SAVEGUARD ⟼ leon s. kennedy

xxxviii. sticking together

ｌｅｏｎ
３：３０ｐｍ

"Alright. We have thirty minutes to do this. Let's focus." Leon runs down through the main corridor, hoping that it actually leads where he thinks it does.

He knows that between you two and Jill and Chris in the other location, you'll gather enough evidence to finally incriminate Lansdale in all of this. It would have to be enough for now, enough to go back home and await the trial.

Go back home.

Home.

Home.

"Isn't it weird that we haven't even come across anyone from Veltro?" You ask him, running with your handgun to your side.

Leon thinks it is, very weird. But he's learned that nothing is ever as it seems when it comes to these missions. "Let's hope it stays that way."

He steals a quick look at you, with your hand tightly wrapped around the hilt of your handgun. "Not that I can't take them," he adds.

"Oh, I don't doubt that," you say, smiling.

He lets himself smile back, hoping it will put your mind at ease.

At the end of the long corridor, there's another entrance with a large metallic sign right on top declaring it a Decontamination Zone.

"Bingo," he says quietly. "This has to be the lab." Surely, it can't be this easy? He thinks.

You press a button that makes the sliding doors open with a little hissing sound. "Let's hope there's a vaccine here."

Leon wants to say something, to keep you talking, to keep listening to your voice. He'll say anything if it means hearing your voice. "We'll find some answers here. I know it," he says absent-mindedly as his eyes follow your every movement.

It is unfathomable how much he needs this mission to be over.

"Please enter the sterilisation room one at a time," a voice informs you two as the doors are fully open.

"What if we both go in at the same time?" You ask timidly, and Leon can sense a drop of fear in your voice.

He shrugs, and steps into the small booth next to you, and for a quick second his chest brushes against yours, before he turns away, heat flooding his cheeks.

He doesn't understand how he still gets so flushed when he's close to you, even though he's already kissed you, felt you, tasted you. It feels like, with you, his body is betraying him for the first time, making him feel things he shouldn't, not here, not now.

He wonders if you feel the same, but he doubts it. For some reason, Leon thinks that for you, it's nothing more than a fling to pass the time, to distract yourself, to make the nightmare bearable.

"Nothing," you say, shaking him out of his thoughts. "We really do need to be alone in this room."

Leon sighs, and steps out the booth. "You go first. I'll be right here." You look a little panicked, and he adds, "You'll be fine. I promise."

You nod bravely, but he can see how white your knuckles are from gripping the gun. When the door shuts, the voice comes on again. "Now sterilising, please wait..."

Leon can see you from outside the glass booth. You smile at him as the sterilisation gas comes out, dousing you. He smiles softly at you, knowing how scared you must feel.

For a few seconds, everything feels... Normal. Maybe he shouldn't've been worried. Sometimes things can go right. But—

His heart sinks as he hears a loud thumping side coming from your side of the booth. He presses himself up against the glass, looking into the booth. You take a step backwards, and he hates how there's a wall separating the both of you. It seems like it's too thick to be penetrated by a bullet.