So one day the group manages to go a mini vacation together after finishing a VERY rough mission. They decided to rent out a cabin by the lake, desperately needing the isolation and quiet atmosphere after the bullshit they just went through for a few days.
Of course they all decide to go relax by the water and Leon, after mulling it over a bit, decides to go swimming as a Dragon. The thought of the pendent slipping off his neck and getting lost in the murky depths forever made his anxiety spike just thinking about it, so he takes it off first and tucks it into Sherry's bag for safe keeping before diving into the lake.
He's honestly quite surprised at how well he can swim like this, his long body cutting through the water with little resistance. He even finds out that he can hold his breath for over 90 minutes and spends some of his time diving to the bottom of the lake, scavenging through the junk that had been collecting there for decades.
It quickly becomes a fun game and most of the group is huddled together by the shore, trying to guess and place bets on what Leon might find next. They watch as Leon manages to drag out a bike, an owl stature, some pretty shells/rocks, parts of an old boat, 3 handguns, and the creepiest find, a box filled with headless barbies dolls.
Needless to say, they actually end up having A LOT of fun.
@polarspaz Hey uhhh I did a thing… I blame TelliLeon for this lol
Me and a friend were talking and I thought it would be funny, also I was tempted to give Carlos a beard but it felt weird on a Teletubby. I was laughing every step of the way through the drawing.
OMG, Jill's little hat and Carlo's curly hair are REALLY CUTE!
And I'm cackling at Carlos reacting to the Wesker sun XD
I honestly don't know which one would be creepier to deal with, a baby head or Wesker's head as the sun? Both are VERY unsettling. XD
Okay, listen the idea of TelliTubbi Leon (we'll call him TelliLeon for short)
being this cantankerous little thing, that's incredibly bitter and pissed at his own existence is hilarious to me. Think of Vendetta Leon, but he's even more angry and murderous than before, ready to throw down with anyone or anything with ZERO hesitation.
Like I would not be surprised if TelliLeon somehow managed to strangle a Tyrant to death with his just little mitten hands, that's literally how angry this little dude is.
TelliLeon also constantly drinks and is an absolute miserable mess, he also cannot swear, no matter how hard he tries.
Like instead of saying "Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me!" he'll say, "Oh you gotta Fluff'n'nutter kidding me." with such venom that it's actually kinda scary.
((Sorry, had to get this cursed shit out of my system-! XD I was just tickled pink about the idea of ZombieLeon chilling out with TelliLeon and this happened.))
Hello hi again I can’t stop laughing to myself about this hypothetical situation so please enjoy this scene of nonsense. This is genuinely so stupid but I’ve been awake since yesterday lmao
Tags: @quasar-crew @polarspaz
It’s 9:26 AM on a Wednesday in March, and Ashley is already drinking. She winces through the burn and hands Luis back his flask while a chorus of offended and surprised noises sound from the assembled men in front of her.
What do you call it when there’s multiple of the same person? It’s a flock of birds, a school of fish, a herd of cows, a… multiverse? Paradox? A Smartass of Leons Kennedy?
She decides a paradox is probably the best call, and claps her hands together sharply to get everyone’s attention.
“Alright. We have no idea how long this is going to be, because nobody here has a degree in theoretical quantum physics, so while you’re all here, you all need nicknames. We can’t call you all by the same name, I’m already nursing a migraine and this hasn’t even started,” Ashley announces.
The little one, the one that looks the most like her Leon, raises a hand awkwardly like she’s a teacher.
“None of you get to be Leon. To keep it fair.”
His hand goes down. Luis snickers faintly somewhere on the far side of the whiteboard that was dragged outside. He’s working on… something. A PoliSci minor doesn’t exactly qualify her to sit at the big kids table when it comes to biochemical engineering.
Ashley points at her Leon, who raises an eyebrow in return. “Infected with a normal Plaga, that was modified with an injection from Luis while we were in Spain. You’re our Leon, from here. Name suggestions?”
Her Leon shrugs. “Local?”
She writes ‘LOCAL’ on the sticky nametag and starts to pass it over, then thinks better, instead popping up onto tiptoes to slap it on his ribs.
“So we can all read it, not just those of you who have to duck on escalators,” she explains. He nods in agreement, then wanders off to whisper with his boyfriend like a giant highschooler in a boring class. Very helpful.
Ashley points to the next Leon, the little one that raised his hand. “Plaga. Spain?”
He fidgets with the hem of an obviously too small sweater before he answers. “A genetically altered mutualistic Plaga, in Raccoon City.”
There’s murmurs at that, and the little one looks awkwardly at his feet.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-four?”
More cross-chatter arises as Ashley prints ‘ROOKIE’ onto the next sticky tag. The little guy takes it with a sheepish smile (or close enough with mandibles) and carefully applies it to his shirt.
The Leon that looks alarmingly like the red robed verdugo with hair is next. He’s sat on the grass with his tail curled around him, looking at her expectantly.
“Let me guess. Plaga, Spain, it just mutated you in a different way? Am I close?”
He nods, then makes a noise that reminds Ashley of a junebug trapped in a screen door.
“Sorry, I… I have no idea what you just said,” she tells him.
“He said you’re right,” Rookie pipes up. “He also said that he can’t really talk.”
Ashley blinks, then decides that she’s not getting paid enough to dig into how that translation worked. “Great. You got a nickname?”
She gets a shrug back, and another chittering noise. Both of them turn to Rookie, who again, looks bashful at the attention. “He said that the only nicknames he has are… from Luis, and ‘not necessarily for mixed company.’”
Ashley snorts. “Well, we have to call you something. Even if it’s pervy Spanish.”
His eyes scrunch up happily and he says something else, and Rookie nods. “Scotty?”
Ashley nods, and writes out ‘SCOTTY’ on his nametag.
“Most of you look pretty… normal,” she hazards. It’s true, they really do just look like normal human Leon, in unfamiliar clothes. “Are you all infected, or like… normal, or…?”
“Stole the power of a demonic Plaga and now I can turn into a Devil.”
“Cursed necklace turns me into a dragon when I take it off.”
“Mini Godzilla.”
There’s a long beat of silence as everyone stares at each other, and Ashley contemplates taking up recreational drug use.
“You know what, I’m—I’m not getting into all of that right now,” she says, squeezing her temples before she quickly jots down ‘DEVIL’, ‘DRAGON’, and ‘KAIJU’. “I don’t know what kind of insane dimensions you’re all from, and honestly I don’t think I want to.”
“You guys don’t have a Godzilla?” Kaiju asks, sticking his tag on without complaint.
“We do. It’s a movie. With a guy in a rubber costume stomping on a cardboard Tokyo, not in real life. No demons or dragons, either,” Ashley tells them.
“Technically not a demon,” Devil says with a shrug. “There’s a difference.”
“Okay, so what is the difference?”
He takes a beat. “Semantics, mostly, I think. I don’t actually know. Dante tried to explain it one time, but it didn’t make much sense.”
“… cool. Anyways,” she steamrolls through the conversation, not wanting to get into the idea of Real Actual Dragons at the moment. “You’re pretty quiet, face mask, what’s your deal?”
From god only knows what pocket of a tactical belt, out comes a tiny notepad and a ballpoint pen.
‘T-virus, r. City. ‘Zombie’ is fine.’
Ashley shrugs, and writes out ‘ZOMBIE’. “Kinda dark, but you said it, not me, so whatever.”
There’s another long pause as she looks the only one left sans nametag.
“Does everybody else see—“
“Yeah,” Dragon agrees quickly. “Probably a curse, or something. I don’t think there’s any virus or parasite that does… that.”
Ashley doesn’t even look down as she writes on the last tag, handing it directly to what appears to be an actual straight-up panda in a compression shirt. The hair is right, but if that’s actually a Leon and actually what he looks like, the man is fully pulling a Donald Duck right now in front of god and everybody.
“That’s… different,” Rookie says. Scotty chatters in agreement.
Ashley sighs, and buries her face in her hands. “I have to make so many pants,” she groans.
———
Ashley: so the multiverse really wants to see your ass, I guess
Okay this is just WAY too cute! I love getting to see the Leon's together interacting like this!
Like seriously, the way Ashley goes through each Leon, giving them name tags and nicknames while figuring out what their deal is, was hilarious and adorable.
The progressive reveal of each Leon was UTTERLY PERFECT too! Meeting the infected bug Leons first, and then Devil, Dragon and Godzilla Leon, before finally ending on Panda Leon, literally had me cracking up so hard!
OH this WAS GREAT! I had so much fun reading this! Thank you so much for sharing!
(a friend and I were discussing how you seem to put Leon in any and all media, and we were wondering how far it goes...)
I sat at my desk and looked at this ask for weeks, thinking..
"Should I really do this? Should I REALLY spawn this nefarious nightmare into existence???"
And then was I like...fuck it.
Challenge accepted.
((Like..wtf are these things anyway? Babies? Bears? Monkeys?
Also pro tip for drawing Teletubbies, you gotta be REALLY careful when drawing them cause one wrong slip and you're now in uncanny nightmare valley.))
@polarspaz welp, more "quasar is swept up in a muse wave by your latest art"... I was inspired and just had to write a lil something. Enjoy! *heads off to go faceplant in a pillow*
....
The warm glow of ARK’s walls around Grace contrasts sharply to the bile churning in her stomach. A trail of blood stretches before her, staining the too-white floor. Leon. He was here, she knows it, she saw him collapse on one of the cameras, but now… Grace swallows down the acid climbing her throat. She has to find him.
She follows the streaks of blood, following them deeper into the complex. The glow of the walls turns from white to gold, and Leon’s blood from red to brown. She has to hurry, she has to. Grace follows the blood up a set of stairs, her heart jackrabbiting in her chest and then… it stutters.
Ahead, the hallway comes to an abrupt dead-end, and at its base, sprawled out, is a giant beast. Grace gasps, stifling the scream that tries to worm its way out of her throat. She stumbles a half step back, eyes wide and praying that it didn’t hear her. But, despite her lack of stealth the monster is… still.
Heart thundering in her breast, Grace carefully presses a hand to her mouth to stifle any more sounds as she flicks her eyes over the creature. It’s… massive, serpentine, it’s long body coiled and sprawled out. It resembles a snake, save the legs pressed to its body and the fur Grace can see trailing down its back. And actually, now that she thinks about it, it looks a lot like a…
Dragon.
It’s a goddamn dragon.
“Holy…” Grace murmurs. A dragon. After the twisted things she’s seen tonight, seeing something like this… sleek and scaled by comparison, hell, beautiful, it’s like a slap to the face. But as she traces the shape of its body, up from its tail, she begins to notice the dragon seems… off, somehow. It might be the lightning surrounding them, but there’s a pallor to its scales, odd patches of mottled black necrosis twisting over its body.
Necrosis that looks a lot like that she saw on the people in Wrenwood and Rhodes Hill… on Leon.
It’s like it's… sick, Grace thinks as she half consciously shuffles closer. But… perhaps it is. The dragon is still, with no sign it’s even breathing. And the mottled patches of black are even more extensive than she realized… They coat its neck, torso and tail. Hell, its entire legs are—
Grace pauses, her eyes settling on the dragon’s fore and hindlimbs. Those… that isn’t right. While black flaking scales do cover its limbs, most of the black isn’t from whatever sickness is afflicting it. No… they’re clothes. Ragged black pants torn apart by the creature’s tail stretch over its hindlimbs and on its front legs… a stretched and torn weave shirt and a familiar set of chest holsters, carrying a set of familiar weapons.
Leon’s weapons.
She… stares. Grace shuffles back, heartbeat climbing her throat as her gaze shifts again to the dragon’s head. A pair of horns crown its skull, furred mane flopping over its muzzle and a long set of tendrils—barbels, Grace’s brain supplies—trailing over the ground. Its teeth are bloodied.
Grace stifles a hysterical laugh. Either the dragon ate Leon, she thinks, her stomach twisting, or the dragon is Leon…
But… she already saw Emily transform into something tonight, why not Leon?
Though, there’s something fundamentally different about what Emily became and what Leon seems to be. It’s more… coherent. Beautiful, in an odd way.
Grace swallows, her eyes skimming over the chest holsters and the mottled bruising that twists up Leon’s much longer neck. A thin reedy wheeze makes her startle, as Leon’s chest suddenly stutters in an inhale. He’s still alive! Grace starts forward, even as her animal-hind brain shrieks in protest. RUN, her instincts demand. Shut up, Grace says back, moving closer to Leon’s massive draconic head.
Oh jeez, he’s got big teeth… But, even if Leon killed Emily, she’s not going to do the same here. She just has to… hope.
Hope he’s okay. Hope he’s still there.
Grace kneels down by Leon’s head, her hands hesitating in the air above his head. What should she do? What can she do? How does one check a dragon for a pulse?! She swallows, anxiety twisting in her gut, and presses a hand to the side of his neck. Come on, come on… Her hands slide over scales, and if Leon wasn’t actively dying Grace would spare a thought for their smooth texture, like smoothed river stones.
“Leon?” Grace asks, gently pressing her hand into his neck and then, after a half second of hesitation, raising the other to his lower jaw. “Oh no, oh no, come on…” She nudges him gently, then when nothing happens, a little harder, as anxiety rapidly spreads its burning tendrils through her veins once again. “Come on, please, please, you don’t get to just turn into a dragon and say nothing… Please, Leon…”
There’s a soft grunt, barely anything and Grace’s eyes dart to his face (snout?) relief climbing as she sees his eyelids twitch. She quickly scoots over to be in front of him, even as panic fear no no no wrap their hands around her throat, at the sight of bloodied fangs. (At the sight of something so much bigger, something that could swallow her whole.)
“Hey! It’s me, it’s Grace,” she says frantically, one hand migrating to the top of his head. Leon’s breaths are more obvious now, his nostrils flaring in time with soft wheezing breaths. “Please wake up, please wake up.”
She yelps slightly as Leon’s head suddenly shifts under her hand, jerking away. He huffs—a gust of hot air Grace can feel from here—and his eyelids crack open and suddenly, Grace is looking into the slitted eyes of a dragon. They’re the same grey-blue as before, hazily staring at her a few feet away. His nostrils flare, eyes still half-closed, as he peers in her direction.
Grace stays still, keeping her voice soft as she tries for a smile. “Hey,” she whispers, anxiety stealing her breath. She watches Leon’s pupils dilate slightly, and another wheezy huff slips from his jaws. And then…
“Hey… you…”
It’s Leon’s voice, still his, a low rumble beneath it that wasn’t there before but it’s his and he knows her, recognizes her.
Leon blinks heavily, seemingly trying to raise his head, but he only manages a couple inches before it falls back to the floor. He grunts and Grace immediately scoots closer, carefully taking his head in her hands and rubbing the scales on the bridge of his snout. Leon hums lowly, the long whisker-like barbels trailing from his upper lip twitching slightly, but still mostly limp against the floor.
“I was just resting my eyes,” Leon murmurs, squinting up at her through tired eyes. He coughs, a heavy thing that has him pulling his head away from Grace. She rubs the back of his neck as more blood slips through his teeth, the force of the cough rippling up and down his now-elongated body. “Eugh.”
Then, he starts shifting, the serpentine body around Grace shifting. She startles, glancing around in confusion before she realizes. He’s trying to stand.
“Wait, wait, Leon,” Grace darts to his neck, trying to support his head as he struggles to move himself. It’s not much, considering Grace can only balance a small part of the now forty to fifty-foot long DSO agent. “Hold on, let me help—”
Leon coughs again, the sound rattling through him. “Sorry,” Leon mutters, and Grace watches as a forked tongue flicks out to wipe some of the blood from his muzzle. “Put on a little weight… since I saw you…”
Grace flicks her eyes back along Leon. He’s managed to push himself onto his forelimbs, but his back legs and tail are still firmly sat on the ground. But it makes sense… he’s clearly exhausted and dragon or not it would be a lot of energy to try and hold up all fifty-some feet of yourself. Grace glances back to Leon’s face, idly noting that despite the entirely different head structure, he still manages to look firmly exhausted.
“What is…?” Grace trails off. How does one ask about someone’s… dragonness?
Leon huffs. “Curse. Long story but… not as sick like this. Buys me a bit more time.”
Well that explains… a very little and brings up a lot more questions. Grace exhales. “Okay, okay.” She shoves down the bubbling questions (and old half-forgotten reddit conspiracies) to try and get a better grip on Leon’s head. “I’m s-sorry to ask but can you uh… walk? Cause I’m… n-not a lot of help like this.”
The man (dragon?) is silent for a moment but then a sigh ripples through his body. “Check my belt.” Huh?! Leon shifts in place, his head gently gesturing backward. Grace looks to see his tail move a little as he settles more firmly on his hind legs. “There’s a blue pendant in the first pocket, should be a zipper and heavy velcro. Put it on my head.”
Grace blinks but nods. After giving Leon a moment to prepare to bear the load of his neck, she walks back, kneeling by his back legs to dig through his pockets as instructed. Sure enough, inside she finds a circular blue pendant strung on a thick cord. Grace immediately hurries back over to Leon, and he ducks slightly, offering his head.
With nothing else to go on, Grace obeys.
The instant the cord is over Leon’s head something ripples over his body. Before her eyes, he starts shrinking, scales thinning and muzzle retracting, torso sinking back in on itself. In less than a minute, she’s looking at Leon, fully human, curled on his side on the floor.
“Leon!” Grace darts forward, immediately kneeling by his side again. Like this, the black skin is all the more obvious, even though most of it is hidden beneath his clothes. His jaw is clenched tight and eyes squeezed shut in obvious pain. “Leon?”
“‘S fine,” Leon says, even though he clearly isn’t. “Just… ow.”
He twists, shoving his hands under him to push himself up and Grace immediately goes to help… only to promptly lift her eyes skyward as she wraps his arm around her shoulders. “Hrk…”
“Grace?” Leon asks, clearly hearing the distress. “What’s…?”
She takes a careful inhale, focusing on getting Leon’s arm secure over her shoulders and keeping him balanced. She can tell he’s trying not to topple them, to bear some of his own weight, but it’s tough.
“Y-you… think you could keep the t-tail?” she asks conversationally, keeping her gaze fixed forward on the wall. She can feel her cheeks flushing scarlet. “For… balance?”
Leon is silent for a breath then sighs, long and hard. Grace chances a look at his face and it’s that of a man resigned to his fate. “Hah, unfortunately, no. All or nothing. My wallet suffers a lot.” He glances over at her, the ghost of amusement somewhere in the lines of his face. “Well, if I gotta go out, go out in style… mooning the bad guys.”
And, despite everything going on—the facility surrounding them and Death knocking on Leon’s door—Grace can’t help but choke on a hysterical laugh.
“You are terrible,” she mutters and at her side, Leon huffs.
Okay first, Grace's reaction was PERFECT! Her thoughts as her emotions changed as she looked Leon, painted a VERY vivid image of his dragon form and how sick he looks right now. Like the way she thought his pants and shirt were actually necrosis and not clothes at first before getting a proper look was such a good detail!
(The way you described her anxiety was great too! You could feel how nervous and scared she was the whole time before she able to see that Leon was still Leon.)
And man, the whole part where she's trying to wake him up, running her hands over his scales to look for a pulse while he wheezes in pain. It was ADORABLE too how she held his head to help him bear his weight after he finally woke up, along with the gentle hum he gave when she patted his snout.
BUT THAT END! THAT GLORIOUS AND HILARIOUS ENDING! I kept cackling the whole time I was reading it, and just kept thinking, stay strong Grace, stay strong girl! And Leon, being the absolute badass (HA-!) that he is, gives 0% fucks at this point and is like, if I have to face the horrors with my bare cheeks hanging out, than so be it-I've done it once before, and I'll do it again-!
(honestly probably gonna be a good distraction for the upcoming fights. I bet Zeno/Gideon are going to have a hard time keeping their eyes focused with those luscious buns hanging out the whole time! XD)
AGIN, I JUST AWWWWWWing through this whole fic! THIS WAS TOO Cute AND FUNNYY! Thank you so much for this one! I loved it bit!
When Grace arrives to confront Zeno and discover the truth about Elpis, the last thing she thought she was gonna see was a DRAGON sleeping in front of the door.
She goes through the whole gambit of emotions in the span of a few seconds after seeing it. Fear (what is that?) wonder (OMG It's a dragon!)
sadness (Oh no the dragon is sick...) confusion (..wait, why is the dragon wearing Leon's pants and shirt-?) and finally Shock (...HOLY SHIT LEON IS A DRAGON!!!)
Meanwhile poor Leon had to transform cause his human body was giving out on him and his dragon body is much more resilient, thus why he's taking a big noodle nap outside the door.
There's now a ONESHOT by @quasar-crew now, which you can read
RIGHT HERE <-
Forgot to post this, but if you were all wondering what Leon's signature 'Sad Puppy Dog Face' looks like in this AU, then here you go!
This is basically what Marvin and Claire have been dealing with all night when Leon keeps insisting that he's a monster while looking at them like this.
I have to put this down so my brain shuts up about it!
So maybe in RE9, when Zeno is going to kill Leon while Grace is watching, something WEIRD happens and the trio somehow gets transported to the Spirit world of Spirited Away.
Leon ends up there first (time is a little twisty here) and meets Yubaba who notices that he's nearly at death's door from RCS. She makes him a deal saying that she can save his life, but he has to replace Haku and become her new dragon twink.
While obviously hesitant, Leon is like shit, cause if he's here then Grace is going to show up eventually as well, and he can't just die and leave her here in this weird place all alone, so he takes the deal.. HOWEVER, Leon also makes also sure there is a hidden loophole in the contract, something that Grace can figure out and use to break the deal and set him free.
With the deal made, Leon losses his memories and name and becomes a dragon like Haku to take care of Yubaba's more nefarious chores. Lucky for him, Grace shows up soon after (maybe a few months later) and gets into almost the same shenanigans as Chihiro. Leon saves her, but unfortunately does not remember her, and she finds herself saddled with a new mission.
She has to find a way to get Leon's memories back, break his contract, and somehow get them both back home, all the while trying to not get fired while working at a Bathouse filled with spirits.
((Even when Grace tells Leon his name, it's still not enough to help regain his memories, but it does help Leon gain a bit of his spark back.))
(( Zeno arrives later, and it's similar to the scene where Yuababa's sister, Zeniba, first shows up in the movie, near the baby room.
Like Leon's K.O for some reason and Grace is trying to protect him from Zeno. And Zeno is like, "I have NO fucking idea where we are or what's going on, but I'm gonna finish what we started!"
And before he can pull the trigger Zeniba shows up and is like "Yeah enough of this-" and turns him into a white ferret to save Grace. And now the man has to depend on Grace to protect him, cause even though Leon doesn't remember him, he looks like he's ready to tear Zeno apart any second now....))
((Grace is successful and is able to get Leon's contract broken and his memories returned and she's sobbing, both utterly relieved and overjoyed when Leon smiles at her, saying, "I knew you could do it!"))
((Before they leave, Grace asks Zeniba how to break Zeno's curse.
"Well sweeitie, he has to stop being evil and actually care about someone!" The kind old witch answers, slightly smug.
And Grace just looks over at Zeno and she's never seen a ferret look so haunted/defeated in her life.))
((Leon, Grace, and Zeno return to the human world and Leon has a showdown with Gideon and finds out, hey, he's still a dragon! and kicks Gideon's ass. Zeno is stuck as a ferret and now lives with Grace, and is like, the weird family pet. So now if you visit Grace's house/apartment it's not uncommon to see a ferret sitting on the kitchen with a pile of bills, studiously budgeting the finances.))
((Leon reunites with Chris and everyone is a like, "btw I'm cured, but I'm a dragon now too, long story."
And they're all like: ( ಠ_ಠ )….What?))
Leon notices after the events of Degeneration that his whiskers are finally growing in and decides to poke one, only to realize they are EXTREMELY sensitive.
They'll get longer as he ages and they help him fly better too as they allow him to detect wind currents and subtle changes in the airflow. (Meaning he can sense how the wind flows and bends around objects.)
Had to draw a scene from the oneshot that @quasar-crew did about Gideon being a dick and using Leon's pendent to keep him in a constant state of flux between forms by taking the pendent on and off again.
@polarspaz I give you more Noodle Leon, but this time, it's Leon in RE9 when he's getting interrogated by Gideon. This is unironically one of my favorite things I've written in the past couple months... just, the characterizations, weaving in the threads of canon, Gideon's entire disturbing deal, Leon's "flux state"... it just all hits really solidly for me.
WARNING: This is accurate to Victor Gideon's whole deal in RE9, which means the scene is VERY harassment and assault coded, except virus/snake flavored. Please take care of yourself!
...
It’s the heavy thud of footsteps that stir him into waking.
Leon jerks in place, but he doesn’t get very far. His arms are held uncomfortably behind him and when he shifts, rope and plastic bite into his wrists. Tied up. Cracking his eyes open, Leon glances up only to hiss as he’s immediately blinded. Heavy footsteps sound, something shifting to block much of the light. When Leon squints his eyes open again, his gaze trails from his own legs to those of another, and finally up to the backlit form of Victor Gideon.
Well, Leon found Victor. Or, Gideon found him.
“Why are you here? Is it for me?” Victor asks, his voice raspy as an odd smile twists his face. While it’s hard to see in this lighting, the man’s lips are cracked, skin split by scars and seams. As he speaks, Leon catches a flicker of the man’s tongue behind his black teeth. “Or… for her?
Grace.
Well, Gideon definitely knows who Leon is, if his welcoming at Rhodes Hill is anything to go by. But… he doesn’t know who Leon’s here for? Between that and Victor kidnapping Grace, it all points to the man deeming Grace important in some way. But why?
Instead of answering, Leon stays silent, keeping his gaze fixed on Victor. He’s been interrogated before, had training in how to handle interrogations. And one odd thing Leon’s learned over the years is that being in the chair can be a surprisingly good method of figuring out what the interrogator knows. The thing about interrogation: generally you aren’t interrogated for no reason, but because someone needs answers. And as the one with answers, that makes you surprisingly valuable. (Usually. Of course, sometimes, torture is on table.)
At Leon’s silence, Gideon leans forward. “We can talk,” the man says, and Leon has to duck his head as he gets a whiff of the man’s absolutely rancid breath. Jesus Christ, is this guy gargling gym shorts?! Forget experimenting on the dead, this man’s breath smells like the dead. Leon grunts, and when he lifts his gaze back up, the scientist’s expression has dropped.
“Right,” Gideon steps away, turning his back. Leon takes the opportunity to test his restraints, glancing back as he does so. His gaze immediately catches on the blood stained plastic lining the wall and floor behind him. …Not a great sign. “Or,” the scientist says, clicking his tongue, “we can begin your treatment.”
Leon looks over in time to see Victor turn back around with… ah, a scalpel in hand. Seems torture-style interrogation it is then. Leon flexes his wrists, idly testing the ropes as he sizes up the scientist. “The silent treatment, I hope,” Leon snarks.
Gideon eyes him for a moment, unamused, but then his cracked lips split into an eerie smile. “You’re an investigator, right?” Gideon hums as he points the scalpel at Leon. The amusement is short lived, expression quickly dropping into a scowl. “So investigate.”
Gideon moves closer and Leon shifts in place, only to grit his teeth as the everpresent pain in his body flares. Fuck. He hates interrogations. He hates this damn rot. Forcing his breathing to steady, Leon fixes his gaze on the far side of the room. Victor looms over his shoulder.
“What do you want to know?” the man asks, almost friendly. In Leon’s periphery, Gideon leans down. “Is this where I conduct my research?” Great, the guy’s asking rhetorical questions. Leon stays silent. He keeps his gaze fixed forward, even as he’s aware of a hand brushing the hair on the side of his head. Don’t react. Don’t move. “Yes,” Gideon murmurs, answering himself as he moves behind Leon. A hand settles on his shoulder. Stay still. Stay silent.
Leon keeps his head down as he feels fingers tug at his collar, as those same fingers brush against the necrosis on his neck. He can’t feel them, Leon only knows the fingers must be there thanks to the pressure transmitted to the living tissue beneath. Unease churns in his gut but he stays still. Silent. He doesn’t know what Victor wants, but Leon isn’t going to give it to him.
Besides, he seems to be quite happy answering Leon’s questions for him.
“Are the answers to your disease here?” Gideon mutters and he must press harder, because jagged needles of pain shoot down to Leon’s clavicle. In his periphery, Leon’s aware of Gideon bending down, hand still pressing into his shoulder and the blackened skin beneath. “Yes,” the man hisses, almost whispering in Leon’s ear,
Now, Leon’s been a good sport about this whole interrogation so far. But Victor getting up in his face is uncomfortable for a number of reasons, not least of which being that his breath still reeks. “You know, I do have a question,” Leon mutters as he cringes away from Gideon. He twists his neck to look at the face a few inches from his own. “When was the last time you brushed your teeth?”
Judging by Gideon’s black gums and rancid breath, the answer is probably never.
Gideon withdraws, allowing Leon a bit of fresh air, but it’s short lived. The man moves around in front of Leon, his hand trailing down from Leon’s shoulder to his sternum. To the pendant around Leon’s neck. Well, shit.
“Such an interesting necklace,” Gideon hums as he tilts the pendant up. It must have slipped out from under Leon’s shirt somewhere in the chaos of the past hours… or when Gideon kidnapped him. Swallowing his unease, Leon keeps his gaze fixed on the middle distance, staring through Gideon. But he can still see the scientist in front of him twisting the blue stone around his neck. “Odd thing to wear during all this, no?”
Leon keeps his expression neutral, even as a small thread of worry uncoils. If Gideon removes it, Leon will start transforming immediately… but, turning into his dragon form would make for an excellent distraction to take Victor by surprise and break these restraints. Leon breathes, keeping his muscles loose as Gideon fully takes hold of the pendant and then, with little fanfare, the man drags it up, pulling the cord over Leon’s head.
Instantly a familiar burning settles under Leon’s skin. He grits his teeth as dual waves of pain—from the rot and the transformation—pulse through muscle and bone. Vertebrae click as his spine is pulled and stretched. Skin itches as it's replaced by scales. His jaw aches as his face is pushed out, his splitting tongue running past sharpening teeth.
But then, abruptly, the burn abates as Victor drops the pendant back over Leon’s head.
Leon blinks, the whisker-like barbels on his upper lip twitching as they start to shrink. He glances up at Gideon over a half-elongated face and… the scientist doesn’t even look shocked. No, instead his expression is of something else. Delight. Leon shifts against his restraints as his spine begins to shorten, dread churning in his gut.
…Gideon knew.
Somehow, he knew.
A dozen theories are considered and discarded as Leon stares Victor down. While it’s possible the scientist could have encountered a situation like Leon’s before… Leon’s been stripped of his guns. It’s reasonable to assume Victor might’ve tried to take the necklace. Because yeah, people don’t wear jewelry like this in the field. Not without reason.
Gideon probably took it off before Leon even woke up. And then got a front row seat to what, exactly, the pendant did.
“How interesting,” Gideon murmurs, lifting a finger from the pendant to flick at the barbels still protruding from Leon’s upper lip. He can’t stop his flinch—couldn’t even if he wanted to. The things are so packed with nerves it’s ridiculous, even at this proto-stage.
His flinch however, seems to only embolden Gideon.
The scientist takes hold of the pendant again, slipping it off Leon’s head. The bone-deep ache returns, fierce and hungry as it reaches inside Leon’s body and starts to take him apart.
His face, nearly back to human, begins to elongate again. His neck arches—several inches longer than it was a moment ago—and his back digs into the chair as his spine is pulled. He can feel his tail budding at the base of his back, growing nerves protesting as he’s forced to sit on it. Scales flush over his skin, he can feel them itch along his back, his neck, his arms. The barbels at his lip tense and twitch with every wave of aching agony, stretching longer, longer—
And then Gideon drops the pendant back over Leon’s head.
Leon’s body burns as the mutations start to recede again. He glares at Victor, fangs flashing. It's partly out of frustration and partly because Leon’s teeth are currently too big for his mouth. Gideon just chuckles, letting Leon get a glimpse of the man’s own forked tongue.
‘Is there a point to this?’ Leon wants to ask, but he swallows the question. He knows why. Victor’s own fascination and amusement. And Leon, the unfortunate and unwilling subject.
Gideon’s hand shifts from the pendant back to Leon’s still-elongated neck. This time, Leon can feel the fingers brushing over his skin and scales. The numbness of the rot doesn’t stretch as far on Leon’s scaled hide—size-wise, there’s more of him, so the rot’s reach is smaller. But he knows where it is, knows that Victor is tracing where his scales turn black and start flaking off.
But he can also feel how Gideon’s dry cracked fingers move higher, tracing a patch of healthy scales along his spine.
“You’re a pretty thing,” Gideon murmurs, and Leon very, very, very carefully does not react. He breathes, gritting his oversized teeth as his jaw slinks back. The pendant is removed again, and this time Gideon keeps his hand on Leon as scales ripple back over his skin, as his vertebrae pop and multiply.
Leon’s ears flick as the burn ripples through his muscles. His shoulders scream, the transformation trying to force them forward, but the restraints keep them locked behind his back. Leon hisses as his back slips up the chair, forcing him to bow forward with a spine a foot longer than it was previously. Inside his thick trousers, Leon’s growing tail flicks against his thigh, struggling for an escape he can’t give it. His boots feel tight.
Leon twists his nearly foot-long neck to glare at Gideon over his partially-formed muzzle. “This is coming out of your credit card,” Leon informs the scientist. Victor already took his jacket, which is going to cost him. If Leon has to fight Gideon without shoes and wearing assless pants, he’ll do it, he’s had to do it before, but he won’t be happy about it.
Gideon smiles, showing off his blackened teeth. “Feeling more talkative now, are we?” he hums, letting the pendant fall over Leon’s head again. Leon grits his teeth as the mutations stutter to a stop, pressure on his body easing. It’s not going to last. “Hm, pity.”
Leon can feel his skin and scales crawling as Gideon inspects him, watching as the mutations retreat. But before they can vanish completely, he takes the pendant off again, keeping Leon’s body in a state of flux. Not human nor even dragon, but something other caught in-between.
Sick bastard.
Right, Victor’s not being helpful anymore, so time for Plan… C? D? Doesn't matter, new plan. Behind his back, Leon taps his scaled knuckles along his spine. His hands are too far from his hips now to reach for the small knife he keeps hidden in his belt. But, the talons cutting into the skin of his palm offer an alternative.
With clumsy fingers, Leon starts working the ropes. He tries to curve his aching back up a bit, and idly notes that even sitting, with his neck and back straight like this he’s nearly as tall as Gideon now.
While Leon is slightly worried Victor will see it as a threat now that Leon is no longer ‘beneath’ him, the man instead seems to find it delightful. The scientist lets the mutations creep another few inches, but then the pendant is back on. Leon’s whiskers twitch as Gideon’s fingers trail along the stuttering scales on his neck, then higher up toward his head.
Unease and disgust curdle in Leon’s gut as Victor leans closer, his breath rancid, face far too close. Leon feels those damned fingers trail along his jaw, along the fur that had begun to thicken from the stubble at Leon’s cheeks.
And you know what? Leon’s had e-fucking-nough. Before Gideon can pull his hand back, Leon lunges, sinking his still-elongated teeth into Victor’s motherfucking finger. The scientist screeches and blood fills Leon’s mouth—and he promptly has to fight back a gag. Even this man’s blood is rancid. But it does the job, Victor staggers backward clutching his hand and Leon talons tear through the last of the ropes.
He lurches upward, unsteady on his half-formed legs, but even half-transformed the muscles of his torso and neck are developed enough to keep him upright despite the extra feet of height. Leon staggers away from the chair and Gideon, clutching his pendant protectively. His eyes immediately catch on one of his pistols, discarded on a small table and he stumbles forward.
Leon swipes his gun and whirls, already firing. But Victor is as slippery as the snake he resembles, rushing away with a trail of black blood in his wake. The scientist slips past Leon’s shots and around a corner, and by the time Leon follows, Victor must have hit some mechanism because the passage closes behind himself.
Beyond the closing walls, Victor snarls. “You’re a dead man walking!” Gideon screams before the latch finally seals and Leon lets his gun fall.
Leon curls his lip, his partial muzzle peeling back to show his fangs. Bastard. The rotten taste still on his tongue has him grimacing, and Leon takes a second to gag. After several moments of frantic spitting, Leon manages to get rid of the blood and remains of Gideon’s finger still in his mouth. “Eugh,” Leon mutters, wiping his mouth with his free hand. “That guy is disgusting.”
His other hand still clutches his pendant, taking some comfort in the solid stone as the mutations finally fully recede into his skin. Leon rolls his shoulders, a quick survey informing him his pants and boots are thankfully intact. His body still tingles, phantom aches playing through his bones as if trying to replicate the flux state he was forced into.
Leon finally lets himself shiver, dropping his hand from his necklace. They already knew Victor was crazy, but Leon can now confirm he is bat-shit crazy with an added dose of harassing stalker ex. Why does Leon always get the weird ones? He shakes his head. Right, time to get going. Victor may have escaped but Leon still has a job to do.
“You there?” Leon asks, the lingering cold chased away as Sherry’s voice fills his ears.
EVERYONE GO READ THIS RIGHT NOW, I AM SUPER SERIOUS!
The body horror in this is TOP TIER and Leon's and Gideon's interaction is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!
I LOVE THIS FIC!!!!!! YESSSSSSS!!!!! (Gonna go read it again!)
@polarspaz this is the first thing I've written for one of your AU's that Ive felt like sharing on here. Hope you like it and that its ok!! Losing that pendant is NOT fun!
Also I wrote this at work on my phone so sorry if the format is funny at all!
Leon woke up dazed. He stayed in bed, eyes closed, letting consciousness fall over him. He didn't know how long he'd slept.
He took a moment to figure out how bad any aches and pains were from the mission. He'd, of course, been thrown around a bit.
He tried to pinpoint the primary spots where he had assumed he would hurt. Nothing seemed where he was expecting it.
The more awake he started to feel, the more confused he became. He opened his eyes and was greeted by his own blue scales.
Shit.
He didn't have his pendant on.
He tried to retrace his steps last night in his mind before he panicked.
He'd gotten home, taken off his work clothes, and climbed into bed. No where in that did he remember removing his necklace.
A quick glance around his room yielded nothing. There was his pile of clothes on the floor, but with no sign of the light blue stone.
He felt dread pooling in the pit of his stomach.
Leon had only misplaced the pendant one time, and it was during the short stretch of time where they were figuring out what exactly had happened to him.
It had taken 3 days, Luis, Ashley, and a handful of researchers tearing apart the lab to find the pendant, tucked somehow behind one of their cabinets.
That time, he'd barely learned what the pendant actually did. He had been human again for the first time since he'd picked up the cursed thing in Spain. He had taken it off so that Luis could try and figure out how some of his dragony things worked. When he went to grab it off the table, it was gone.
He had gotten better at moving carefully like this, but still bumped the nightstand with his back, knocking off the alarm clock.
He started with his bed. He pulled off the blanket, checking between it and the loose sheet. He pulled that off next, and then the mattress pad.
Nothing.
He shook out the fabric, holding it as high as he could, hoping the damned thing would fall out of it. It didn't. Instead, Leon had just poked some serious holes in his bedspread.
He tossed his clothes around, checking in every pocket. He found a couple pieces of trash from the ride back,along woth his keys, but no pendant. He threw the dirty clothes on top of his blankets.
He pulled open the drawer of his nightstand and found it mostly empty, like normal. It wasn't there.
He took a breath. “It's here somewhere, you were human when you got home,” he assured himself.
He wasn't going to be able to get an angle to look under the nightstand, so he pushed it over instead. Nothing. He looked at his claws, attached to shoulders too many feet from his head.
Shit.
That pool of dread hardened into adrenaline-filled panic. It seeped into his bones. The very idea that he had lost it, the one thing that was making this whole curse manageable whispered in the back of his mind.
Leon tore his room apart, throwing things from one side to the other until it looked like a tornado had ravaged the small space. His mattress and box spring propped up against the wall, all of his clothes strewn about outside of the closet, the lamp and nightstand knocked onto the floor.
He didn't care how his claws caught in the carpet, pulling little strands loose with each step. His security deposit didn't matter now.
So it wasn't in the bedroom. He opened the door and moved to his living room. He hadn't been in here long, just enough to toss his jacket over the back of the sofa.
He snatched it and dug through the pockets as he had his other garments. As he had been both expecting and fearing, the pendant wasn't there.
He snaked around to the front side of the sofa and started pulling at cushions.
He spent a good amount of time with the living room, then moved to the kitchen. He opened every cabinet, every drawer. He even checked down the garbage disposal.
He hadnt even come into the kitchen last night.
He retraced his steps as best as he could between what he could remember and the fact that he was currently a 40ft long dragon.
He got home, came up the stairs into the apartment building. He unlocked his door, came inside, shut it. Hung his keys up on the hook by the door.
He walked back to the bedroom and guided himself through how he thought he had gone from there. Taken his work clothes off, climbed onto his bed, fallen asleep. There was atill nothing.
His panic-addled brain was out of ideas.
He took that energy and started putting his bedroom back together. Kind of. He pulled the bed back into a usable position, and put all of his clothes in one big pile. He stood back ip the other furniture, but didnt bother to straighten it out.
He slunk back out to the living room with the intention of doing the same, but instead just collapsed on the pile of couch cushions. He curled in on himself, his own breath hot on the scales of his body.
So much had gone wrong in Spain, starting with him and Ashley getting infected. Then he just had to steal the baubles to pay the Merchant. If he hadn't done that, he wouldnt be sitting in his apartment as a 40 foot long wet noodle.
Now he had to contemplate what would happen if he couldn't find the pendant. He would be stuck. Until he died.
It was easier to deal with in Spain, the idea that this wasn't reversible. It was easier to push it aside, to focus on his mission. To use the little advantages he had been given to save Ashley and Luis.
Now that he was used to being human again, and in his own apartment for God's sake, it felt like the world was ending for him.
His phone dinged from the charger. He wouldnt be able to open it like this. He didnt have quite that much dexterity. He ignored it.
**
He woke some time later to his front door opening.
“Sancho?” Luis called as the door shut again. It didnt take the man long to find Leon, curled up on his mess of couch cushions, sulking as he contemplated the rest of his life.
Leon huffed at Luis.
“What's wrong?” The Spaniard asked. “And what happened in here?”
Leon kept his gaze on Luis's shoes. “I lost my pendant. I looked everywhere.” His voice shook as he spoke, just enough for Luis to notice.
Luis knelt down and placed a hand on Leon's shoulder. “Where was the last place you had it?”
Leon turned his head away. “I already tried that.” He explained how the morning had gone.
“Well, let's look again. I'll help you.” He rose back up to his feet and motioned for Leon to follow.
Leon uncoiled and stood as he watched Luis look around.
The man chuckled. “You searched everywhere?”
Leon nodded.
Luis laughed again and walked to the front door. He grabbed what seemed to be Leon's keys from the hook on the wall. When he turned back around, Leon could see his necklace dangling from Luis's hand.
“What?”
“You mush have taken it off and hung it up instead of your keys,” Luis guessed. He held out the pendant to Leon. “Now, let's find your keys before you tear this place apart again.”
The memory of tossing his keys aside this morning flickered into his mind. He'd left them in his pocket.
The man-turned-dragon laughed to himself. “Leon, you dumb shit.”
AWWWWWWW NOODLE LEON LOOKING FOR HIS PENDENT!
THIS WAS WONDERFUL!!
You perfectly captured Leon's slow, but steady descent into panic mode while he tears through his apartment! (I love how everyone has had this happen to them at least ONCE in their life. Loosing that ONE thing they need and then spending HOURS looking for it, only to find it sitting right there, out in the open, mocking you.)
Love how you detailed the whole search process too, turning over the furniture, ripping through the sheets and mattress top, moving from room to room as he looks. And then the cute bit a the end where Luis comes in to see Leon sulking and then finds the necklace for him, before teasing him about how now they have to look for Leon's keys WAS PERFECT!!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I LOVED IT! (and I'm glad you had fun!)
If you were wondering how the hell Luis is still alive in this AU, well it's all thanks to Leon's magical healing spit!
The only reason the group even knew Leon had this the ability was because he accidentally sneezed all over Luis earlier, and when the poor man was able to wipe his face clean of dragon spit, they all noticed that the minor cuts and bruises on his skin had healed instantly.
The only issue Leon has with this is figuring out how to "apply" said magical spit. He's obviously hesitant to lick the wounds at first cause...EW? But he soon realizes that this is unfortunately the best way to do it, especially after dealing with Luis's severe stab wound.
(Also if you were wondering, the healing spit thing applies to Marvin too in the Rookie version of this AU!)
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