Chapter Text
“What about you? It's the last day of September, why are you here?" Ada asked.
This was a good question, Leon thought and wore a bitter smile. She noticed about the date.
If he came back here solely because this was the place he started, he should have come back yesterday. It was the date he came here as a first-day rookie and everything went south. If he came back here to mourn all those lives lost in the incident, he would have come tomorrow, because that was when the bomb detonated and wiped out all the living, dead and undead from the surface on Earth.
For him, there were two things that happened on 30th September 1998. They managed to escape the city and the death of Ada Wong.
And he felt like lying if he replied that he came back because it was the date he escaped.
“For an old friend.” He said. She responded with one of those sly smiles and looked away. This was the facade she wore in the village. She tried to smother an emotion she was going to show. He knew she was coping with something that was stirred up by his reply.
Ada simply replied with a “Hmm.”
She could tell he was here because of her death by his wry smile and deflective reply. And it came clear to her that it was a lie that she thought she did not haunt him. If there was no big elephant hanging somewhere in the room, he did not need to step around the obvious. His gaze reminded her too much of that gullible young rookie Leon, whose pleading eyes started their share of haunting at the back of her mind and screaming for her sins of breaking him.
She accepted she owed him because he put himself between her and a bullet, which she could easily repay by saving his life multiple times he did not even know. It was a simple black and white flavor. But haunting him for dying in front of him? That was another level of complication. Leon Kennedy could jump in to protect anyone he encountered, but not all the strangers he protected would leave him a years-long mark on his conscience. That implied there was something else. That implied there was a relationship that was intimate and personal.
Every time she looked into his eyes, she always thought he could easily see the part of her that should be dead and buried in the past. Just like back then he believed she would never be able to shoot him to get that sample. She never understood why he could be so sure that a spy like her, who just used him to get through all those extremely difficult and dangerous conditions to gain a sample, would never shoot him for her mission objective. If the rookie Leon could see that, no doubt this agent Leon could see that too.
She noticed the sky shared the same shade of blue as his eyes. They should be as plain and simple as the sky when she looked into them, not full of questions that she could never answer, not full of trust that he should not have in her in the first place. These implied they had a past. No. He should have looked at her guarded like she was just a random threat he encountered during his mission. She should be out of his mind whenever she was out of his sight.
“Why are you here? I’m quite sure this isn’t one of your habits.” She heard Leon’s voice. He craved for the reason she visited here, in the hope of her admitting that there were something more than acquaintances between them, that he was not the only one that struggled to put a name on their relationship. He hid it carefully in his voice, but she could see that in his eyes.
She suddenly realized, in her final moments before her fall, she thought she was giving him the closure he needed, but it was not.
She let him know she cared about him. She made him think there could be something else if they made it out alive together. Those words turned out to be a lock that chained him, a spell that she accidentally casted on him that he could not let go of.
She should either stay completely dead to him, or she should drop by to tell him she survived years ago.
If she was completely dead, then the haunting might fade away someday. if it was not enough for him in the past six years, it might be enough in the seventh year.
If she showed up early enough, he would not bear her on his conscience so long that he fixated on her. He could stop coming here years ago.
It was an accident that she ran into him in Spain. As an opportunist, she used him to achieve her goals, she had no regrets on that part.
She could see he still tried to find that inexperienced and vulnerable Ada Wong he met in Raccoon City. That was the reason why he handed her the Plaga sample without a fight.
She thought she was fine all along. Leaving him be, staying away from him, staying hidden was easy enough for her. But something stirred after she accidentally met him in Spain. She had to stop herself from paying extra attention to his news, that stupid innocent face appeared in her awaken and non-awaken moments, more than the times she would like to admit.
Her latest mission was somewhere close by. Her schedule was just cleared, then she was aware it was 30th September. She thought if she paid a visit, those pleading eyes and the gullible face would give her a break.
Her visit here was another mistake. At the line of her work, revisiting places she had been was a risky act, and she should never go back to places if it was not necessary. And this just showed him how much she cared.
She was making things worse. She just made a series of mistakes that might further complicate things.
As a person who exploited another's vulnerability in her job, and she excelled at her job, she knew vulnerabilities were dangerous and could get her killed if she was careless to show them to the wrong people.
If she showed her vulnerability to others, it would be a mistake. If she let her vulnerability show in front of Leon S. Kennedy again, it would be a sin. The last time she showed it, she got him involved, and nearly got both of them killed. He managed to survive, but now that she knew he was still haunted by her in some way, the deepest fear in her dreams just came true, and her conscience screamed for her sin.
She wanted him to move on from whatever this was.
Maybe then those pleading eyes would be less haunting to her.
Revealing the truth to him was not an option, but she did not want to lie to him either.
So she changed the topic.
“I wasn’t lying when I told you I was trying to bring down Umbrella. I never thought it would be possible to make her pay for what she did to Raccoon City when I made it out alive. Bioweapons was just one of their many interests, they had all the right friends in all the right places. It's hard to imagine what could bring the giant down.”
The Umbrella Corporation went down last year.
She looked at him and said, “But you guys did it, Leon.”
There he heard her sighing his name again. He found himself like how she pronounced his name. He found he was intoxicated by the way she moved her lips just to say out his name.
There was a breeze that brought all the leaves to move synchronously. It looked like green waves that moved animatedly in the background. The breeze also moved the raven hair that hung near her eyes. He could tell she was smiling a little, it was not that facade sly smile he saw before, it was a genuine small smile that one would miss if they did not pay enough attention. The sun shaded her at the right amount of intensity and he could see her skin glowed like porcelain but still had a nice shade that contoured her facial features perfectly. For the very first time, he was peaceful, feeling a sense of tranquility even.
He could only imagine this scene in his wildest dreams. And he was sure he would not be able to forget a single detail in this moment for the rest of his life. How light landed on her face, the little lift at the corner of her lips, how the leaves sounded when they moved along with the breeze, how blue the sky was in the background of the scenery.
In his mind, Ada was many things. A blunt spy who kept rejecting him for his own good and refused to believe she had the conscience and standards just like him back then. An enigma with her contradicting actions and own agendas when they met in Spain. She was always after something. She was always calculating. There were always conflicts running in her and after her. The closest thing to peace he had ever seen on her face was when she accepted her fate right before she fell in front of his eyes. But then he could feel her guilt and her hatred for her own life. That scene haunted him more than giving him peace of any kind.
He never thought that he could see she would reveal her true emotion again after they met in Spain. If it was not for her face and the way she always left him the dark wandering, he would not believe the woman he met was Ada Wong. She changed so much yet so little. She wore her facade so naturally, it sounded like breathing to her now. He thought he could never see her with such vulnerability he saw in the past.
And he realized that the small genuine smile was the peace he did not know he was yearning for since he escaped from the city and left that wide-eyed rookie behind. He always felt inadequate. Something was always lacking. He thought it was because he was lonely, so he went out for dates but none of them lasted. Even if he was in bed with someone, that vacancy was still there. He thought it was because he had not brought down Umbrella, but that vacancy was still screaming after the downfall of the Corporation last year. He thought it was because he owed his life to Ada Wong, but the void in his heart screamed even more after they met again in Spain.
It was her. It was her all along. A genuine smile of hers was all it took to fill his void.
“Do you remember John?” Ada said.
“Yes, I do. Your informant, right?” Leon answered.
“It was a little bit more than that for him, I’m afraid.” She explained and looked away. “He fell for me shortly after I approached him. I didn't expect any kind of relationship other than professional. I thought it was ridiculous. He fell for an alias.” She paused and smiled with a hint of self-deprecation. “I recently found out he knew what I was at the very first beginning.”
He was surprised how fast his emotion flew to the other side of the spectrum when Ada simply mentioned another man. Leon felt he was stupid to think she came here because of him, but there must be something more than a rookie cop who met an inexperienced spy in a fallen place between them.
“So you’re here because of John?” He heard himself asking.
Ada could hear his train of thoughts spiraling down to the rabbit hole. She could hear his suppressed jealousy in his voice. She could tell he knew there was something more between them. He was trying to prove the feeling was mutual. He was like a little kid who kept chasing the answer for a question that adults tried to dodge just to protect his poor soul.
And he was right. There was something between them. The feeling was mutual.
Yet, Ada had no intention to lie or complicate their relationship any further. Ada plainly shook her head. “Not really. It’s complicated.”
He knew that answer was already straightforward enough in Ada Wong’s dictionary. If she was here solely for John, she would just give him the easy answer of “Yes”. If she did not want him to know about John, she would not mention it in the first place. She deflected the answer because there was his presence in her reply, so she dodged it.
This was the little thing he noticed about her. She might brush away his questions, she might be deflective in her reply, she might only say a part of the whole truth to him to guide him somewhere she wanted him to be, but she stopped lying to him after they met again.
There were so many questions he wanted to ask her. And he was okay with her not answering any of those. However, he was tired from playing all those games and word puzzles.
Therefore he pushed his luck by asking her to explain it further. Leon could not help but put a step toward her and muttered. “Then uncomplicate it.” They were just arm-length away. He could smell her perfume. It was not the one she wore in Spain but suited her nevertheless.
There he was, Ada thought. She did not expect less from him. She sighed.
She looked up a bit to see his face, she noted his face softened even though he was making her explain further. This face reminded her too much of that compassionate and sentimental young RPD officer who followed her around and used his puppy eyes to force her to Johnd to his will. Leon’s was so tender that he made her forget that the one standing in front of her was the well-trained agent Kennedy. He made her think he would take any answer she fed him, just like that young and gullible rookie cop. That wide-eyed young man broke out from the protective exterior of an agent and looked right back at her.
She was afraid she had to break that man again. Just like what she did years ago.
“Whatever reason I have, “ She took a step closer to prove her point, and she paused for a moment to restrict herself from kissing him. She was close enough to smell his aftershave but not enough to feel his body heat radiating. Then she said, “It isn’t relevant to what I am trying to say.”
He was taller than she remembered, she thought. His head bowed a little to hold their gaze. His bangs fell down, casting shades on his face and forming a barrier between them and the world outside. Instantly, she could feel her closeness did a number on him. He held his breath for a mere second and then breathed a little faster and shallower than before. His lips parted slightly like there was not enough oxygen for him to breathe.
“There are things that are better left behind, Leon. Just like John. This is the first time I visit here, and it will be the last time I drop by. Maybe you should do the same, too.“
Leon could hardly believe what she was trying to say.
She wanted to persuade him to move on. And yet she was the one who dropped by out of the blue and she said he was still dwelling in the past.
She always read him like an open book. She must know he came here because of her despite his ambiguous reply. And he must have triggered something in her so she put on the mask she wore in Spain. Then she danced around his one simple question by raising irrelevant topics, giving deflective replies and vague answers. Just like the Ada Wong on that train who tried so hard to dodge his questions and convinced him to serve her purpose, except this time, he was sure she did not lie to him. Her intention was clear as day, too.
She thought by pretending she did not care, he could move on from her.
Maybe she was right. If she was as cold-hearted as she thought, that she did not care about him in the slightest possible way back in Spain, he could move on from her. Yet, what she did was she saved him again and again, she even pointed her gun at Krauser, who was on the same side with her, for him.
He remembered when he nearly suffocated her in a room in Spain, she managed to get out by putting a knife in his thigh. She seemed fine to the fact that he nearly killed her, but when he said he needed to rescue Ashley before he would do anything about the Plaga, she left coldly. She was angry. Every time she saved his ass, she pretended she was just passing by. She kept saving him from danger because she cared.
But God help him, how could he move on from her when he looked into her eyes right now, all he could see was she cared about him so much that she pretended otherwise since the day they met again. It was not hard to imagine how painful it was to push someone you cared so much away.
He must be leading in when he was lost in his thoughts because they were so close that he could smell her scent, it was not the perfume she wore, but the scent he smelt back in the underground facility at the other side of the gate. He took her in, the length of her lashes, the brown shade of her iris, her intoxicating scent, the curve of her lips, and he tried to memorize all of them.
He wanted to kiss her right here and cut the chase, saving them some pain and countless sleepless nights in the future. Yet, he knew if he did so, he could never hear from this woman again.
After she finished her sentence, she could see Leon pressed his lips thin like paper, and he frowned like she just said something ridiculous. She thought he would argue with her, but he did not. He just stared at her in silence. It was like he tried to see what was on her mind through her eyes.
His mind was racing. His face was blank and she could see he was calculating and memorizing something. There were subtle details here and there. His breath quickened. His frown deepened. He parted his lips for a second and pressed them thin and white again.
Then something clicked. His demeanor changed. He looked at her like she was some kind of prey and he was the apex predator who was ready to strike at any moment. This reminded her of that agent Leon who pressed his knife under her neck and engaged her like a walk in a park. His eyes traveled on her face, lingering on her lips like he was patrolling in his territories. Then he came back to her gaze, he whispered.
“Maybe.”
Just as she thought he could not be more attractive, she sighed internally. She was not intimidated by him, and she would never admit she found this Leon irresistible instead. It was obvious that she failed to persuade him. That “Maybe” was clearly a No. It was a challenge.
If she stayed around, things would surely further complicate themselves. And Ada was good at leaving well enough alone.
He was no longer that rookie who could be easily manipulated. She was no longer that stiff and unnatural spy who dealt all her cards wrong. He might be a little bit behind her because of the information gap, but both his mind and body could definitely catch up with her game well.
Maybe it was the way their relationship became now.
She wore her trustworthy sly smile and simply replied “Hmm.” She pretended his answer was good enough for her. Then she backed away from the little world his bangs built for them, she held his gaze for several seconds longer, then turned around and climbed on the motorcycle gracefully, collecting the helmet on the seat.
Leon stood where he was and he let her leave, but his eyes followed closely where she was.
He knew if they got into trouble, they would save each other willingly. Yet, he was clear if he got into her way, she would pull the trigger in a heartbeat. At the same time, she knew if she became his mission, he would cuff her without any hesitation.
They would stay on the sides of the balance for years.
At least they knew they both prevented themselves from becoming the mission objective of each other.
“Hey.” He said.
Ada paused for a moment and looked at him.
“You know I’m persistent.” He continued.
“Handsome, the term you’re looking for is stubborn, I believe.” She said sarcastically. She put on the helmet and turned on the engine.
Leon saw that she did not plan to say goodbye, so he shouted as she turned her motorcycle, “See you around!” And she replied with a plain hand wave.
His eyes followed her until she disappeared on the road. He glimpsed back to the sky on the other side of the gate again just like what she did several minutes ago.
It was a great idea to come back here.
He could not help but chuckled and said. “Women.”