Chapter Text
The Entity has been working on something recently. Something big. Everyone can feel it, there’s always a tension in the air that Survivors and Killers alike can sense when the Entity has a new spin on her messed up game in the works.
All the Survivors are on edge at the campfire and each one has their own ways of handling their fraying nerves; Claudette likes to weave flower chains, Kate sings to anyone that wants to listen, even if she is her only audience, Meg jogs laps around the Survivor grounds, Jake… well you don’t know what Jake likes to do. He just does his own thing, speaks when spoken to then seemingly melts into the shadows by himself like a ghost.
You’re currently sitting on a log by the campfire with Feng Min, who came to ask your opinion on what the Entity could possibly have in store for all of you.
“You think we’ll get any new Survivors?” she asked.
“Most likely, but I really hope we don’t,” you replied after some thought.
Min looked at you incredulously. “New Survivors means more help, new strategies, and hopefully some new tricks to get a leg up against those nasty bastards. Why wouldn’t you want that?”
You shook your head. “That’s not what I meant. It helps to have new people around but it also means one more person is stuck in this eternal nightmare with us.”
Min paused to process what you said, then leaned forward and rested her head in her hands. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. God, way to make me sound super selfish,” she grumbled.
You laughed and patted her back comfortingly. “You’re not selfish, besides what you said is true too. Hell, maybe a new Survivor could even give us a fresh perspective on this philosophical conversation of ours,” you teased with a grin.
“Oh shut up,” Min huffed with a playful shove to your shoulder.
Your rare moment of peace was disrupted when you felt the pull of the Entity, signaling another trial.
—
In a flash, the campfire before you is gone and you are placed in a different realm, but not one you recognize. You are standing on a glossy wooden floor with a large desk in front of you. The walls extend to an arching ceiling high above your head. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d seen a building this glorious, even with the Entity’s tainted touch.
You were taking in the large marble statue of a woman that stood proudly in the center of the grand hall when you heard rapid footsteps behind you.
Instinctively, you took cover behind the desk and peered around it to see what you were dealing with. Instead of being met with a monstrous killer, you see a man in a police uniform taking in the sights like you had been seconds before.
You edge out of your hiding spot slightly so he can see you and he visibly tenses. You slowly raise your arms in front of you to calm him.
“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” you said softly, still aware of your current situation.
The man sighed in relief and smiled a bit. You noted he was quite handsome.
“I’m just glad to see another person. Are you hurt?” he asked.
“Not yet. Look, there’s a lot I’m going to have to explain but the main thing is—“ you immediately stop talking when you feel your heartbeat pick up.
You grab the officer and tug him down behind the desk with you with mere seconds to spare as you see a hulking figure trudge through the doorway adjacent to your hiding space. It’s larger than any monster you’ve faced in this realm and twice as ugly. One of its arms is covered in nasty pink growths. The other is simply curled into a large fist. The skin of its face is a sickly purple and pulled so tight that its huge teeth are constantly on display. It scans the room before finally heading up the two flights of stairs and disappearing down a corridor.
When you turned your attention back to the officer, his blue eyes were already on you, his gaze full of questions. You realized your arms wrapped around his body in an iron grip. You quickly let go and smiled sheepishly.
“Sorry. Come on, we need to get to work. There’s a lot to cover but you’ll hear more at the campfire. What can I call you?”
“Leon Kennedy,” you motion him to follow you up the first flight of steps to a generator. “What’s so important about the campfire? Why are we here?”
You crouch down and begin working on the generator. “I’m really not trying to be rude, we just don’t have much time to go over that right now. All you need to know is if we get five of these generators working we can get out of here. They’re tedious by design but you’ll get the hang of it eventually,” you pause your speech when you see Leon begin working on the other side of the generator and give him a small smile that he returns in earnest.
“Be sure to pay attention to your heartbeat. The louder it gets, the closer the Killer is.” Leon looks alarmed at this, why wouldn’t he?
“You realize this sounds crazy, right?” he asks tentatively.
“Believe me, I know. But you’ll see soon enough.”
As if on cue, your heartbeat starts picking up and Leon looks to you for instruction.
You pick up the pace of your impromptu lesson. “There’s two more Survivors with us. Work with them and we get out of here faster. Now stay out of sight and finish this generator. Move on to another one after that.”
“Wait—“
He doesn’t get a chance to finish speaking before you’re off in a flash.
You run up the second flight of stairs and find yourself looking up at the imposing figure you saw before. You immediately sprint down the corridor to your left trying to put as much distance between you and that thing as possible while also leading it away from Leon. Being in a brand new realm, all you can do is run and hope for the best. But you are against a new Killer who also has to learn the rules of the game so you have that advantage going for you. You dart in and out of rooms, trying to make sense of the massive building as you go for future reference, and throw down pallets when the behemoth behind you gets too close.
Things were going surprisingly well for a while until you turned a corner and ran right into… a zombie? And now you’re sick. Great. During the time it took you to get away from the zombie, the creature behind you had a chance to catch up and managed to whip you with a long tentacle that extended from the arm infested with odd growths.
Seriously, what the fuck is this thing?
The strike managed to push you forward so that you could get away from the beast. You looked back to see how much room you had to work with when you watched the creature strike down the zombie with its tentacle, forming angry orange pustules on the arm.
That can’t be good.
And you were right. The juggernaut only had to take a few steps before it extended its tentacle once more and mowed you down. It stood over you and lifted your body under its arm as if you weighed nothing, then carried you to the nearest hook outside of the building.
You screamed in pain as the hook pierced your shoulder. The others always said you would get used to the pain, but you couldn’t imagine the searing pinch of metal entering skin or the ache of your entire weight pulling on your shoulder would ever feel normal.
Your misery eased a bit when you heard the alarm of the Exit Gates powering on, and you saw one was right next to you just down the stairs.
So there you hung out in the rain, but you weren’t alone for long. To your left, Feng Min, Leon, and another woman you didn’t recognize came running out of the building. Leon made it his business to unhook you while the new Survivor made straight for the door.
Min stopped by you to patch you up. “You did great running that big guy around. I had plenty of time to show the newbies the ropes,” she rambled excitedly.
“Glad I could be of service,” you replied with a small smile. You rolled out your shoulders when she finished up, feeling a bit better now that you were more put together.
You heard Leon make a show of clearing his throat and Min let out an exaggerated sigh.
“Okay, maybe they showed me a thing or two too. Here, he said this should help,” she held out a syringe to you, but not one you had seen before.
“I can do it. If you would like,” Leon offered.
Min simply handed the syringe to him and went to watch the other new Survivor’s back at the gate. Leon turned his full attention to you, his bright blue eyes looking right into your own, searching for any signs of discomfort.
“May I?” he asked. You simply nodded, at a loss for words at the display of simple chivalry. You hadn’t experienced it in a long time. Especially not here.
With careful fingers, Leon grasped your arm and stuck the needle into your skin, then pushed down on the plunger. You definitely felt the slight sting but you’ve certainly handled worse. Within seconds, you felt basically good as new.
“Thanks,” you uttered. You wanted to say more but your voice was failing you at the moment as you stood under Leon’s gentle gaze.
“Don’t mention it. I just wanted to return the favor somehow,” he replied with an almost bashful smile.
The Exit Gate blared as it was finally almost open, and the alarm must have caught the attention of your pursuer since you felt your heart rate speed up and heard pounding footsteps coming your way.
You saw the lumbering giant dash outside to where you all were and Leon pushed you in the direction of the stairs leading to the gate. As Leon made it to the steps behind you, you heard something hit the ground followed by a flash of light and a loud explosion. The young officer didn’t let you look back, he just kept guiding you towards the others. Then you were home free, the relieving feeling of the gates safety net wrapping around you as the fog welcomed you all with open arms to return you to the campfire.
—
At the campfire the usual introductions and rundowns were made whenever a new Survivor joins your ranks. Or in this case Survivors. Leon Kennedy and Jill Valentine. Raccoon City rookie officer and S.T.A.R.S founder and agent. The new killer is what they call The Nemesis, a lethal bioweapon now at the Entity’s disposal.
With that out of the way, everyone went back to what they had been doing. Prepping for trials, organizing items, scrounging up offerings, or talking amongst themselves. Jill made her way into a circle with Laurie, Yun-Jin, and Yui.
Leon, on the other hand, stayed with you.
I’m the first person he met here. Just a mostly familiar face among a pool of new faces he was shoved into. Nothing more.
You two had sat on the ground by the fire in comfortable silence for a while. You were so close to him that if you barely moved your shoulders would touch. You finally decided to break the silence, remembering how overwhelming it was for you when you first arrived.
“Anything you want to get off your chest?” you asked.
Leon scoffs and leans back on his elbows to take in the faux night sky.
“Yeah. Everything,” he trails off. You can tell he’s got a lot on his mind and you’d be damned if you didn’t try to be there for him.
You lay back on the ground beside him and rest your hands behind your head.
“Alright. I’m all ears,” you say cheerily. He looks down at you almost surprised, then he mirrors your position and settles in.
“Well, I started my first day by fighting through hordes of zombies in what was supposed to be my department. I had to shoot my coworkers in the face rather than shaking their hands. I end up in some secret laboratory below the city and then I’m whisked away into a new nightmare by a black fog,” he rambled.
“And you didn’t even get any donuts out of it,” you muttered half-heartedly. Leon must have found it funny since he burst out in a laughing fit.
God he must be at his breaking point already if he thought that was funny.
But his laughter was contagious and soon enough you were both laid out on the ground laughing at seemingly nothing. Leon had a nice laugh, and you were determined to earn that sound from him as much as possible. You looked over at him and your heart clenched in your chest. From this angle you could see his sharp jawline, and his mouth was still curved into a wide smile as he came down from his hysterical laughing fit, a few chuckles still making their way out to keep that beautiful grin on his face.
“No. No, after all that I didn’t get a single donut. Guess that’s why I don’t feel like a real cop,” Leon said wryly.
“You seem like a real cop to me. First thing you did was check on the well-being of a defenseless bystander,” you gestured to yourself. “And who knows what else you did while I was gone. But then you rescued said bystander from a hook, administered a vaccine, and blew up Nemesis. You have got to show me how to do that by the way.”
Leon smiled. “I didn’t blow Nemesis up. I just used a flashbang.” His smile quickly faded with a sigh. “A real cop wouldn’t have let said bystander be hunted down by that brute in the first place,” he huffed.
“That was my choice. First trials are tough enough as it is. I just wanted to take some of the heat off of you. I would have done the same for Jill had I found her before you.”
Leon seemed to ponder on what you said for a while. He stayed silent for so long you thought he had passed out from exhaustion right in the middle of your conversation. Until he spoke up again.
“Is there a way out of here?”
“Maybe? We’ve all looked. It’s always the first thing new Survivors do when they get here but no one has found anything.”
“Then that’s what I’ll do too,” Leon states as he stands to his full height. You sit up and grab his hand to get his attention without thinking.
“Just… be careful. Beyond those woods is Killer territory and they won’t hesitate to kill you. Or worse,” you warned.
Leon’s eyes met yours, then he glanced down at your hand grasping his and you mentally kicked yourself for not letting go already, but under his scrutiny you felt bad letting go now. Finally, he gave your hand a reassuring squeeze before letting go.
“I’ll be fine. Besides, we can’t die here. Permanently, that is.”
And with that, Leon took off into the woods with a determined stride. You were contemplating going after him when you felt two presences settle in behind you. You turned to see Kate and Min with shit eating grins on their faces.
“So. How was canoodling with the rookie?” Min asked.
“Canoodling, really?” you scoffed. What kind of word is canoodling?
“You’ve been reeeaaal friendly with the officer. And he’s been reeeaaal friendly back.” Suddenly, Min made a show of grabbing your wrist and exaggeratedly lowered her voice as many octaves as she could manage.
“May I? Please allow me to personally tend to your ailments,” Min mocked. You just rolled your eyes and pulled out of her grip. Kate couldn’t help but laugh at her terrible impersonation of the young officer.
“He has been pretty sweet on you since you guys got back, and he’s real easy on the eyes. What’s the harm in seein’ if something's there?” Kate asked.
“Leon just got here, I can’t just tie him down while he’s trying to adjust to this hell. Besides, he’s new and I just happened to be the first friendly face he ran into. Nothing more. I’m sure he’ll branch out more later on,” you concluded.
Neither of the girls looked convinced.
“Right, okay,” you stood up and brushed yourself off. “I’m going to make sure Leon hasn’t been sliced in half or stuck in a trap.”
“Ooooh sneaking off into the woods with the cop. Maybe he’ll still have some cuffs on him!” Min raised her voice teasingly and Kate laughed along.
“You guys are the worst!” you replied without turning back. There was no malice behind your words though so the girls just continued their giggling.
—
You searched the Killer’s realms as quickly and quietly as you could for any sign of Leon. Nothing at Coldwind, Red Forest was a bust, you were pretty sure Haddonfield was clear but you made sure not to stick around as soon as you got the feeling you were being watched.
You were currently freezing your ass off while searching the snowy terrain of Ormond. You rubbed your arms in a vain attempt to generate some heat. During trials, there was no hot or cold in any of the maps. Outside of trials, you could very much feel the biting cold wind. Just as you were about to cross the frigid terrain off the list, you saw several sets of footprints in the snow, though the fresh powder beginning to cover the ground once more made it difficult to discern whose they could be. What the snow couldn’t cover up was the spattering of bright red blood on the ground. The blood lined up with the footprints, along with a long trench in the snow, as if something had been dragged, all forming a path that led straight to the lodge.