Chapter Text
hi! before you start reading, here are some notes + disclaimers:
1.) this is my first time actually writing, so i’m super bad
2.) the story takes place in the resident evil 4 remake and has mentions of the re2 remake. might be some spoilers, so it helps if you’ve played both!
3.) i go off the plot of both games a little, which is why context might help you
4.) the story will be told in alternating pov’s and flashbacks
5.) i’ll for sure try to update weekly! i’m gonna try my best not to abandon this piece
thanks!! hope you enjoy
~
Spain, Europe
October 2004
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
Annoyed, Leon shuffled in one of his cargo pant pockets for another magazine and loaded it into his pistol. He raised his gun and aimed it at- well- it's hard to describe a seven foot chainsaw wielding man with the head of a boar in more pleasant terms.
Gunshots rang through the air- at this point, it was as common as breathing to him. For anyone else, this was hell on earth. For him, this was another day on the job.
Today had been a sequence of bad events, one after the other. Every time Leon thought that whatever he's facing is the cherry on top of his crappy life, another thing twice as bad comes just to spite him. Maybe it was all a cruel joke being played on him. The only thing he did know for sure was that something was terribly wrong here- this was like Raccoon City on steroids. After the two police officers that escorted Leon into the rural Spanish village were killed by the hands of God knows what, he was left by himself to find out just what the hell was going on here and complete his mission.
Well, maybe not entirely by himself. The villagers that swarmed him a few hours ago were pretty good company until they had tried to kill him.
The bullets penetrated the body of the creature but only served to make it angrier- not slow it down. It charged at Leon with it's chainsaw, slamming
it down on the ground while the agent ran out of the way as quickly as his reflexes let him. He- at least Leon thought it was a he- rose and lifted his chainsaw from
the ground, now covered with dirt. Another bullet. Nothing.
"Sorry, but you're not really my type," Leon said with his trademark sardonic tone while he reloaded his pistol yet again. The monster yanked at the cord of the machine, revving it up with a sickening mechanical whir, and charged at Leon. He dodged another slash from the creature and stood up, dirt on his forearm and a small cut on his cheek from where he narrowly avoided loosing his head.
Bullet after bullet, the monster didn't slow down for anything until it stepped had unexpectedly stepped in a bear trap. You'd think a cult that could kidnap the president's daughter would be a little more diligent about where they put their booby traps.
The creature groaned in pain, allowing Leon to
execute the final blow.
After it had slumped on the ground, Leon stood
rooted to the dark patchy grass below him. He panted, sweat trickling down his forehead. It only took half his ammo, but he finally took it down. Everything in him wanted to lay down and drink in the uncanny silence of the island and startling deep grey of the sky- maybe catch his breath for a minute. He hadn't had a chance to do that in seven years.
Despite his body's protests, he combed his fingers through his sweat slicked dirty blonde hair and reluctantly continued on the trail.
Every step he took on this God-forsaken island was with the purpose of finding Ashley Graham, the president's daughter and the focal point of his entire mission. She had disappeared just over 2 weeks ago without a trace while on her way home from university. After nearly every single high level government organization and bureau worked to locate her, the DSO had finally picked up a possible lead on her location in a small, rural island just off the coast of Spain. Find the president's daughter, a victim of an international kidnapping? Yeah, add that to his to do list.
"Roost to condor one, over," a female voice chimed from his radio. It was his partner, Agent Hunnigan, who was working the intelligence side of the mission for Leon back at headquarters.
"I read you," Leon replied a bit absentminded. He couldn't help it- his mind was running wild after today's events. He wasn't even 4 hours into the mission and yet he had already seen things that would rival a zombie outbreak- literally.
"It's likely baby eagle is being held in a church about 3 kilometers from your location now. It's heavily guarded, so be careful and don't screw it up," she said with an air of authority, albeit slightly unintentional.
"When do I ever?" He quipped.
His experience in Spain so far wasn't as picturesque as a travel agent would have you believe. Besides the dark grey sky looming overhead and threatening rain, the locals here didn't seem too happy to have visitors, as proven by their repeated attempts to kill Leon.
He had thought that this would be an easy mission. Rescuing someone wasn't exactly among his most dangerous deployments. But the people here? The village? It's not right. Their veins run deep black and their eyes are bloodshot- the whites of their eyes tinged an eerie red. The knot in his stomach about everything here- the locals with unnatural violent tendencies, the undertones of Ashley Graham's abduction- even what was waiting for him as he progressed- made him wonder if he made a mistake accepting the mission. Not like he had a choice, anyhow.
Trees of a wide assortment of oranges and browns were littered across the island in close knit throngs. Leaves and branches crunched underneath his combat boots as he made his way, though slowly, to the church.
His short sleeved navy compression shirt clung to him, the sleeves expanding at his bulky, muscular arms. A shotgun was slung on his back, a pistol on his right thigh in a holster, and a dagger on his shoulder holster. He had changed quite a bit from seven years ago back at the night of the outbreak. Not only is he more experienced, but he'd undergone a physical transformation in the last couple years, too. His eyebrows seemed to be permanently furrowed and his eyes constantly narrowed. A small frown was etched on his face, even when he wasn't speaking. Though what was really noticeable above all else was the exhaustion painted on his face as clear as day. Forcing himself to forget his aching muscles and drowsiness, he filled his mind with thoughts of the task at hand and only that. It's how he stayed sane the last 7 years, anyhow.
Up ahead was a large house- not quite a mansion, but something to brag about. That would be if the paint wasn't 7 shades darker as a result of the dirt and blatant neglect, and if half the shingles weren't missing and scattered across the roof of the house. The windows were smudged with dirt, rendering them unable to give a glimpse into the interior. Leon could only hope it didn't hold any more surprises for him.
Beyond the house and some overgrown plants was a gate. He approached it and rattled it, trying to open it but to no avail. A grand keyhole in the middle of the it led him to yet another detour on his mission.
With a barely audible sigh and his hand wrapped around his pistol; he approached the front of the dilapidated house where he hoped the key would be. He examined the door and the surroundings, his left hand wrapping around the ornate gold handle to the two door entryway, and his right hand holding his gun tight. Before he could open it, before anything, really, a voice sounded behind him. It was the first one he's heard today that wasn't in aggressive spanish from a homicidal villager.
"Hands up," the feminine voice remarked, her tone confident. Out of habit, Leon nearly whipped around and shot at whoever and just spoke. But that voice sounded oddly familiar. Almost like..
He turned his head to the right slightly and caught the figure in his peripheral vision. He let out a huff of air that was almost a laugh- whether that was from shock, anger, or relief wasn't something he bothered to think about.
Her?
He slowly put his hands up.
"What a pleasant surprise," he said, his tone dry, suggesting he thought it was everything but that. He paused and turned around slowly, hands parallel to his head as he took her in after such a long time. He thought he had forgotten how she looked.
"Guess you're not too happy to see me," he continued, barely intimidated by the armed woman in front of him.
"Well I wasn't going to throw you a welcome party, now was I?" she said with mock amusement, raising her eyebrows slightly.
The woman used to be nothing more than a clouded memory- one he worked for seven years to suppress after the outbreak and his recruitment to the DSO. Now, after all this time, the worst night of his life came flooding back into his mind.
"Seems like a hello is out of the question too," Leon quipped sarcastically, though the disdain etched on his face was clear.
The woman- Leon didn't want to remind himself of anything about her; even her name- dressed simply enough. Heeled black boots disappeared in her bootcut black jeans. A utility belt was slung loose across her hips, connecting her pants to her top. She wore a form fitting navy blue button down with a few of the top buttons left unfinished to reveal her collarbones. Her hair seemed longer to him. It was a rich black that hung down to her waist in loose braid with curtain bangs framing her face. Her jade green eyes were highlighted by a thin black strip of eyeliner on her lash line and a dark cherry lipstick on her lips. On her back was a black shoulder holster with a slot for a gun on each side of her torso just in front of her arm. Each was empty though, as each one of her hands held an automatic pistol trained on Leon.
"I'll make this simple for you, Leon,” she started, ignoring his attempts at conversation. “Drop the girl, the mission, leave right now, and you might just manage to survive." Her voice lacked any real emotion and her words dripped venom. She wasn't the girl he met in the Raccoon City Police Department all those years ago.
He took a second to take in her words. He scoffed. Out of all people, what would Evelyn want to do with Ashley? He narrowed his gaze at her.
"Why? And let you have her all to yourself?" He retorted, more annoyed than intimidated. His reply earned a dry scoff from her.
"You must've misunderstood," she started dry, her face drawn taut. Her eyebrows furrowed downwards slightly as she parsed her next words. "It was a threat, Kennedy. And you know how keen I am on keeping those," she said, all traces of kindness absent from her now slightly hostile tone. Her eyebrows settled and no muscle in her mouth curved upwards to give the impression of camaraderie.
"You're bold, I'll give you that. Who're you working for now?" Leon asked, barely acknowledging her warning.
"It'd take all the fun out of it if I told you, now wouldn't it?"
"So, still Umbrella's bitch, right?"
"Are you a detective or an agent?"
"Touchè."
"Anyways, this isn't about me. You know who it is about. The girl. I'm not repeating myself. Get out of here while you still have the chance," she concluded, forgetting that Leon was just as stubborn as her. His gaze hardened.
"The girl is gonna be just fine with me, thanks," he replied in his signature husky voice, his light blue eyes boring into hers. She scoffed and started to walk backwards.
"You don't know what you're getting yourself into," she called out before turning around. "Maybe babysitting isn't your calling," she said while walking away from him. He didn't bother to follow her and she didn't bother to check if he had a gun aimed at her, though the thought certainly crossed his mind.
Just when he couldn't afford any distractions.
Guess this really is some cruel joke from the universe after all.
~
September, 1998
Raccoon City Police Station
The sound of glass shattering and a few grunts echoed down the dark and deserted hallway of the Raccoon City Police Station. Leon had been desensitized to that in the short hour and a half he'd been in this nightmare. He certainly wasn't expecting to face humans turned cannibals on his first day of being a cop. But those grunts sounded too human to be the noises of the vicious freaks that wandered the corridors of the trashed police station, searching for new victims. He wrapped his hand around his gun to steady himself and hopefully ease his nerves. Keeping his guard up, he slowly inched down the dark hallway with his gun outstretched. He wrapped a corner,
practically about to drop dead from the fear of what was waiting for him, and there it was.
Through the glass walls of the forensics lab he could make out a figure- a girl backed into a corner helplessly staving off some infected. She grabbed a gun off a table near her and fumbled with it for a moment before firing it at one of the creatures swarming her. It stumbled for a second but then resumed it's path towards her. Before she could take her second shot, Leon had fired at the other four. When they fell to the floor, he got a better view of the woman.
She was out of breath, her burgundy tank top splattered with blood that was a similar shade to her top and dark wash bootcut jeans that had a few holes and cuts in them from what the night threw at her.
She looked at him, short and long glasses with a thin black rim perched on her nose while her black hair was pulled up in a ponytail that grazed her back. Even with her brown leather jacket on, she was shaking. A civilian, maybe? Leon spoke before she could.
"I'm Leon, an officer here," his tone gentle as he stepped forward holding out an arm to show he didn't mean harm. "I'm here to help." The girl smiled gratefully and pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She stepped forward; brown heeled boots clicking on the blood stained floor.
"God, thank you. I'd be one of them if it wasn't for you," she said exasperated and quick, her tone gracious. Her optimism practically seeped out of her. Her hand met his.
"I'm Evelyn. You can call me Eve."
~