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By the time Leon saw the dock, the sky was growing dimmer. It must have been late afternoon, and he could see rain clouds gathering above. Just my luck. He let out a groan, pulling himself to his feet, his leg throbbing as he stumbled from the boat onto dry land. He gritted his teeth, dropping to his knee and yanking up his pant leg to reveal the awful rope-shaped bruises twisted around his shin. Great. Another one to add to my ever-growing checklist of injuries. It looked like it needed some ice, and he wasn’t even close to halfway done with this job. But there wasn’t time to worry about it now. Ashley was still locked up in that church, and if he wanted to get her out there was only one thing to do: find the key to the damned thing.
But as he rose to his feet once more, he was hit with a sudden spell of vertigo. Something wasn’t right. His vision was blurry, his head was pounding… throbbing. And, as sharp pain jabbed at his spine, he leaned over, coughing violently. He could taste blood in his mouth, and trembling he pulled his hand away to see his palm stained red.
Goddammit! He could hardly see where he was going with how much his vision was swimming. And coughing up blood was never a good sign. I just… need some rest, maybe? Fear stabbed at his middle and he felt like he was going to be sick. Or maybe that was the tang of blood, still on his tongue. Just… thirty minutes… rest…
Up ahead, there was a cabin, which he hoped to god was abandoned. He couldn’t see any lights. His head was spinning, and everything—his footsteps, his groan in pain—sounded like it was underwater. Bile rose up in his throat and he stumbled through the door of the building, relieved to see the one-room refuge was empty, as far as he could tell. Before he could make it to any chair or the bed in the corner, he collapsed to his knees on the hardwood floor, pain shooting through his leg again. The world around him was fading to black. Just… thirty… min…
When he woke, moments later, he was somewhere else. Everything was foggy… like he was in a dream… maybe he was . It was dark, wherever he was, besides the soft glow of a grungy white light in the corner against cement walls. Where…? It was familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. Sound slowly came to him, he could hear the dripping of sewer water, the sound of rustling beside him. But he still felt almost out-of-body. No touch… no taste… no pain.
He was suddenly startled from his confusion by the tender touch of someone’s hand against his cheek, turning his head to face her. Oh . So he could feel that . His breath hitched at how warm her hand was against his cheek.
“...Ada?” He whispered, his voice hoarse. She looked hazy… like he couldn’t quite see her, but he could hear her, her voice so familiar and warm.
“There you are,” she smiled, gently rubbing her thumb against his cheek. He took in a breath, he felt shaky, dizzy.
“Am… I…?”
“Don’t move too much,” she murmured, “I’m still patching you up.” He dropped his head back against the cement wall behind him as Ada tightened the bandages around his shoulder. He let out a hiss as she tied it tight, though he only felt pressure. And then there was quiet, save for the dripping of water somewhere. Leon dared to open his eyes. Ada was still there rolling up what was left of the bandages.
“It’s really you,” he whispered, and then he dared to add, “God, I’ve… I’ve missed you so much.”
She smiled, slipping the bandages away and leaning forward to cup his cheek again, “I know.” And before he could say anything else she tilted her head and kissed him softly--a remnant of the one kiss they had shared before. It was always like this--this dream. It had to be a dream, right? But he let himself melt into it every time, hoping that one day he would wake up to find her really there. A silly, childish thought.
He pulled away mid-kiss, hand resting on her shoulder. “This time, stay,” he said, gently rubbing her shoulder. He wasn’t sure if he was begging her or the dream.
She smiled, brushing her thumb against his lower lip, “I’ll stay,” and then he let her kiss him again.
It had been quiet for a while now. Never a good sign. Ada had been doing her damned best to follow through with her mission, but so far it had been nothing but one change of plans after another. And Leon? He wasn’t supposed to be here, but somehow he was. Making sure that the man she had… fallen for… didn’t die was a drastic revision to her game. She had told herself time and time again that it would be safer to let Leon do his job… to mind her own business. But somehow she couldn’t bring herself to.
Now, after change after change and order after order, she was exhausted. It was late afternoon and it was just beginning to rain. “Sorry, Wesker,” she whispered, brushing her fingers through her hair and taking in a deep breath of warm, evening air, “A girl’s got to rest some time or another… I won’t be any use getting that sample if I don’t.”
Ahead there seemed to be some sort of shelter—an old cabin perhaps. She hesitated, noting the fresh footprints in the mud leading away from the dock on the lake, straight to the front door. But the door itself had not been latched and was moving just barely on its hinges in the wind. Something was not right.
Ada quietly moved through the mud and then pressed her back against the wall by the door, gun in hand, listening. Nothing, save the beginning of rain and the soft creak of the door on its hinges. Taking in a breath, Ada turned, gun raised, quickly and silently opening the door to reveal a sparse, single-room cabin. And there, sprawled across the floor…
Leon! She quickly returned her gun to its holster, latching the door behind her as she stepped into the abandoned room. She quickly knelt down beside the agent, checking his pulse, and then let out a sigh of relief. It was fast, but it was steady.
“Leon?” She gently brushed his hair away from his eyes. There was blood on his lips, and at the sight of it, panic rose in Ada’s middle once more. “Leon?!” She quickly, with all her strength, turned him over onto his back. They injected him, didn’t they? She had learned about the symptoms of the plaga parasite from Luis Sera, and this was one of them. Oh god. Her hands were shaking as she gently searched his neck. There, below his ear. A tiny prick. Her heart sank as she brushed her fingers across it. Oh no.
For a moment, Ada felt like she was frozen, Leon’s head resting in her hands, the revelation of what was going to happen to him hitting her in the gut. She had seen it already—what the plaga parasite did to its victims. And… I can’t… I can’t do anything to help you . Her chest felt tight as she leaned over him, panic building in her middle. I can’t save you this time… you… Tears burned at the corners of her eyes but she bit her lip to keep them back.
No… Take a deep breath. Luis had told her there was one way… Radiation? A device they had here… If Leon could find it, he would be alright. Ada lifted Leon as best as she could, resting his head in her lap. She pressed her hand to his forehead. He was feverish. “Leon…” she cupped his cheeks with her hands. “Please…” His breath was steady. So she waited, gently brushing her fingers through his hair. She hummed softly, wiping the blood away from his lips, and just holding him. “Let the game play out,” she murmured, “We’ll figure out how to get it out of you. I swear.”
His eyelashes fluttered and his eyes opened, just barely. He mumbled something as if he were half asleep. “Hmm?” Ada murmured. He blinked again, eyes half-lidded.
“You… you’re… here?”
Ada smiled. He probably wouldn’t even remember this when he woke up. She nodded once. “It’s alright, go back to sleep. You’re safe.” Her gun was at her thigh. If anyone came she would take care of them. She would let him rest. She brushed her thumb across the prick at his neck again and leaned forward to tenderly kiss his forehead. “It’s going to be alright,” she said, and she wasn’t sure if she said it more for him or for herself.
When the sun was finally set completely and he was stirring, she left him, as much as it pained her. He was alright… She had work to do, and so did he. It was better, for now, if he didn’t remember she had been there at all.
Leon woke after dark. After catching his breath from his dreadful nightmare he lay on the floor of the old cabin for a moment, brow furrowed, pain jabbing at his spine. How long… have I been asleep? By how dark it was, he must have been out for hours. He cursed himself, struggling to sit up. He was just getting ready to rise to his feet when through the haze of his memory he thought he could see… Ada, holding his head in her hands, whispering something to him softly. He blinked, rubbing his forehead. Was that a dream? Or… was it real?
He remembered the flash of red he had seen through the window when Mendez had attacked him, the gunshots through the glass… the talk of another intruder.
It can’t be… Still, his heart skipped a beat at the thought: Ada Wong? Here? If she was, things were more complicated than he had imagined. But something about it made a thrill jolt through him. He didn’t know the circumstances, but knowing that he might see her again, outside of the many nights he dreamed of her… Ada…
He imagined that he could see her face, in that hazy memory of a dream, the worry in her eyes as she held him close. “Let the game play out…” If she was here, he would see her again. He knew it. His heart skipped a beat. He knew she would find him before the game was over.