#arrepentirse

Leon can't hold in an amused huff and his typical 'heh' — he wished he had, because it is chased with a pained grimace. His chest still hurts. Something about cracking his sternum. He doesn't know if that's related to the bug-removal or a hazard of his job. Didn't ask.

He rolls his head to look across to the other bed. His whim is entirely unprofessional, but hey, he's off the clock and it's not like he is twisting Luis by his arm.

There is a fondness in his smirk when the other man springs up with gusto. Somehow, it's as if he left Valdelobos behind. Leon wishes he knew that feeling. Every time he closes his eyes it feels like another fight. Pulled back into recent memory, his body reacts like he's in genuine danger. This holiday has been restless and he's bored of staring at the sterile walls.

"Don't threaten me with a good time." Leon quips, easing from his own bed with careful movement. Most of his injuries are stitched, scarred or mended, but his body has been wrecked. He ignores it and toes on the thin hospital slippers.

starter for @arrepentirse

IT'S  NOT  USUALLY  Grace  that's  doing  the  man-hunting  in  her  department.  She's  a  technical  analyst.  She  analyses  what  others  don't  or  can't  see  and  makes  deductions  based  on  her  findings.  But  this  time  is  different.  She  had  been  asked  to  find  a  man  the  FBI  had  assumed  dead  from  their  limited  knowledge  of  what  had  happened  in  Spain,  many  years  ago.

Yet  apparently  Luis  Serra  still  walked  this  world,  according  to  one  of  their  randomly  placed  facial  recognition  cameras.

It  sounds  like  a  ghost  story  to  her,  because  it  had  been  so  long  since  that  time…  it  felt  impossible  that  he  would  still  be  around  and  only  now  be  discovered.  But  weirder  things  had  happened.

It  was  with  a  sigh  that  she  pushed  open  the  library  door, cursing her luck for having such insight and being the one sent to confirm the sighting.

She  was  rather  certain  she  wouldn't  find  who  she  was  looking  for,  she  had  the  screen  capture  on  her  phone  of  his  face  from  his  younger  years,  and  then  the  photo  of  the  latest  camera  shot  they  had  gotten  of  him  as  he  passed  by.  According  to  her  sources,  this  supposed  ghost  tended  to  haunt  the  local  library.  So  that's  where  she  was  now.

She  stepped  inside  nervously,  looking  around  for  a  moment  before  asking  the  front  desk  if  they  had  seen  the  man  -  but  they  were  unhelpful,  right  up  until  the  point  that  she  dug  around  and  pulled  out  her  FBI  badge.  She  was  constantly  keeping  it  in  her  backpack  instead  of  her  pocket,  and  really  needed  to  work  on  that.

Leon has never experienced a morning after in someone else's bed. Never. Under normal circumstances he would have respectfully slipped out of the apartment by now. There had always been a mutual understanding — it was a one night stand.

Only, this was something different. It makes his head swim. He doesn't want to wash his hands of Luis. Far from it. Which adds to the cocktail of confusing thoughts and feelings as he sits at the edge of the bed, his head lowered.

Subtle movements prompt him to lift his head again.

Not-so-subtle lips pressing to his shoulder prompt him to turn, his own lips parting.

He can feel the warmth in his cheeks. A stutter in his tongue — because if he speaks now, his words will skip. Luis doesn't tease him for his awkwardness. Or the shyness. Which is a little rich, considering their hot and heavy touches last night.

"What..?" Leon asks softly. Luis has listed his usual routine. He feels his stomach do a flip.

He turns a little more but Luis is on the move. He turns the other way to watch him go and he's stunned in place. Now that he's alone? It doesn't feel different. He's tense and he has to catch his breath. After another moment he flops back and covers his face with his hands. Stupid. He's stupid.

His hands lift to drive through his hair. Staring at the ceiling doesn't make him feel any better either. Instead of noises from the shower, Luis will instead hear the heavier footsteps of a rattled agent hunting for him. It almost sounds like he's making a run for it.

Instead he simultaneously crashes into his target and wraps his arms in a greedy tangle to pull him close. The calm domesticity is about as rocked as Luis from the action of being pushed then pulled. He doesn't say anything. Not even when he eases back. His hand — it trembles — cups and holds the pleasant roughness of Luis' stubbled cheek. His eyes are searching for something. He looks wild and confused.

Then, slowly, he dips forward. His lips press to Luis' tentatively. His lashes close and he presses with a little more confidence, like he remembers how they fit together. He wants to be closer. Which is precisely why he eases away from the kiss. His adam's apple bobs in a thick swallow as his fierce hold gentles. He wills himself to open his lashes, but not without moving to rest their foreheads together in a sweet press.

Was Alyssa ever doubtful about taking Grace in?

Did she ever consider changing Grace‘s name? Or her own, to better hide?

No. She knew what Spencer was capable of and it fucking broke her heart holding that little baby knowing he had custody of her (or he was just abusing her). Spencer slaughtered, tortured, dehumanized, and humiliated people. His butler, Patrick, found his duty to torture people honorable. I think she left that interview with a rock in her stomach and probably had an anxiety attack knowing he had another infant.

When he left her to Alyssa in the will she took it as his resignation from their duel, and she took Grace immediately. She didn't care about it but she knew that poor baby needed help and she was capable of giving it to her.

Alyssa changed her name from Grace Spencer to Grace Ashcroft within the fucking hour, signed sealed delivered. That was the best hiding she could've done. Suddenly she had a daughter. Anybody outside her circle? She never talked about Grace's parentage with them and let people assume what they wanted to. Didn't matter to her what anybody else thought. And you know what? She liked having Grace in her life from the get go. Parenting, even though it was hard as fuck and she didn't know what she was doing, was legitimately fun for her. Suddenly there was a little creature she could pour energy into and she loved that. Grace never held her back in any way from continuing to live, because Alyssa had a strong support system. That old adage of it takes a village.

𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐒 𖦏 @arrepentirse

Long had Leon abandoned god or religion as a whole , and despite that divinity took it upon themselves to intervene. Either a holy body decided it wasn't his time yet , or maybe he hadn't earned entry. Regardless, to consider it merciful was questionable ── he had no intentions of taking his life that night . . . yet there was a touch of cruelty in denying a weathered soul rest. It wasn’t until the aftermath when the NG tube was removed and blues fluttered to life ── that it became abundantly clear , this was his reckoning. Face to face with disappointment from those who loved him the most ─ tearful eyes ─ frustration because they knew Leon's heart , but couldn't fathom the headstrong rookie they know losing a fight. How could he look in their eyes and feel nothing but immense shame?

── it bore no satisfaction to deal an ultimatum let alone be on the receiving end. Either he detonates what good remained of his life or take the path to redemption.

The answer was easy ── the path wasn't.

── WEEK ONE ── Cool crisp air wasn't a formidable remedy in the face of nausea and itching thoughts but the vast planes of pine was the final stronghold that kept satiating cravings out of reach and forced the man to face himself ── If sleep had came easy then maybe the proverbial 'path' wouldn't be such a difficult terrain to navigate, but he couldn't sleep. Could hardly entertain eating. Time lost all meaning out here and with a haunted mind fighting to hold on to the 'why' of all this sunrise and sunset blurred.

So when the agent follows the faint sound of oak floors creaking and leaves crunching outside the cottage he had to question his sanity. No one else occupied the woods for miles ── and yet here is a little boy approaching him . . . adorning the likeness of a face long forced back to the recess of his mind . . . Digits trembled as they hesitantly outstretched to take the carving. This wasn't real ── but shaved wood abrades against fingers grooves as they examine the wolf. Cerulean eyes latch to a mess of dark curls , and hearing clung to the familiarity in speech merely off by octaves. ── ' Late? ' Exhausted. He was exhausted and just projecting memories onto some random child that's it. Dry eyes sting as lids flicker back to the present.

❛❛ I- , uh─ I'm not sure what you mean , kid. Y'know you shouldn't be out here all by yourself. Yogi bear isn't as friendly as he is in the cartoons. ❞ The blonde stammers, taking measure of their surroundings trying to reason where the boy came from. Abuelo ―? That meant someone had to be out here looking for him. Deep down trying to avert the next obvious question.

ɴᴏɴᴠᴇʀʙᴀʟ ᴍᴇᴍᴇ ► accepting

@arrepentirse said: 😬 Snarl/show teeth at my muse

It's almost adorable the amount of anger he inspires in people, watching them writhe in fury at their own helplessness when confronted by a beast such as himself.

He remembers this one; this one would have been instrumental in retrieving the Amber in Valdelobos. Would have. Wesker was ultimately betrayed, something he knew would happen eventually and luckily planned around it, just in case. Though how this one managed to survive is beyond the mastermind, he was certain Luis had been killed. Perhaps he might still be of some use.

A celebration of the dead? More like a disgusting joke.

The girls indulged in the celebration, the prophet delivered the message of a fabricated god. The very one she claims gives them what they want. That it hears them. Fuck that. Fuck the possibility that some higher power can hear their wishes and still cause so much harm. Fuck the wilderness... Her baby died, not for a break in the snow, not for her to live, not for anyone's wishes.

Shauna rolled her eyes and quietly took her leave before it got unbearable. She wasn't going to partake on that nonsensically cruel ritual. Instead, she thought to visit the makeshift grave, her baby.

It's just you and me against the whole world.

It's still like that.

Her steps come to a halt down the road, crunching and drawing a small silhouette's attention. Shauna's heart drops... She has seen this dream before. Her, a few steps away, her child, greeting her from afar. Hesitant, she tries to take a step toward the small frame, heart racing. This can't be real, can it? She is dreaming again...

But the distance does shorten as she steps forward. The strange boy is receptive of her, lifts his head to look back at her. He doesn't recognize her, it seems... Why had she gotten her hopes up for something that made no sense?

Her eyes are on him still, disarmed. Even as he seems so out of place, even as he stands there, indescribably, he speaks and she listens. Her face shows confusion, hesitance. The antlers on his backpack ring only briefly, but it's enough to send chills down her spine and raise her defenses back up.

You don't know what's coming. The words had been breathed out on a chuckle that had no humour in; more a dry comment to himself than this scientist. Sitting on the side of the creaky metal-framed medic bed, Kunsel watched the movements of the other man and shook his head.

He was a new technician, or scientist, or assistant. Whatever title this guy wanted. The turnover in the science department was high. That piqued his interst; a new person to study and learn about. Hansel Hernandez; the man introduced himself cheerily and almost too freely, tone chatty and almost joking. Too cheery.

"No, I've had my blood drawn more times than I can count." That was an odd question from someone working with Soldiers. "-you're new."