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"Leon?!"
Your cheerful face popped into view.
"Holy crap, it is you!"
You ran up to him and tackled him with a big bear hug.
"Oof, careful, kid." He stumbles back a bit. " Jeez, just what have they been feeding you? Nearly took me out there."
You let out a gasp.
"Kid?!?" You looked up at him wide-eyed. " Leon, don't tell me... you're balding, old man~." You teased with a huge grin.
He let out a huff before hooking around and around the back of your neck and roughly ruffling your hair.
"Wanna try that again?"
"Acck—Nooooooo, not the hair! I just got it untangled." You cried out as you tried to pry yourself from Leon's grip.
He released you with a loud laugh, causing you to stumble and fall. You pouted at him, but it doesn't last long as you give him a bright, clumsy smile.
He stared at you for a second before letting out an exaggerated sigh.
"Oh great, guess I'm back on babysitting duty." He turned away from you, hiding a small smile.
You gasp in offense.
"Oh, come on! Did Spain mean nothing?" You crawled over to him and gripped his jacket. "You don't mean that! We were an amazing team in Spain, right? Right!" You try to look at his face, only to turn away.
Your cheeks puff up in anger when you hear him snuffling a laugh.
"Leoooonn!!!"
He wished he had told you earlier. He wished he hadn't taken you for granted, but here he was, clutching his side after a piece of metal lodged itself into him.
The B.O.W had thrown you off the platform, causing your body to land in front of him. He winced at the sound of your neck cracking from the impact, but he could see your face, your lifeless eyes staring back, tear stains on your cheeks, and your lifeless body twisted morbidly.
You were...You were the best partner he could ever ask for. You were the reason why he didn't spiral in Spain, and when they had decided to send you off to another country—
A roar snaps him out of this thought.
Shit.
The B.O.W had jumped down and was now slowly inching towards him. He couldn't move, not with this injury, and most important of all, he was out of ammo.
This is it, was all Leon could think. His luck of surviving many Raccoon City incidents had finally caught up to him. This was how he was going to die, helpless and unable to save those he held close.
He looked at your lifeless body one last time...At least you won't be alone for long, a thought that shouldn't comfort him but did.
He closed his eyes as the BOW neared, but nothing happened.
That's when he heard your grunts.
You had gripped the BOW's leg, preventing it from moving any closer to him. It tried to kick you away, but you won't budge. You grip onto the BOW tighter and took a huge chunk out of its leg.
It flung you across the room. It's attention, now finally on you. You try to get up, but your leg is currently crippled. An enraged screech filled the room, and the BOW starts charging at your limp body.
Leon couldn't look; it was already enough to see your body destroyed from the fall, but a second time was going to destroy him.
But what he heard wasn't you, but the creatures' pained screech. It was crawling away from you.
You were up. Your body looked normal; evidence of your dislocated limbs was gone, but most important of all, you had somehow torn its arm off.
You slowly staggered towards the creature as it continued to screech at you to back off, but you don't. Now backed against a wall, the creature mutates multiple tentacles from its ripped arm, piercing you.
It has no effect as you slowly climb on top of it and start consuming it. It lets out screech after screech as you continue devouring its flesh.
Leon winces, it couldn't help but feel bad, but karma hits hard.
Once you're done, your attention turns towards Leon. If it wasn't the BOW or the blood loss that took him, you were definitely going to.
As you neared him, something unexpected happened. You lower yourself and crawl onto his lap. Nuzzling your head into his shoulders body going limp.
You were cuddling him.
He tilts his head to take a look at your face. Eyes clouded and dull, you were definitely infected, but you weren't attacking...
Slowly, he brought his hands up. One on your back and the other on your head, slowly petting you.
You purred at the sensation.
He glanced at your face again, and your eyes were closed. Can zombies even sleep? He thought to himself before remembering that you were carrying the majority of the medical herbs on you.
Slowly, he moved his hands down to your tactical belt and vest and...bingo, med injectors and herbs, but also a communication device.
He gets to live to see another day.
Just as he was about to call the agency for support, he paused and thought of you, who was currently limp in his grasp. The agency wasn't going to take kindly to you now that you're infected, whether you saved him or not.
He contemplated for a moment and pressed the contact.
"Hey, Chris...It's me, Leon...I need you to come pick me up. Oh, and bring Rebecca with ya."