Unapologetic

A pounding headache awakens you from your slumber, your wrists aching and throat dry. You felt as if you had slumbered for a hundred years, drifting awake like sleeping beauty. Except— you didn’t awaken in a castle, surrounded by overgrown vines and plants, but a dark moody basement that smelt of metallic iron.

Your vision takes a few seconds to fully adjust to the darkness, looking around in a quick panic. It felt familiar, this small room, but your panicked brain couldn’t comprehend anything. All you could think was how you had been kidnapped in your sleep, judging by all you know.

Your attempt to stand up quickly unravels as you realize your feet and hands are tied together, duct tape over your mouth as well. Your heart beat doesn’t slow down at all, only increases after realization all these negative factors. In the distance, a wooden board creaks, filling you with dread.

You can hear heavy footsteps walking down a staircase into this dark basement, and your body only stiffened more with each thud. You were terrified, counting down the seconds till your impending doom.

The sound of the footsteps stop right infront of you, but you can’t see because you’ve squeezed your eyes shut. You can feel their eyes on you, on your bound form. Was this how you were going to die? Kidnapped in your sleep, murdered by an unknown figure?

“Hey,” A voice huffs, kneeling down to pat your cheek a few times. Shocked, your eyes fly open at the contact, trying to scoot back just a little. The voice sounds almost familiar, the low raspier tone sounding like a man. It was a man, you realize, as you make eye contact with blue iris’s and a hardened gaze.

“I’m gonna untie you. Don’t try anything.” He says gruffly, reaching for your hands and feet. He unties you easily, ripping the rope and providing a small rub to the irritated skin underneath. As he does this all, you simply stare at him in perplexion, processing the sight infront of you.

He looked just like him, sounded just like him, had the same side part and blue eyes— but he couldn’t be him. Leon Kennedy was a fictional character from your favorite videogame franchise, not a real, breathing person, who happened to be crouching right before you, right?

“I’m Leon. What are you doing down here? Are you okay?” He lowers his voice, trying to be gentle as he peels the duct tape from your mouth.

Your stomach flips upside down as you stare at him blankly, lips parted. Your skin felt dry, your throat dry, your hands dry. The world was falling down on you. Leon Kennedy.

“Hey,” He blinks and nudges your shoulder, brows furrowing in concern. “I asked if you were okay. Did those psychos take you? Like Ashley?” He looks around the dingy basement, scanning for Ashley as well.

It was all starting to make sense. Leon Kennedy, in the brown jacket with beige sherpa inner lining. He only has the jacket for the first half hour of the game, meaning you were in the early part. He was still looking for Ashley. Oh god, were you really in Resident Evil right now?

“Where am I?” You finally make out, your voice small and croaky. His expression softens and he stands up, taking your hand to help you. “Spain. Basement of some crappy cabin in the woods.”

Woah, you’re like, ten minutes into the game. The very beginning. He hasn’t found Ashley yet, gotten infected, reunited with Ada or anything.

“You okay? Anything in pain?” He asks firmly. You shiver at his voice. You’ve replayed his games dozens of times, you’re used to the sound of his voice in your headphones, not right in front of you.

“Just a little sore from, uhm, being tied up.” You force out with a weak smile, finally looking at him fully. He was so much more attractive in real life, his features standing out. His eyes were so blue.

He stares at you silently before giving a small nod, turning away to scan the basement. His eyes drift to the blood stained walls to the exit, and then back to you.

“Those creeps are flooding upstairs, so I’m gonna have you stay close, got it? You drift apart from me and you’re dead.” The words leave him sternly. Being on the end of his stern commands has you tingling, especially when you're used to him on a screen. Is it weird if you think him talking like that is hot? You don’t think so. People are into worse.

As you open your mouth to respond, the sound of the door to the basement opening and much heavier footsteps interupt. Your heart stops as you remember that at this point of the game, a ganado bursts donwn the stairs and takes Leon by surprise. Without thinking, you grab Leon’s shoulder and shake him, moving behind him.

“They’re coming! Quick!” Your panicked voice makes him raise his guard once again, grabbing his gun and pointing it at the entrance. As the Ganado stumbles down the stairs and into frame, Leon doesn’t hesitate as he shoots. Two to the head takes it down. Your ears ring for a few second before your wrist is grabbed by his, your entire body tugged up the stairs and into the familiar cabin without any trouble.

You’d fangirl over the way he manhandles you without trouble if it weren’t for the terrifying Ganados stalking the halls. He holds his finger to your mouth, silencing your yelps immediately. You can feel your heart beating fast as how close he is, the determination on his face. He was so much better looking then the games.

“Follow me. Dont make a sound. Understand?”

You provide a flimsy nod, which he narrows his eyes at. “Words.”

You almost moan.

“I understand.” You croak out.

He gives you a skeptical look before pulling away, motioning for you to follow him. He sneaks behind several Ganados, using his trained combat skills to provide a quick slash to their throat from behind, causing them to fall back into his arms. He settles them gently on the floor, manhandling all their heavy bodies. It shouldn’t make your heart flutter, but it does. You were going to have to rethink your morals after this.

After several smooth stealth kills, he leads you up the stairs in the corner of the cabin, which led to a single door on the second level. If you remember clearly, this would be when he finds Ashley’s vague whereabouts. You stay behind him as he locks the door behind you two, his gaze flying to you.

“You alright?” His voice is raspy as he steps towards you, lifting your wrists to do a quick look-over.

“Yeah, I’m good. That was… Really cool. You like— killed them all so smoothly.” You choke out, looking up at him in complete adoration. He stares down at you flatly, blinking slowly.

“You thought the way I killed them was cool?” He repeats.

You nod confidently, a smile tugging at your lips, before immediately dropping when you realize how that sounded. You were making yourself look like a complete psychopath, but it wasn’t your fault he was the most attractive man you’ve ever met.

He hesitates to speak before glancing away, something else catching his attention quickly. You turn to watch as he walks towards the table, his hand flying to his ear to fiddle with his com’s. There on the table laid several photos and maps, the main one being a rough angle of Ashley tied up unconscious.

“Roost, this is condor one.” He goes silent for a few seconds before continuing. “The president’s daughter— Baby Eagle. It’s likely she’s in this village.” His eyes drift over all the intel on the table. “I found someone else as well.” His sudden topic switch makes you stiffen as he eyes you, his voice deepening suddenly. “Do a background check on her.”

“Full name?” He asks you, turning to face you with a flat expression. You hesitate, knowing that there was likely to no chance you even existed in this universe. And even if someone else had your name, their ID photo would make it obvious it wasn’t you. After standing there stupidly, you shrivel as he gives you a weird look. He opens his mouth to probably threaten you, before you blurt out your name. He stares for an extra few seconds before repeating it to the voice in his comms.

“Yeah, get back to me about her. I also need a location on a nearby lake. She may have been taken there.” He mutters, before continuing, “Hurry up. Something’s happened to the people here. My escorts are—“

He’s rudely interrupted by a loud bang on the other side of the door, seconds before an axe is shoved through the wood. Your face pales as the door quickly starts disappearing from the force of the axe. You turn to him with a panicked expression, watching as he quickly says goodbye to his comms before grabbing your wrist, making you squeak.

The door is shoved out of the way as several Ganados begin to flood the room. Instinctively, you hide behind him as he scoffs at the enemy. “I guess I’ll let myself out.” With that, he tightens his grip on your wrist and turns to you subtly, whispering a quick “Hold on tight.”

You don’t have any time to react as he dashes toward the window, using his body as a shield against the shattered glass. You both land outside the cabin, rolling around messily on the dirt. Twigs and little pebbles dig into your skin as you look up, feeling a headache form. You had hit the ground, but not too hard, thanks to the man who had somehow landed perfectly. The Ganado watches from the window where you both just burst from, before ducking its head and disappearing back into the cabin.

Leon grunts lowly before standing up, helping you as well. His grip on your arm stays before he lets go, turning towards the trail the leads into the forest behind you. The darkness of the night had lifted little by little, letting the rising sun shine a soft glow through the trees.

“Guess you’re stuck with me.” He chuckles dryly, motioning for you to follow him into the trail. You stumble behind him, rubbing dirt and debris off your arms and legs. You both fall into a steady pace down the trail, his pistol in his hand, not raised but alert in case of any lingering Ganados.

“There’s a lake we’re heading to, she might be held captive there.” He speaks up. You nod in response and he drifts his gaze towards you, something unknown flickering in his eyes.

“You wanna tell me why you were down there?”

The question is simple but it has your heart stop for a solid minute. You’re unsure on how you’re supposed answer this question without giving yourself away. He’s smart, he’s Leon god-damn Kennedy, he will definitively be able to tell you’re lying. And you’re a horrible liar. You could only imagine his response if you told him you were from another universe— he’d either assume you were delusional, or a liar. You didn’t know which one was worse.

But, gratefully, you knew enough lore of this game to make a good enough excuse you could only hope he’d believe: You’ve played this game too many times to fail now.

After a moment of thinking, you speak up before the silence grows awkward. And awkwardness would only make him grow suspicious.

“I was traveling. I’m on break from school— so I figured I would come here. It’s, uhm, really pretty. Right? Look at these sights.” You motion aggressively around you, scanning the muddy terrain with an anxious smile. You hoped he’d take pity on you and just play along, and not see through your shitty lie.

“In your pajamas?” His words sound almost mocking. This makes you realize that you are dressed in your pajamas, loose plaid pants in your favorite color, and an oversized sweatshirt. The universe decided to be kind enough and give you beat up converse on your feet. Thanks, you guess..?

“I got kidnapped in my sleep,” You smile. He huffs weakly before turning away, deciding to drop the conversation. You assumed he had enough of your bullshit. Luckily enough for both of you, a small village starts to come in the distance, separated from you by a large gate. He motions for you to stay behind him once again as he slowly pushes it open, the trail leading a few more feet into a run-down village, over-run by ganados.

“Stay close,” He whispers, kneeling behind a large rock to peek over, watching as the crazed villagers surrounded something on a pole. Someone. Your heart slowed as you looked closer, spotting the police officer tied on a large pole, on top of a fire. You hesitate, knowning his death is in-game canon, but you couldn’t just watch him die.

“Leon—“ You pat his shoulder rapidly, frowning. “You cant just let him die.”

He tuts, narrowing his eyes at the brutal sight. “Can’t do much from back here. It’s too late. I can protect you, though. So don’t be stupid and get yourself trapped in their claws,” He nods his head towards them before turning back. Before you, one of the ganados throws a torch onto the man. He erupts in screams, flames swallowing his whole. Your heart aches at the sight, and you quickly turn around and cover your mouth, gulping down your bile.

“Leon..”

“It’s okay.” He hushes, crouching and patting your shoulder. “You’ll be okay. Stay here, okay? I’ll be back.” He makes a silent motion to his lips before disappearing down the corner, pulling out his knife. You watch worriedly, making small peeks into the village. He stealthily takes down the exterior ganados, slicing their throats from behind, setting them down and moving onto the next silently. His pure talent has you in awe.

It’s one thing watching him roundhouse kick and do stealthy take downs from a screen, another to see it all unfolding before your very eyes. If the scene wasn’t so bloody, you’d be flustered more, but the horror of the man being burned alive is burnt into your eye lids.

This game wasn’t as fun when you were in it.

You shriek as someone suddenly grabs you from behind, incoherent blabbering of a ganado filling your ears. You look around frantically, spotting Leon down the trail, currently taking down several of them with his gun.

“Leonnn!” You yell loudly, thrashing around in their grip. Luckily, Leon hears you, his head snapping in your direction. He curses under his breath as he see’s the position you’re in.

Without hesitating, he rushes over and shoots at the ganados’ leg. You yelp at how close the bullet brushed past you, your heart skipping several beats. You land on the floor as the ganado drops you, coughing violently.

Leon helps you up quickly, huffing. “You stay with me now.”

His hold on your wrist is tight as he drags you into the village, practically hauling you along with him. He enters a house and slams the door shut, grabbing a wooden plank to barricade the entrance from the intruding Ganados currently pawing at it from the other side.

“Hide somewhere.” He motions toward you aggressively. You nod quickly and look around, eyes landing on a table with a sheet laid over it, spilling over the sides. The wooden planks of the flooring is rough against your knees as you drop down, ducking underneath the fabric.

“I’ll be back for you,” Leon calls out before rushing upstairs. The front door bursts open seconds later, making you flinch and cower in fear as numerous heavy footsteps rush past the table you were underneath. You press your palm against your mouth, waiting out that stupid bell.

Eventually, the village quiets down, and the bell echoes throughout the town. It provides you with an eery sense of comfort. Underneath that table, you wait for Leon’s return.

With shaky movements, you slowly crawl out from the table, picking at your nails anxiously. The door opens and you yelp loudly, jumping back, only to relax at the sight of Leon staring at you.

“You good?” He asks, walking up to you and grabbing your wrists. He checks for any bite marks or injuries as you struggle to breath. He was so close, with those pretty blue eyes and soft lips and masculine smoky scent—

“Y-Yeah, I’m good. Are they gone?” You tilt your head ‘innocently’. He hums and nods, fixing your sleeves before pulling back. “Let’s find you a change of clothes before we continue.”

“What’s wrong with my current clothes?” You frown gently, looking down. You were actually quite comfortable.. But your pajamas were also now covered in dirt and some stray blood.

“Too loose. It can get caught on thighs, make noise with the wind. It’s a liability.”

“Oh. Okay.” You mumble. You follow behind him closely as he begins rummaging through several drawers, dust hitting the both of you in the face each time. You cough as he fans the particles away, before pulling out a bunch of folded clothing.

“I feel weird.. Wearing their clothing.”

“You gotta do what you gotta do.” He shrugs casually, pulling out two separate pieces for you. A light grey long sleeve sweatshirt, not too big. Next to it laid a pair of loose jeans, a dark wash design to them. You poke at the fabric.

“This is weirdly good quality.”

“Guess they liked to go shopping.” He remarks dryly. You glance at him oddly before taking the clothing into your hands. “I’ll go… change.” You motion awkwardly to the room down the hall.

He nods and looks away, polishing his new shotgun he found hanging around the house with a cloth. “If you need anything, just holler.”

You disappear into the room, and reappear a few minutes later in your new clothing, hair more tidy. You had found some hair tools in the room, which you took upon yourself to groom your beastly mane with. You needed to look good for him anyways— It’s Leon freaking Kennedy.

You both get back onto the trail, Leon filling you in on his intel from his comms, which you pretended you didn’t know was Hunnigan. You were now walking towards the windmill in the distance, which you remembered vaguely.

And just like you remembered, a large gate separates you from the windmill once again. After sneaking around the smaller village for about thirty minutes, you barely miss the brutal attack of your predators.

Your feet are starting to ache once you reach the farm. The sun is starting to set, and your body feels heavier. You wanted rest. Meanwhile, Leon’s in pristine condition, walking quickly. You catch up eventually.

After breaking the lock on the front door of a run down cabin, Leon leads you inside, handgun raised. A loud thud is heard every few seconds, resonating from within the corridors of the cabin you were inside. Your heartbeat races as you grow closer to the origin of the sound.

You peak your head into a room beside Leon, catching sight of a Ganado hammering a hatchet in the ground shut, his back turned to you. He seemed like he was in a trance, small grunts leaving him out of exhaustion. But he wouldn’t stop, as if he was hypnotized.

Leon slowly stealths forward, crouching and quickly slicing the man’s throat. The ganado drops to the floor, the hammer hitting the wooden plane with a loud clank. You hesitantly step forward, awkwardly maneuvering around the body.

“Looks like we’re going down here.” Leon chuckles, bending over to pry the hatchet open easily. Your heart skips a beat at the solid example of strength, especially at the way his biceps tense at the movement.

You remember this portion of the game. If you recall correctly, Luis would be down there in the sack, ask for a cigarette, before an unfriendly neighbor would make their appearence. Your heart slows at the thought of what was lying ahead. You gulp deeply and disappear down the hatchet, climbing the ladder. Once your feet hit the floor, you look to see Leon following behind you.

He flicks his flashlight up, illuminating the dingy basement. He motions for you to stay behind him, and you quickly follow, feeling safest behind his back. He walks forward, his light slowly moving towards a moving body sack towards the back of the room. Your heart skips a beat at the sight, the subtle grunts escaping the trapped person inside. Luis.

“It’s a person.” You mumble stupidly, peering over his shoulder up at him. He glances back at you before turning back towards the sack, stepping forward and kneeling down. “Don’t get too close.” He orders you firmly. You step back.

He’s not the gentlest as he opens the sack, a mop of curly dark-brown hair coming into view. You let out a small yelp, jumping at the sight. It was Luis, breathing and shifting around in front of you. You felt like you were in shock.

He had tape over his mouth, which Leon ripped off him. You shrivel up at the harshness, wondering if any of Luis’s mustache hairs got stuck in the crossfire. Focus.

“That’s hurts, you know?” He glares up at Leon, who shakes his head and stares down at him back.

“Seems like you really wanted to talk.”

The sound of distant footsteps catch your attention as the two men continue in tense conversation. You turn over your shoulder, heart dropping as the ladder creaks. You see a large figure come into view, and your heart jumps out of your chest. This was getting way too scary.

“Leon?” You whimper, looking back frantically at the blonde haired man, who was currently untying Luis not-so-politely. Your plea catches Luis’s attention first, his dark eyes glancing to you with confusion before drifting behind you, terror filling his gaze.

“¡Joder! Not this guy!”

Luis’s panicked voice sense alarm throughout Leon’s body. He shoots up, spotting the approaching man behind you. He grabs you by your wrist and shoves you behind him, before raising his gun towards the man.

“Who are you?” He calls out, stepping back and pushing his finger near the trigger. “Stop right there!”

You let out a shriek as the large man grabs Leon by the neck, lifting his body like a paperweight. Horror fills you as Leon is thrown to the side, a loud thud echoing in the room as he passes out unconscious against the wall. The large man’s gaze slowly turns to you, who was frantically trying to untie Luis.

“Run, Hermosa—“