#it's so clear that Luis is not as pale as Leon

[meri-meri-mwah]

Scratching my head while wondering why some artists draw Leon and Luis the same shade when...

They're not even the same shade...???

[winksasleeplesseye]

adtrita (four)

SUMMARY: Amara, alongside Leon and Ashley, escapes from the church, but they run into more trouble and find Luis in a cabin nearby. Luis finally gives them some answers....but not much.

WORD COUNT: 4.9k

WARNINGS: mentions of blood, violence, some cursing

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For what felt like the millionth time, Amara went over so many things in her head. How things could’ve been, should’ve been, needed to be. It doesn’t matter that she was in the middle of a dangerous rescue mission, being led by the one person she couldn’t get out of her head for the past six years. Didn’t matter at all that even in the middle of this situation he couldn’t bother to ask how she’d been, what she was doing now considering she’d confessed she loved him and him the same in return at one point in time.

Did he even still feel the same? Would he have even held a candle for her for six years?

Sure, there was the teasing (mostly from her from what she could tell) and what have you but what about the love? She didn’t say that to him lightly, didn’t say that out of some obligation because he’d saved her life. 

Plenty of men tried to pursue in the past few years but she denied them all (she wasn’t above some light flirting though). It was a little bit of a hard act to follow with a man who’d fought grotesque monsters and flesh-eating zombies in an underground lab to get her something that didn’t even have a chance to fully cure her. But Leon did. No questions asked. 

Leon was—no, is—a good man. 

A part of her felt it foolish, maybe naive to admit she had most definitely held the candle for him, letting it burn down to its wick, more than ready to let the hypothetical flame burn at her fingertips.

Amara would be lying if she didn’t envision the next time they met again to be more romantic comedy and less horror film hell. 

Yeah, she was just really tired of living through life-altering events. 

Now, all three of them stood hiding between the windows of this church. Outside, she caught a glimpse of the moon, a pale gray silver intermittently overtaken by the clouds. The bluish-gray moonlight casted Leon in an almost ethereal tone as he kept his eyes in a constant swivel, their training differed in many ways but one thing was the same. Assessing the next steps. 

The voice that rattled inside her head sounded just about as menacing yet calculated (with a slight hint of cartoony) as someone else she knew once but his command was clear. 

Which explained why villagers were now hellbent on finding them. 

In the midst of Leon’s assessment, Ashley's eyes brimmed with tears, obviously a bundle of nerves once more as she asked him, “What do we do?” 

For a brief moment, Leon turns to Amara and she’s taken back to that moment back in a forgotten city as he assumed she knew the best course of action, but his gaze turns back to Ashley just as quickly. 

This is his mission after all. 

“Your father trusts me…and I need you to trust me too and do exactly as I say. I’m gonna get you home safe,” Leon speaks with authority, ever the consummate professional but there’s still a gentleness. He’d learned a good balance, she assumed. None of them would get very far if there wasn’t an implicit trust.

His words send relief through her, judging by the brief nod she gives him, “Okay, Leon.” 

He doesn’t say anything to Amara, clearly he assumed she didn’t really need so much of a pep talk as the untrained, unprepared college girl did. 

Their conversation is cut short by a bursting of a door beneath them, Leon turns his head towards the noise, raising a hand to tell Ashley to stay back. Amara cautiously looked over the rail as he joined her to see what was going on. 

The villagers had made their grand entrance, scouring every pew, every nook, every cranny and even behind the altar for them. Their words held all the venom behind them, even from here, Amara could tell something about them was off. 

Ignoring the disarray of their clothes stained with dirt and other things, their skin had a sheen to it that was unnatural and…their eyes…their eyes held a furious red beadiness to them. If Amara didn’t know better, she’d have thought their eyes were just about ready to escape their sockets. 

There was no going down there, that was for damn sure. 

Very much like a mind reader, Leon voiced Amara's thoughts and their next actions, “All right, let’s get the hell out of here.”

They cross the floor in crouched positions, nearing a ladder to take them up a floor as it sat against the wall. The sound of rain pelted down harder outside, the smell of that same mold and mildew is thick, clearly thriving in the nestled corners of the church. 

At its current height, they weren’t going anywhere unless…

“Get the ladder,” Leon simply commanded, immediately kneeling down. He didn’t exactly specify who he wanted to do the getting and didn’t want to assume he meant her. 

Amara and Ashley share a brief look, the former gesturing, “Up to you.” 

“Okay. Hope this is a one time thing,” Ashley mutters, more to herself than anyone else. Amara watched as she took care of how she stepped on Leon’s unreasonably, nicely broad shoulders. He stands to full height with no problem, which sends Ashley up to a higher point of vantage to kick the ladder down. 

Amara tried not to be a pervert and stare at Leon’s ass as he ascended the ladder before her, but she did need to look up to climb as well…and well, it was there. Low hanging fruit, or in this case, ass. 

Just as she reached the top, Leon flicked on a flashlight, which illuminated at least some of the dark path before them. Obviously, this was the church’s attic, judging by the items draped in covers and the boxes and barrels strewn about. A good layer of dust settled on everything so no one had been up here for a long while. A particular thought wiggled its way into Amara’s brain, could a painting be here? 

She couldn’t exactly have said that her original mission had ended, sure, Joe was no longer her support but as far as her other one, it was still a free game. It was a safe assumption to say she was in Spain. 

Killing two birds with one stone, getting rescued by Leon and finishing her own mission right under Leon’s nose. Who said he’d have to know anyway? 

If he wanted to be that way, seemingly avoidant and distant, she could too. 

Fuck, she needed to stop acting so stupid about him. He wasn’t going to immediately drop all his focus and professionalism to make small talk to appease her desperate need to connect with him once again.

This wasn’t Raccoon City anymore, Leon had an actual job to do, actual people to report to. They both did. 

But, that nagging in her head would remain for the moment. 

“What do we do? There’s no way out.” Ashley’s question cuts through the air as Amara examines something in the furthest corner of the attic. Nothing in here is remotely shaped like a painting.

She can already tell that Leon knew his next move, a foot planted at the edge of an open windowsill as a brief crack of lightning broke through the sky. He doesn’t even really announce what that move is, he just does it as he jumps out the window. 

A quiet thump is just about the only thing that alerted Amara to him landing on the ground. She and Ashley moved to look out the window, Leon stared back up at them. The height alone kind of made her queasy but she swallowed that down, asking Leon a crucial question, “Are you sure about this?” 

“It’s okay. I’ve got you, both of you.” He reassured, the rain soaking him within seconds.

Amara looked back to Ashley, “I hope you have good insurance.” Ashley sends her a tight smile. 

It’s not that Amara doesn’t have confidence in Leon, she does completely, but catching a person at this height? He may have nice biceps and probably great strength overall but they’re no match for gravity and other factors. 

She tried with everything to fight her hesitance and Leon seemed to pick up on it. “Hey, trust me!” 

With a quick prayer to whatever powers that be, Amara scooted herself off the edge and catches air briefly. She half expected a bone crunch or something but she found that she was very tightly secured against Leon. His hands gripped at her shoulders and underneath her knees.

He looked at her in his arms for what felt like a long time, but the moment quickly ended as he placed her feet on the ground. “Thank you for catching me.” 

“Anytime,” he responded in a way that reminded her of a different Leon. 

Amara tried not to curl in on herself from how the cold rain hit against her clothes, becoming just as drenched as Leon had in just under a minute. Ugh. 

She thought she’d left this disgusting rain in shitty London. This was the last thing she wanted to be doing. 

Leon catches Ashley with just as much ease, something that Amara can’t help but to find attractive. Goodness, she needed to calm herself down. But, shit, she also needed a gun. Her dear, sweet Beretta would be sorely missed. 

She listens with rapt attention to Leon’s transmission with “Roost” about “Baby Eagle”. She could only assume her codename was just as silly and she’s proven correct as she fought a small giggle at the use of “Black Hawk”. It made sense to use official codenames so that Leon wasn’t stupidly going around announcing who he was rescuing but that still didn’t stop it from being ridiculous. 

Condor One was a pretty badass one though. Fitting for Leon, she had to admit. Condors are amongst the largest birds in the world and Leon had one of the biggest dicks so it checked out.

At least a helicopter was coming for extraction. The sooner this shitshow was over, the better.

“Like I said, it’s dangerous. Stick close.” 

Ashley nods once again. “Okay.” 

“Think you should probably give me one of your guns, Leon.” Amara suggested.

Two capable agents were better than one. Throbbing pain aside, Amara had a hell of a shot. No point letting it go to waste. 

He looks at her like she’s said the craziest thing. Replying with a quick whisper of, “What? No.” 

“What do you mean no?” She can’t fight the confused twist in her features. “Don’t be fucking stupid. We’d have more of a fucking fighting chance if you’d give me one of your guns, Leon. It’s two against…a hundred maybe.”  

If her words sting him, he doesn’t let that show. Still focused as ever. “My mission is to keep you both safe.” 

She doesn’t want to argue especially in this rain, but her whisper has a tinge of yelling to it. “Yeah, and two people—agents—who know their way around guns is better than one, would you concur?” 

He shakes his head briefly, begrudgingly handing her the shotgun that was strapped across his back. “Try not to waste ammo.” 

Now that’s what she called firepower.

Her lips quirk into a sickly sweet smile. “Relax, Kennedy. This isn’t my first rodeo.” Even that isn’t enough to break through his seemingly new hard exterior, a quick eye roll is all she gets before he pushes a tipped over shelf blocking the doorway. 

“You two know each other?” Ashley questioned as they moved quickly and quietly through the path revealed just beyond the doorway. 

“Oh, very well. We have a history even Shakespeare would envy…” she quips, moving close to Ashley, whispering the last part with a hand covering the side of her mouth. “But don’t tell Leon that, he might disagree.” 

She laughed quietly, a momentary reprieve from the horrific situation and Amara is glad to have provided it.

The three crouch close together, Leon leading the charge as the rain picked up in its intensity but somehow the flames that came from the torches the villagers held still shined brightly. Amara quietly checked the barrel to see it’s already loaded as Leon moved quickly towards one of the villagers whose back was turned on them. They muttered in Spanish but not words that Amara could translate, but the quiet venom of them was still obvious.

Leon unsheathed his knife, coming up behind the man, coming down on his throat with a ferocity that Amara had never seen from him before. A quick spray of blood coated his hand and the knife—Marvin’s knife—she realized. It barely phased him. Well, outwardly, at least. 

With a firm hand over the man’s mouth as he drops to the ground with a quiet thud. Onto to the next one for Leon. 

This was no longer the same Leon she’d met years ago, if this action didn’t make it abundantly clear. 

Both of them could now navigate dire situations without so much as a thought to doing it, but to see the sheer capacity for brutality that Leon possessed…she wasn’t sure how to feel. 

It’s not like she wasn’t also capable of it too, it’s why she’d gotten the nickname she had. Getting the job done took priority and that usually meant whatever means necessary. 

After all, the end, for the most part, justifies the means, right? 

Just as quick, the villagers become aware almost immediately of their location. Barely a step away from the church. Ashley let out a shriek from fear as they ran at them with murderous intent in their eyes. 

“What is wrong with these people?!”

Almost on instinct, both Leon and Amara shield the girl on both sides. 

The rain practically doused Amara’s vision as the villagers crowded them. Any eyeshadow left on her lids had started seeping in as well, a burning sensation that left her squinting and no doubt her eyes bloodshot. The weather was no joke.

“Stay the fuck back!” With quick moves, she pressed the butt of the gun into her shoulder and unloaded a deadly shot at close range. The recoil was no joke on this thing but that one shot was enough to cut through the crowd. 

Shit, that’s gonna hurt later. 

A few of the people convulsed on the floor (despite lacking a full head on their shoulders) and Leon is quick to stab them in their downed state. 

“What the hell is wrong with these people?”  Her voice was incredulous, voicing the same question Ashley had only moments ago. 

“Hell if I know! Just shoot!”

“That’s your plan?”

“A wise woman I once knew would say point, aim, shoot in that order!”

Amara couldn’t exactly argue with that. But, shit, did him being so authoritative have to be so hot? She does as told, helping Leon clear a path to hopefully get away from this place. They run as fast as their legs take them, coming to a bridge only to find themselves flanked on either side by more village people.

Saving grace comes to the three of them in the form of Luis frantically waving them towards the inside of a cabin. “Over here!” 

They didn't think twice about booking it like a bunch of track runners trying to make it to the finish line, the second Amara’s body passed the threshold of the doorway she all but crashed to the floor a few feet away from the door. 

Stabbing. That’s what her lungs felt like, definitely not like the stabbing Leon had gladly partaken in earlier but it was enough to keep her planted to the ground and struggling for every breath. 

Shit. Is this what chainsmokers felt like? 

Amara was no Olympic athlete by any means but she wasn’t out of shape either but as far as she can tell, that was hard to tell right now. 

Luis slammed the door shut, temporarily shielding the four of them from the villagers outside. They were relentless, a mere cabin wouldn’t exactly hold them back for long, judging by the pitchforks and torches. But it’ll do. Leon placed a gentle hand on Ashley’s shoulder as she was nearly keeled over, fighting for air from the effort of running. 

Within a few moments, Leon is on Luis like a hunter after his prey. Amara only briefly glimpsed the absolute rage in Leon’s eyes as he stated, “You.”

“Hey…listen…about earlier…” Luis seemed to pick up on it, immediately cowering back away from Leon. 

“Yeah, about that…” He has him against the wall, fist pressed into his chest. 

Amara’s eyes shifted between the two men. What in the hell exactly occurred between the time she’d last seen them both? Whatever happened, it clearly pissed Leon off on a massive scale. She doesn’t remember the last time she’d ever seen him so angry, well maybe ever actually. Of course, this was a different Leon now compared to then. Back then, Leon was very sweet…so sweet in fact that Amara occasionally thought he couldn’t hurt a fly but he cursed like a sailor to make up for it. 

Luis’ almost gray-blue eyes fell on Amara and Ashley. “Hey…I see you found your missing senorita and your radiante flor.” 

He was clearly trying to deflect and defuse the obvious tension radiating off of Leon but still Amara can’t help the small smile on her face at the compliment even through her annoyance. Certainly a charmer. 

But, come on, the guy disappeared for several hours and she’s just supposed to not be irritated? Hell, maybe she was more pissed than Leon is, if she wanted to be real. 

She arched her eyebrow. “Are you ever going to use my name?” 

He doesn’t answer as Ashley walks up beside her, “And the senorita has a name and it’s Ashley, and you are?” 

“Name’s Luis,” He responds in an almost sultry manner, “Encantado.” 

“Great. We all have names…Now-“ Leon forced his fist harder into Luis’ chest, a small grunt of pain coming from the other man. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” 

Amara half expected Luis to tell Leon the same thing he’d told her back in his lab, it’d certainly resolve Leon’s hostility towards him but things weren’t that simple, that easy. An ominous orange-red glow came closer and closer to the window. Amara is the first to notice. 

“Very good question…unfortunately…”

“Uh, Leon?” As if pulled by a thread, the other three turned towards her. Leon lets up on Luis to look outside the window too. The villagers had gotten another way around the gate that Leon closed. 

And it wasn’t just a measly few villagers. They were surrounding the cabin. 

He turned sharp towards both Amara and Ashley. “Hide. Now.” 

“Fuck that.” Amara protested almost immediately, checking the barrel of her shotgun. “Ashley, you go hide. We’ve got this.” 

Hopefully. 

The girl scrambled, searching for somewhere good to hide. This cabin was just about as wide open as anything and there weren’t really any good spots to hide. That is, until Luis lifted—with Leon’s assistance—a knocked over bookcase, revealing a hole. 

Leon ushered Ashley through the hole, she threw him one last glance as she crawled through, the worry in her gaze was pretty obvious but he quickly nodded his head in reassurance. Amara quietly commended him for putting on a brave face for her or hell, maybe he just is that brave to think they could hold off these people. 

Luis and Leon move back to the window, Amara training on her eyes through the very same window. “Alright…it’s game time.” Leon nodded minutely in agreement before retreating away from the windows. 

Leon already beat Amara to the next course of action in barricading the other open windows surrounding them. Meanwhile, Luis spouted manly nonsense (well, by Amara’s standards) to Leon about stretching and warming up. 

“Yeah, now if you’d shut up, we’d be good to go,” Leon responded just as quickly. That made Amara smirk to herself but this wasn’t the time for that.

“Can you two shut up the lovers quarrel and shoot these motherfuckers, please?” She yelled just as the first few villagers climbed inside the cabin. 

“If the lady insists!” Luis shouted back, almost in a twisted excitement. 

Luis, for all his secrecy, was growing on Amara in a way. For a scientist, he sure knew his way around a gun. An asset she could appreciate right now. 

More and more villagers bombarded almost every entrance to the cabin that they could, an acrid scent began to fill the air from the bodies piling up and…melting? A detail that Amara desperately wanted to rid from her mind. 

Amara, Leon and Luis flanked one another, trying to keep the villagers back but there were only three of them compared to god knows how many rabid people out there. 

“Don’t have much ammo left, gentlemen!” Amara announced, sending a group of three men flying back into one another from the force of the shells leaving the barrel. To add a fucked up cherry on top of everything, a hulking man wearing a pig head over his own burst through one of the barricaded windows with a massive sledgehammer.

The whiplash Amara gets at the sound definitely will leave a crick in her neck but that’s a problem for later. “Up here!” Luis shouted, running up the stairs and she followed not even a second later with Leon being the last to race up the stairs behind them. Creating distance between them and this thing was the smarter option as it swung wildly at everything in its path. It was hard to tell who exactly the thing was after.

Another serious case of deja vu came over her and she didn't hesitate to voice that, “This guy is too much like RC for my liking.” 

“Don’t remind me,” Leon scoffed just as he landed a kick on one of the villagers. 

Just as the hulking figure came after them, Amara readied the shotgun to take a shot but the familiar click sound she knew too well came out instead, “Shit, I’m out!” 

“Here,” Luis barely gave her a moment to think before he tossed her a spare gun. Hm, she had to practically fight with Leon to even get the shotgun. 

“Appreciate it!” 

She tried to ignore the quick shake of Leon’s head, clearly in annoyance toward the man. 

Barely two seconds passed before she began unloading ammo into the pigheaded idiot, to hell with the other people right now. 

“Is he even feeling this?” Amara questioned aloud more to herself, an almost incredulous laugh but only to avoid some other reaction. Probably crying. 

The cabin was all tight corners and no good exit point, it was a good thing they’d sent Ashley away…they were sandwiched, to say the least. And not in a good way.

Half a second later, as the three of them scattered like bugs around the cabin, Ashley burst in through the back door. “Leon! Amara! Hurry!” 

All three of them turned to look at her before Amara broke out into a dash for the door, she had never ran so fast in her life. She didn’t hesitate to follow behind, the men both hot on her tail to escape. Running across a bridge, Leon had to be commended on his quick thinking as he shot the chain, severing the tie between the villagers and themselves. But first, Amara needed to catch her breath. 

Labored breaths escaped their lungs as if they had all ran a marathon, Amara let her head lull back against the wooden wall. 

Safe. For now.

That wouldn’t be the case for long though. But still, Amara couldn’t believe how exhausted she felt, and for the first time in the evening, a brief touch from Leon came down on her shoulder. 

“You good?”

No. Far from it. 

Before Amara could answer, Ashley began coughing hard. Gasping for breath as…blood coated her hand. 

Both of them, almost as if on instinct, checked on Ashley.  Amara didn’t even hesitate to ask, “You alright?”

“What’s hap-happening to me?!”

Luis, in a rare show of genuine concern, took Ashley’s hand and asked, “Ashley, is this the first time you’ve coughed blood like this?” 

The girl nodded in response. 

“Care for an explanation?” That set off alarm bells in Amara’s head. It only felt natural to question him now seeing as he hadn’t reacted the way they had. Not too long ago, the taste of copper poured from her mouth so it had to be connected, right?

“Do you remember what I told you? At the lab?” Luis set his eyes solely on Amara, an interesting grayish-blue color to them. 

The heat on the sides of her face from both Leon and Ashley bored their eyes on her too made her feel a little uncomfortable. 

“Refresh my memory.” Amara answered defiantly, crossing her arms over her chest. It didn’t take two and two to put it together but she wanted to hear him say it out loud. 

“The cough, the blood—it’s caused by something called a…” A brief pause. “Plaga.”

Plague. 

The Plague.

Now, she remembered the lab. Las Plagas was a…virus or a parasite, but what exactly did that entail for all of them? 

Leon and Amara share a brief look. He does the same with Ashley. 

Clearly it hadn’t clicked for the latter two. 

Luis went on. “Ok. You saw those “people”, right?” 

“You have the same thing inside you.” That gets Amara’s attention. “The same thing that made them like that…”

“This, what you’re experiencing, these symptoms…” Luis spoke in a lower tone, almost an ominous warning. “They’re only the beginning.” 

Something about that made her heart break a little. If it weren’t bad enough for Ashley being kidnapped, now she had a parasite too? Not to mention, so did Amara but she wasn’t sure what to make of that predicament for herself yet. Could someone with her…powers…even turn into one of those people? Calling them people was being polite because she wasn’t even sure what they were anymore.

She didn’t want to think the z word but their characteristics were certainly lining up that way.

Naturally, that spiked a fear in Ashley. “I don’t want to become like them.” 

That made two of them.

Luis with his back turned to them, seemed to stop short. “You are, well, lucky.” 

“How do you figure?” 

“You see, at this early stage, the parasite—the plaga. It is possible to remove it…with a surgical procedure,” He threw his hands up. “All you need is some know-how.” 

Amara could just hear the sly tone flood his next words, “And, oh yeah—the right equipment.” 

They all set their eyes on a scar on Luis’ chest that he proudly displayed. He’d failed to mention that he had also been injected with the parasite at some point and successfully got it out. 

“You’re kidding.” 

 “No worries. See, I have a plan,” He pointed to his head and winked. There was a caveat to this, Amara knew. “But you’re going to have to trust me.” 

And there it was.  

Leon looked over to Amara once more, he already seemed to know her thought process. Trust wasn’t exactly something that was easily given. But what choice did they have right now? 

A simple head nod from him seemed to be more than enough for Luis. 

“Great! We’re partners then!” He headed off on the path and something in Amara felt compelled to follow him. Was it a curiosity? Was it something else? 

“Hey. Why are you—“ 

“No time for any questions. The clock is ticking.” 

Leon asked what had to be a crucial question. “Why are you helping us?” 

But Luis was quick with an answer, not even turning around to look. “Because it makes me feel better, let’s leave it at that.” 

He waved a radio in his hand. “I will contact you later.”

Amara doesn’t even second guess her decision. Only a few strides make it past Leon before his hand clutches at the bend of her arm to pull her back gently. “Where are you going?”

“With Luis?” She said, as if it were obvious. She could just barely see his form in her vision. He hadn’t gone too far yet. 

“You’re still my mission, you know that, right?”

“I’m aware, Dad,” She replies with a bit of snark. “But one of us should go with him to help his plan, right?” 

“He said he’ll contact us later—“

“—and I can’t wait till later. I can catch up later,” Amara tried to gently remove Leon’s hand from her arm but he wasn’t budging. 

“It’s dangerous out here. Just stick close for now.”

“Leon, I can handle myself. Focus on Ashley, alright?”

For what felt like the first time since their reunion, Leon proved to her that he wasn’t completely unphased by it all as his grip got a little tighter and his voice became a tad uneven from a built up frustration, “Just stay with me!”

“What is up with you? You’re acting like I’m incapable!”

“You’re acting differently too!”

“Me? Different? That’s irrelevant right now. The priority is the mission but there’s clearly something else going on that we need to learn about and the only one who seems to know a damn thing is leaving!” 

“Amar-“

“Enough! We’re wasting time standing here,” Without another word, she turned on her heel and headed in the direction of Luis. A nagging voice told her to at least reassure Leon she’d be back, so she did even though it sounded less reassuring and more annoyed (she was very annoyed at him).

“I promise to catch up, alright?”

[zanyzensblog]

The Knight

Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or anything associated with it. The only thing I own is my current Resident Evil Brainrot/hyperfixation. Now without further ado, please read, review and enjoy!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/48338707

  The Knight

             “We’re out of that hellhole!”

           Luis walked confidently in front of Leon feeling on top of the world. “The fresh air is calling our names!” He exclaimed excitedly.

           He turned around to face Leon, hoping that his dour squire in this adventure would at least take a moment to celebrate a small win and appreciate how far they’d come.

           “Because, if we made it this far, you that mean we’re almost…”

           A cold sharp pain stabbing into his heart and through a lung stopped his sentence in his tracks and killed his good mood as surely as it had just killed him.

           “Almost what?” Leon asked oblivious.

           Almost dead Luis thought as he began to cough blood and fell facedown on the floor. His senses went fuzzy as he felt the warmth drain from his body. He could barely perceive someone landing behind him and two voices but it grew harder and harder to hear. Like he was sinking into a deep well. He barely even felt the Amber cylinder being removed from his pocket or even the blade in his back being pulled out. All there was the cold and an endless pit of regrets that he felt he had been so, so close to atoning for just even the tiniest little bit of it.

           I…am sorry Leon. I tried. I tried so damn hard…

           Then he was gone.

           He was…floating?

           No his feet were on…something, it was hard to describe.

           He opened his eyes. He was standing in front of one of the village gates. When he was young he felt as though those gates kept out the entire world from that village that time had all but forgotten. Now he knew that really, they just kept the horrors the village in.

           He would know, he certainly felt like he may been one such horror. Unleashing misery after misery upon the world…

           He shook his head and looked around trying to make sense of where he was but all the details of the countryside were somehow…muted and unclear. Like seeing everything through a smudged lens. The gate was the only thing that was clear. He experimented a bit, walked away from the gate but no matter how far he tried moving away from it, as soon as he turned back around the gate was right there in front of him.

           He even tried walking backwards away from the gate, but he backed into something and when he turned around, there was the gate behind him and the muted countryside in front of him.

           “Okay…nothing for it then.”

           Resigning himself and feeling oddly calm about basic physics being put on hold, he put his hands on the gate and pushed forward. The gates opening smoothly and without a sound.

           But what he saw on the other side was a scene that had haunted him his entire life.

           His grandfather’s cabin, being consumed by the flames.

           He moved towards it in a daze. This couldn’t be happening it just couldn’t.

           Then from the cabin, the flames spread at impossible speeds, consuming everything around it even the lake besides it was consumed in fire. Luis looked around in a panic but there was no where to go and the flames seemed to be getting closer and closer to him.

           But no smoke, just heat…

           Then from the cabin, he could see a lone figure moving out of the flames.

           “Abuelito?” Luis breathed out.

           The figure moved out of the dancing flames, passing through them easily to reveal a massive form clad in black almost twice as tall as a man, with a lipless face baring teeth and one eye covered by a patch of almost melted looking flesh and the other a pale milky white. A figure from nightmare.

           Project Nemisis, his last creation before he left Umbrella.

           The hulking monstrosity breathed harshly as it stood in front of his childhood home and Luis could feel only cold dread through his body.

           From a scientific perspective, Nemisis had been fascinating. Capable of incredible cellular regrowth, mutation, adaptation and of course his crown jewel, the parasite placed inside it to make it controllable, not merely a mindless Tyrant, it could do fairly complicated tasks and utilize complex weaponry.

           But standing in front of it, seeing the hulking behemoth Luis felt no such fasciation now, not like when he worked on it. He saw only a monster that he had helped bring into the world his crowning achievement.

           “H-how are you here? What do you want? You here for me eh?”

           Nemisis didn’t respond, just looked at Luis as the world burned around them. Then it lifted one arm and held out its hand as though beckoning him.

           “Faaaatheeeerrrr…” it groaned out.

           And in that moment it all fell into place for Luis. The only thing that this place could be.

This was Hell.

His own personal Hell.

           And Luis Serra began to break down as tears welled up and fell from his eyes.

           “Of course,” he half choked half laughed bitterly. “Of course I would come here. It all makes sense doesn’t it?”

           He had lied, stolen and cheated his way in the world. Smooth talking with charm and good looks to get his way until he became a researcher for the premier pharmaceutical company of the world. But in reality, he had become a merchant of death. Creating horrors for a company bottom line that didn’t care who bought them or what they were used for.

           It was only fitting, he greatest work, would be the one to take him.

           Swallowing he began to walk towards Nemesis, who still stood with its hand outstretched, waiting for Luis to take it.

           Luis was mere feet away from Nemesis now, its hand just in front of his face. Slowly, Luis brought his own hand up…

           Only to feel a firm grip on his shoulder.

           “Remind me my boy. A knight shouldn’t meekly meet a monster with his head down like he’s been beaten already. He should meet monsters with lance in hand and his back tall. Isn’t that how it goes?”

           The breath left Luis as he turned to see the face of the only parent he had ever known, who stood smiling at him with that twinkling in his eyes he got whenever he was exasperated with his ward.

           “Abuelito?”

           Luis whispered in wonder almost forgetting about the monstrosity in front of him. Then panic returned as Nemesis growled with anger and he realized how close they all were.

           “Abuelito get back! This thing is…”

           “It won’t move. Not yet anyway.”

           Confusion furrowed Luis’ brow. “Not yet? What do you…”

           “More importantly my boy, when have you ever been one to give up so easily?”

           The younger man couldn’t help but let out a defeated chuckle. “What better time to start now that I’m dead eh?”

           “Perhaps that’s the most important time to not give up my young knight.”

           Luis scoffed at his old nickname. “I’m no knight grandpa. I never was. If anything all I became was a villain. So caught up in the learning, the money, the power, the women. Never taking the time to think of the cost of it all.”

           He looked back up to Nemesis. “Until it was too late.”

           His grandfather patted his shoulder and then walked to a nearby rock to sit down on it and regard his grandson.

           “You’re too harsh on yourself my boy.”

           “Harsh? Harsh? I created this monster!” he yelled pointing at Nemesis. “I worked for horrid people who couldn’t give less of a damn for human life as long at they made a profit. And when they were gone I crawled back home and worked with those bastards who turned my home into hell. If that doesn’t make me a villain or at least a coward then what does!?”

           The grandfather was silent a moment, before he grabbed an old pipe out of his jacket and held it out to the wall of fire nearby to light it. He took a few puffs before regarding his ward.

           “I’m not saying you’ve done nothing to regret. Nor that you don’t have a responsibility my boy. But if there is anyone that could understand how easy it is to lose one’s way, you would only have to ask anyone from our home.”

           At that, ghostly figures began to crowd around them. Keeping a slight distance but Luis could see them all. For a moment he thought he was seeing ganados but no they were just people. People how they were before the plaga. So many of them and they all had eyes that were so kind but so filled with such sadness that Luis felt like his tears would return if he looked at them for too long.

           There was even another figure there almost as tall as Nemesis, the big cheese of the village Mendez was there, holding his hat to his chest, a river of tears streaming down from his one good eye.

           “We all lost our way because we were afraid. And in our fear we turned to that cursed cult. Fear my boy, can lead even the best of us down the worst paths. Fear, anger or even sorrow can drag us into nightmare if we let them. But my boy, even with all the wrongs you’ve made, you’re still trying to make up for it. Even here, now, I know that you still want to. And that says that despite everything, there is still something truly good in you.”

           The words were almost like a punch to the heart with how hard they hit Luis. Hearing that from his grandfather, seeing the eyes of all the lost souls of his village…he honestly couldn’t tell you what he was feeling.

           But then his mind settled on one immutable fact.

           “But it’s too late now.”

           His grandfather raised an eyebrow. “Is it?”

           Clang!

           Luis looked up towards where that sound came from. It sounded like…swords? Like a clashing of blades he’d read about in books.

           “Leon?” he started walking forward in a daze down the path, the ghosts parting in his way and crowding the area behind him and even the flames dying down where his feet hit the stone.

           “Hnnnnngh” Nemesis growled threateningly.

           Luis stopped. He felt like it’d be a really bad idea to piss that thing off.

           But…Leon was in trouble. And if there was anything a damn screwup like himself could do the help him he had to do it. Unlike him, Leon was a truly good man. He couldn’t let him die.

           Besides, what kind of a knight just dies and leaves his squire in trouble?

           He found that he was breathing hard and beginning to feel…alive again. With a heart pounding in his chest, lungs taking in air again. And started to walk along the path with new purpose.

           “Faaaatheerrrrr,” Nemesis twitched.

           Luis found that his grandfather was walking right beside him, he took one last puff of his pipe then tapped  the contents empty on the road.

           “You are Luis Serra Navarro. Last son of our village, though our time ended in tragedy, you can still give us all hope that the nightmare that befell us will not befall anyone else. Save your friend, strike one last blow against the foulness of the world. Keep to the path my boy, and don’t let anything stop you. Now run Luis, run!”

           “FAAAAATHERRRRR!!” Nemesis roared and began to run after Luis, but the ghosts of the village crowded around him, Mendez himself going toe to toe with it and holding the creature by its wrists.

           Luis ran forward, feeling like the very air was trying to stop him. It was like trying to run through heavy water or quicksand. He grit his teeth and dug in harder, he would not stop, not this time.

           “FAAAATHEEERRRRR!!!!!”

           The path itself seemed to fight Luis now. Impossibly angling itself until he was running up a steep incline, thorns and sharp rocks cut into him as he practically crawled his way upwards towards…

           There! A gate! He was almost there…

           A tentacle wrapped around his ankle and tripped him, beginning to drag Luis backwards.

           “No, no!”

           Luis grabbed a cobblestone and held on tight, halting his movement for the moment as he tried to kick the tentacle off of him.

           “Let. Go. Of. Me. You damn MONSTER!”

           The cobblestone loosened and Luis turned on his back and threw it on top of the offending appendage just below where it was wrapped around his ankle.

           But Nemesis was already almost on him.

           “Can’t. Escaaaaaape. Meeeeeeee. Faaaaatherrrrr.”

           “Like. HELL!!”

           Luis threw another brick into the monster’s face and scurried back up the hill.

           “You. Caaaaan’t. Ruuuuuun. Froooom. Meeeeeee.”

           The thorns dug into Luis and he could feel the cold pain in his chest again and a faint fluttering of his damaged heart as the hill now became almost completely vertical now, forcing Luis to climb up towards the open gate that now seemed to have something shimmering just beyond it.

           So close now, just had to…

           Another tentacle wrapped around his ankle and almost yanked Luis right back down, he barely managed to hang on to the strange road.

           “Faaaatherrrrrr…”

           Luis grit his teeth, and slowly, painfully, continued to put one hand in front of the other.

           “Think I don’t know that eh?” the weight of Nemesis threatened to pull him down with every inch gained of his trembling arms.

           “I’m not running from you, I’m heading to something worthwhile.” Inches from the gate now. “You can damn well have me…when I’m done!!”

           With one last effort Luis put his hand through the gate…

             Luis opened his eyes and immediately thought that was a bad idea as the world gradually swam back into some semblance of focus. He coughed blood from his lungs and tried not to choke on either blood or air going into places they shouldn’t.

           What? Where? What was I doing? I can’t…remember?

           Clanging blades brought Luis’s attention towards the small arena like location not too far away. He saw two figures, their arms a complete blue as they dueled with knives, sparks flying from their blows.

           Leon was holding his own, even getting some good hits, but this…Krauser? Did he hear right? This beret wearing asshole was slowly overwhelming him.

           With one last cough Luis rose to his feet.

           Or tried to but his body wouldn’t obey.

           Move dammit move!

           His heartbeat literally fluttered random and unsteady in his ears and his limbs were all numb. He was a dead man, by all rights, he shouldn’t even be conscious right now.  

           “You’re still a kid.” He heard the asshole taunt Leon. “Holding onto fantasies of what’s right and wrong.”

           For some reason, that sentence made Luis angry. And his heart began to beat more regularly.

           Fantasies? Fantasies?! Screw this guy! To surrender those ‘fantasies’ THAT’s the damn evil.

           Gritting his teeth and swallowing blood, he willed his arms to move and turned onto his stomach, his trusty Red-9 falling out of his jacket, he put one foot under him, then another, grabbed his gun and stood, almost falling onto the ground again, but managing to prop himself on a nearby crate as he made his way closer to the fight.

           Just in time too, the beret wearing asshole landed a kick on Leon that sent him flying and knocked the knife out of his hand, he advanced upon the fallen Leon with all the purpose of an executioner.

           Luis for his part, felt like he had never lifted anything so heavy as his Red-9 in his life. But he raised the pistol, grit his teeth and squeezed the trigger.

           Clang!

           The bullet knocked the asshole’s upraised knife almost clean out of his hand and he turned to look at Luis with surprise.

           Damn, was aiming for his head.

           He fired again but his target made an impossible leap back onto some rafters. Luis though, did not waver or lower his weapon or so much as blink. No matter what, until Leon was safe, he would stand.

           He barely even registered the retreating figures words but when Luis was sure he had left and Leon was safe for now, he finally let himself fall with a pained soft scream.

           Funnily enough, he was breathing a little bit better now. Maybe he’d be alright? Oh, heart isn’t really beating much. Never mind that, no amount of herbs or sprays was gonna fix this.

           Luis regarded the concerned face of Leon as he scrambled up to Luis. Who for his part, tried to summon a ghost of his trademark grin.

           “Not looking too good eh my friend? And such a loss to the ladies of the world.” Some of the men too maybe…

           Leon shook his head. “Don’t talk.”

           Sorry, but that’s the last thing I can do for you now.

           Digging through his pocket, Luis grabbed his lab key and shoved it into Leon’s palm.

           “Take this. The key to my laboratory.”

           Strangely enough, Luis got hit by the biggest damn wave of nicotine craving he had ever had in his life. It gave him just enough strength to grab a cigarette out of the pack and grab his lucky lighter.

           “Go there, and remove those damn…parasites!” he coughed a bit of blood as he placed the cigarette to his lips.

           “Help…Ashely,” he panted as his numb fingers fumbled the lighter having lost any last vestige of strength as it fell to the ground.

           Only for Leon to gently pick it up and light Luis’s last cigarette for him. Luis breathed it in, taking the best damn tasting drag of a cigarette he may have ever had as he thought of his life. All the things he had done and tried to do…

           “You know, I led a pretty shitty life,” he coughed a little and looked at Leon, this man who had been braving hell to save a young woman from a fate as good as if not worse than death. A man who, may have been the closest Luis had ever seen to a real knight in shining armor. A man who clearly had even caught the eye if not the heart of that lovely Ada Wong. He didn’t know Ada well but he knew it’d take a hell of a man to do that. He’d wished he’d bugged her more about her attraction to him…

           He wished a lot of things really.

           “But now eh?” But there was nothing left except now. And a question that haunted Luis everyday since he left Umbrella and he forced back another coughing spasm to ask it.

           “What do you think Leon? People can change, right?”

           He took one last drag and if there was a response, he didn’t hear it nor did he feel the cigarette fall from his lips.

           He was back at the gate again. Closed again, how rude.

           “Alright then, come to papa you big bastard.”

           Luis straightened his back and pushed the gate open…

           To reveal a tranquil, verdant village with children running around and a clear blue sky. No sign of any monsters or horrors. It was…like it was in his childhood.

           “Took you long enough my boy,” his Abuelito was there, smoking from his pipe again.

           “I…am I in the right place?”

           His grandfather chuckled. “Of course you are my boy. Why would you think otherwise?”

           Luis was aghast. “I don’t…I haven’t done…”

           “You’ve done enough my boy. You did everything you could. Now the only thing there is to do is to have faith your friend will put the tale of our village to rest.”

           The older man grinned, his eyes twinkling with a mischief that left no doubt as to blood relation. “I have faith in him. After all, he was your squire.”

           Despite himself, Luis laughed. “The best damn squire a knight could ever ask for. But Abuelito, does it, make up for everything I did?”

           His grandfather sighed and emptied his pipe again. “Perhaps not. But you gave everything you could to try my boy. And that will have to be enough.” He brightened up again.

           “Now come, there is someone who’s been waiting for you.”

           Luis followed the older Navarro. “Waiting for me? Wh…”

           The question vanished as a young woman with flowing hair and eyes he’d only seen looking into the mirror approached him.

           “Ma….mama?”

           She smiled and happy tears welled up in her eyes.

           “Hello my son, I’ve…” she didn’t finish she wrapped Luis in a hug that was surprisingly strong from one built so slight.

           Words for once truly failing him, Luis returned the embrace as his own tears fell. He wasn’t sure how long they stood there but in time the pulled away and his mother gave a smile that could light up a storm.

           “Come now, I want to hear about my son. Don’t leave any details out, I want to know my boy.”

           Luis wanted to protest but…looking at the village and his family members, he figured the tale of Luis Serra Navarro, perhaps was a good tale to share warts and all.

           “I’d like that.”

           As they moved towards the old cabin, Luis felt the presence of a hand on his shoulder and a familiar voice spoke to him from beyond.

           “You were a fine knight, Don Quixote.”

           And Luis Serra Navarro, was finally able to rest, knowing there was still a knight in the world.