FOREVER, PRETTY BOY → leon kennedy ✔

eight

CHAPTER EIGHT
for those that don't deserve it.

...

They made it to the lowest levels of the base, only managing to make it from Shen Mei's information. There was supposed to be a lab there, and flashbacks to the NEST in RC made Lucky's hands shake.

She wasn't good at hiding it, as Leon came up beside her and took her hand. He squeezed it gently, "I believe in you, Lucky. We're gonna make it through this, like we always do." Lucky nodded, but she looked unconvinced, distracted. Leon ducked his head to catch her eye. "Hey, hey Lucky-- hey, forever?"

She couldn't look away from him, couldn't think up some stupid excuse to forget him.

Lucky somehow smiled and tightened her fingers around his. "Forever, pretty boy."

Forever.

"Heads up." Shen Mei called, and the group slowed as they came to a large door. Shen Mei quickly punched the code in and the door soundlessly opened. The air got serious, and they picked up the pace.

Soon, they were just about running around a corner-- suddenly tripping over themselves to slow down. The hall opened up into a giant, circular room. It went deep into the earth, each level lined with holding containers of bodies. Sick experiments, undoubtedly... all tormented souls that needed to be put to rest.

In the centre was a large control area. Lucky spotted a swatch of bright red a few levels down and startled.

"Claire!"

The brunette faced them, and her concerned expression turned into a grin, despite being tied to a chair. "Lucky, Leon! Took ya long enough!"

"Hang tight, I'm gonna come get you!" Lucky glanced across the walkway, where a goliath-sized B.O.W stood. When it spoke, Jason's voice came out of it's mouth. "Shit--"

"We'll deal with him, you get Claire." Leon urged her on, grabbing his gun. Lucky glanced at Claire, then Jason, and her gaze finally settled on Leon again.

Spurred on by pure, unbridled fear of loss, Lucky grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her. They met hard, dissolving into a kiss filled to the brim with emotion. Before it could last too long, Lucky pulled away and jabbed her finger into his chest.

"Don't you fucking dare die."

Leon's stupid grin returned. "Right back at ya."

It was hard, but Lucky forced herself to move. Wilson was nowhere to be seen, but the automated voice told her that the facility planned on destroying itself and everything inside. Now this really felt like RC.

The pods of test subjects were being removed from the wall, then dropped into an acidic green goo that was quickly filling up the bottom of the facility. And, it was getting dangerously close to Claire.

"Okay, Lucky. Just gotta, slide down here--" Lucky tried to encourage herself as she made her way down to Claire's level. The place clearly wasn't made for easily getting to different levels, and Lucky nearly fell to her death way too many times to count. Gunshots echoed, the sound of metal breaking and things being smashed, but Lucky didn't let herself think about that. Before she worried about anything else, she had a duty to save her friend.

The acid had made it's way over the edge of the area Claire was in, and was quickly spilling towards her. "Claire, watch out!" Lucky hopped from a supporting beam to a platform that had been knocked down. It led directly to the small room.

Claire, on the other hand, managed to free her legs from the chair and hopped on top of it to stay out of the acid. The chair quickly began to dissolve, though, so she couldn't dwell long.

"Here, jump! I'll catch you!" Lucky called. Claire's eyebrows shot upwards.

"You? Will catch me? You're smaller than me!"

Lucky scoffed. "I'm going to ignore that remark and continue to try and save your life. Now jump!"

Claire glanced at the acid and decided, rather wisely, that trying would be better than dissolving with the chair. So, she took a breath and leapt.

Lucky grabbed the brunette's arm in a death grip and yanked her towards herself with all the strength she could muster. Thrown off balance, both girls tumbled to the ground... but they were safe. Lucky had saved Claire.

"Shit." She breathed out, relief making her knees weak. "We gotta stop nearly dying like this."

Claire groaned, rolling onto her back. "I second that. We're getting too old for this--"

"Bitch." Lucky muttered, earning a laugh from Claire.

"Fine, fine, we're not old. Yet."

Lucky sat up, nodding. "We sure as hell are not old, thank you very much. Now, let's go. Leon can't do this alone."

...

Claire and Lucky found a control panel in the centre of the lab, and the brunette wasted no time in pressing as many buttons as she could.

Suspended tanks and sea cans began to drop, hurtling to the acid bath below.

The newly-turned Jason was on one of the released ones, but he was quick enough to jump off and continue his path. He seemed to be heading upwards, towards the surface, and Lucky felt her guess about him revealing himself at the President's speech was... well, not a guess anymore.

"That one, drop it." Lucky pointed to the next suspended sea can that Jason had made it to and Claire punched the button. They had been strategically trying to avoid each one that Leon was standing on, but it was extremely difficult when he kept jumping around.

"Lucky, I'm sorry." Claire murmured. When Lucky glanced at her, confused, Claire nodded towards something on one of the walkways. It took Lucky a moment to recognize the body as Shen Mei's and she swallowed the tightness in her throat.

"He actually killed her. Fuck." Lucky stepped away from the controls, running her fingers through her hair. She'd only just accepted Shen Mei as an ally... and she'd never gotten a chance to apologize for everything earlier. "Damn it... why does death always come for those that don't deserve it."

Claire opened her mouth to respond, but stopped as they both spotted the large chunk of metal hurtling straight for them.

"Get down!" Lucky yelled, barely having enough time to grab Claire and hit the ground before the mass connected with the control room, tearing right through the thin metal and glass. Lucky hit the ground, but the force pushed her into the wall and she was immediately knocked unconscious, sent tumbling into the vast, empty darkness.

For a brief moment, she managed to accept this strange death right before her conscious slipped from her grasp.