Regarding the Resident Evil fandom and fics, I wish there was more engagement with Metaltango and Nivannedy. As much as I enjoy Chreon, Metaltango and Nivannedy allows for different types of exploration into the characters, canon, and relationship that the more popular, solid ship of Chreon doesn’t actively encourage.
Under a cut because this grew a little long.
Nivannedy, for example... While I don’t agree with the popular fanon of Leon being alcoholic and suicidal (as much fun as it can be to write when you want some angst or h/c), there’s no denying that Leon is definitely getting burnt out and worn down. I can’t blame him. Leon is surrounded by betrayal and intrigue in a way that the others aren’t. He’s incredibly invested in saving lives, and in RE2 and RE6, he has to deal with hundreds of thousands of deaths. In Vendetta, he is openly wondering who the bad guys are and why they’re still fighting. He flat-out asks Chris how much longer could they keep going like this? (And as much as I love Chris, Chris’s flippant answer forever pisses me off.)
Piers is passionate and driven and focused. He’s seen awful things, lost comrades, and had to forcibly and repeatedly pull Chris back from the edge in RE6. His focus is on the future. When shit gets rough, he just digs his heels in. He also doesn’t take shit. I’ve seen so many fics where Piers worships at Chris’s feet, but that doesn’t match his characterization in canon. If anything, his respect for Chris makes him hold Chris to a higher standard, and as such, when Chris loses himself, Piers does his damnedest to kick his ass. Piers has fierce goals and ideals, and I love the combination of all that with Leon.
Leon is also driven by goals and ideals. As the games progress, though, we see him get beaten down and start questioning everything. A character like Piers, one who is so passionate and still idealistic and takes no shit, would be a fantastic match to get Leon on his feet and revitalize him. Help him remember what he’s fighting for and is kickass enough to fight alongside him. Bring in an energy that (again, as much as I love Chreon) you would have to struggle a bit with the Chreon ship. Vendetta showed how Chris viewed Leon being burnt out: he expected him to just get up and keep fighting like Chris does, because Chris has been in the fight as long (slightly longer) than Leon and he’s still going! With Piers, there would arguably be a shift, a different angle to it, that would remind Leon what he has always fought for and why he should keep fighting.
Also, Piers’s reaction after the missile hit and Chris was shouting for Leon to answer still gets to me. He looked incredibly emotionally invested for someone with no strong connection to Leon.
Bonus points! Ignoring Piers’s death, if Piers survives, he would also be someone in an empathetic position: him with the C-virus, Leon with the Plagas. I love things like that.
Now onto Metaltango. Ah, Metaltango. Pretty, pretty ship.Yay, canon knifeplay!
Arguably, out of all the main protagonists in the RE series, Leon is the most gray. In a good way! He has a specific focus that isn’t connected to organizations, rules, etc. His goal is to keep people safe. Save them. He can and will actively break the rules to see this happen. If someone isn’t a Good Guy? That actually doesn’t affect him too much. It’s what they DO which affects him. Krauser faking his death? Joining Wesker? The big portion which bothered Leon was Krauser dragging Ashley, an innocent, into it. Leon worked to save Sasha in Damnation despite them arguably being on different sides. He refused to let Sasha kill himself when other characters might have just pulled the trigger for him. Leon continues to work with Ada despite her being a mercenary. He told the government to go fuck itself in Damnation because the BOWs were a threat to people and he didn’t think they were going to do anything about it. His priorities are clear, and he doesn’t give a damn about if his actions are black or white, just that his goal -- saving people -- is achieved.
It is difficult -- although not impossible -- to show this in Chreon fics. Actually, I wish more people would write this into Chreon fics: the divide between the pair. Chris is someone who went from the military to STARS to a militaristic organization. He has the title of Captain. In Vendetta, when Leon is pointing out that the government is fucking bombing weddings and “Who’s the bad guy here?”, there is no doubt in Chris’s mind: it’s Arias. He has a far more rigid, militaristic, black/white mindset. For him, to save people, the goal is to take out the threat/the enemy. For Leon, the goal is simply to save people. Sometimes it includes targeting the enemy first, sometimes not. It’s the soldier vs the spy trope, and one I wish was explored more. Instead, fics tend to focus more on their similarities, including using those similarities to pull Leon out of his depression in Vendetta.
Pairing Leon with Krauser allows exploration of that gray side of him. See the guy who is all right teaming up with a mercenary. See the guy capable of holding so many dark secrets. See the guy who says fuck you to the government and who will disobey orders if it means helping people.
That pairing also allows for an exploration of the dark role the US government plays in the RE series. The US government is the silent antagonist always in the background of Leon’s games. I’ve seen people repeatedly say that Krauser is random and unexpected and unnecessary in RE4. I disagree. I think Krauser ties Leon and this game to the other games and movies featuring Leon. Krauser is the symbol of how the government has betrayed and used its people. Krauser joined Wesker for power, yes, but he did it because the US government used him up and tossed him aside. By joining Wesker, he was able to get some of that power back. He was able to get a voice. He was able to stand tall.
In Darkside Chronicles, Krauser is brought in purely as muscle. He knows about BOWs but it’s clear that he wasn’t briefed about what they would be facing. Leon was. Leon was the one with the knowledge, the truth about their mission. Krauser was expendable, and Krauser realizes this. He realizes that Leon was given the knowledge, the power, and he realizes how his government views him: as an expendable weapon. When his arm is injured, he knows he is done. He knows that he is going to be thrown aside like so much trash.
That is a repeated theme in Leon’s story. In RE2, the government sacrifices Raccoon City. In ID, the government sacrifices Jason and his team and everyone connected to the incident. In Damnation, Leon is actively used and abused, and the ending with him hurts a bit. Who’s the bad guy in Degeneration? A member of the government. In RE4, the game takes place in another country with an organization that isn’t connected to the US government, and Krauser helps build that bridge.
Leon is pissed at Krauser, but it is largely due to Krauser involving Ashley. When he realizes that the villain in RE4 uses Krauser, too, he’s pissed. Leon responds to Krauser’s elevation of force throughout the game: he is never the one to elevate it himself. It’s easy to see an AU where Krauser survives and Leon is willing to treat him like Ada: more than willing to point weapons at each other, interfering with each other, but also good at saving the other’s life as necessary.
Metaltango would allow exploration of the government as the antagonist and would allow exploration of Leon’s gray side. A guy who would do anything to save innocents but would also enjoy some knifeplay in the bedroom. A guy who looks into the darkness and extends a hand instead of just shooting. “I don’t support you working as a mercenary but I support you. I don’t want to see anyone hurt.”
For Chris, it would be simple: take out the bad guy. Krauser is a bad guy. The end. Hell, for most of the RE protagonists, that would be the perspective. Leon is the guy who works with Ada despite knowing what she does, and it would be so easy to see that with Krauser, too. Krauser’s rougher edges and his history of being betrayed by his government -- like Leon -- would invite exploration with different parts of Leon’s character, his morals, and his story arc.
For the Metaltango bonus, Krauser choosing the intimacy of the knife in his initial attacks, his choice to reveal himself instead of trying to kill Leon from a distance, his apparent jealousy over Ada, how he strips more with every battle with Leon, and his deliberate showing off with Leon is awesome. If these things aren’t in the remake, I want nothing to do with it. For fuck’s sake, I’m constantly waiting for him to lick the knife after he slices Leon’s cheek.
Another bonus: note how Leon always engages him, always meets him halfway. Their initial knife fight is the biggest showing of this. <3 <3
Seriously. These are two incredibly overlooked ships which allows so much exploration of Leon and canon. I wish more people would check them out. :(
