revenant. resident evil 4 [remake]

500 VIEWS CELEBRATION (new prologue of the rewritten version)

Hello dears!

As you may or may have not noticed, I teased on my notice board that I am rewriting REVENANT. I decided it will take place just before the moment Ashley got kindapped (which means more chapters! yay?) but it will start a bit differently. I had fun writing the prologue (however there are two versions of it and I have an idea for the third one, somebody stop me please) and because we hit 500 views on this book, I decided to release it!

It's a draft for now and it does need a bit of polishing but I think it kind of emphasises the chemistry between our OC and Leon which I think the first few chapters of this book lacked (hence the rewriting, I'm a perfectionist and I suffer because of that). I like it very much, although it feels like a fever dream (which is funny in the context of this chapter, so hehe).

I would like to thank you all for reading my fanfic and sticking up with me! It's a great achievement for me to get so many views and I'm grateful for every. single. one. of them! I hope that reading this story will bring you just as much joy as it brought me during the writing process.

Stay happy and healthy!
Esther

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A bell rang when the doors to a small diner opened. It was one of the places build recently but styled to look like a restaurant from the eighties, luring customers in by making them feel nostalgic. There were no cars waiting outside for families gathered by the circular tables, no cabs for drunk men sticking to the bar for the last few hours. There were no people visiting at this time, the diner would have looked abandoned if it wasn't for one person occupying a booth seating. His back was turned to Keira, shoulders slightly slumped and head falling on his chest. He must've been tired. Or reconsidering, caught up in his thoughts.

Keira gently rested her palm on his shoulder, feeling the fabric of a fine suit under her fingers. Her blue eyes met his and she could swear electricity crackled between them. It was a brief storm full of nerves and uncertainty that passed as quickly as it appeared.

The man got up to greet her with a warm hug that they both prolonged, missing the comforting presence of the other. Keira leaned her forehead on his shoulder, just above the clavicle, careful not to stain the black jacket with the makeup she put on. His heartbeat was steady, the sound drowned out by a quiet sigh he let out. Keira felt tingling on her skin as he accidentally nuzzled it while burying his face in her neck. The woman sighed too, cherishing the silent moment they shared.

The bell's ringing reverberated in the air. Keira frowned but didn't pay much attention to it, she was fully focused on the man now scooting on the couch so she could sit beside him. She wondered why he hasn't spoken yet. The situation seemed oddly familiar, Keira knew some words were supposed to be said by now.

The night darkened, she couldn't see the lighter circle of blue peeking from the West nor any clouds that would splotch the completely black sky. The delicate gusts of wind slithering through an open window tingled her skin, instead of biting into her bones like how she remembered it. Something was wrong, Keira realised. The bell rung in her ears louder and louder.

"Why isn't it snowing?" She asked the man, his gaze falling softly upon her eyes.

"What do you mean?" He frowned, tilting his head to the side. His voice was only a little louder than the bell, Keira had to focus to understand him.

"It's New Year's Eve," she whispered more to herself than to him. "And it never snows in Washington but today it should."

She had a faint memory of the moment, distant enough to be more of a feeling rather than anything else. Keira remembered the chill on her skin and tingling in her cheeks. Some tension in the air. Anticipation and excitement.

"But it can't be New Year's Eve, silly. It's not even October yet," Keira stared at the man, trying to decipher the look on his face. He wasn't a bad liar, that would clash with his profession, but she could tell when he wasn't serious. At that time, he meant what he said.

"What?" She asked him, rising in her seat. "What did you just say?"

"New Year's Eve is in more than three months, Keira." The man repeated calmly.

"No, it can't be. I- I don't know what's going on. Why would we be here?"

The atmosphere became ominous, Keira felt like an intruder. Intuition told her she wasn't supposed to be there, that she didn't belong.

"Come on, now you're hurting my feelings."

"I'm not joking. I don't feel like I'm supposed to be here. Something's wrong."

"What, love? Tell me, we'll work it out "

"I am, I'm telling you. I can't put a finger on it but I have a feeling," the tension built in her chest. Breathing became more difficult, her heart pounded in panic. A quick jolt of pure, sharp pain pierced her head. "How did we get here?"

"What do you mean? We are here, that's what matters."

"Don't you feel it though? We don't belong."

"But we do. We always will," he replied somewhat sadly, taking his seat back near the table. His head was hung low once again, he looked exactly like when she first came in.

"It's just a dream. It must be," she tried to reason, to find a logical way out of this situation. The bell was louder than before, it sounded more like an alarm and messed with her mind.

The lights went out and she suddenly felt cold and alone. The man sitting beside her was gone like a shadow swallowed by the darkness. She felt the warmth of his presence linger for a second or two but it fainted as soon as anxiety started to take over her.

Keira moved closer to the window, trying to peek out and see what happened. Then she knew. She recognised the neon signs, the view of the street near the police station. Her nightmares brought her back to the Raccoon City, the night of September 29th. Keira's personal, most dreaded hell.

A pair of eyes met hers, a clash of dark blue and bloodshot whites. The woman jumped in her seat and scurried away, not losing the window out of her sight for even a split second. Another pair of eyes rid of life appeared, and another, and another until all she could see were faces and stains of blood smeared on the glass.

She had to run. Fast and far.

Keira stumbled out of her seat and kicked the high heels she wore off of her feet. With all the windows and doors barricaded by the infected, she took off to the kitchen. She grabbed a knife laying on the counter. It was a military weapon, one that she had used to keep in her car and the same one that saved her life back then in Raccoon City.

"And where do you think you're going?" A figure followed her into the room, circling her as if she was just a prey to hunt down. Keira tightened her hold on the knife and slashed, only to see her hand get caught mid-air. The figure of the woman took the knife out of her hand with ease, like she would take a toy from a toddler.

Keira was about to crumble. She knew how this night was going to end.

"You will stay here," the woman whispered to her ear with a smirk on her lips. She took a few steps back and took out a gun, pointing it at Keira.

The bullet was fired and it hit Keira just under her right clavicle. The more often she had this nightmare, the more convinced she was that she saw it pierce the air before it sunk in her chest. It was just a flash, a split of a second but she never got rid of the feeling that she could've reacted somehow, that she could've stopped this from happening.

"Forever."

And it was all silent.