The Descent - Leon Kennedy x Reader (Fever Saint Part 11)
Summary: Ashley manages to free you both, but at what cost? Then, a fall. Masterlist | Playlist | AO3 Link
He thinks you’re about to pass out by the time Ashley finds her way back to you both.
The poor thing looks a wreck. Her hair is messy, more of a birds mess atop her head rather than a style. Her face is flushed with exertion, and there’s even a few cuts on her tights and her sweater. Still, from the balcony above him, she shoots him a relieved smile.
“Leon!”
Her voice sounds genuinely overjoyed, a high tilt to it that rings in his ears.
With the noise, your head tilts up from where it had been resting against your own chest. Your eyes squint at the girl, an exhausted smile forming on your lips when you see her. “Ashley? Are you alright?”
Leon desperately tries to ignore the way your voice shakes, your face pale except for the fever flush. For the past half hour that you’ve both been trapped, he’s been watching you slip bit by bit, like grains of sand slipping through the cracks in his fingers. Every moment has made you look weaker.
The girl calls back. “I’m fine! I found a key! Give me a sec, I’ll get you out!”
Leon’s brows shoot up as she tosses it through the bars. The key is small and golden, glinting in the light.
“Can you make it down?” He brings down an arm for you to grab as he speaks, helping you back up to your feet. He doesn’t miss how you sway unevenly, putting most of your weight on his body. “I can catch you.”
Ashley tilts her head for a moment, before responding. “Yeah! I think so!”
Leon nods an affirmative, turning to the padlock and jamming the key into it with little elegance or grace. You’re hot against him, head lolling when he moves.
Just as he gets the door open, he hears it. A startled gasp from Ashley, still on the balcony above. When he turns, his eyes widen in alarm.
“Ashley!”
The girl is being lifted into the air, waist captured by a large figure in a dark red cloak. She’s struggling, single free arm trying to smack away the thing’s hands, but it doesn’t let go. His gun draws with one hand, shooting at the monster as it turns away. The bullets don’t seem to even faze it.
In his arm, you stiffen, eyes struggling to focus on the scene playing out in front of you. Your voice is weak and shaky.
“Ashley! Oh, fuck!” Adrenaline must be surging through you, as you manage to shove yourself off of his arm, slamming into the metal bars of the door. It opens, sending you careening to the floor. Blood from your bandages smears against the tile, your face turning into a grimace at the sight of the crimson. When you look up, your eyes widen. Leon understands why.
Ashley, and the cloaked figure, are gone.
“Shit.” Leon curses, moving to you. “We’ve gotta go find her.”
You nod, taking the hand that he offers to you. “If we hurry, we can catch up.”
When you try to step forward, your knee buckles immediately. He catches you before your face can hit the stone. "Shit." He steadies you against him, feeling how little of your own weight you're actually carrying. "...You can't walk anymore, can you?"
You shake your head, trying to take a step and failing. “I can. I can. Just-” A trembling gasp, “I can.”
Another attempted step, and more of your weight sags against him as your feet give out. Your skin is feverish and clammy, face flushed.
He shakes his head, lips thinning out. “You can’t.”
Before you can say anything, he’s already acting. He catches your good wrist and drapes your arm across his shoulders before you can protest. His own arm ends up against your waist, lifting you up against his side so that your feet are barely touching the floor.
“What are you doing?” The words come out as a hot breath of air.
He starts walking. When he looks down, he can see that the toes of your boots are dragging against the floor. “You can’t walk, Rabies. I can. Just don’t be surprised if I need to drop you to fight.”
Your head lazes back a bit, head shaking from side to side. “Just leave me behind. Get Ashley. I’m slowing you down.”
For a second, he freezes, head slowly turning in your direction. Your eyes are glazed over and staring into space, body trembling. His brows downturn.
“No. We’re getting her together. She might be the priority, but both of you are my objectives right now.”
You try to push away from him, to fall back, but he doesn’t let you. His fingers only dig into your side, holding you firmly.
Your eyes still can’t focus on him.
“Fine.” You say, wincing when he starts moving again, “But if you have to choose between saving me or Ashley, choose Ashley. Deal?”
You know, he’s never been a fan of lying. But it seems that a lie is necessary right now. Especially when you stop fighting his hold, your body going near limp beside him. If he hadn’t been trained the way he had, this would be difficult right now.
“Deal.”
.
.
.
The minute you hear Ashley’s screaming, your head perks up.
The sound is coming from behind a large set of doors, the wood solid and firm in front of you both. Your bad arm reaches out, good one still looped around his shoulders. Leon helps you, his own hand pressing to the wood and giving it a firm push.
The screams are louder once the barrier is removed.
His eyes widen. Ashley is kneeling on the floor, shoulders held down from behind. The girl’s face is covered in blackened veins and painted sigils, infection taking hold. In front of her is a large hole in the floor, an endless abyss below. In the back of it all, Ramon is there, sitting casually on a golden throne.
Something about the infection markings on her body make the plagas under Leon’s skin writhe in delight. The feelings sends nausea through his entire being.
“Ashley!” Leon shouts, your own voice joining his. You’re trembling in his hold, whether from anger or pain, he’s not sure.
The blonde girl has tears streaming down her cheeks as she cries. “S-Stop! Don’t come any closer! There’s-!”
It’s too late.
The same hooded figure from before emerges from beside him, grasping him by the hips before he can stop it. Its strength is immense. Even as he fights its grip, he stays firm in its hold. His stomach drops. He doesn't even have time to warn you. The creature yanks him sideways. Without his support beneath you, your legs simply give out. The impact against him sends you sprawling across the stone. You hit hard enough that the room tilts. For one terrifying second, it looks like you can't breathe. Then, Ashley screams again. Your head snaps back up.
You manage to make it to your hands and knees, looking up at the cloaked form. “Stop!”
Across the room, Ramon just chuckles.
“Please. Continue.”
“You sick-!” He’s silenced by the creature, squeezing him in a way that forces the air out of his lungs.
From below him, you almost growl. Clumsily, your good hand goes to your boot, pulling out a small blade. How long had you had that? You must’ve grabbed it sometime earlier, during a fight. With a cry of pain, you lift it above your head, slamming it into the creature’s foot. He watches your injured shoulder jolt with the movement. You don't even seem to notice. You're beyond pain now.
The monster roars in agony, its other hand coming down to effortlessly pick you up. You struggle uselessly in its hold, face contorted in rage. Across the room, Ashley is still crying.
“Let go of her!” He’s screaming now. Whether he’s referring to you or Ashley, he doesn’t know. All he does know is that you’re bleeding in the creatures hold, face still flushed with fever, body still shaking with rage. You look like a cornered, feral animal, all gnashing teeth and furious claws.
With a huff that sounds something like annoyance, the creature lifts you two higher, positioning you both above the pit below.
Ashley’s hand is dirty and raw when she lifts it up, trying to reach out. You’re both too far away. “No! Stop!”
The creature lets go. His stomach lurches. One instant he's suspended in the air, the next, he's falling. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees you dropped alongside him, your hair a messy halo as gravity takes hold. The air rushes up to greet him as he falls, heat making him dizzy. When he looks over, squinting to keep the wind pressure out of his eyes, he sees you. You’re only about a foot away from him, face contorted, a silent scream leaving your lips. Your eyes are wide and frantic.
He reaches without thinking. His fingers close around fabric. Your scream tells him exactly which arm he caught. It makes you hiss and cry out, and he wishes that he could have chosen a different limb, but there’s no time for that. Not when the bottom of the chasm is getting closer and closer. Through the darkness, he can see a chain of metal in front of him.
Without thinking, his other arm grabs it, anchoring himself to it. The cold iron burns hot beneath his palm as friction tears across his glove. He manages to angle himself so that his boots pin part of the metal between them, further slowing his fall. The chain jerks violently against his shoulder. Pain shoots through his arm. He barely notices. His eyes are on you, on the ground racing up towards you both.
By some miracle, by the time he’s reached the end of the chain, he’s managed to slow his fall enough to stop. His palm is stinging, fire shooting through his arm, but he’s alive. You’re both alive.
“You okay?”
His voice echoes around him. When his head whips around, he can see that he’s in what looks like a cave. There’s stalagmites reaching upwards, ends turning into glinting spikes. The floor below him looks like a shallow pool, with dark murky water and what he can only hope is a decently soft landing.
His eyes find a patch that is spike free.
In his grasp, you’re shaking violently. Still, you mutter, “I’m fine.”
You’re the worst liar he’s ever met, but he nods anyway. “Look, I gotta drop you. I’ll try to be gentle, but…”
“Just do it.” Your voice is tired and strained. Something about it makes his heart ache for you. Shit, you barely sound conscious at this point.
Slowly, gingerly, he starts to swing his momentum forward, angling your body so that you’ll hopefully land safely. Then, he lets go, your form falling to the ground. To his relief, you miss the spikes, but you don’t land gracefully. You fall directly onto your bad side, and the scream of agony that meets him makes him grimace.
He lets go of the chain, falling on his feet beside you.
“Oh, fuck! Rabies?!”
You don’t respond. Your eyes are rolling in your skull, head lolling. A groan of pain falls from your lips, body rigid. His head whips around to make sure that nothing’s coming for you both, before he kneels, grabbing your good arm and using it to tug you onto his back, over his shoulders.
Weakly, you stir a little, fingers twitching near his arm. “... Leon…?”
“I’m here.” He’s slow to start walking, body still aching from the fall.
Weakly, your head rolls forward, knocking against his shoulder. “... Just drop me. Get Ashley…”
A shake of his head, hand coming up to grab yours and give it a grounding squeeze.
“Not happening.”
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