"i can't wait to see you writhe" "uncle sam did one thing for me, i'll give him that. he sent me you" major krauser is there something you wanna tell us
I just finished The Hand That Feeds and I just wanted to pop in to say how much I enjoyed it!! The way it ended was perfect and I’m excited to follow what you do next after you give yourself a well earned break!
Thank you for writing this story, it’s one of the first long form things I’ve read in a good while and it was a treat :)
- @leonsweetiekennedy
thank you so much!! i sound like a broken record at this point, thanking every single person that leaves a comment, but i really am super thankful and happy that you guys enjoyed my story :) you guys got me kicking my legs and twirling my hair lmfao
» Pairing: RE2!Leon S. Kennedy x gender neutral!reader
» Rating: Mature
» Taglist: @villain-in-the-dark
» Notes: this is the final chapter! thank you everyone for reading, it means the world to me <3 this is not the end for this reader, i plan on writing some one-shots and maybe another multi-chapter fic, though that one wouldn't be as long as this one. for now though, i'm gonna take a breakkkk
read on ao3
chapter 1 ♠ chapter 10
Leon doesn’t intend to die in this fight, but he comes close a couple times.
William, now fully transformed into a huge monster with all his humanity gone, swings his multiple arms around and slams them on the ground. Each time, Leon manages to dodge just in time before his claws can touch his skin, but he feels the rush of wind, the cold grasp of death right around the corner. Despite the life or death situation, he finds his mind drifting: to you, to the way you looked as you watched him descend.
He’s worried. Extremely so. You look worse by the minute, and though you insist that you can keep going, that you’re fine, Leon is aware that you’re just trying not to be a burden.
Finally, after some maneuvering and shooting weak points, he manages to bring William down. Leon doesn’t waste any time searching the place for more supplies, he just makes his way to the elevator, tapping his foot impatiently as it ascends at an obnoxiously slow pace. And when he arrives upstairs, his heart sinks at the sight of you unconscious and covered in blood. He rushes to your side and crouches next to you, shaking you by the shoulders.
“Y/N! Y/N, hey, wake up!” You’re unresponsive. Up close like this, he can see the dark veins coating your neck. Leon presses two fingers against your skin to feel for a pulse, and much to his relief, he finds it, although faint. You’re still alive, but you don’t have much time. “What happened?”
Annette sits on the ground, watching the two of you. She makes a small pained sound. “They’re turning.”
“Into one of them? You cannot be serious.” He rests a hand on your hot cheek, then looks back at Annette. “There must be something I can do. Anything.”
The building’s lights turn red as warnings begin to blare through the intercom. Something about a self-destruct sequence and evacuation, but Leon isn’t paying attention. He cannot. Not with you in this state. He promised himself he wouldn’t let another person die, and then he proceeded to drag you along just because he couldn’t bear the thought of not having you by his side. He should have just grabbed you and escaped. But would you have allowed that?
Annette points to the other side of the room, across where the bridge used to be. “There’s an antiviral agent… can’t guarantee it’ll work though.” She hisses, doubling over in pain. “It’s for G, but it could work for T too.”
Leon nods. No time to waste. He gets up and slams his fist on the button that lowered the platform in the first place, and while it ascends, he snakes his arms under your knees and back and he picks you up bridal style. You’re completely pliable in his arms, breath coming out in rasps, and you stir just as he’s crossing the bridge. Just barely cracking your eyes open, you get a view of Leon. With the blurry lights behind him, he looks like an angel.
You whimper. “Leon?...”
He glances your way, but not for too long, before hoisting you up so your head is resting against his shoulder.
“I’ve got you,” he says, and he means it as a reassurance both to himself and to you. He’s warm. He stinks of sweat, blood of gunpowder. And as you struggle to keep your eyes open, you get a clear view of his neck. His moles beckon you forward. The following realization scares you: he looks delicious and you are salivating. The thought of biting into his flesh and drinking his thick, warm blood sends a shudder down your spine, and you make a weak attempt at pushing yourself off of him. Leon staggers, but he manages to balance it out.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
You shake your head, gasping for air. “No, no, I don’t want to…”
“Y/N?” He doesn’t stop, just continues rushing through the corridor. At last, he enters the G Virus storage room. This time, the sprinklers don’t release disinfectant, and when he glances at you, he finds out that you’ve passed out yet again. He curses under his breath, then jogs to the very same display he snatched a vial of G out of earlier.
Leon puts you down on the floor, back leaning against the wall while your head hangs almost lifelessly. His hands shake with anxiety as he examines the various vials on display, most of them having undecipherable words written on them, until he finds one labeled “antiviral agent”.
“Yes..!” He snatches it out of the case and rushes over into the office area to find a syringe. Luckily, there is one tucked away in a drawer, he supposes for emergencies. Leon loads up the syringe with the antiviral and runs back to you, where he falls to his knees and grabs your arm. Upon lifting the sleeve of your shirt, he finds that there are even more black veins, and they’re only becoming more visible. You’re growing pale too. How could he not notice? Just how much pain were you in?
“Hang in there,” he mumbles, almost like a quiet prayer, and then he presses the needle into your skin. He watches the liquid enter your body until the syringe is empty, which he then discards. Not like anyone’s gonna be able to pick it up after him. His hands find your cheeks immediately. Leon watches your face for any reaction intently, and for a tense moment, there is none. He keeps shaking you, trying to wake you up. You don’t wake up.
Dread settles in Leon’s chest. He can’t lose you, not you - you’re not breathing - shit, you’re not breathing, he should have been faster, he should have cared more-
You gasp for air, and it’s like a rock has been lifted off his shoulders.
“Y/N.” Despite his panic, he keeps his voice gentle. Finally, you open your eyes and look at him drowsily. “I’m here. I’ve got you.”
“Wh…what happened?” Your tongue feels heavy and your hands tingle as you squeeze and release them. The black veins are gone, and though you still feel like shit, some of the fog has lifted. Leon leans in to rest his forehead against yours. He lets out a shaky breath. “Leon?”
“You were gone,” he says, “I thought I lost you.”
It all comes back to you then. You were dying, then you woke up in his arms and… you gulp. Leon doesn’t even realize how close he was to having your teeth in his neck.
“You brought me back? How?” Your eyes land on the syringe on the ground and then it hits you. “The antiviral.”
The sound of the alarm intrudes on your little bubble of safety. You flinch, then look at Leon. “Self-destruct sequence?”
“It activated when I took the G. Can you stand?”
“Don’t have any other choice,” you mumble, and then you’re picking yourself up with the help of Leon. He continues to support you on your way out, as you’re still feeling weak and like your knees are going to buckle at any moment. The two of you limp back to the platform where Leon just fought William, and on the other side, Annette just barely clings to life. You spare her a glance, though you fail to feel any sympathy for the woman.
Just as you pass her, she grabs onto a leg of your pants, stopping you in your tracks.
“Wait,” she wheezes, and her wince reminds you of Marvin, who spent the last few hours of his life wearing that same exact expression. “Swear you’ll destroy the G sample.”
“And why would we do that?” you ask.
“It’s evidence. We’re giving it to the FBI.”
Annette lets out a chuckle that turns into a coughing fit. “You trust that bitch?”
Her question makes you furrow your brows, yet you don’t fight back.
Leon fills in for you: “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“She’s not FBI. She’s a mercenary. The G-Virus will go to the highest bidder.” Annette’s words sting just the right parts of your conscience. You’ve had your doubts about Ada for a while now and it seems that your discussion with Leon has made some cracks in his own resolve as you watch the inner turmoil evident on his face.
And then he looks at you.
“What?”
“I just… you always seem to have the right input on anything.”
In the span of just one night, you’ve become the only thing - only person - he can truly trust and depend on. That’s a scary responsibility.
“Well what do you think?” you ask.
He shakes his head. “I’m not sure what to think.”
“Yeah… I’m not sure either.”
“Whatever you decide,” Annette groans and gasps, leaning forward until she’s lying on the floor. “The G-Virus… cannot… fall into the wrong hands…” And then she passes out. You make no move to help her - there is no helping her. Not in this place, not at this time. In a better world, you would be able to get her out so that she could face trial. In an even better world, none of this would have happened. This is neither of those worlds. You just have to make do.
You and Leon lock eyes.
“I want to trust Ada,” Leon says.
“But you can’t. Neither can I. And if we destroy that sample… it’s the safest option.”
“Can we bring Umbrella to court with no proof?”
“Leon,” you grab his forearm, “We are the proof. The whole city is proof. We don’t need the sample.”
Leon mulls your words over, nodding along. Then he smiles at you. It’s a gentle, appreciative expression. “I was right. You do always have the right input.”
You scoff. “Oh please. I just said what you already knew. Come on, we shouldn’t waste any more time here.”
“Wait.” Just as you’re about to drag him out of the room, Leon digs his heels into the ground. He reaches into his pouch and pulls out the sample. “I want you to take this.”
You furrow your eyebrows. “Me? Why? Are you planning something?”
“I just… I want to test something. And I think it’s best for you to have it.”
“Okay… I trust you.”
Leon leans in and while slipping the vial into your pouch, he kisses you. It is much gentler than what you shared in that cable car and somehow, it leaves your head spinning much more. When you pull away, your cheeks are flushed.
“Alright, loverboy, we’ve really got to go now.”
The nickname pulls a chuckle out of him.
♦♦♦
The place really begins to fall apart by the time you reach the central elevator. The building rumbles, something explodes not too far off. Yet there is one more thing to do before you leave.
Ada uses her machine on the console to unlock the elevator, then proceeds to approach you on the bridge.
“Please tell me you got it,” she says, glancing at the falling pieces of concrete.
Leon stops, putting himself between the two of you. “Oh I got it.”
Ada holds out her hand for the sample. “Let me verify the G sample and let’s get the hell out of here.” But Leon makes no move, and neither do you. Confusion and concern settles on her face. “Hello? We don’t have much time, hand over the-”
“We met Annette,” you start, and your words make her fingers twitch. Ada lowers her hand, clearly understanding that she isn’t getting that sample this easily. “She claims you’re not FBI.”
The agent’s face drops. She hangs her head and shakes it, and when she faces you two again, it is with a gun pointed your way. “Why couldn’t you just hand over the sample?”
Leon reaches behind him to shield you with his own body. “Because as much as I wanted to trust you,” he says, pulling out his handgun, “There was only one person I really could trust in this place.”
You blush at the admission, embarrassed at the timing of it. Ada scoffs.
“I really hoped it wouldn’t end up like this.”
You swallow. “Did we.. really mean nothing to you?” Too tired to fight physically, you try to reason with her using words.
Ada raises an eyebrow, looking at you with something contained within her eyes. “You were suspicious of me from the start. I could tell.”
“I was, yeah. But I still wanted to believe in you.” You glance at Leon, who’s staring at you from the corner of his eye. “I wanted to give you a chance. So I’m asking again: did that mean nothing to you?”
Ada’s lip twitches and she clenches the gun in her hand. “Look, I’m just doing my job.”
“Then shoot us,” Leon interjects. “But I don’t think you can.”
The agent takes a deep breath, then lowers her handgun with a sigh. “Fuck me,” she mumbles.
A smile creeps up on your face, but it doesn’t stay for long. A piece of concrete hits the walkway behind you, making a gaping hole in it. The impact shakes the ground beneath you, and next thing you know, you’re weightless and the world spins around you.
“Y/N!” Leon grabs your wrist just in time. Terrified, you first look up at him, then down into the nothingness below you. Vertigo hits you like a truck, and as if your current predicament wasn’t enough, the strap of one of your pouches fails and it plummets into the darkness below.
“Holy shit,” you say, voice trembling. You think you’ve had enough heights for a lifetime.
“Don’t look down, keep looking at me,” Leon commands, and you do as he says. That is until you spot Ada clinging onto a handrail that’s dangling off the edge not too far off.
“Ada!” you call out to her, and as Leon shifts his attention to the other person, his heart drops.
The agent looks your way and shakes her head. Leon can’t save the both of you, that much is apparent, and having to make that decision would break him. So she has to choose for him. For Ada, this matter is very simple. She has to go.
You stretch your free hand towards her. “Try to grab onto me! If you swing from side to side, you could make it!”
“Y/N. Forget it. I’d just pull you down with me.”
“I’m not just letting you die, Ada!”
When she looks at you next, for the first time that night, her expression seems genuine. She smiles, and though she doesn’t say it out loud, you know that she’s thanking you. “Take care of yourselves.”
And then she lets go.
“No!” Leon cries out. His grip on your hand grows stronger. He allows himself a moment of frustration before he begins pulling you up.
As you get onto a safe ground, you stay breathing heavily on all four for a moment. Grief and shock force their way out in the form of hot tears upon your cheeks.
Leon places a hand on your shoulder, guiding your teary eyes to him. “We have to keep going. This place is falling apart.”
“I know,” you sigh. You wipe your cheeks with dirty hands, and then you’re standing up with the help of Leon. He pulls you along off the broken bridge and into the elevator. Its doors close behind you and soon enough, you’re descending down into the darkness below.
You lean onto a handrail with a huff. “Shouldn’t we be going up instead of down?”
Leon thinks about your words for a moment. He looks tired. And after the loss of Ada, somewhat distant, too. “It is the evacuation elevator, so there has to be a way out, right?”
“I hope you’re right…”
You close your eyes. No more getting sidetracked, no puzzle pieces to retrieve. You’re almost out now. And if you hadn’t wasted so much time looking for the G- Your eyes shoot wide open as you begin to pat yourself down, searching through your entire inventory. Fuck. Fuck!
“What’s wrong?” Leon asks.
“The satchel… it broke off and… I lost the sample.” The look you give him then is that of panic. He just laughs.
“You said it yourself, didn’t you?” Leon steps closer, leaning onto the railing next to you and wrapping an arm around your shoulders. “We don’t need the sample. Maybe it’s better this way.”
You watch him for a moment, then smile as you lean your head against his shoulder. Behind the window in front of you, some kind of engine goes up in flames as the self-destruct sequence takes place. You can feel its warmth even inside the elevator. When you step out of the elevator, you’ll probably have to run. But right now, right here, there’s a moment of quiet. You let it seep into your skin.
And then you ruin it.
“...You stink.”
Leon scoffs. “Yeah, sorry. Ran out of deodorant.”
As soon as the elevator starts slowing down, you and Leon separate. Back to survival mode it is. You step out into some kind of corridor. While one wall is empty, the other is lined with screens and buttons. A camera system? While you look over all the screens, Leon’s attention is drawn by one in particular.
“Claire?!” He leans over it and you rush to his side. Sure enough, at the other end of the screen is a young woman. She looks around before noticing you two on her end of the communication.
“Leon? You’re down here too?!” She sounds stressed. You’re not surprised.
“Yeah. But the whole place is coming down. Listen to me, you need to get out now!”
You glance around yourself, unnerved. Do you have time for this conversation?
“There’s a way out,” Claire says, “We can make it! Where are you n-?”
The image turns into static as her voice cuts out. You can just barely make out her face whenever the static clears up a little, but it’s apparent that you’ve run out of time.
“Claire?! You still there?!” Leon hits the side of the monitor as if that’s going to fix anything.
“We have to go, Leon.”
“Le…you’re br…” Claire’s chopped up words cut through the noise.
Leon growls. By this point, even he is sick of it all. “Forget about us! Just get out of here! Dammit.”
You grab his bicep. “We’ll find our way out. Come on.”
“Can you run?” he asks as you pull him out the nearest door.
“Attention,” the NEST’s system blares through the entire facility, “self-destruct sequence initiated. Eight minutes until detonation.”
Much to your own surprise, your body pumps out even more adrenaline. Eight minutes. You have to find the way out in eight minutes?!
“Hey,” Leon directs your attention back to him and repeats, “Can you run?”
You swallow. Sure, with the T Virus out of your system, you feel somewhat revitalized, but the wound is still infected with bacteria. “Not sure.”
“Okay.” He doesn’t hesitate. Leon holsters his gun, then puts his hands on your hips and tosses you over his healthy shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Fuck!” The position applies pressure on your wound from all sides. “Warn me next time?!”
“Sorry,” is all he utters before he breaks into a faster jog. The movement jostles your body and your grit your teeth, shifting into a position that hurts the least. As Leon makes his way down a flight of stairs, somewhere in the distance the sound of an explosion startles you.
“Fuck, fuck, this is really happening!” You can’t believe this is your life now.
“We’re gonna make it out!” Leon shouts from below you as a way of reassurance. He’s out of breath, but he keeps running. Soon enough, you’re descending down a service elevator, and then you hear him curse. It doesn’t take long for you to find out what’s got him so worked up. Once you hear the signature clicks of a vegefied zombie, you push yourself up onto your elbow and look to see that there are three of them in the way ahead of you. With Leon busy with carrying you, the responsibility falls on you to clear the way, and you face the challenge head on. Unholstering your gun, you point it forward and begin to shoot down your enemies. With your precision, you were made for this, and Leon lets out a hum of appreciation. He pushes on.
The next obstacle is a ladder. You expect Leon to just put you down and make you descend it yourself, that would be the logical solution. But that’s not his solution. Leon, as usual, goes above and beyond. He doesn’t slow down, doesn’t stop, and descends the ladder himself with you still draped over his shoulder.
“You’re insane!”
“What’s new?”
It’s really bugging you that you just keep descending lower and lower into the ground instead of going back up to the surface. How are you supposed to get out? You don’t get to think about this for long, however, Leon’s cursing bringing you back to the present. You’re about to turn to face what he’s facing, but you don’t even need to do so, as your knight in shining armor turns around to circle around a tree, granting you a good look at a familiar enemy. The Tyrant is back, angrier than before, and worse yet, faster than before.
“Is this a fucking joke?!” Leon is clearly over it, and you can’t help but mirror that feeling. He outmaneuvers the pursuer, pushing on through the next door right into a room engulfed in fire. Things are going south real quick. Leon dodges a rising zombie.
“Are you okay?” you ask. “If I’m too heavy, I can-”
“I’m good-”
A gas pipe in front of you explodes, bending the walkway grating leading to the only door out. You’re trapped, and sure enough, the Tyrant appears from behind the corner with his thunderous footsteps.
“Leo- ack!” The giant grabs you by the throat and yanks you off Leon’s shoulder. Now that you don’t have the T-Virus anymore, you are back to being his target. You choke and struggle, clawing at his huge wrist helplessly while Leon draws his gun. It doesn’t get to go off however, as an explosion to your right takes care of your problem. The Tyrant staggers, dropping you to the ground, and a follow-up explosion makes the walkway under your feet give way. Fire engulfs your enemy, but you don’t get to see what happens to him after that.
Plummeting lower, your body collides not with the ground, but with Leon, who has once again cushioned your fall. The two of you groan and you push yourself up onto an elbow, glancing at your partner. He cups your cheek with a hand, looking at you worriedly.
“Are you okay?” he asks. You nod. “We gotta keep going.”
“I know.”
He helps you up, and this time, instead of carrying you again, he grabs your hand and pulls you along. Bursting through yet another door, you enter a huge hall. In front of you stands a platform elevator on a railway leading deeper down into the ground. Leon releases you to inspect the control panel, while you limp towards a desk with some kind of mechanism on it. You don’t think you’ve ever felt this sore over your entire body before, which is really saying something.
“Are you kidding me?”
Your eyes flick over to find Leon cradling his forehead as he stares at the panel with clear frustration written all over his face.
“What’s wrong?” Another explosion shakes the ground. You’re running out of time.
“It’s missing a fucking piece!” He looks around, searching the platform but coming up empty. He begins to make his way towards you.
“Does it maybe look like this?” You signal to the mechanism on the desk with your chin and when Leon spots it, his eyes light up.
“I think it is,” he says, picking the heavy part up, “Come on.”
When the part slides in perfectly, it draws a sigh of relief out of both of you. Leon looks at you, and with your nod of approval he grabs the lever and pulls it down. The platform lurches and with your already unsteady legs, you almost fall again. As always, Leon is in your corner watching out for you, and he stops your fall by pulling you against his side.
“I’ve got you,” he whispers, thumb swiping a reassuring rub into your arm.
Your ears turn red once more. Can he get even more attractive?
The walls around you begin to crumble and fall in chunks, one of them landing on the platform you are standing on. You can only hope that this doesn’t halt its movements altogether. The elevator takes you lower and lower, and finally you begin to see the end. Suddenly, another explosion grabs your attention, and in a nearby hole in the wall, you see none else but the Tyrant.
“Is this thing allergic to death?!” you exclaim as you watch him come closer to the edge, beating heart having been exposed due to fire damage, and then he jumps, landing right on the platform the two of you are riding.
You swallow. Now you have nowhere to run. Worse yet, the platform is too tiny for a fight with this guy. The Tyrant stands up, and only then do you see that his arm has mutated and grown long, sharp claws.
“Well damn,” Leon seemingly voices your own thoughts. He puts a protective arm in front of you, ushering you behind him and never taking his eyes off the Tyrant. “I’ll take care of it. You just focus on dodging and surviving, alright?”
“What? No way, I can provide backup-”
“No,” he quips back, tone resolute. “Just do as I say, please?”
You want to think about it, but you can’t. The giant makes his way over to you and you’re left with no choice but to listen. The two of you split, and while you dive behind a fallen slab of concrete, Leon directs the Tyrant’s attention onto him by shooting a couple bullets into his chest.
You peek over the edge and watch as he fights the giant, with some close calls here and there. With the elongated claws, he doesn’t leave much room for Leon to dodge out of the way. You bite your lip nervously. He told you that he’s got this, but does he really? Should you really just sit here and wait for him to potentially die? No. That’s not who you are, it’s not what you do.
More concrete falls onto the platform. Leon backs off, and where there wasn’t a rock before, there is one now. His heel bumps into it and his eyes widen as he trips and falls.
“Shit!” You push yourself up and draw your gun on the Tyrant, who stands above the rookie and raises his arm, ready to slash him in two. Your gun goes off, and at first, the Tyrant doesn’t move an inch. But then your bullet hits the exposed organ on his chest and he staggers, stumbling backwards. Then, his eyes are on you. He spreads his legs and crouches, roaring, powering up. Before you can react, the Tyrant is rushing towards you, dragging his powerful claws behind him.
Bouncing to the side is all you can do, and you do so just in time. You watch as he swipes his hand upwards, as it just barely misses your ribcage, as one of the claws hooks under the chain of your pendant that’s slipped out of your vest-
It stands no chance against the force of the swing. The necklace snaps off your neck, and then it’s plummeting somewhere off the edge of the platform.
You fall onto your ass, then rush to the railing. “No!” You’re in genuine dismay. The last memorabilia of your sister is gone. The Tyrant looks your way with his emotionless eyes, and then he lowers his arm, ready to strike again. You don’t have it in you to run, but you do so anyway, because you know you have to. Scrambling onto your feet, you leap over the slab of concrete in your way, and then you’re rushing behind Leon, who’s gotten up since then.
“What did I tell you about backup?” He scolds you, but it is gentle.
“Should I have just let you die?”
Leon knows you’re right. He still hates seeing you throw yourself into danger for him over and over. “Just stay back!”
The Tyrant comes swinging his arm again and the two of you dart in opposite directions. Yet again, Leon draws your enemy’s attention while you crouch behind concrete. With each chunk fallen out of the ceiling, the space on the platform grows smaller and Leon’s options limited, and it seems that the Tyrant really is indestructible as he continues to pursue the rookie no matter how many bullets his body soaks up.
And then, when things are most dire, a pipe above explodes, the shockwave staggering both Leon and the Tyrant. Movement in the corner of your eye catches your attention and you see a suitcase slide down a slope. It lands not too far from you. Confused, you glance up, and for a second, you swear you see a flash of red before it disappears behind a column. You furrow your brows. It couldn’t be Ada, right? How could she possibly survive that fall? You shake the thought away and rush out from behind your cover, ducking as the Tyrant thrashes around and rocks fall all around you. At last, you fall to your knees next to the suitcase, and upon opening it, your eyes light up. You’ve never worked a rocket launcher, never held one in your hands, but its shape is unmistakable. With a small smirk you lift the weapon out of its casing. You stand up, flip the safety switch and aim it at the giant.
“This better fucking kill you,” you grumble, aiming at the Tyrant. “Leon! Get out of the way!”
The rookie glances at you and his eyes widen with the realization of what you’re holding. He quickly dashes away from the enemy, and immediately, you pull the trigger and shoot. The rocket flies through the air and upon contact with the Tyrant’s gray, muscular body, it explodes. Leon ducks and covers his head just in time to protect himself from the blood and guts splattering. You’re not so lucky. With the launcher in your hands, you can only close your eyes to protect your vision. Hot blood coats your face, dripping down your neck.
“Yuck,” you spit and stick out your tongue, and when you open your eyes again, you find that all that remains of the Tyrant are his pelvis and legs. They take one more step forward, powered by muscle memory, before falling over and spilling more blood onto the ground. How gorey. You hang your arms, letting the rocket launcher slip out of your hand and onto the floor. At last, the elevator arrives at its destination. It comes to a halt and the handrails in the front slide down to allow for an exit. At this point, you think, you’re too tired to take another step. Leon’s face comes into view. He grabs you by the shoulders and looks you over.
“Are you okay?”
You hang your head and nod begrudgingly. “I guess.” Your thoughts turn to the pendant. You just lost it. It was the last thing tying you to your sister. In a way, it helped you feel like she never really left. But now she isn’t here anymore. Perhaps, she hasn’t been for a long time. It’s about time you stop deluding yourself.
“Come on,” Leon urges you, “We don’t have much time. Can you run?”
“I don’t think-”
You don’t even get to finish before Leon’s hauling you over his shoulder yet again. You’ve been carried like three times by now, and it still hasn’t gotten any less embarrassing. However, you’re exhausted and your legs feel like lead. You’re well aware that you have no other choice, so you just accept it.
“How can you keep going?” you ask as he rushes off the elevator and through the next door.
Out of breath, he replies, “Youthful vigor?”
You chuckle. It’s tempting to keep joking around, but the situation you’re in calls for urgency.
Soon enough, you arrive at what looks to be a subway station. Not long after your arrival, you hear the sound of a train running, and sure enough, one emerges from the tunnel on your right. It is slow right now, but you can tell it is picking up speed as it goes. You push yourself up on Leon’s shoulder to get a good look behind you.
“Is this our way out?” you ask.
“Train must be going somewhere, right?”
You suppose he has a point. But how will you-
Leon picks up the pace, jogging along the length of the train.
“I’m gonna help you up, so get on!”
“Wait, but what about you?!”
“Don’t worry about me!” A gap between the wagons aligns with the two of you, and Leon grabs you by the hips and hoists you up. You are left with no choice but to grab onto a metal bar on the side of the train, pulling yourself onto the bridge. Your muscles burn as you crawl onto the train, but instead of resting, you immediately lean off the edge.
“Leon!” You don’t get to see him get on. The wagon you’re on enters the tunnel and you flinch back as the wall rushes past your head. You could have been decapitated right then and there - what a ridiculous way to die after everything you went through.
Grunting, you push yourself onto your feet. Your legs feel heavy as you move them and every inch of your body is screaming to just lie down and sleep for a hundred years. You don’t allow yourself that luxury, not until your job is done, not until you see this through. The door to the wagon slides open and you walk inside. Empty. You drag your body through the car and into the next, which is also lacking a certain rookie. At the next door, you lean against the wall, pressing your hot face against the metal as you take in deep breaths. One more. Just one more car. You slap your hand onto the button to open this door and when you enter the next wagon, you are greeted not by Leon, but by a woman and a little girl.
They both look at you and immediately, the woman is wary - as she should be, if she’s heading out of Raccoon City. She ushers the girl behind her and puts herself between the two of you, hand hovering over the handgun strapped to her thigh.
“Whoa,” you say, putting your empty hands up. “I’m not a threat. You must be Claire, right? I saw you on the screen…”
Claire furrows her eyebrows until recognition lights up her face. “You were with Leon.”
“Yep, that’s me… Have you, uh, seen him by any chance?”
Almost as if on call, the door behind the two opens. Leon walks in and judging by his tense expression, he’s also been looking for you. His eyes land on you, and then he’s rushing past the girls to your side.
Fuck being nonchalant. You’ve made it. Overcome by joy, you practically leap into his arms, and he crushes you in a hug with all his remaining strength. Tears well up in your eyes and you bury your face into his neck to hide them.
“Nice to see we all made it,” Claire says, and her voice returns you to reality. You and Leon pull away from each other.
“Claire!” It’s like he was so laser-focused on you that he didn’t even notice her being there. “I’m so glad to see you alive. And who’s this?”
Claire looks at the little girl, who smiles at the floor shyly. “This is Sherry. Sherry, this is Leon and…”
“Y/N,” you finish for her.
“Y/N.” She tries out your name on her tongue, nodding her head, “You a cop?”
You clear your throat. “Uh, well, I was. Before… you know.”
Claire’s eyes light up. “Did you happen to see my brother?”
“Your.. brother?”
“Yeah. Chris Redfield. He was in S.T.A.R.S.”
Your eyes widen. “Wait, you’re-”
A sudden impact shakes the car. Everyone manages to stay upright somehow, except for you, who loses their footing and ends up crashing into one of the seats.
“What now?!” you lament.
Leon’s hand finds your lower back as he crouches next to you. “Are you okay?” Suddenly, as he looks at you the way he does, you forgive the world for being such a bitch.
“Sure,” you reply, “yeah.”
He glances at Claire, then back at you. “We’ll handle this. Can you wait here, watch over Sherry?”
Your eyes find the little girl, still glued to the woman’s side. Blonde hair, blue eyes… the image of a hair strand glued to a bloody bullet flashes through your head and with it comes a pang in your side. You squeeze your eyes to get it out of your mind and when you open them again, you’ve accepted that you don’t really have a choice.
“Of course.”
“Thank you.” Leon takes in your face then, and you can see the gears turning in his head. Finally, he leans in and kisses you softly, longingly. When he pulls away, you chase after him, wishing for the kiss to last forever. Sadly, this world has never been too good at granting your wishes. He stands up and joins Claire’s side, ears turning red as she watches him with a smug smirk on her face.
“Leon,” you stop him, pulling yourself up with the help of a bar, “don’t you dare die on me now.”
He turns his head and sends a smile your way that has your heart leaping. “I would never.”
Sherry’s eyes are practically burning a hole into you. She sits on the opposite seat, watching you with those wide blue eyes while you clutch at your side, pain making itself known on your face in the periodical wince and pull of your lips into a thin line. Somewhere a couple cars down, commotion can be heard. Guns are shot, monsters are wounded - at this point, you don’t have it in you to care about what’s beyond those doors.
“I don’t bite, you know,” you say after a while, to which Sherry flinches. Suddenly a rock lying not far off across the floor is the most interesting thing in the world to her.
She swallows, then finally looks back at you, until her gaze drops down to your bloodied clothes. “You don’t look so good,” she says.
You chuckle, which proves to be a mistake as the sound transforms into a groan. ‘Not looking so good’ might be the understatement of the year. You haven’t had the chance to look in a mirror in a while and you don’t need to, it’s obvious that you’re two steps from death.
“I’m not infected, if that’s what you’re wondering,” you reassure her. “Got shot.”
It seems that was enough to make Sherry less wary of you. She shifts in her seat, small hands clutching at the fabric of her shorts. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, pipsqueak. It’s good to be careful around strangers, especially in Raccoon City.” A heavy thud guides your eyes to the door. Sure, you don’t care about the monster, but Leon is a different story. “...Is Claire your big sister?”
“No, not really… we just met last night.”
“Huh. Same as me and Leon.”
“Wait, you guys met last night and you’re already kissing?”
You blush. Sherry’s boldness is that of any other child, and you’re not very used to dealing with children. “It’s a long story.”
“Can’t be that long,” she grins, “if you met last night.”
Your jaw drops. She’s got balls! “You’re way too smart for your own good, kid.”
“What does that mean?” she asks with genuine curiosity.
You just smile. “Don’t worry about it.”
Once again, your eyes are drawn to the door. Sherry seems to understand your thoughts perfectly.
“You can go check, you know. I’ll be fine.”
You consider her words carefully. Sure, she’ll probably be fine. She did make it out of Raccoon City and you know that she’s smart, but do you really want to take this risk? As the gears in your head turn, your eyes happen to fall upon a rifle conveniently placed against the wall.
“Is that Claire’s?”
“Huh?” Sherry follows your gaze. “Oh yeah.”
You stand up with the help of the bar and limp your way over to the gun. It’s in good shape and loaded. Maybe you don’t have to leave the car. Smiling at the girl, you hurry over to the door and you slam your hand on the button to open the door. It hisses and slides open to reveal the scene beyond: Leon and Claire busy with fighting off a huge mass of flesh, eyes and teeth. If that was a human at some point, none of that person remains in there anymore. Claire turns her head towards the source of the sound.
“Y/N? What are you doing?”
At the sound of your name, Leon also looks behind him. “You just can’t sit still, can you?”
You smirk as you cock the rifle. “You already know the answer to that.” Raising the gun, you take aim, and you shoot a tendril making its way towards Leon’s head. He flinches away and then his focus is back on the fight instead of you.
Even with your support though, the mass continues to make its way towards you. No amount of bullets seems to harm it. Umbrella has really outdone itself.
“I don’t think this thing’s gonna die,” Claire finally says. You and Leon are likely thinking the same.
You take your eye off the scope and scan your surroundings, until you spot the couplers connecting the two cars. “We gotta lose it. Leon! Get over here!”
Leon, who has undoubtedly heard you, doesn’t listen to you. He stays in the car with the monster, bravely fighting it off. You maybe wish he was a little less brave. You shake your head. “We gotta disconnect it. Claire-”
“I got it.” She kneels in front of the joint and begins to inspect it. You suspect that just as you, she has never had to disconnect two train cars. In the meantime, you glance around yourself. If bullets won’t do anything, surely massive blunt force would do it. But what can you use? And then you see it - a half-broken-off steel bar hanging off the side of the train. You grab it with both your hands and pull with all your might, and when it refuses to come off, you add the push of your foot.
“Piece of junk..!” Almost as if hearing your cursing, at last the object snaps off, and the force of your pull sends you tumbling backwards. You manage to grab onto a handrail at the last second.
“Leon!” The rookie looks at you. “Catch!”
You toss the weapon his way and it lands into the open palm of his hand. At the same moment, Claire manages to dislodge the couplers. The car containing Leon and the monster begins to drift away slowly, to which Leon furrows his brows. He turns back to the creature and grips the bar with both hands, sharp end pointing towards his enemy.
“Fuck you,” he spits, and the tone of his voice shouldn’t make your heart flutter the way it does. Leon raises the weapon and then leaps forward, shoving it into the huge heart in the center of the monster’s heart. The organ bursts, spilling a thick, yellow substance all over the floor. It roars with pain - though where the sound is coming from, you have no idea, and you have stopped questioning such things a long time ago - and just like that, Leon is done.
By now, the gap between the cars has grown wider. Both you and Claire reach out one hand each, and Leon takes one step back before sprinting towards you and jumping across the gap. He just barely makes it, one foot slipping off the edge, but luckily, you and Claire are there to pull him towards safety. Once you make sure that he’s well, you watch as the released car slows down, until it is completely engulfed by the flames of the exploding laboratory.
Fire cleanses all. This time, it won’t get back up.
“Sherry, are you okay?” Claire joins the girl in the front. It seems everything is okay. Leon sits next to you. Just then, the darkness around you disappears as the train leaves the tunnel. The sunrise’s brightness blinds you at first, and once your eyes adjust, you are left staring in awe.
Morning has arrived. The sun has risen above you, and all around you is the vastness of the free country, Raccoon City nowhere in sight. The air is clean of smoke and death.
“We… made it?” Disbelief colors your voice. You never thought you’d get to see another sunrise. Yet here you are, feeling the rays of sunlight caress your pale face, watching them chase away the darkness. The world greets you in all of its beauty. Leon doesn’t see any of it. It doesn’t matter to him. What really captivates him is you and the sparkle in your eyes. He places his hand over yours, pulling those eyes to his.
“We made it.”
You tuck your hair behind your ear, and then you’re leaning in close, kissing him gently. It’s nothing like the first kiss you shared in that cable car. This one is sweet enough to rot his teeth, and somehow, it’s also the best kiss he’s ever felt upon his lips.
At that moment, you feel the train slow down into a halt. You and Leon look at each other in confusion. As you separate, you spot Claire and Sherry making their way towards the two of you.
“Looks like it’s out of juice.”
“What?” You push yourself up onto your legs with difficulty. Will bad luck ever stop following you? “How the hell do we get to another city, then? There’s nothing but desert around us.”
“Guess we’ll have to walk,” she replies. Both Sherry and you don’t look too thrilled.
“Hey,” Leon pipes in, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. “We’ll try hitching a ride. Someone should pick us up, right?”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” you grumble. Between the dry, hot desert and the asshole drivers around here, you don’t let yourself get your hopes up.
As you get off the train, the heat finally starts to hit you, and you have no doubt that it’s only going to get worse. The four of you trek along the empty highway with the sun beating down on you all. Sherry seems to be immune to it. She leads the chatter with seemingly endless stamina and Claire entertains her to the best of her abilities. Behind them, you and Leon walk side by side. He doesn’t say anything to you and you don’t say anything to him. After all that’s happened, neither of you has the energy to do so. And as the heat continues to rise, you end up taking off your vest and tossing it on the ground next to you. Leon watches you do so, and the wrinkle between his eyebrows seems to get deeper as you go on. Finally, he stops walking with you.
“Y/N?”
You look up at him, unable to catch your breath despite the slow pace you’ve been walking. When you blink, you somehow find yourself lying in his arms.
“Y/N! Hang in there! I’ve got you!”
You slip in and out of consciousness, and each time you wake up, Leon is right there - at first in the sun, then in the back of a car. He strokes your hair, he presses his fingers to your pulse point, he looks down at you with tears in his eyes. Ridiculous.
♦♦♦
The beeping of a machine is the first to penetrate the darkness, then the smell of a sterile floor cleaner. Your eyelids feel impossibly heavy, like they’re glued shut. Cold liquid enters your arm through an IV that cools you from the inside out. Sweat drips down your forehead.
You force your eyes open. Everything’s spinning, but eventually, the picture of a hospital ceiling stills. A groan tries to claw its way out of your dry throat but it never quite makes it. You stir, and only then does Leon’s face once again enter your field of vision.
“Y/N!” Relief washes over him and he very obviously considers hugging you before realizing that he’d probably just hurt you. Leon settles for taking your hand and bringing it up to his forehead. “Thank god you’re alive…” he whispers, then presses a kiss into your skin.
You cough, then try speaking again. “Wh…where am I?” Your eyes scan the hospital room. It’s a single bed room with only you and Leon in it.
“Ohio State Hospital,” he replies. “After you passed out, we managed to hitch a ride with this old guy - he was very kind. Pretty sure he’ll be scrubbing the grime off his seats for hours…”
You would laugh, but you’re too exhausted. Leon continues, “You… had a very bad case of sepsis. Must have been in sepsis for a long time, actually. Your organs were beginning to fail.” He looks remorseful then, as he looks at you in that hospital bed. “I’m sorry. I dragged you into a pointless side mission. We should have just left.”
Managing to free your hand of his grasp, you place it in his hair, which has been washed since you got admitted. “Leon, I’m an adult. I can decide for myself… and I decided to go with you. I don’t regret it one bit.”
He covers your hand with his and gives you a sad smile.
“Besides, I lived anyway. I’m a tough one to crack.”
Leon chuckles. “Yeah, how did you do that anyway?”
“It’s simple,” you smirk, “I promised you a date.”
That gets him blushing. He rubs his jaw nervously, eyes ticking around the room. “Alright, that was smooth. But I don’t think that’s happening for a while.”
“Right, who knows when they’ll release me…”
The two of you fall into a comfortable silence save for the machine’s periodical beeping. You’re tired, and despite having slept for who knows how long, you’d love to sleep some more. However, you feel like you can’t let yourself do so. Like your body hasn’t quite left Raccoon City yet. Right then, Leon decides to speak up again.
“Hey, uh… listen. When you got admitted, I was given your clothes. They’re mostly unusable anyway, but… I found something in your pants’ back pocket.” Leon reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a photo. “When I saw it, I.. kind of remembered Marvin reaching into your pocket while you were out.”
Your heart begins to pound as you reach out your shaking hand. Two fingers enclose around the paper, and when you finally look at it, a knot forms in your throat. You look up, lower lip wobbling as you try to contain your tears.
A photo of Elliot, passed out and bent over a bench with a beer can in his hand, lies pinned between your fingers, and suddenly, you are no longer in that hospital bed. You are sitting around a campfire, enveloped by laughter and pranks, and Neil’s blanket lies draped around your shoulders. You laugh with them, cluelessly, believing that this could last forever. That you’ve found a new family that could never fall apart.
Leon’s arms take the blanket’s place. At last, no longer in Raccoon City and surrounded by zombies, you are allowed to cry into his arms openly no matter how much it pulls at your stitches.
♦♦♦
Harsh light casts a sickly blue hue over your body. You sit on a steel chair in a small room with a mirror to your left that you have no doubt is see-through from the other side. Finally, the door in front of you opens, and a man in a suit enters the room, sitting down in front of you.
“Here’s the deal, Y/N. May I call you Y/N?” You nod. “The thing is… you know too much. And having witnessed your skills, we believe you could be a useful asset to our anti-bioterrorism cause.”
He stops talking, and you understand that as a free space for your own thoughts. “Do I have a choice?” You know the government isn’t so forthcoming.
“You do, of course. You can say no. But there are consequences.”
“Consequences?”
“We let you go. You get to live your life freely, get a nice little job and live in a nice little apartment in some faraway city. But someone else pays for your freedom.”
You scoff, shaking your head. “And who would that be?”
“Kennedy and Sherry Birkin.”
The names he speaks make you clench your jaw. Of course it’s them. You squeeze your eyes shut, pinching the bridge of your nose. Not much of a choice then, is it? What kind of freedom would that be if bought out by the sacrifice of a little girl?
The man in a suit stands up. “You have time to decide. We will come back to hear your answer in two-”
“No need. I’ve decided.” You level him with a sharp gaze.
The agent rests his hand on the backrest of the chair. “You have?”
currently driving myself crazy thinking about what different versions of leon would smell like AWOOGA
younger leon would definitely smell fresh, like the typical axe body spray type scent. re4 leon would be more into spicier and citrusy fragrances. vendetta leon doesn't really use perfume. he just smells like alcohol, gunpowder and leather. requiem leon turns to more musky, woody fragrances that just scream mature. out of all of them, requiem leon smells the nicest. he's got his shit together. he smells like home
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