Siren

“Sacrificial Lamb. You will receive our most sacred body. It begins now.”

You awake with a gasp, your vision spotty and slowly adjusting to take in your surroundings. There’s an ache in your wrists, something tight wrapped around them. You look up, seeing metal handcuffs wrapped around them, attaching you to chains. When you pull your arms down, two firm surfaces behind you shift, a grunt leaving one of them.

“Oh, what the fuck?” Leon’s deep voice rasps out. He yanks his arms down next, causing you and Luis’s chain to get pulled, sending both your arms up.

Luis hisses lowly. “Hey, stop it!”

A heavy sigh leaves Leon’s throat, turning around to face the both of you, stepping back and tugging at the chain’s experimentallly. He looks around the dull room, scanning the surroundings.

“Oye, Yanqui, got a name?”

“Leon.” He responds flatly, eyes flickering to yours. He takes in your appearance, gaze falling from your head to toes, the sight of you chained up engraining into his head. He looks away quickly before stepping towards you, eyes narrowed.

“You okay?”

Breathlessly, you nod. You don’t know how to respond when Leon Kennedy is tied up before you, pissed off and caring about your well-being. Parts of you tingle.

Leon huffs and moves away, tugging more at the chains and walking around as far as the chain will allow him, processing the situation in his tactical head.

“Quiet type, eh?” Luis slurs. He looks at you, raising a brow. “What about you? You talk?”

You hesitate before nodding, muttering your name. You try to extend a hand but awkwardly get caught in the chains restraining you, which Luis smiles in amusement at. He bows his head, stepping closer to you.

“Beautiful senorita, huh? Single? Looking to mingle?”

Leon cuts him off, grabbing your shirt and pulling you back. You squeak at the sudden yank, in awe at his ability to manhandle you with ease, even when chained up. While doing this, the chains gets pulled, causing Luis’s arms to get tugged towards the ceiling a nth time.

“Hey, stop it! You move, I move.. And I’m beat up enough as it is!”

Leon ignores him, focusing up on what the chain is attached to. A hook at the top of the room, flimsily attached to the ceiling. He gathers the chain in his hands, starting to pull at the chains aggressively in an attempt to pull it off the ceiling.

“I can see your thinking,” Luis grins, starting to do the same. Leon ignores him, turning around to yank the chain over his shoulder, his gaze hardened. Damn, does this guy ever smile? “Bet you’ve been in spots like this before.”

“My guess… you’re here looking for someone?” Luis trails on, his lips twitching into a knowing smile. When he sees Leon. barely reacting, he continues. “One more guess. Maybe, some missing señorita?”

A shriek leaves you as Leon suddenly pulls the chain hard, causing both you and Luis to get pulled towards the middle, arms stretched upward. You squirm helplessly, glaring at Leon. “Hey! Hey! Ow— did you guys forget I’m here?!”

“Talk. Now.” Leon demands.

“All right— see, heard some chatter about moving a senorita.” Luis sighs.

“Moving her. Where?”

Leon finally steps back, relaxing his grip. You stay by his side, standing stupidly as they talk business. You didn’t want to butt in and ‘spoil’ the plot.

“Who knows. But later, saw some man dragging someone… to the old church.”

Just as he says this, Leon finally yanks the chain hard enough to separate it from the hook. The metal clanks against the ground, causing a loud sound to echo. You cringe as you remember the following sequence in the game. You quickly tap at Leon’s bicep—you’d normally tap one’s shoulder for their attention, but considering the size of his arms, you couldn’t pass up this opportunity— and catch his attention.

“The noise, Leon. It’ll attract those creeps.”

Just as you say this, you see a sluggish Ganados drag themselves behind Luis, appearing from the doorway. The both of you tense as the man lifts his axe, aiming for Luis’s neck. Leon reacts quickly, pulling Luis in by the chain, sending the man flying towards you.

You squeak loudly as his large body collides with yours, sending you the ground.

“Ah, ah! Now’s not the time, hermosa!” He huffs, helping you up quickly. His hand is warm, providing you temporary warmth as he tucks you behind him. What a gentleman, you can’t help but think. A bit more polite then the government agent.

Leon and Luis swiftly take down the Ganados, punching its face with the chain and sending it flying onto the floor. Smoothly, Leon wraps the chain around the Ganados’ neck, pulling hard and providing pressure with his knee until a loud snap fills the room. You cringe, shuddering as Leon slowly stands up, his eyes glued to yours.

Shuffling towards you, he balances the subtle concern and professionalism in his expression, towering over you with tight lips. “Chains didn’t pull too hard, did they?”

You offer a meek shake of your head. Behind Leon, you spot Luis grabbing a key from the Ganados’ pocket, unlocking himself from the cuffs and quickly standing up, making an run for the door. Leon catches your gaze, whipping his head around and shouting at him, “Hey, we’re not done here!”

“Later, amigos!” He grins, turning to you and throwing the keys into your hands. He winks at you before disappearing into the exit, his footsteps slowly quieting down.

After stumbling around with the key, you eventually manage to unlock both you and Leon from the restraints. The sound of breathing and rustling of chains fill the silent room. Your eyes run over his figure, noticing the lack of his jacket.

His arms were the size of your head. You wanted to sink your teeth into the flesh and gnaw for hours endlessly.

Your eyes glance back up at him, flinching at the sight of him staring at you, a small glint of amusement in his blue eyes. He had noticed you ogling, but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he steps closer and tugs your wrists towards him, inspecting your skin cautiously.

His constant physical contact with you was driving you crazy. You swore you didn’t remember him being this touchy with Ashley in the game.

“This hurt?” He asks, his voice low as the whispered words fill the silent atmosphere. His finger presses down on your red wrist, tracing the shape of the chain. The roughness of his skin against your soft flesh makes you shiver.

You let out a weak whimper, brows furrowing at the subtle discomfort his pressure provided. “A little.”

He humphs, pulling away. “Take it easy, alright? Don’t wanna make it worse.” With that, his eyes dart towards the exit of the room. He doesn’t have to say anything for you to know to follow him out of the dusty room and into the dark hall. The place gives you the heebie jeebies with how run down and dirty it is, but you know what to expect so you’re not too perplexed.

He decides to make small conversation as you linger behind him, sparing you a small glance.

“You seemed calm back there, what, not your first time tied up?”

The silence that falls after quickly lets him know that his joke didn’t land. He hesitates, opens his mouth, shuts it before turning back forward and silently continuing his walk towards a hopeful exit of the building. There was really no way of prepping you for the true extent of his one-liners.

Thankfully the awkward silence is interrupted by the sound of Leon’s comm dinging to life. You wonder how the villagers patted him down and took all his gear but missed a simple comm. You push it to the back of your brain and decide to eavesdrop instead, wanting to collect all the information you could so you could maybe help him.

You manage to overhear a few words, Baby Eagle, Church, Wind Mill, and him complaining about Luis. He really doesn’t like Luis.

“Right. I’m probably due for a confession anyway. Condor one out.” He shoots you a small grin at his joke, as if waiting to see your reaction it. You offer a weak laugh, scratching at your scalp. He may be hotter in real life, but definitely not funnier. His corny jokes could kill a crowd of immature middle schoolers.

“So, I’m guessing we’re heading to a church for.. Ashley?” You say once he lowers his hand from his ear, peeking your head over his shoulder. He nods shortly, keeping an eye out for the both of you.

Shortly after, a dead body comes into view, slouched against a wall with a knife impaled into its neck. Leon kneels down and pulls it out with efficiency, wiping it clean on his pants, before flipping it in his hands like he’s showing off, muttering; “This’ll be useful.”

A slow blink leaves you as you stare at the dead body before you. This isn’t like the village. Its quiet, still, and just the three of you in these confined walls. The smell is nauseating and you suddenly crave to be back in your small apartment, even when the euphoria of being in the same room as Leon Kennedy is blissful.

He notices your lack of response and turns to you, face softening. A heavy hand comes up to gently pat your shoulder, friendly. “Hey, I know this is all hard to digest, but you gotta stay sharp, yeah?”

“Yeah. Just.. hard to focus when I’m… here.”

Here, as in deep Spain with him, a place that was just a fictional setting to you a day prior. The dirt underneath your shoes is real, the blood staining the walls, the Ganados’ that claw at you with murderous intent. You never saw Resident Evil 4 as the scarier game of the franchise, the second and seventh taking that spot easily, but you were quickly rethinking it.

“Its okay. I’ll protect you.”

A small thud is heard to your left. You both turn, eyes landing on a pair of dark stairs that disappear upstairs. You shudder at the thought of awaits him—both of you upstairs. You were apart of this now, this wasn’t just a video game, but real life. If you die, you doubted you’d respawn back at a save point, and you didn’t wanna find out firsthand.

He motions for you to stay silent but follow. You stay behind him as he slowly creeps up the stairs, peeking his head slightly to look through the cracked window in the door. A single Ganados stood with its back to you two, swaying mechanically. It blocked the only way out.

“Stay here.” He whispers, quickly slipping into the room. You watch as he smoothly creeps up behind the man and slits his throat, catching the body as it collapses into him. He sets it on the floor with a small grunt, gaze lifting to yours through the window. He nods.

You slip into the room next, fingers trembling lightly as you manuever around the body. You can smell the blood and the decaying skin. You don’t say anything and stay behind him.

The two of you stealthily make it through the building, finding a small room you spot his belongings on the table in. Unfortunately, a destroyed wall separates you from the table with bars built into the concrete, but you quickly nudge his shoulder and motion to a door to the left of the table. “There,” You whisper, "it's one of those doors with a lever, I think.”

He nods slowly, scanning the surroundings around you two before turning back. “We’ll have to circle around to get in.”

It takes a few minutes, but after a bit of trial and error, you find yourself in the small room alongside him. You watch as he tucks all his gear into his belt and pant pockets, wondering how he would be able to truly hold all of that.

“I can hold some for you, if you want.” You smile warmly, wanting to be of assistance.

He barely looks at you when he shakes his head, “You think I’m stupid, giving a civilian military-issued weapons? Yeah, no way in hell.”

“…Just trying to be useful.” You grumble almost bitterly.

The lack of response makes you roll your eyes. Sulking, you follow behind him as he exits the room. The two big doors at the end of the room has sunlight filtering through, signaling an exit from this building. You actually flinch when you see a large cloaked man through the doors window, who quickly ducks to the side.

“Who the fuck was that?” He huffs, fixing his handgun grip.

Its like second instinct when you reply with, “The Merchant—” Before quickly stopping, pressing your lips together into an awkward line. You had let your tongue slip by mistake.

“Excuse me?” He turns to you slightly, frowning as you both near the doors. Leaning his shoulder against the door, he slowly uses his weight to open it with his gun raised in the direction of the man.

“A-Ah, just a little nickname I came up with.”

“Sure.”

The Merchant stands at his table, a tall torch standing next to him, ignited with a deep purple flame. The familiar sight of him warms something in your heart, knowing it symbolized safety, even for just a few minutes.

Turning back to the Merchant, his loud voice makes you flinch, “Ah, about time you both stopped by!”

You both end up leaving the small shop with several new things. He restocked on ammo, herbs, and even upgraded his mighty little handgun, and even after a small amount of pleading and guilt-tripping, you managed to convince him to buy you a small knife. Insisting that it was for self-defense and that he wouldn't consistently be at your side wore him down enough to let him agree.

A large gated entrance stood before you with a missing emblem in its place, reminding you of the numerous stupid side quests the story would throw you on. That’s how you found yourself sitting on a boulder before a giant wooden fortress that sat on a hill. You could see Leon in the distance slicing away, working towards the middle of the fortress where the emblem laid. You couldn’t lie, you helped a little and sped it up by feeding him little bits of information on where it was.

Silence washes over the fortress and suddenly the air feels still. A pair of eyes weigh on your back and you turn around quickly, looking up at the higher hill. A flash of scarlet makes your breath hitch, and your body quickly tenses in recognition. Your body knows who you just saw, but your brain doesn’t want to accept the possibility. She’s not supposed to appear in the story this early, especially this way.

Your gut intuition was strong and telling you that Ada Wong was just spying on you. Having Leon suspicious of you was one thing, but her, the Mercenary who works behind the scenes, bathed in blood? You weren’t confident you could make it out alive if so.

“Alright, let's head back.” His sudden voice brings you out of your spiralling, a yelp leaving you as you look up and suddenly he's in front of you carrying a rather heavy emblem. He raises a brow at you, immediately frowning. “Hey, I told you to pay attention to your surroundings. You look like you just saw a ghost.”

More like a mercenary.

“Sorry, I zoned out a bit." A small smile is all you can offer as you get up and begin following him back.

“Those sons of bitches pack a punch, y’know that? Keep in mind those orange and yellow barrels are not barrels. And some barrels have ammo and herbs in them, weirdly enough. Even found a grenade.” He whistles, throwing the grenade into the air, catching it seamlessly. His casualness creeped you out but was also weirdly attractive. Everything about him was attractive, but it's been harder to notice when the weight of your predicament has been taking its toll.

A few more minutes pass and you find yourself back at the large gate, fitting the emblem into its place. A few twists and rotations has it clicking into place, unlocking the gate finally. It slowly creaks open, allowing you both access deeper into the path where the Wind Mill laid. Obstacles lay in your wake, of course, slowing down your journey by a few minutes. Leon takes them all down swiftly, stealthily creeping through a small area full of Ganados with you safely before taking out a few mandatory creeps before a large house.

“Not too shabby. Someone is showing up their neighbors.” He mutters.

You both had to slip in through the backdoor. The inside is homey, dark and red. Familiar. The weight of what awaits upstairs looms on your consciousness. But what is there to do, other than to stand aside? You know he’ll make it out okay with the help of Ada. Meanwhile, you wander downstairs, picking and knocking over small things.

“I need to pee.” You randomly say, frowning at him. He gives you a weird look.

What's stopping you? You’re in a house, in case you didn’t notice. I assure you there’ll be a bathroom somewhere.”

Discomfort washes over you at the reminder of what laid in one of those specific bathrooms.

“Can you.. check them for me? Like, to make sure there are no Ganados?”

“Uhm— sure, yeah— Ganados?”

Your heart stutters as you follow him down the hall towards the bathroom underneath the stairs. “Heh, you know me and my nicknames.”

“Sure.” The words leave him slowly as he nudges the door open with his foot, almost lazy. A shriek leaves him as a Ganados, just like you predicted, sprung out from the toilet and leaped at him. Two quick gunshots echo throughout the house as it falls to the floor, Leon's eyes wide open in surprise.

“Woah, looks like we knocked at the wrong time.” He turns to you, a little smirk pulling at his lips. He drags the body out of the bathroom before motioning towards the now empty room. “There you go. Nice and empty.”

“T-Thanks.” You croak, a little shaken up. Not in fear but processing. Shock at the whole situation and how the dominoes were falling.

You exit the bathroom after a few minutes, finding Leon fidgeting with the wardrobe just to the left of you. It has a lock wrapped around the handles, one of those annoying ones where you have to align three pictures in a specific pattern. You look over Leon's large arm as he aggressively messes with it, trying out every possible combination. All but one, which you happened to know was written upstairs in a book.

“Have you checked upstairs?” You blink up at him. He offers a short shake of his head, turning back and making his way upstairs. There's only a simple hall with one door and a small storage desk at the end. The door is locked with a missing part in its center, which should be downstairs in the wardrobe if you remember correctly. The desk has a lamp, candle, and an old book sitting on its surface.

You stand beside Leon idly as he flips through the pages impatiently. You huff and smack at his hand lightly, earning a surprised blink from him as he watches you take the book from him without much of a fight.

You hurry back downstairs, keeping the book in your hand as you flip to the specific page the text laid on. Crop, Swineheard, Pig, Babe. The lock falls to the floor quickly as you set the book aside, picking up the cold marble that laid inside.

“This will probably open the door upstairs.”

Leon nods slowly, taking it from you with caution. He stares at you for a moment before starting his way back to the door upstairs. “You’re a natural at this. What, you play puzzle games in your free time?”

Technically, considering Resident Evil being a puzzle game, he was correct.

“You could say that.” You smile to yourself.

You stop yourself in front of the door as he inserts the marble into its place, a click being heard. Knowing what lies ahead has you hesitating. “Hey, I’m gonna stay downstairs, looking for anything important, yeah?”

With his hand on the handle, he gives you a shrug. “Alright. Shout if you need me.”

You bite back a laugh. He’s about to be shouting for a very different reason in there. But a part of you is still worried for him, knowing he’s gonna get hurt, even if its mildly. But again, you remember how he escapes unscathed.

“Alrightie.”

You turn back and skip downstairs, just in time to hear a thud above you and some shouts. You cringe as you wait, anxiety washing over you. What if something happens, and it doesn’t turn out like the game? What if Ada doesn’t show up because of you? What if your presence tilts the game off its intended storyline and you end up messing everything up?

Loud footsteps shake the floor and your heart drops. Ducking quickly under a table, you peek your head out as you watch the comically large man in the trenchcoat walk right past you and exit the house. His figure gives you deja vu— he’s like.. the spanish version of Mr X. You stifle your giggle before straightening and hurrying upstairs, meeting Leon halfway on the stairs.

“You okay?!” He blurts out instantly, hands grabbing at your biceps to pull you close and pat down for any injuries. The touch has your heart fluttering for just a short moment before you snap back into reality. You can see a small bruise on his forehead as well as some scratches on his arm, and guilt drowns you. You could have stopped him and told him Mendez was waiting for him in the room, but you were scared. Scared on what he would think of you if you blurt out you were from another universe.

“I-Im fine,” You stammer, looking up at his blue irises. Blue, very blue. “I hid under the table when I heard him. Sounded a bit too heavy to be you, heh.” You joke weakly.