ago was manhandled by one of the rotting corpses of this dieing city. The thing that was once his colleague bit hard into the shoulder of the younger man tearing through clothe, skin, and muscle with a sickening squelch. Not moments ago the kid was ready to dispatch the lumbering disease that followed Marvin into the main hall. But before the startled but confident Rookie could get the shot off he lurched forwards clutching at his head in pain allowing the rotted corpse to lunge with surprising speed and attack.
Marvin’s throat went dry momentarily forgetting about the chunk of flesh and muscle missing from his abdomen as he grabbed for his knife with a bloody shaking hand. The large blade slide free with little effort, its stainless steel already flecked with blood. He took a regretful and mournful step forward, cursing himself for what’s happening to the poor Rookie who’d walked into his grave. Morning the man the kid could have been and the unmovable conviction he briefly displayed.
Mid-step the hairs on the back of his neck and arms raised stopping Marvin in his tracks, strides away from the slaughter as an eeriness took over the room worse than what blanketed the city. The sinking pit in his gut that accompanied him for days opened into a deep endless cavern, and his hardened brown eyes widened in shock and horror as the rookies head jerked back like being hit with a sudden concussive forces as a silent scream escaped his parted lips. Marvin’s mind reeled back in horror as Leon’s skin peeled, flaking off in pale and red meaty chunks, revealing a partially cracked bone white skull underneath. The shadows of the skull darkened as void black smoke escaped from the edges of the parted jaw, with even a small trail of it exited from a shattered hole in the center of the forehead. The once dirty blond loose hair lengthened to its neck and darkened in color with streaks of grey forming at what should have been the temples. Black flames erupted around its body burning away the casual clothing of the once rookie replacing it with broader shoulders and a black fur lined leather jacket. Marvin watched as it traveled down Leon’s frozen form watching as his hands suffered the same fate as his once pretty boy face with the tattered sleeves of the leather resting on them. The tattered hem of the jacket ended just bellow the waist with dark grey pants replaced the scuffed jeans with dark worn combat boots finishing out the new form of the creature in front of him. The void black flames died down but still licking at the shoulders of the slightly taller imposing figure of the once rookie.
Fear spiked through Marvin as the agape jaw of the creature snapped shut with a resounding ‘clack’ of teeth and burning icy blue ethereal eyes lit like a flame in the dark empty sockets. Another wave of fear washed through Marvin as the beings head slowly lowered to the rotted corpse desperately sinking its teeth into its shoulder. A slow precise bone hand reach up grabbing a fist full of loose hair before violently ripping the rotted corpses mouth from its now smoking shoulder, dislocating its jaw and breaking teeth from their roots causing them to clatter to the marbled floor. With a firm grasp on the swaying corpse, the creature reached behind and underneath the hem of its tattered leather jacket, pulling free a sharp hatchet, its blade shattered looking and glinting in the yellow lights of the large open hall. With a glint of steel the hatches was brought up to the struggling corpses neck before being forcefully ripped through the tendons and bone causing the body to go limp and collapse, gravity detaching what remains of the neck from its head that was held steadfast in an unyielding grasp.
Marvin took an involuntary step back, his mind reeling and instincts screaming as his foot connected with stray debris scattered on the floor, the noise drawing the attention of the ethereal creature that replaced the Rookie Cop Leon S Kennedy. The sharp blue glow of its eyes locked onto him sending shivers down Marvin’s spine and dread though his being. Without breaking eye contact with Marvin’s frozen form, it tossed the decapitated head aside before turning completely towards him revealing a dark grey-blue shirt tight against its frame with two straps around its abdomen likely for a harness and a tactical belt around its waist. With the full brunt of the creatures attention Marvin found he couldn’t move, couldn’t breath, and couldn’t think. Fear locking him in place no matter how hard he begged himself to move as its imposing figure took step after step towards him the shattered blade of the hatchet glinting with each step towards him.
He couldn’t bring himself to look away from his possible impending death. Couldn’t comprehend the thing in front of him was nothing more that a 21 year old kid fresh out of the academy moments ago. Couldn’t even begin to think or understand what had just happened. Dread and acceptance washed over him with each millisecond it got closer. He felt his sticky blood covered hand tighten around the tactical green hilt of his knife subconsciously ready to defend in his frightened state as the creature was mere strides away from him. But before instinct could act it stuttered, its frame tilting forwards as its ethereal blue eyes flickered like a dying flame. The created momentum carrying it forwards and straight to the ground with a resounding ‘thud’. Marvin’s gaze lingered where the skeleton like creature was before slowly traveling down to where its form now lay mere inches from him face down. In pure shock and surprise Marvin watches as the form practically melted revealing the battered form of rookie cop Leon Kennedy. Taking another step back Marvin’s unoccupied hand traveled to his still sluggishly bleeding abdomen wound as his gaze never left the young unconscious form in front of him.
I have been on a drawers high for the past few days and its been ✨️Awsome✨️! So I drew three of my favorites breifly meeting. Sebastian Castellanos, Leon Kennedy, and Altair Ibn-la'Ahad. All Amazing in their own rights.
Also if Sebastian and Leon look weird its because its my first time and second time drawing them.😅
This is an old drawing i have been working on for two and a half years and it was inspired by a scene in my Assassin's Creed fanfiction I'm writing.
I have a head canon that before Umar died he would take his son to the ramparts or wooden ledges and tell him about the constellations especially about the Aquila where you can find the Altair star.
If your curious about my story here is a link to that.
This is my first ever post on Tumblr and i decided to post a drawing i got inspired to draw by @polarspaz and their Past Refraction AU. I loved their concept of Leon being a supernatural being created by Death and getting a second chance that I had to contribute a drawing to the AU.
Another funny note is as I was drawing, I was sending my progress to a friend and they said it jump scared them when they opened it! 🤣
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