when boy torment girl, this is fine! boy must have crush on girl, which is why he would torture her emotionally until she cries and hates him! this is because boys are very stupid and do not know anything. oh well! boys!
when girl turns against boy who has tormented her, perhaps hits or kicks him, perhaps fires back something mean, this is inexplicable. girls are smart! girls are wise! why would girl be violent? girls are calm, peaceful, beautiful... this makes no sense.
why does girl not understand? boy simply complimenting her with his attention! and he is so stupid he doesn't understand any way to show he likes her except to make her feel like an awful bug and male her cry every day! wise and clever girl, she should understand this! calm and peaceful girl, this should all be taken in stride. isn't it so nice to be liked by boy?
now, please apologize to boy for your unseemly outburst, girl!
oh, and don't worry about it boy. we understand, you were just being boy. it wasn't very nice, probably you should say sorry too. but wink wink nudge nudge. we understaaaaaanddd boy.
The absolute audacity of Leon Kennedy trusting Ada Wong - Part2
Six years. Six whole years of radio silence, a part of them he was thinking she was as dead as when he last saw her. He hears her heels against the floor; both of them are in Spain, nowhere near the city where they first met. He's heard the rumors, yes. So it’s true that she's alive, and that's... one hell of a greeting after everything, after six years of her not talking to him or showing her face at all. And, yeah. She's pointing a gun at him again—the perfect way to be reunited. She asks him to leave, to forget about his mission, suggesting that maybe then she’ll greet him the way he wants. Just great. Nope, he's not smiling. Not happening.
And he's changed, alright. He has a mission to accomplish, someone to save. It doesn’t really matter that he's now wondering if she’s changed, too. Or that he's still a bit bitter about the past. Nope. Off to Ashley he goes: the president's daughter, who doesn’t deserve to be going through any of this.
And then Ashley gets captured again, and he couldn’t stop it. He's going to save that girl even if it costs him his life. He will find her and—someone contacts him. He knows that voice all too well, but it doesn’t stop him from being confused. Ada? Reaching out? Huh. And as expected, never without a reason: she’s got a tip for him. Why is she even giving him information? He has no time to think it through (he never does with her.) Something big is about to go down in the throne room? Babysitting? She spoke fast, as if it were nothing, and then hung up. He didn’t even have a chance to speak, to ask. Perfect. She’s the same as ever.
And... yeah, the past is thorny, but why not, despite everything? Would she have an ulterior motive for giving him info on Ashley? Or maybe the opposite? Alright, maybe. But he follows the tip anyway. Despite... well, everything pointing to the contrary. Who needs reason when Ada is showing some compassion for a change? And she did tell him the truth (what those sick assholes were doing to Ashley, him being thrown in a hole and not being able to rescue her was not on Ada).
Speaking of trust, he's having a hard time trusting this guy Luis. He used to be umbrella, and now he's helping him and Ashley out of good heart? There’s nothing in it for him? Suspicious, but he doesn’t really have the time to think about if before Krauser fucking murders him when he was trying to change and be a good person. He will pay for that, he—Ada contacts him again, and again she tells him where they took Ashley to. Feeling generous, isn’t she? She sounds more serious, telling him they took Ashley to the top of the clock tower and that he could save her if he hurried—no runarounds this time. He can’t help it; he has to comment: "So you weren't heartless after all. I guess I should be... thankful?" Maybe he's letting himself get carried away, falling into familiarity when he shouldn't, but who gives a fuck when she looks satisfied with the answer, holds back a smile, and tells him that yes, he, in fact, should be thankful.
Krauser takes Ashley away again, Leon finally kills Ramón, and Krauser escapes on a jet ski. Leon sits down on another jet ski, but there are no keys, because apparently, everything has to be extra hard for him. Then, there come the keys—in Ada's hands, looking like a million bucks. She shoos him from the driver’s seat, and he obeys. No "what if she changes the route," no "what if this," or "what if that." The ride is as silent as a damn funeral. He looks at her, then looks away. Nope, he won't look at her. He’ll stare at the water. He can be petty, alright. He won't give in first; he won't stare at her like some kicked puppy.
But then she speaks first, and of fucking course he has something to say. Too much, in fact, but only one thing truly matters. She won’t answer him, not with a "Yes, I did" or a "No, I didn’t." When she’s quiet, not even confirming if she’ll give him a straight answer, he doesn't push it, but he can't help himself, can he? He has to bring it up: Raccoon City, the past, and what became of everything afterward. The world changed; he can barely save anyone. He’s changed, too, he tells her, and she laughs. Not at him, but at the possibility. Ada tells him he thinks he's changed, but he hasn't. And he doesn’t know what to make of it. He doesn’t answer. He's not sure, but she sounds so... honest, for a change. So sure of what she's saying, even when he isn’t sure of it himself.
He looks away and ponders. Doubt is gnawing at him, maybe not just doubt. He won't ask about the past. It's too thick, too muddy, too bloody. As much as it hurts, it doesn’t matter right now. "Have you changed, Ada? Or are you just trying to use me again?" There. He said it. He didn't ask about it, but he brought it up. He won't forget. Ada looks him right in the eyes and does exactly what he thought she would: doesn’t give him a straight answer. What does he think? When it comes to her, how the hell is he even supposed to answer that? Then she tells him not to think too hard, that she'll see him later; flies away with her hookshot and leaves him wondering. Story of his life. But back to Ashley.
Ada did see him later like she said, though. Arriving just in time to save his ass when Saddler was using his infected body against him. She shot everyone in the room and then made sure they couldn't follow him and Ashley. That's... exactly like her, unfortunately for his confused mind.
He and Ashley are safe. They’re fine, cured, and they're going to escape. That is, until he sees Ada Wong, unconscious, hanging by her wrists, captured. Right after he told Ashley that Ada would be fine, that she's not the type to roll over that easily. He should learn how to keep his damn mouth shut. He looks around: quiet, empty. It’s obviously a trap, using Ada as bait. Saddler really thinks he's going to lure him out using Ada.
He thought right.
Anyway, he finally kills Saddler. Great. Now all he has to do is take the Amber (a powerful sample he read about on the computer), get Ashley out of there, and leave. Except he doesn’t even get to hold the Amber before Ada gets it. The Amber. The sample he read with his own two eyes that could be more powerful than Saddler himself, and Leon had a good fucking taste of what his power can do. He remembers losing control over himself. He remembers the pain. The ugly black veins all over his body, all over Ashley's body. He remembers Ashley fighting against herself not to kill him, how she stabbed him and felt horrible for it, and how he felt the need to comfort her. He remembers the hallucinations, the lingering feeling of confusion, of helplessness. Being so weak he fainted. He just went through it all; he knows the power of that little piece of hell.
He's confused and surprised for a moment. Ada says it’s nothing personal, but when is it ever with her? She walks past him with the thing that could end nations in hand, toward a helicopter that came from god knows where, sent by god knows who. Leon watches, because what else can he do? It’s not his mission, sure, but that’s not the problem. The Amber is dangerous, lethal; in the wrong hands, it could cause immeasurable amounts of terror and misery. Are Ada’s hands the wrong ones?
He doesn’t think so.
He doesn’t feel like they are.
Leon, for one, already feels way too guilty for everything. He feels he can't do enough, can’t fight enough, can’t stop people from getting hurt—no matter how hard he tries. But that doesn't mean he gives up. He doesn't, and that's why, if Ada were to do something evil with the Amber, he should stop her immediately. But he doesn't believe she will. She saw the state the parasite left him and Ashley in. She gave him small, tiny signs. She helped him. Saved him. Helped him save Ashley in a way. Somewhere inside her, the woman who tried to send him away from Raccoon City so many times so he wouldn’t be in danger is still there. Maybe she's more there than she ever was.
She’s working for someone, bringing them the Amber. Ashley asks him where she's going. Who even knows? He doesn’t.
He lets her go.
And maybe that's his answer to her question. What does he think? Does he think she's changed?
