Your eyes lazily blink open introducing you to a hazy cacophony of intense shades of oranges and pink, the sun poking its way through the mountains almost as if it was trying to purposefully blind you. Feeling an aching pang in your chest you struggle to rise to your feet, and are instantly hit with the realisation of not knowing where you are, why you’re here, and why you have such an anxious feeling whirling in your chest.
You look around to absorb anything and everything your eyes could see, which wasn’t much due to the fact that all the surroundings are different hues of brown with the occasional green scattered in bits and pieces. You notice houses intricately placed around you and a warm campfire burning brightly right in the middle of this desolate village, its warmth being your only semblance of peace next to what seemed like an empty, cold and abandoned village.
DING-DONG
The sound of church bells chime continuously; the flock of birds resting on the trees quickly disperse. You see pitchforks and axes across in the distance edging closer slowly coming in to surround you.
Panicked, you hurriedly look for anything, anything to mask your presence as sweat drips down your forehead and tears well in your eyes. You spot a cellar door hidden by the bushes which you sprint towards making sure none of the weird, almost inhumane looking villagers see you. Using every ounce of your strength you barely manage to pry open the door and your twig arms ache from the backlash, you swiftly scurry in and leave the door half open to assess the situation. Dozens of people start to surround the campfire and one of them seems to be dragging an officer and tosses him in.
What on earth is going on? Tears didn’t stop. They continue to flow while you just stood there in disbelief, making sure not to let out even a slight whimper. Why me? Why now? You think as you squint your eyes to take a closer look at these psychopaths and realise their faces were decaying and rotten along with a soulless glimmer in their eyes. What even are they…? You think before coming to the conclusion that obviously they aren’t human and you need to find a way to escape. You take a moment to evaluate everything that’s happened so far, from waking up in the middle of this rural village to having to hide in this cellar from those …zombies? Crying isn’t going to get me anywhere, you sit there for a couple minutes longer planning out your escape route.
“Un forastero!”
You snap your head to where the villager zombie was pointing only to see a man who looks to be in his late twenties wearing a brown burgundy jacket shooting down those zombies like it was as natural as breathing, his swift dodges and quick judgement was obviously that of a veteran. He could help me, you thought with survival the only thing fueling you as you think of a plan to try and get him into the cellar without being noticed. You dig deeper in trying to find anything useful and see three flash grenades stashed under the wooden boxes. Perfect. You run back and kick open the door.
“HEY, SHUT YOUR EYES!” You pull the ring and throw it perfectly right at the centre of the horde which is unusual since you normally have awful aim. The man complies and quickly shuts his eyes and opens them upon hearing the loud bang.
“Over here!” You gesture at him while assuring yourself the zombies were still blinded, the man hastily enters the cellar and you close it behind him, letting out a massive sigh of relief before slowly opening the door barely enough to peek through, making sure nothing followed him.
“You okay?” You ask him before meeting his eyes still shaking from the adrenaline coursing through your veins only to see him peering straight at you.
“Um….why are you staring at me like that?” You ask hesitantly not fully knowing whether he was a friend or foe and unbeknownst to you, you could have let in a murderer for all you know.
“Who are you and why are you here?” He asks with a stern face completely disregarding your question all while not breaking eye contact.
No thanks for saving your life? You think.
“Actually I don’t know what’s going on, I woke up in the middle of this village like ten minutes ago then hid here after seeing those ...zombies and then I saw you.”
After hearing you explain your predicament, his eyes soften, like he was too trusting, which you had no right to say anything about after letting this man into your safe space knowing next to nothing about him.
Upon further inspection of his face you conclude that he is rather beautiful, with dirty blonde hair that sits parted perfectly at his sides and beautiful, blue eyes that could pierce even diamonds. He has a tall nose paired with plump wide lips and not a single blemish in sight, his muscles are nothing to joke about either because despite wearing that jacket they still shine through. Before you realise it, you are staring straight at him-drooling almost.
“Ahem,” you shake your head snapping back to reality because why would you feel the need to prolong staring at him obviously because he is exactly your type.
“You okay?” He gently places a hand on your shoulder and uses his other hand to guide your face to meet his so he could assess your constitution. That gesture alone brought a slight flush to your cheek and you quickly swat his hand away hoping he didn’t notice.
“Yeah all good, what about you? You know cause all those zombies were chasing you and everything.”
“Same here, everything’s still intact. And those were Ganados, common misconception," he corrects you while reloading his gun and placing it effortlessly back in his pocket all the while scanning his surroundings, including you, for any signs of danger.
He explains that he found that out on his way to this village after being attacked by a couple of the zombies Ganados and found a note hidden inside a house.
“Okay… and what about you? What are you doing here?” You had a plethora of questions that need answering but, as they say, 'One at a time.'
He continues to speak and you find out his name is Leon and that he's been sent under the president's orders to save his daughter, Ashley Graham, after she had been kidnapped and brought here to rural Spain.
Rural Spain? You think, What am I doing here? You remember the last memory you had of walking down the streets of your hometown.
A sudden throb pierces through your head as you try to resurface the forgotten memories but instead of your old memories coming back, unfamiliar ones start to form.
As you walk into this minimalistic looking room, the size no bigger than a tribunal hut, slowly you inspect it. Shivers go down your spine.
TICK.
The sound of the new hour—CLICK…. “HEY WATCH OUT!”—Leon lay soulless on the ground—in a pool of his own blood—a massive piece of debris pinning him down. You look at your surroundings and see a blue candle lying on the floor beside him along with a strange red clock mounted right at the centre of the wall, both of these things significantly contrasting with the browns and beiges of the room.
HUFF, GASP.
Your breath hitches, “Ugh,” you couldn't get your words out and it felt like you could drop at any moment.
“Hey, look at me,” someone commands with a firm voice and a pinch of worry. His eyes lock onto yours with his hands placed on both your shoulders, bending down at eye level. The cool blue of his eyes remind you of the calm ocean; you imagine the sea and how much you love it because of its peaceful tranquility.
Finally, you catch your breath and your heart was no longer about to burst out your chest.
“You okay? What happened?” Leon steadily got rid of the concern on his face but didn’t let go, it didn't seem like he planned to do so until he got his answer.
How were you meant to explain to him that you just saw his dead, soulless body covered in blood.
A Gandao murmurs to itself with its back turned to face against you. Leon sneaks up behind it with you waiting at the door and slashes its throat before placing it down gently so as to not alert any other enemy lurking by. There is a blockaded brick hole where iridescent light shines through brightening up the room. Through it you could see guns, ammo and herbs spread across on the table all cluttered.
“Hey, that’s my gear.”
“You’re right, I don’t see your jacket anywhere though,” you glance around the room but see no sign of the brown-burgundy jacket, only a red metal gate sealing the entrance to the items.
“Looks like we need to go around,” He adds, walking towards the door to the other side and opening it.
Another Ganado blocks the path, Leon hunches down getting ready to carry out a sneak-strike but the Ganado notices and is now edging closer towards Leon with an exe at hand. Leon barely seems to move, he flicks his wrist, his knife meeting with the steel of the axe with a sharp clink. The axe slides along Leon’s knife and buries itself into the dirt stopping the Ganado’s momentum as it stumbles on its feet before Leon melee kicks it to the floor, permanently knocking it out.
“Nice Parry,” you acknowledge.
“I can teach you if you’re up for it.”
“Actually, yeah. I’ll need to learn everything I can if I want to survive.”
“I don’t know about everything considering the time but the basics should be enough. Let me get my gear first.”
After making plans for a mini practice session later, you take the time to examine the room. It’s dilapidating, the building has various holes where light pokes through. The floor is covered in a green liquid smelling like a sewer with rats squirming all over the place. Two furnaces stand on the side, one empty and the other storing a red gem, a few gaps follow the right wall with glass shards lining the frame.
Leon effortlessly jumps to the other side avoiding the shards and turns around to help you by extending out an arm like always, something you’ve gotten used to by now.
“Wait here,” he asserts with a low voice. The hallway in front of you twists back with a pockmarked wall separating the two sides, behind the wall you both hear a Ganado which Leon creeps behind giving it the same fate as all the ones before it.
“I think that’s all of them,” Leon pokes his head through one of the holes and waves for you to come to his side before opening the door leading you to what looks like some sort of boiler room, a red translucent light illuminating the space giving it an eerie feeling.
“Great, more locked doors,” you sigh. On your left, there is a locked gate that can only be opened from the other side and to your right, you see another locked gate with a hand wheel mounted on the side.
Leon turns the wheel causing the entrance of the room with his gear to open but as he lets go the mechanism slowly goes back to normal.
“You want me to keep it open for you?” You question, wiggling your arms to prepare them for a test of endurance.
“Nah. I got this,” he fully twists the wheel and runs past you, briskly opening the door and leaps through the hole in the wall by placing one hand on the frame, disregarding the shards, and propelling himself forward. He continues to dash towards the closing door, which is now halfway down, and transitions himself into a barrel roll making his way through, all while avoiding the bear-trap placed next to the door—It was something straight out of an action film.
“How was that?” Leon asks picking up his items and stashing them away while opening the red steel door which blocks you from reuniting.
“Nice, that barrel roll was close though.”
“It wouldn’t be an exciting show otherwise,” He smirks while checking his guns for ammo and replenishes them if needed.
You laugh at his statement before turning towards the big gate where a man wearing a grayish, heavily-worn and weathered trench coat along with a mask with white markings opens the door gesturing to the right.
“Over here, stranger,” he speaks with a thick Cockney accent revealing a bulky rucksack as he turns.
“Do you think he’s friendly?” You ask peeking around the corner.
“Well, only one way to find out,” Leon shields you while he opens the heavy gate which leads you to the outside, the sun burning brightly. You both are met with an empty stand with the masked man behind it, a purple candle glows vividly illuminating the surrounding in a cold hue.
“Let’s do some business then, ey,” he says.
“Mind telling us who you are?” Leon inquiries.
“Just refer to me as the Merchant,” his thick accent fills the air.
“Okay….and what are you doing here?”
“Just doing business,” the Merchant pulls his trench coat to the side revealing all sorts of guns, ammo and trinkets that would be useful in your situation.
You leave Leon’s side and sprint towards the Merchant to examine all of his guns and ammo.
“I also provide repairing services.”
Your eyes sparkle with excitement as you quickly turn to face Leon.
“These are gonna be so useful for our journey,” you giddily bring Leon close and take out his knife.
“We weren’t doing too bad on our own.”
“What are you talking about? Your knife’s on its last legs. We should be thankful we found him when we did,” you hand the knife to the Merchant, “Can you repair this please.”
“Whatever you say,” Leon hums, a small, tight smile not quite reaching his eyes.
“Not without a price,” the Merchant answers your question.
“Oh of course,” you reach out your hand, palms facing up, waiting for Leon to give you one of the pouches he's been collecting, “Good thing your scavenging worked out for us.”
“I told you it would come in handy,” he hands you one of the pouches as you eye him feeling annoyed but thankful for his intuition.
You hand the merchant some money for him to repair the knife. While he does the repairing you browse through his inventory to see what else you could buy and just then your eyes land on the only rifle in his catalogue.
You quickly grab it; the weight shocks you as you lurch, and hand it to Leon, “This is a must. We could easily take out a few of the Ganados from afar.”
“I was thinking of getting it too, guess it's final then,” Leon pays the Merchant.
“Pleasure doing business with ya,” he hands you back the knife, “I can also take a couple treasures outta your hands.”
“You mean like this?” Leon takes out the small flagon from his pocket.
“Exactly that, I'll pretty much take anything.”
“Good to know,” Leon turns to face you, a cheeky grin slowly starts to form and his eyes are filled with an ‘I told you so’ look, as if you were the weird one for questioning why you both were wasting time collecting gold trinkets when the whole village is infested with zombie wannabes.
“These gems must be for the indents,” Leon takes out two red gems and places them perfectly into the absent holes before handing them to the Merchant for a hefty sum.
“Thank you,” the Merchant takes the decorated flagon, “I see you’ve also taken care of a request,” he takes out three pink gems and places them on the table.
“Are you talking about the blue medallions”? You question.
“Yes, you can trade these spinels here for all this,” he opens another section of his trench coat to reveal some more items, one of them being another handgun.
“How much for the punisher?” Leon points to the gun.
“Five spinels.”
“Don’t you already have a handgun?” You ask, raising a brow.
“It’s not for me, it’s for you,” Leon counts all of the spinels you both currently have. Three from destroying the blue medallions and one from when Leon found the pink gem on top of the roof in the village.
“Hmm we still need one more,” He notices a blue note attached to one of the decorations, this time asking for someone to kill the three rats that roamed the abandoned factory, “Time for some pest control.”
You ignore his joke, “Why do I need a gun? I barely even know how to use one,” you stand confused waiting for his answer.
“It’s only for emergencies, in cases where I might not be by your side all the time. Remember, only for emergencies. I don’t want you getting injured since you haven't had much practice.” He answers with a stern tone.
“Makes sense, okay let’s go kill some rats.”
You walk back to the factory and head past the boiler room and into the twisty hallway with the pockmarked wall where you hear a squeak.
“You wanna shoot?” He asks, taking out his gun and gesturing at the rat with it.
“Might as well get the practice in wherever I can,” you take his handgun and aim forward with shaky hands. This time it’s a moving target which increases the difficulty by tenfold. BANG. You miss. Bang. You miss again.
“You’re trying to track it. Focus on a specific area and examine its movement. You can either wait for a moment of stillness then quickly snap to it and shoot, or you can determine its pattern and point your gun in that area.” He places his hand over yours guiding you to a steady point, “I recommend the latter, it’ll be easier.”
You let out a deep breath and focus, examining and determining the rat's pattern. BANG. A pained squeak followed by a pool of blood surrounds the rat.
“Good job,” the skin around his eyes crinkles as his smile widens.
“Thanks, you’re a better teacher than I thought.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Wanna take the other two out?”
“Yeah, I’ll do it.”
Behind the broken window you hear another squeak. You both climb through, Leon making sure to help you avoid the shards. BANG. You miss.
“Don’t worry, it takes practice. Try again,” he leans against the wall with his arms crossed.
You take one more deep breath, aiming at the steady point and place your finger on the trigger. Knees slightly bent as you put weight to one hip. BANG. The familiar pained squeak echoes followed by the pool of blood.
You turn to face Leon as he stands there, thumb up, “Nice.”
“One more left,” you notice the final rat squirming by the furnace and slowly creep up behind so as to not alert it. You take the same stance you did before except faster this time and more fluid. BANG. You didn’t miss. All three rats are now taken care of.
“Well done. Fortunately you got in some practice with moving targets.”
“Yeah, good thing they couldn’t.…rat-aliate,” you smirk, holding in your laugh.
Leon lets out a small chuckle while shaking his head, “Jokes are meant to be funny.”
“You laughed though. Besides that’s exactly how you joke,” you tell him, handing back his gun and watching him reload.
“I laughed because I was caught off guard. My jokes are way better.” he retaliates, grinning in the process.
“Sure, sure,” you laugh, “we should head back and trade our spinels.”
You both return to the Merchant and trade your spinels for the punisher leaving you with two remaining. He adds a waistband along with the gun for easier storage. There’s also a holster where you can store a knife.
“Anything else I can help ya with?” the Merchant asks.
“No, I think that’s all for now,” you answer
“Thank you for your patronage.”
You wave bye to the Merchant and continue on with your journey.
“I didn’t think there were any sane residents here, let alone a whole merchant. I wonder how he plans to continue his business if there’s barely anyone to sell to,” you spark a conversation with Leon fiddling with your waistband to get it to the perfect positioning.
“Not sure, that’s his headache,” he notices a yellow-painted box at the corner of his eye and goes to break, picking up the ammo that dropped out.
“They really are everywhere, the boxes.”
“Yeah, pretty convenient for us.”
The surrounding area looks abandoned with random white sacks filled with what you can only hope is something non-dangerous along with metal bars and pillars scattered throughout. Train railings trail the floor to a giant gate that is barricaded with steel bars and could only be opened through inserting some sort of a bird emblem.
“Don’t think we can go this way,” Leon turns around and continues on a different path that has unevenly lined wooden planks as the flooring with a recognisable white fence outlining the pathway.
You follow closely behind, keeping an eye out for any Ganados or anything else that’s hazardous.
“The hell are we?” Leon sighs, shaking his head, the path continues on for a while with no end in sight. The scenery never changes, feeling almost like you’re in a constant loop. Just then, Leon notices a Ganado not far off in the distance.
“Looks like we found the perfect practicing buddy to help you learn parrying. That is if you’re up for it.”
You soothe your nerves, wriggling the tension out of you, “Yeah I’m ready.”
“Okay. Take this,” he hands you his combat knife while taking out a small more fragile knife he found earlier, “First you need to use the strong part of your blade, not the middle.”
You hold the knife tightly ready for when Leon strikes.
“Loosen your grip but not too much, parrying is flicking your wrist to get rid of the enemy’s momentum so it needs to be quick.”
You do as he says.
“Okay lets try it out, I’m going to come close with my knife near your face and stop at about where you should start parrying,” he brings the knife close and stops just shy of your nose.
You catch his knife with the ‘strong’ of your blade just above the handle and quickly flick your wrist to move it away.
“Good, but you need to catch my knife at an angle. It’s gonna allow for the enemy's weapon to slide off easier,” he positions himself for another strike.
“Got it, at an angle,” you loosen your grip and compose yourself, feet slightly spread apart.
Leon once again swings his knife, stopping it just shy of your nose. You react quickly and angle your knife to catch his, flicking your wrist at the right moment causing Leon to stumble back a little.
“Did I do it?” You stand awaiting the verdict.
“Well done. You learn fast,” he regains his footing, “Ready for the real deal?” He looks over towards the Ganado holding a dull knife.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” you say but your heart wouldn’t stop thumping. This would be the first time you would get this close to a Ganado.
“As soon as you parry, run straight back. I’ll shoot it right after, I’m gonna be right here with you”
“Yeah okay, I can do that,” you steadily sneak up to the Ganado, legs shaking with every step but you power through, you need to overcome this if you want to better your chances of survival.
The Ganado notices you.
It comes up close waving a knife in the air spouting something in Spanish you couldn’t understand. You wait for it to take a swing and remember what Leon taught you as you loosen your grip. Its knife is just shy of touching your nose—it gets closer than you would like—before you catch it with your own knife, flicking your wrist without hesitation sending the Ganado’s knife flying into the air where it gets lodged into a rock, causing the Ganado to stumble in the process.
“Run back!” Leon shouts from not too far behind.
You comply, swiftly turning 180 degrees and run next to him as he shoots down the Ganado, killing it with three bullets to the head.
“You did good,” he has his hand out, gesturing for a high-five.
“Thanks,” you smile as you high-five him, the adrenaline still coursing through you.
“Wanna take a break?”
“No it’s okay, let’s continue,” you wipe the sweat off your forehead and catch your breath before continuing on.
You both walk for a while longer and are met with a large wall made out of wooden planks of different colours and sizes with a ladder leading you to the only path forward.
You place one hand on the wood, leaning against it while the other hand massages your temples, a continuous throbbing spreads through your head in a rhythm.
“Hey! What’s wrong? How are you feeling?" Leon’s expression looks too worried for someone who’s just experiencing a normal headache.
“Why do you look so shocked?” You ask, before feeling a runny, warm liquid drop down your nose, the colour similar to crimson. Oh no
Your eyes fade in and out of blurriness, Leon scrambling to find his handcloth. You feel a hand delicately wrap around the back of your head, mindful of your earlier injury. Leon repeatedly calls out your name as he holds the cloth over your nose gently applying light pressure.
Memories of a familiar looking clock and candle resurface.
a/n: Hi guys, I won’t be able to update for a while because of exams.
How do you like the story so far?
Let me know if you want me to continue updating after.
“Hey, hey wake up!” You hear a panicked voice calling out your name, you blink several times, your vision still not fully restored.
“Ugh,” you let out with barely any strength. You look around and see nothing but blur slowly fading into shapes. Everything looks side-ways and your head sends out excruciating throbs every second. You try to lift up your limp body and see Leon chained up back to back with the strange man you remember seeing earlier.
“Thank goodness,” Leon huffs out while sitting back down after seeing you wake up, his once tense muscles now relax.
“What happened?” You ask, finding your footing.
“Mandez, the tall man, tied us up together. He also gave your….friend the Las Plagas parasite,” the strange man says, “I'm Luis by the way.”
You jerk your head towards Leon, “Parasite? Are you okay? How are you feeling?” Anxiety wells inside you.
“I'm the last thing you should be worrying about right now,” a worried look covers his face, his eyes wandering to your head.
What's wrong with my head, you think, before touching the back.
“Ouch,” you look at your hand and see it covered in thick, red blood. That explains the throbbing at least.
The concern doesn’t fade from Leon’s face as you walk up to him and grab the chain, fiddling with it to see if there’s some sort of mechanism to get it open.
“What is ‘Las Plagas’ and how do you know Leon’s infected?” You turn to face Luis while continuing to fiddle with the chain.
“It’s a parasite, the same one that turned all those villagers into… monsters. I have it too,” he explains.
“And me? Did you see him inject anything in me?”
“No, he only had one dose of the parasite, he probably thought you were dead or not a threat considering your injury, and brought you here as some sick joke.”
“Well it wasn’t very funny,” you wittily let out trying to make light of the situation and notice Leon’s face ease up a little, but deep down you’re worried, worried about whether Leon’s going to make it or if Ashley could even be saved with how things are going.
Leon puts his hand on yours to stop you from endlessly struggling with the chain, “It’s no use, it needs a key. Stand back for a minute,” He stands up with Luis, wrapping his arms around the chain and pulling at it whilst you take a couple steps back.
“Hey, Stop it! You move, I move… and I’m beat up enough as it is!” Luis exclaims but Leon ignores him continuing to tug at the chain to loosen it from its bindings on the ceiling, “I can see your thinking. Bet you’ve been in spots like this before. My guess…you’re here looking for someone?” Leon shuns him and continues pulling at the chain grunting in the process, “One more guess. Maybe….some missing señorita?” Leon halts snapping his head back at the mention of ‘señorita’.
“A young girl?” He lunges forward towards Luis in one swift motion, snapping the chains taut to jerk Luis’s hands over his head, “Talk. Now,” he commands.
“All right,” Luis lets out while squirming, “See, heard chatter about moving a señorita.”
“Moving her. Where?” Leon loosens his grip.
“Who knows? But later, I saw some men dragging someone…to the old church.”
Leon finally releases the nails that attached the pulley to the ceiling, dropping it to the ground which causes Luis to fall face-first on the floor.
“Hanging with you? Not healthy—” Luis says, rising to his feet before being cut off by a forceful pull from Leon.
“Stay behind me!” Leon gestures with his head for you to move behind him while rapidly wrapping the chain around his arms to shorten it.
You comply and quickly run to his side making sure to give him enough room to deal with the Ganado that is slowly approaching you holding up an axe.
Leon doesn’t falter propping up Luis and whipping the Ganado with the chain causing it to stumble before wrapping the chain around its neck sandwiching it between him and Luis. The Ganado is helpless and aimlessly swings its axe while Leon carries out his finishing blow, swiftly kneeling on the chain and tugging it, the force causing his muscles to strain and the Ganado’s head snaps, its body limp as it falls to the ground.
That was extremely attractive, you think, knowing that it was an inappropriate time to be having such thoughts but it’s not like you could help it.
Luis hurriedly scrambles to grab the keys out of its pockets and undoes his lock whilst Leon has his back turned against him pushing himself up, his arms locked in chains.
“Hey, we’re not done here!” Leon exclaims while Luis smugly backs away, throwing the key across the room near your feet.
“Later, amigo,” He waves a bye with one arm, “Oh, and this is for the señorita with the lovely name,” he places his other arm into the pocket of his brown leather jacket and takes out a roll of bandages which he places on the counter next to the exit before sprinting out leaving you and Leon alone once again.
You pick up the key and inspect it, it’s a standard small bit of brass, nothing too complicated. The lock it belongs to is probably just as simple, a pin or something similar would likely have opened up the chains.
Leon bridges the gap between you both and angles his chained arms towards you, palms facing up, “Mind doing the honours?”
“Yeah, sure,” you undo the lock and watch the chains fall on the floor, he rubs the skin of his wrists where the iron had bitten in.
“Thanks,” he spoke gently, grabbing your arm and guiding you to the worn out boxes that act as a makeshift bench.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Gimme a sec,” He walks over to the counter to grab a hold of the bandages and sits next to you, “Could you turn around?”
“It's okay, I can do it,” you hold out your hand waiting for him to give you the bandages.
“No. Let me, please.”
You hesitantly comply and turn around, confused at his tone as you expected him to make some sort of joke about you not being able to tie it from the back but instead a serious, worried and gentle voice spoke through filled with the sound of guilt.
He takes out a brown cloth and douses it with disinfectant from a first aid kit he carries, delicately caressing your hair to one side and dabs the cloth on the wound, cleaning off the blood.
“Ouch,” you wince.
“I'm almost done,” Leon finishes cleaning your lesion and starts bandaging the area.
“I'm sorry,” he lets out in a soft whisper, his voice laced with guilt. You couldn't turn to face him as he hadn't finished with the wrapping so you're left to wonder his expression with nothing but his voice to go off of.
“Leon, it wasn't your fault,” you let him know.
“I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you, but now….you're injured,” he finishes bandaging you up, his hands gripping the cotton tightly. You snap your head to face him.
“Hey, don't turn so fast—” Leon lets out but you are already there, meeting his eyes and seeing them teeming with blame while his jaw clenches and avoids your gaze.
You shift yourself to meet his gaze before the both of you sit up straight, eyes locked.
“Leon, you're a regular person. I mean yeah you have super human strength and all but that doesn't mean you can account for every possibility. You are human after all, just like me, even if your job demands the most from you. I've mentioned it before but I wouldn't be alive without you.”
There's a moment of silence between you, the air growing brittle as if a single breath might shatter it. Leon's pupils dilate, engulfing the ocean around them. The tension in his jaw vanishes as he lets out a breath he seemed to be holding in for years and looks at you like he's seeing you—or maybe himself, for the first time.
“Yeah, thanks,” he exhales a long breath that takes the tension straight out of him.
“Great, let's quickly escape and find Ashley,” you stand, extending your arm for him to grab onto, this time feeling like you can take down anything in your way.
He props himself up holding onto your hand just for a moment longer than necessary.
“They took my gear,” Leon looks at his clothes. He's wearing nothing but a navy blue compressed shirt that perfectly lined his muscles, cutting off above his arms leaving his biceps out for display. The leather shoulder holster sits on his left shoulder where his combat knife would be sheathed.
“Well, let's hope it's not too cold outside,” you joke, ignoring how seeing Leon in such tight garments makes you feel.
He lets out a small chuckle before he’s interrupted by the sound of beeping coming from his ear.
“Condor One to Roost. I’ve located Baby Eagle. It sounds like she’s being kept in some church.” Leon speaks with two fingers holding the ear piece in place.
“Great! That’s good news.” Hunnigan replies.
“I heard it from this guy I met. Said his name is Luis Serra. There was something fishy about him. I need you to run a background check.”
“Wilco, Conder One. I’ll see what I can find. In the meantime, make your way to that church.”
“Right, I’m probably due for a confession anyway.”
You laugh at that line loud enough for Hunnigan to hear you on the other side.
“Is there someone beside you?” She questions.
“Yeah, an innocent civilian who got caught up in this mess. You think you can find some info on what happened?” Leon gives Hunnigan your name along with the area you lived in, in hopes of finding any information on your capture.
“Sure, on it. Roost out,” She hangs up and Leon turns to face you.
“She’s very reliable, she should be able to find something,” he assures you.
“If she’s working with you then I’m sure I can count on her,” your smile is met with a soft look from Leon.
“About the parasite….don’t worry too much, Luis didn’t look too bothered by it. I’m sure he knows something, we just have to find him.”
“You’re right, let's get moving,” he smiles.
“Before you go, take this,” you hand him his knife that you kept safely by your side after Leon gave it to you when running away from the Ganados.
“Thanks,” He takes it and sheathes it back into his shoulder holster.
You both walk towards the exit which is nothing but a ripped cloth draping, acting as a makeshift door. Leon moves it aside and enters a hallway dimly lit by a singular creaking light hanging from the ceiling with a door at the end. Along the side are crates and shelves with a yellow-painted box on the right which Leon doesn’t hesitate to break open and finds a green herb, stashing it away.
He opens the door with you closely behind, on the other side you see a dark room with a ledge. The ledge has stone flooring and is encased with a metal fence, you hear a stream of liquid to your right, the smell implying you’re in some sort of basement. Not sure where you both are, you continue to the end and meet a dead Ganado, well more dead than it already is anyway, lying flaccid hunched over on the ground holding what looks to be ammo in its palms which Leon grabs without disturbing the body.
Next to it are stairs submerged in darkness, Leon creeps up the staircase with his knife in hand, the steel door barricading you both from the horrors looming on the other end.
“Stay close,” he breathes out, assuring your safety as he opens the door ready to fight.
a/n: I wanted to encompass a new side to Leon, a more vulnerbale side.
Plus he's taking care of us!!
Hope you enjoy reading!
“That bridge doesn’t look very stable,” you inform Leon.
It’s held up by nothing more than four thick logs that are jammed into the ground with no support, two strands of rope on either side acting as a fence, but with the way it was built there’s no point in having the rope there; someone could easily fall through.
The bridge itself is made up of thin planks of wood lined up in a straight, asymmetrical line. One sizable gust of wind wouldn’t fail to send it flying side to side. Below is a colossal canyon filled with sharp and jagged rocks that would instantly smash your head into two if you are to fall from this height.
“Doesn’t seem too bad, I’ll go first just in case something does happen.”
“Yeah, okay, sure,” you hesitantly say, worrying for Leon's safety but you’re sure he’s crossed much worse bridges before, well you hope.
Leon steps on the bridge and traverses it effortlessly, making your earlier struggle look like a child's tantrum, the wind barely touches him and the bridge remains perfectly still.
“The bridge’s fine!” Leon shouts from the other side.
You courageously take a step forward, making sure not to look down while grabbing a hold of the flimsy rope-railing.
This isn’t so bad, you think making it halfway holding on for dear life.
Just then, the wind decides to pick up, at first slowly swaying the bridge, your knees begin to shake, not sure whether it’s the wind causing it or your lack of nerves.
“Ahí están.”
You jerk your head back and see three Ganados pointing at both you and Leon heading this way.
Nononono, you panic, trying to move your legs but the fear overwhelms you.
“Quick, run!” Leon orders snapping his head to the side gesturing for you to hurry while aiming at the Ganados behind you.
“But my legs, they’re stuck!” You try a second time to get them to move but the fear increases and the wind gets more violent.
“You can do it, I’m right here,” he reassures you, shooting past one of the Ganados as you watch its head fly off.
Eventually, you manage to get your legs to move again and bolt towards Leon, one of his hands extends out while the other continues to shoot the other two Ganados behind. You leap the final couple steps and grab a hold of his hand, his fingerless rubber gloves brush your skin as his fingers firmly grip you pulling you behind him as he shoots the last Ganado watching him drop on the floor.
Leon quickly whips around, “Are you okay?” He searches your face, his eyes darting as he looks for signs of injury.
“Yeah, all good now. Just got scared for a moment,” you reply, your adrenaline levels finally decreasing.
“You did good,” Leon praises, reloading both his shotgun and handgun.
In front of you, another gate looms, this one larger and reinforced with a metal frame, sharp wooden stakes jut from the ground around it while a crumbling brick ball encloses the run-down house behind it. To the right is a dirty, brown wagon filled with cow heads, flies swim around it; the smell so rancid, your eyes almost tear up. On the left is a small alleyway which Leon decides to follow leading you to the back of the house, rigid white fences surround the exterior.
There he sees a barrel along with a yellow painted box which he breaks with one kick and collects resources plus ammo.
“Why do you think there’re random barrels and boxes placed everywhere with vibrant yellow paint on them?” You ask as you both walk back to the front.
“Maybe it’s someone's weird hobby.”
“What, placing resources in barrels, doing sloppy paint jobs and then scattering them across town?”
“Sounds about right,” he walks over to the wagon signalling for you to stay at a distance before pushing it to the side, “Ugh,” he grunts, not because it’s heavy but rather the smell was too much, even for Leon.
“Come on,” he gestures while covering his nose with his arm.
You quickly run past the wagon covering your nose also but the scent still makes its way through.
Ahead of you lies a white stone bridge which you cross with Leon, the pathway ahead is long and bendy. The stones on either side tower over you with the autumn trees restricting you from the sun. The same rigid, white fence tracing the pathway.
“Thanks for earlier, you gave me the courage to cross that bridge,” you want him to know how much you appreciate his help so far because if not for him you probably wouldn’t be alive right now.
“I did promise I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, I intend to keep it,” his eyes are more serious now, a spark full of promise.
You smile at him, letting him know you’re thankful before moving forward deeper into the forest. Another bridge steals your glance, this time above, a Ganado points at you.
“Un forastero!”
BOOM
The pile of rocks that were once hoisted up by a wooden ledge are now tumbling down, before you even process what is going on, your legs bolt in the opposite direction hearing a gunshot shoot past you. Leon is out of the way shooting down the Ganado while you hunch down trying to engulf as much air as humanely possible. If there’s one thing you're good at then it’s running away because clearly your body has a mind of its own during life or death situations, that is how you’ve made it this far—along with Leon's help of course.
“Quick thinking, you practically knew those boulders were gonna come down.”
“I could say the same to you, you started shooting as soon as you heard the explosion,” you say still huffing
“Having fast reflexes just comes with the job,” he shrugs, looking for an alternate way to carry on as the only pathway has now been blocked by several giant boulders.
You glance over to the side and notice a tiny side pathway you could use to get around the obstruction.
“We could go that way,” you point to the side.
“Good idea,” he says, taking the lead.
You both walk heading towards the clearing. In the distance you see a long black tunnel, steel barrels are scattered in groups of two through it.
“What do you think is through there?” You hunch trying to get a better view.
“Hopefully not more of our friends.”
“Why do I feel like that’s exactly what we’ll find.”
“You're right. Here take this,” he hands you the knife from its sheath, “To protect yourself if things get really hectic.”
“Thanks,” you hold the knife close to your chest as you cautiously step into the tunnel with Leon in front of you.
As you make it through, you notice a couple Ganados in the distance holding what looks to be dynamite in their hands. They hadn't noticed you yet due to the darkness of the tunnel masking your presence.
“There's no end to them,” Leon whispers, getting his pistol ready, “we're gonna have to run past them.”
“Okay,” you whisper back, “How about we run for that house there,” you point at the furthest house from where you both are, the structure robust and ample for fending off the Ganados.
“Yeah, let's go with that.”
The structure of this area is strange, with an open-sided, rickety building in front of you housing barrels and boxes along with a laser bomb.
Ganados are dispersed all over with some on the ground and others on multiple different levels standing on balconies of diverse heights holding various weapons from pitchforks and axes to dynamite.
This is going to be tricky, you think unsure of the best course of action.
“Make sure you're right behind me,” Leon says as he slowly walks towards the building, you hunch closely behind him.
SSSZZZZ
You look to your feet and spot dynamite next to you that one of the Ganado has thrown.
“Ahhh!” You kick it right back at the Ganado. BOOM. He explodes along with some of his friends. Leon shoots down the Ganados that are standing on the balconies, occasionally shooting the dynamite in their hands so that they go flying while you lure the Ganados in front of you into the laser bomb, luckily for you they didn't seem to have any cognitive functioning therefore walking right into the trap . BOOM. More limbs go flying, the explosion not only blew up three Ganados but also broke the barrels and boxes stationed in the corner which you quickly loot intending to give Leon your findings later.
“Let's go!” You quickly grab Leon's hand, pulling him towards the exit which he follows after shooting down the last Ganado on the balcony.
You both navigate past the multitude of fences and obstacles while he shoots down any remaining enemy, finally reaching the house.
It's locked. Ganados gather behind you, Leon pulls out his shotgun bringing it close to his face and shoots them square in the head.
he's too preoccupied dealing with the Ganados to do something about the lock so it's up to you to get that door open, you reach for his waist pulling out his handgun, knees slightly bent as you shift your weight to your hip, just like how he taught you. BANG. The familiar smell of gunpowder fills the air and the lock drops down to the floor.
“Leon, hurry!” You swiftly open the door, Leon backs into the house, his shotgun kicking against his shoulder with every shot, after entering you slam the door shut gesturing for him to come help you push the wooden shelf that caught your eye when you first entered..
“Phew, that was intense,” you sigh, wiping the sweat from your forehead, “Good thing I learned how to shoot.”
“Yeah, your teacher must've been really good for you to have destroyed that lock with one shot,” Leon huffs out, his forehead and muscles glistening with sweat.
“Or it could just be that I'm really skilled.”
“That's also a possibility,” he smiles, the tension in the air faltering.
The inside of the house looks derelict, which isn't surprising as nothing thus far has looked new or polished. Fishing nets hung from the walls with paddles poking out the barrels. A lone table with two chairs sit in the centre.
Must be a fisher's house, you note before continuing your exploration.
In the corner lies a drawer which Leon opens and finds a hand grenade, storing it inside his pocket. On the opposite side there is a nook you can go through. BEEP. BEEP. A familiar buzzing rings in your ear.
You and Leon inch towards the sound, especially since you're aware of what's making that noise, and see another laser bomb obstruct your path forward.
He crouches to disable the bomb before continuing onto the next room which looks to be a lounge with a brick chimney filled with cobwebs and a table full of trinkets and ornaments. To the side is another drawer which Leon's opens to find handgun ammo.
Thud. Thud
“What's that noise?” He questions turning his head towards the sound.
“I don't know but it seems to be coming from behind that shelf,” you signal in the direction of the noise. There's a shelf blocking a secret entrance to the back of the house that Leon shoves to one side.
After moving the shelf, both of you take silent steps and observe a Ganado banging the ground sealing up a trap door around the corner. Leon rapidly clutches his handgun, stunning the Ganado with a precise shot to the head, then follows up with a brutal roundhouse kick that propels the Ganado across the room.
Woah, that was cool, you think before turning around to search for anything useful that you could grab.
Leon peels away the planks blocking the trap door with his bare hands, jumping in without notice.
You sensibly take the ladder down avoiding any splinters.
It's dark, very dark. Leon takes out his flashlight pointing it at the surroundings, there's nothing here except a pile of wooden boxes along with sacks and barrels littered around on the soft dirt flooring. At the end of the small room lies a moving sack the size of a human, muffling.
“Stay hidden there,” he whispers while pointing behind the pile of boxes.
“Okay,” you whisper back before shuffling yourself behind the pile tucked away from sight.
Leon crouches to open the sack while placing the flashlight between his chin and shoulder leaving his hands free to reveal a man who looks to be in his late twenties with black hair and stubble, his mouth covered by tape.
He peels away the tape with a single brutal jerk.
“That hurts, you know?” The man speaks with a Spanish accent.
“Seemed like you really wanted to talk,” Leon replies.
“How observant, señor. Now, say — you got a smoke?”
“You know, those things will kill you.”
You watch the conversation unfold as you wonder why the man's trapped down here and why he's making jokes considering the predicament he's in.
“Oh, well, maybe just untie me then?” The man continues while shuffling.
“Not this guy,” he scrambles back, his voice quivering.
Leon whips his head back rising to his feet, “Who are you?” He points his flashlight at the mysterious, tall figure wearing nothing but black, he doesn't answer.
“Ok, stop right there!” Leon points his gun.
The tall man slaps away Leon's flashlight and gun while you think of a way to help him.
Just as you're about to take out your last flash bang, the man lifts up Leon by the throat and hurls him straight into the boxes you're hiding behind.
“Ugh…,” a pained groan escapes you as reality slips, your mind is a flickering light bulb. Something warm and wet slides down the back of your neck. The floorboards shake under a heavy weight. Something's moving towards Leon's limp body but you're too out of it to make anything out as you fade in and out of consciousness before everything goes blank.
a/n: Another chapter's up!
Finally get to meet Luis
“Yeah I'm fine,” you say, avoiding eye contact as you couldn't bring yourself to tell him what you just saw and whether it was even real.
You didn't know him that well, it's not like you hate him or anything so why did you imagine him…dying?
You shake your head pushing away the thought and brush off his hands from your shoulders.
“Right. What do we do now?” You ask, trying to lift the mood, as nothing has gone well since you opened your eyes.
Leon gives your face a quick scan unconvinced of your sudden chirpiness but decided there were more pressing matters at hand.
“Well, we have to get out of here first,” he points at the horde of Ganados roaming aimlessly waiting to attack.
“And after that? How do you plan on saving Ashley? Do you even know where she is?”
“What is this? An interrogation?” Leon folds his arms while leaning against the brick wall and flashes a smirk as if trying to ease your tense stature.
Without realising it, you relax for the first time since you awoke and feel almost safe.
“You seem proud of yourself for that.”
“Me? Never.”
“Jokes aside, we really need to think of a plan. I have two flash grenades left that I found over there under those boxes, I already checked and there's nothing else here, what about you?”
“Nothing much either, my gun, ammo, some herbs and a knife.”
“Okay here's the plan, we'll use a flash grenade and run fast past them while you shoot—”
“The plan is for you to stay here while I go out and dwindle down the numbers. Besides, if we just try to run past them and find out the doors are locked then we're at a dead end.” He intervenes.
You didn't want to admit it but he was right, you both would be in big trouble trying to blindly run past the Ganados not knowing where to even escape to. By the looks of it, Leon seems experienced with this sort of thing, those biceps must've come from somewhere, but you didn't ask him if he'd ever been in situations like this before nor why he was so calm when death could be knocking at both your doors any second. He kneels down on one knee trying to get a better look while preparing to leave, effortlessly checking his gun with his right hand all the while grabbing his knife with the left.
Why was that so attractive? You silently think to yourself feeling thankful that you are behind him rather than in front.
Leon opens the cellar door while looking for his next best move, just before he's about to leave you grab him by his jacket remembering your earlier memory that kept haunting you – all sorts of thoughts rush into your head.
“Stay safe and alert,” you blurt out without thinking.
A smile grazes Leon's lips, “Thanks for the warning,” he steps out and gives you a final look, “Stay here and shout for me if anything happens,” then runs towards the crowd.
BANG
One fell, then the second. They drop like flies, Leon shows no sign of stopping nor did he break a sweat. He seamlessly jumps fences while not missing a single shot and you sit there in awe thinking of how your only chance at survival was if you stuck close to him. Minutes pass but more keep showing up; there is no end in sight and he can only hold out for so long.
Leon tries to seek refuge in one of the houses but just as he closes the door you hear a chainsaw far off in the distance and see a tall man with a rough build wearing a blood-stained potato sack over his head.
“You gotta be kidding me,” you hear Leon's voice before he slams the door and covers it with a wooden shelf.
The chainsaw-holding freak creeps closer to Leon's location and you can do nothing to stop him. Yeah you have a flash bang but it's not like it's going to kill him, and you can't leave and try to help him: you'd die instantly. You continue to sit there racking your brain for any possible way you can help Leon without having to leave the cellar or alert the Ganados of your location, but nothing comes to mind.
BANG
This time a different sound, more full and packed with power, you look up only to see Leon jumping out the window onto the roof while shooting down the Ganados behind him with what looks like a shotgun. Where'd he find that?
He fluently switches between his pistol and shotgun aiming for the enemies in the distance with the pistol and using the shotgun for the ones up close.
Vroom Vroom
The man holding the chainsaw starts to climb up the ladder next to where Leon is standing and eventually makes his way up.
It was sharp, very sharp, one hit from that would kill even the strongest of beasts. Leon aims his shotgun right at his potato sack head. BANG. The aim was perfect, straight and centred yet the man only staggers, almost unfazed. Leon tries another shot only to hear, CLICK.
“Just my luck,” he grunts before equipping his pistol and shoots the man along with two Ganados next to him. He swiftly did a 180 turn and jumps down the roof, making an elegant landing. No one would believe he jumped down 13 feet so smoothly if it hadn't been seen.
The chainsaw man follows along with his now two minions, not to mention the ten other Ganados that roam the centre of the village.
Leon pulls out something green from his pocket and pulls off a metal piece from the top.
“COVER YOUR EARS!” He shouts, you comply and your body moves on its own before your brain even has the time to comprehend who Leon was shouting at.
BOOM
A massive explosion follows, bits and pieces of the Ganados went flying all across the village, despite the explosion being so big it still didn't take out all of them and you didn't think Leon has any more grenades lying around either. You reach for one of the flash bangs and are just about to throw it before you hear a chime coming from a bell.
DING-DONG
You hear the same chime from before and all of a sudden it went quiet. The Ganados are at a halt and they drop all their weapons. What's going on? You sit confused assessing the situation before deeming it safe to leave the cellar and plant yourself by Leon's side.
“I told you to stay in the cellar,” Leon sighs with a furrow forming between his brows.
“I know but it's okay, look they aren't attacking,” you both look around you to see all the Ganados slowly walk towards the big town hall building at the centre of the village, when the final one went in, he looks at the pair of you before spouting something in Spanish and then locks the doors.
“Where do you think they're going? Bingo?” He says with one arm folded across his chest and the other thumbed towards the door while turning to face you.
You slowly turn to face Leon and couldn't believe what he had just said after having almost been killed multiple times and his life put in danger. You decide it was best to leave it and just be thankful that you were both alive, you brush it off as a weird coping mechanism and would never admit that somewhere deep, very deep down you may have laughed but that was never to be admitted to.
“It's a shame they didn't invite us,” you say, entertaining Leon's joke. He let out a small laugh only to be interrupted by the sound of beeping coming from his ear. He seems to be wearing a communication device and a voice speaks through, “Roost to Condore One, I've identified a route to the lake, look for a large windmill and follow the path.”
Which Leon replies with, “Windmill. Copy that. Condore One out.”
“Who was that?” You ask Leon and see him scanning the village looking for, what you assume is a windmill.
“My assistant, Hunnigan, she's helping me search for Ashley Graham. Right now Ashley's locked up somewhere by the lake.”
“Poor girl, she must be so scared right now,” you think back to how scared and alone you felt before Leon showed up and saved you from those Ganados.
“What's your story? How did you end up here?” He asks with gentle curiosity, turning to face you.
“I don't know, I was walking down an alleyway near my house, then all of a sudden, I felt drowsy. Next thing you know I woke up lying flat on the ground in the middle of this village and took refuge in that cellar.”
“Sounds like you've had it rough. Don't worry, we'll find out why you were brought here and save Ashley. I'll make sure of it.” Leon looks at you with the most gentle and assuring gaze. His eyes speak volumes and for the first time since you woke up you feel completely safe as if he would be willing to put his life down to protect you. Of course he would do that for anyone in your predicament, he just seems like that kind of person.
a/n: Finished another chapter, I love Leon's one liners
Summary: One moment, you're walking down the familiar streets of your hometown and the next, you find yourself surrounded by strange looking...people all the way out in rural spain. Now, you're stuck here along with a blonde-haired man on a mission, both trying to escape with nothing to rely on but each other
Both you and Leon are left to your own devices, “Condore One? Is that a code name?” You ask him, the realisation only now hitting you that Leon's a fully fledged government official with proper training and weapons.
“Yeah, it’s customary,” Leon replies, looking at the houses with an expectant gaze and then at you, “Stay close, we’re going to loot those houses.”
“Why? They look abandoned. What do you expect to find there? A shotgu-” you stop yourself from finishing that sentence and remember him entering that house with nothing but a pistol and knife only to fly out the window carrying a fully loaded shotgun, not to mention an explosive grenade. It was either he lied or the village really is full of resources, you hope it was the latter because entrusting your life to a lying agent really isn’t something you want to deal with right now, you already have enough things to worry about.
The memory of a warm, comfortable bed flashes for a couple seconds. You badly wish you hadn’t taken your room for granted, internally swearing to yourself that once you make it out of here, you’d never take anything for granted again.
Leon carefully walks towards the door of one of the houses with trained feet, moving like an assassin rather than a government agent. He pulls the handle down, while simultaneously pushing the door open and is met with an ordinary looking room decorated with furniture and trinkets, it looks to be the living room. At the far back in a tiny nook you see a couple of barrels painted with an almost neon yellow that completely contrasts with the rest of the room.
“Do you think there's something in those barrels?” You ask, before seeing Leon absolutely smash them with nothing but a swift kick. Money scatters on the floor in little brown pouches, along with some handgun ammo.
I guess government training must be rough, you think. Maybe you could do it too only to dispel the idea, remembering the sheer amount of force it took for you to just open that cellar door.
“Woah, look!” You run towards the ammo, holding it to inspect while ignoring the money; you don’t see how that would be useful when the whole area is infested with Ganados and no human to trade with in sight—apart from Leon.
“There’s always something to find in places like these,” He speaks with the kind of calm that could only come from someone who's been in countless situations like this before.
“I don’t see why villagers would feel the need to carry around ammo,” you hand Leon the handgun ammo, “Then again, I also didn’t expect creatures like the Ganados here either.”
“Fair point,” Leon turns around to break open the wooden box placed at an angle on the shelf with his elbow.
Ouch. You think while clenching your elbow as if you were the one feeling the pain.
“Don’t you have a perfectly functioning knife?”
“I do but this way’s easier,” He continues on to examine the rest of the ground floor and finds some more money along with shotgun shells, then makes his way up to the second floor, the same floor where he jumped to the roof from. You make sure to stay close, snapping your head back every couple minutes to assure yourself none of the Ganados suddenly decide to come back and attack both of you rather than do whatever activity they originally planned in the town centre.
“Didn’t you already collect everything here before?”
“Almost, I didn’t explore the right side of the roof, there should be a ledge.”
“What, is the government job not working out too well? Is that why you’ve turned to adventuring?” You let out a quick smirk before composing yourself.
“Ha ha, very funny,” He sarcastically replies trying to hide the smile that crept up his face before going back to neutral. Luckily you got to witness it, burying it deep within your memory so you can tease him about it later if the occasion ever arises.
Eventually, you both reach the window that Leon jumped from, he effortlessly leaps out once more and quickly turns around to help you avoid the shattered pieces of glass along the frame by extending his arm which you grab onto, trying to avoid stumbling into him.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” he turns to his side and continues to move forward taking the lead while you follow, avoiding the massive gaps between the wood.
Whoever was in charge of building these houses didn’t do a very good job. Ignoring the village's poor infrastructure, you both finally make it to the edge of the ledge where you see a shiny, pink gem wedged between the planks of the roof.
“Nice, that’s exactly what we need right now.”
“You never know, it could come in handy,” he rubs the gem on the fur of his jacket before placing it inside one of his pockets. The gesture slightly annoys you: not aware of why he was wasting time on this.
He is the professional and you're nothing but an ordinary civilian so you decide to pay no mind to any weird or whacky decisions he might make in the future.
It’s not like your life’s in his hand or anything.
After placing the gem in his pocket, Leon positions himself at the edge of the wooden ledge.
nooo, he wouldn't, you take a singular blink only to notice that he’d already made his way down and is now gesturing for you to come also.
I guess he would, you think taken aback by his lack of warning.
“Can you make it down? I can catch you,” Leon extends his arm, an understanding gaze meeting yours as he assures you he wouldn’t miss.
“I can’t do that, I don’t have super human legs like you,” steadily, you take a step back, mindful of each step as one wrong move meant you’d be going down anyway whether you like it or not.
“Hey, trust me.”
Those three words are enough for you to place your full trust in him and before you know it, you have already jumped and are free-falling straight into Leon's arms.
Everything is a blur of speed and noise, adrenaline coursing through your veins. It's too late to turn back: you are already halfway down. What felt like minutes actually was two seconds and the next thing you know, you were being cradled by the same pair of biceps that you were fawning over earlier. A feeling of weightlessness follows as you open your eyes and once again are met with the blue ocean that makes you feel the much needed peace after that jarring fall.
“I told you I would catch you,” Leon speaks softly with a hint of teasing behind his voice as he carefully lets you down and examines you, his hands moving delicately to search for any scratches that you might have sustained on your way down.
“Thanks again,” you brush yourself off tallying the amount of times Leons helped you so far.
It would have been three times by now if you include the beginning where he saved you from that horde of Ganados, but you also helped him out by throwing that flash grenade so you’re basically even and the tally has now gone down to two. Still one time too many for you and you don’t plan on making it a habit.
“Do we have any more exploring we need to complete?” You gesture around you arching a brow.
“As a matter of fact, we do. I’m gonna need your help.”
“Oh, okay,” you were startled by his sudden need for assistance and closely follow as he leads you to the new location.
You both arrive in front of a different house this time and notice the front door is locked. Leon gestures to the side of the building and points out a small opening big enough for someone your size to fit through.
“You want me to go through there?” You query, eyes scanning for a reaction.
“Yeah, could you?”
You were about to decline his ridiculous request but remember the tally and how after this it would go down to one. One thing you hate the most is to be indebted to someone so you reluctantly agree to take on the challenge before you, not knowing what could be trapped in there.
“Can I at least have something to protect myself with?” You point at the knife sheathed in the shoulder harness of his tactical vest.
“Don’t worry, there’s nothing dangerous in there. If there was, I wouldn’t make you go,” he hands you the knife, “You can still take it though, if it makes you feel even a little safer.”
Leon slightly bends down making it easier for you to get on his back, you position the knife away from his face as you plant your hands on his broad shoulders anchoring yourself. He quickly grabs your feet, making sure to keep you in balance while you try to grasp the edge of the hole and hoist yourself upwards making it to the other side, stumbling as your feet hit the ground.
“You okay?!” He calls out, his voice echoing off the walls.
“Yeah, I’m fine!” You reply, finding your footing as you trail your hand along the wall for guidance, the room so dark you couldn't even distinguish the furniture.
Eventually, you reach the door and feel a wooden plank lodged between the handles trapping you in. It takes some force but in time, you get that door open and are greeted with a smiling Leon who looks at you as if to say he never had any doubts.
“Thanks,” Leon walks closer towards you.
“Don’t mention it.”
His smile makes you feel confident. You return his knife, muttering a thanks under your breath for letting you have it, which he stashes back into its sheath.
You both turn and see a chest placed on a pedestal along with a familiar looking yellow painted barrel which Leon breaks once again, this time finding multiple different herbs which he stores for later. He opens the chest and sees a shiny gold bangle set down on a blue cushion and brings it close to his face to examine it, the light from the door illuminating it making the delicate embezzlements more clear.
You stare at the bangle in disbelief, and almost face plant yourself realising what you just risked your life for.
You were about to blurt out the fact that you were starting to doubt Leon’s capabilities but remember how you promised yourself to not do that and just roll with his whims, you definitely aren’t going to make it out without him.
“I’m assuming that this too can come in handy,” you point at the bangle with one arm crossed.
“You catch on quick,” Leon places it in his pocket next to the gem and swiftly makes his way out the house with you following closely behind.
“What do we do now?” You ask, hoping he doesn’t mention any more ‘exploring’. Then again, you also didn’t want to continue forward for fear of encountering the Ganados so you decide exploring doesn’t sound so bad.
For the next thirty minutes to an hour, both you and Leon spend time searching the village for various resources like herbs and ammo which you find an abundance of making you set for the next area.
Leon points to the windmill and catches your eye, he gives a sharp tilt of his head towards the door that blocks you both from progressing.
“Stay close,” He leads the way with his gun in hand, finger near trigger and ready to attack if anything decides to jump out at you.
You both halt in front of the door, Leon gestures for you to step back as he pushes it with force, his muscles flexing in the process. Not only was the door twice the size of you but it was also made of what seemed like heavy, rustic wood. No ordinary human could have pushed it open with their bare hands which made Leon above average. With everything that he’s done so far, it wouldn’t be pushing it if he was the only one with that strength.
On the other side of the door, you are met with an empty path that has green and copper coloured bushes on either side along with a rigid fence that traces the pathway, rocks almost tower over you and the crisp, burnt looking leaves of the autumn trees shield you from the sun.
You both relax noticing the fairly empty walkway apart from the occasional critters but you’d rather a few cockroaches over the Ganados, actually scratch that, they both were pretty bad.
“Thank goodness, I thought something was gonna jump out at us,”
“Me too. Even if it did, I wouldn’t let it touch you,” Leon casually blurts out not knowing the effect that line had on you. Knowing he was a government agent, you dismiss it as nothing but an officer protecting an innocent bystander which was the sort of dynamic going on between the two of you.
Trying to distract yourself, you notice a river behind one of the fences and tug at Leon’s sleeve pointing at its direction.
“I need to wash off this dirt,” you gesture up and down your clothes which are covered in filth from you laying on the ground and running around since morning. In contrast, you notice almost no dirt or dust on any part of Leon which is odd. You could argue he was rolling in dirt more than you. Feeling annoyed at the sudden revelation, you quickly turn to face the stream and trudge towards it, the fatigue getting to you.
“How about we rest here for a bit?” Leon suggests following close behind, noticing your movements.
“Yeah lets do that,” you crouch down next to the river and cup the cold water, splashing it all over your face, the sudden chill fading away your fatigue.
Next, you try to get off as much dirt as you can from your clothes and wash your arms including the elbows, Leon sits watching guard while you finish cleaning up.
“Much better,” you perch beside him, “Penny for your thoughts?”
“Nothing big, don’t worry about it,” he replies dismissing you.
You could tell that something was weighing on his mind but you didn't want to probe, it’s not like you both were that close for you to try digging into his past. Your main concern should be figuring out a way to get back home, not thinking about what could have him in such deep thought, a man you probably won’t ever see again once this whole ordeal is over.
Distant noises jumble together into one incoherent mumble. Your ears ring continuously, no stop in sight. Everything around you blurs into one image, barely able to distinguish the furniture from each other or the familiar looking man on the ground.
“L..Leon?”
Your knees brace for impact as you lose the strength to stand, one hand in front of the other, slowly moving closer, but feeling like you’re getting nowhere. BZZ. BZZ. The ringing doesn’t stop.
“Ugh,” you raise your hand to soothe your bursting brain but no luck. The unfamiliarity of everything starts to gnaw at you as you clench your chest reaching out for what was supposed to be your only hope.
GASP
Your lungs expand, a tight, desperate hand grasps your head with another pressed firmly around your nose with nothing but a thin cloth setting boundaries.
Your eyes lock on to something alive, something that contrasts with the soulless glare you saw tucked away in your memories, hoping to never witness again as you gently brush away his hand, contemplating your next words.
Leon takes the soaked cloth and puts it away into his pocket, disregarding the blood, his focus only on you.
“How about we ignore what just happened?” The dust settles on your knees as you push yourself up.
“No…why would you say that?” His brows furrow as he lends you an arm for balance.
“I… don’t want to talk about it,” the unsettling images linger as you regain control of your drunk-like state.
Leon’s lips purse, his grip on your arm tightens as he brings you close to the ladder gesturing for you to climb.
“Don’t talk about it then, but that doesn’t mean I’m just going to stand here and watch you waste away,” his voice, serious and thick with worried urgency, “Now climb.”
His tone is soft yet demanding. You comply, the pain in your head refusing to go away. You barely have any strength left to form coherent sentences let alone talk back.
Eventually, you make it to the top with Leon right behind you, his close distance protecting you from a nasty fall. Nothing but old planks of wood nailed down with rusty nails keeps you afloat. The area is enclosed by giant trees and jagged rocks. Nowhere to escape to. Only forward. There is no ground, just an intertwining river of bridges over a fifty meter long fall. Multiple ledges scatter across the perimeter along with explosive barrels placed in sight of easy gunfire. A house styled the same as all that came before it stands to your left with rusty metal plates acting as a makeshift roof, and enemies lurking close by. Some in sight and some where you would least expect.
Leon doesn’t speak, he only moves. He takes out his newly acquired rifle and positions it to the right of his face, his eyes observing through the eye-piece. One hand glued to the trigger while the other props the end up from falling.
BANG.
He takes out two with one shot. The slight and swift movements in his posture make each shot straight and accurate going cleanly straight through rendering them helpless as they fall limp. The only thing keeping them ‘alive’ was no more: the brain.
Leon won’t look at you, you know the reason why but can’t bring yourself to explain it to him. As if saying it out loud would mean you’re speaking it to existence and the thought of Leon not being here when you needed him the most would send you straight into a panic.
His continuous firing brought you back to reality, you burrow for your gun and aim it at one of the Ganados, trying to help lighten his load. BANG. You miss. BANG. You graze its arm.
“Stay behind me,” Leon shoots past you and kills it in one shot.
Deciding that it’s probably best Leon clears out the area alone, you hang back and focus on scouting the surroundings and notice that the only way forward is blocked by a giant wooden gate.
Ugh, great. Another headache. You think to yourself before noticing a rope leading to a wheel mounted atop a raised platform.
“We have to turn the whee-”
BOOM
You’re interrupted by a massive explosion coming from your left. Leon shoots at one of the explosive barrels which takes out the cluster of Ganados that block the way up the stairs to what looks like a red chest from where you’re standing.
“What did you say?” He finally lowers his rifle, muscles relax, sweat trickles down his face leaving a glistening trail.
“The wheel,” You point to its direction, “We need to turn that wheel in order to go through the gate.”
He nods, stashing away his rifle and getting ready to leap down the cliff.
“What if there’s more down there?” You peek below and scan the vicinity trying to get a look into the house but barely see anything.
“That’s why you’re staying here until I kill them all,” he looks at you with a stern look, as if nothing you say will make him change his mind and that his word is final.
“But-”
“No buts,” he cuts you off, “I need you to stay right here, somewhere where I know you’ll be safe.”
You didn’t push further and let Leon climb down where he takes out his pistol, finger near trigger, and readies himself for any potential threats prowling.
He never said anything about not shooting. You take out your own pistol and look around for any stragglers but so far nothing. Leon does the same and enters the house, stepping away from your sight.
Minutes pass but you don’t hear anything, worry coats your thoughts as snippets of a blonde man lying cold on the ground whizz pass. You bend down trying to get a better angle and still see nothing but a black void. You don’t want to shout his name either in fear of arousing the Ganados.
Just then. He steps out, gun by his side and a grounded expression.
“All clear on this side,” Leon stands just below where you are, gazing up at you with a slight smile.
“Ugh, what took you so long? Why didn’t you make any noise? You could’ve let me know that you were okay,” words just fly out while you try to calm down thinking something awful had happened.
“What’re you, my mother? For you to be this worried about me,” he teasingly scoffs.
That doesn’t please you, you stand there unsure of what to say or do, “....Leon.”
He sees your face and instantly creases his brows, “I’m sorry. I guess that wasn’t the time for a joke,” he says. The fluster in his face doesn’t go away as he extends his hand out to help you get down.
You ignore his gesture and try making it down on your own, steadily clasping onto the edge and dangling your feet bracing for impact.
Leon watches you, ready to catch you if something goes wrong but it doesn't. You land, not gracefully but you land.
“I really was worried,” you let him know brushing the hair out your face still angry at his earlier joke.
“I know, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it.”
“Well at least you’re aware.” You take out your gun, “Did you find anything in that house?”
“Just the usual, some ammo, money and herbs,” he hands you some ammo for your gun which you refill.
“Okay well, we need to make it to that wheel and open the gate.”
“Yeah, I got it.”
You both navigate through the endless bridges, they creak at your every step, keeping an eye out for Ganados.
“Wait,” Leon grabs a hold of your shoulder, “Let’s take a small detour,” he thumbs towards the bold, red chest atop the platform.
“Really, we’re still collecting?”
“If it’s something valuable then we can sell it to the Merchant and get better upgrades.”
“What is this, a videogame?” You sigh but still listen. It’s worth checking it out since the Merchant pretty much will take anything, you still wonder how he’s been racking business this long.
The chest is a bright red, clashing with the lackluster colour scheme of this place. Inside is a ruby, equally as red as the case that encased it.
While Leon inspects the ruby and safely stashes it away, you notice a brown hexagonal emblem hidden behind the chest. You would’ve missed it too if not for your only talent: a keen eye. That and running away.
Pushing the chest aside, you bring the hexagonal piece to light and spot a bird etched on the brass with its wings spread out.
“Hey, this shape's exactly like the one we saw back with the Merchant. Do you think it’ll fit?
“It’s worth a shot,” he takes it away from you, freeing your hands from its weight. You both stand and continue on to where the wheel is located.
“I’ll turn it and you watch my back, okay?” Your hands are already preparing for the friction and resistance.
“Sounds like a plan,” Leon gets his gun ready and brings it close to his face, his finger resting on the trigger with his back against yours, shielding you.
One turn. It’s silent. The gate slightly shifts upwards. Two turns. The gate is now halfway. The final turn is a struggle but you pull through, your fingers stinging from the friction. The gate opens fully, escape is finally in sight yet danger never fails to find its way to both of you, specifically you. Maybe you were meant to have died in that village but you survived and now the universe is trying its very best to make sure you keel over and die right where you stand.
Ganados surround you from all sides. You aren’t sure where they came from since not even Leon predicted their calculated plan. They inch closer and closer.
Leon switches to his shotgun with a brisk movement and fires consecutive rounds around the perimeter, killing the Ganados.
A new wave of them approaches, this time in more numbers and more restless.
BANG
Leon fires a concentrated shot towards the Ganados closest to the exit and hands you the hexagonal emblem with his right while keeping the shotgun steady with his left, the weight of the emblem making you lurch.
“Go!” He jerked his head towards the gap he just made.
“What about yo-”
“I said go!!”
Leon fires another shot, this time behind him, making sure they couldn’t come close. You have no choice but to run through the gap and onto the bridge, never to look behind as you know you’d hesitate and that’s exactly what gets people killed. You finally make it through trying not to stumble on your own feet and toss the brass aside. Fumbling around, you grab one of the three flash grenades you found in the village and inch closer to Leon's location just shy of the bridge, gunfire filling the air and powder that burns the insides of your nose.
“Leon, make an opening and run through it!”
He sees you waving around your flash grenade and instantly blasts a hole through the Ganados once again and makes a rapid sprint towards you and over the bridge while signalling you to throw.
You pull the ring and do exactly that. FLARE. A blinding light renders the Ganados helpless as they cover their eyes and bump on each other. You promptly take out your punisher and shoot one side of the rope binding the bridge to your side. Leon notices and does the same to the other side, the bridge flails down leaving no way for the Ganados to reach you.
Both you and Leon let out a massive sigh of relief and hurry past the gate. Just because the Ganados are locked out doesn’t mean the torment is over. Deciding it’s best to move on, the path ahead leads right back to the factory where the Merchant resides.
“I need a moment,” you let out, slumping down next to the brass you threw aside earlier. You watch Leon replicate your actions and sit beside you, his head turning to face yours.
“Thanks,” he smiles gently, “For the flashbang. Probably wouldn’t have made it out without you.”
“No, you would’ve. You <i>are</i> Leon after all, a full secret government agent. Actually now that I think more deeply, why would the president send just one man to save his only daughter? Must mean you’re the real deal.”
“Nice to know you think so highly of me, but I am really thankful and glad you’re here. You really did help back there.”
“In that case, you’re welcome,” you return his smile.
Rumble. A sound you know all too well echoes into everybody's ears. An almost red flush covets your face and you wish the Ganados would’ve just taken you back when you were stuck in that circle.
A chuckle escapes Leon’s mouth, “How about we go check if the Merchant sells any food.”
“Ahem, if you want to so bad then I guess we can go check,” you prop yourself up and watch Leon do the same.
“Yeah, I’m just really hungry right now,” a subtle grin leaves his lips.
You let out a small laugh as you make your way to the Merchant, a break from all the chaos you endured.
a/n: Hello I'm back!
I don't know why but while writing this chapter, the only thing I could think about was one of the commands that makes Ashley come closer to you.
It's when Leon whistles and she comes running.
To be honest same. I mean any command Leon gives and I would instantly follow no questions asked so I wrote about it for a bit because why not.
Any ways, hope you enjoy!!
