Work Text:
07/04/20xx
It was the Fourth of July, and the agent training agency (yes, it does not have an official name because it is a * secret * agency that trains * secret * agents) is finally kind enough to give everyone a day of break, to commemorate the start of this great nation.
Some agents in-training are granted permission to have a few phone calls with family. Of course, before every call they will be reminded of the importance of non-disclosure and the phone calls will be made under surveillance to prevent any leak in information.
Leon S. Kennedy, however, was not one of those agents. He wanted to call Sherry, to know she is still alright, but he could not, as it is one of the agreements he had with the military to keep Sherry safe. As for Claire, he rather not to disturb her and her brother during their family time.
So he was alone, and had no one to call that night. The fireworks are bursting in the sky, always the red, blue, and white. Some would take a smoke at this moment, but Leon was never the smoker. He had this little bottle of Whisky, and hoped the alcohol could help blur the sense of time, and the night would be over soon, and he could return to training and missions and stop thinking about what is in his mind right now.
Alcohol was never helpful in this kind of matters, he should have known that. If anything, it only dragged him into the rabbit hole of memories of that city.
Raccoon City was his home for the first twenty years of his life, all the friends and family, all the people he knew, all the relations he had established, were in that city. He still remembers the grilled cheese and hot dogs at the street food cart at the end of the road, and how that cook would give him extra onion crisp as he is one of “old customers”. His aunt had taken him in when his parents passed away, and supported him to higher education. They loved him as much as his own parents. So for all the things and people he loves, he became a police.
And the city was destroyed on his first day returning after the vow to protect as much as he can. Nothing was left for him to protect. Almost nothing.
If it wasn’t that he had met Claire on the way, he may have already taken a bullet in his head after seeing Marvin had turned. And when he was separated from Claire, and had only vain hope that she would survive, he met Ada.
Ada was a bit older than him, mysterious, beautiful, and seemed experienced with handling unexpected situations. So no doubt he lowered his defenses toward her, and trusted her. Though thinking back, Ada may have been manipulating him from the beginning, but he also knows he had allowed those to happen because he was holding her like holding his last line of sanity
When Ada pulled him into a kiss, and told him that she wanted to see him again, it gave him hope. A hope that there’s still tomorrow to see, and that there’s still someone to love. No matter what Ada’s actual purpose was, she never actually pulled the trigger that was aimed at him, and the hope that she gave him was real that kept him surviving that night and being alive to this day.
He could not save Ada. That was his biggest regret. He had let her slip into the abyss. Reuniting with Claire and meeting Sherry has temporarily eased his pain in seeing another life lost that should be under his protection, and soon after the safety for Sherry and the offer by military had made him forget about that for sometime. But now as his daily training schedules became routine, she came back haunting every now and then. He could have sworn that he had seen that blush of red in the corner of his eyes when he was out in the field.
And though he knew that is never going to happen now in this line of work, he ached for a place called home. Racoon City was his home, and now he could never return it. At that night when Ada kissed him, he had hoped for the possibility of starting a home with this FBI agent. He remembered that the younger and more naive version of himself had that idea of asking her out for a date after everything was settled and they were all safe. Never going to happen now.
“Have to be prepared to let things go. To be prepared that those fighting alongside you may die at any time and you have to leave them behind to allow the others to survive.” is one of the mental training for secret agents like him. “Keep your heads on the mission ahead, and don’t look back.” Another lesson taught, as an aid to help agents cope with loss and pains incurred during the mission. The lives of agents are always on the road, Leon has been using them as mottos to avoid his thoughts being drawn back to the …
The only reason he had kept living, except to keep Sherry safe, is that he had a purpose. That was he needed to help him find his way everyday. That purpose was … was … Why couldn’t he remember now?
He started coughing. His chest was tight, and there was blood in his mouth.
10/04/2026
“Leon!” He heard someone calling his name.
“Leon!” He heard that voice shouting again, with concern.
He grunted, slowly opening his eyes. It was a yellow lighted room. He took a few blinks to adjust to light, and saw Grace. The girl was looking at him like she thought he was already dead.
“Hey, it’s me, it's Grace. Please wake up …”
“I was just resting my eyes.” He comforted the girl, and remembered Ada didn’t die 28 years ago. He thinks he dreamed something about Ada in the coma. He hadn’t seen her for several months. She probably also suffered from the Racoon City Syndrome right now, and his findings for cure, not only to save himself and Sherry, could also save Ada, this time.
A few more coughs, and he remembered that he still has things to finish in this last underground facility of Umbrella. Grace has already pulled him up, and let him lean on her shoulders so she could help him walk. Her figure is slender compared to him, but she still held him up firmly. She is young, probably around the same age as him on the night of Racoon City, what a coincidence.
“Let’s do this.” He said.
“Okay.” She answered in a shaking voice. Leon knows she is still terrified. She has been stuttering this whole night, which was not noted in her profile. She is terrified, but she is still doing the best she could, to escape, to save Emily, and to save him.
Even though she is afraid, she knows that they are going to end this now. She knows her purpose just like he did. She is much like him. And whatever’s up ahead, Leon knows they will survive. He didn’t shoot Emily’s vitals, he thought to himself, and he has to tell Grace about this after finishing up with Elpis. He got this feeling in his bones that everything is going to be alright.