SAVEGUARD ⟼ leon s. kennedy

xlix. not blind enough

ｌｅｏｎ

It feels like déjà vu for Leon as he stands there, in the middle of the abandoned warehouse, with you clutched tightly into his chest, and B.O.Ws surrounding him, waiting to pounce.

"Jessica, I'm not doing this," Leon says carefully, taking a step back from her and her crazy eyes.

"I'd be careful about stepping in that direction," she smirks, and nods in the direction of the growling. "Hunters are out for blood. Haven't fed them in a while."

Leon turns around, clutching you so tightly to his chest he's sure his handprints will show up on your body later. There are four hunters he can see, but the growling is louder than that, which means there must be some invisible ones too.

He knows that if he wants to get both of you out of here alive, he'll need to let go of you eventually, and it takes him a while to accept that. He reluctantly reasons the situation with himself, until there is nothing more he can do to convince himself.

"Jessica," he says slowly, moving towards one of the now empty containers. "This is between you and me. You know Clementine had nothing to do with Arthur's death." He crouches down, and props your body up against the container, gently, slowly. "She's innocent. Killing her won't get you Arthur back."

"Oh, and killing you will?" Jessica snaps, red hot rage dancing around in her eyes. "Nothing will bring him back."

Leon takes a cautious step away from you, casting one last look at you, and then steps carefully in front of you, shielding you from Jessica's gaze. "So what are you doing this for?"

Jessica studies him for a second, and he can see the conflicting emotions play around on her face. "I need you gone, Leon. I need her gone, I need anyone that is still alive while Arthur is dead, gone."

Leon would feel for her on any other occasion—he really would've—but not when she did the things she did to you. Not when she abducted you and tied you up like some dangerous animal, not while she put your life so much danger. Not when her handprint is on your face, and your wrists are bloodied with her restraints.

She can come after him all she wants, she can lie to him, betray him, kill his partners, try to kill him, but she doesn't get to lay a finger on you.

No-one can do that.

He swallows and takes another step closer to her. "Jessica, I get why you're hurt. We all have people close to us die. But how do you keep defending him when he so obviously used you to help his father?"

Lightning fast, Jessica draws her handgun, cocks it, and aims it at his head. "Do not make me out to the victim here, pretty boy. I wasn't coerced into anything—"

Leon closes the distance between them as quickly as she had drawn her gun. He hits her gun-wielding arm with his forearm, making her lose her balance for a quick second. He takes his chance and grabs the barrel of her gun with his left hand, while using his right hand to turn the gun back towards her.

She wrestles with him for a few seconds, trying to yank the gun back out of his grip, but he's stronger than she is, and while she's busy trying to grapple with him, he strikes her in the neck, the side of his hand cracking hard against her throat.

She coughs and sputters, relinquishing her grip on her gun. He unloads the gun, pocketing the ammo magazine, and drops the now useless gun to the floor, kicking it out of her reach.

"You—shouldn't—shouldn't have done that," she coughs, trying to steady her breathing.

"There's a lot of things I shouldn't do," he says, impatient. "One of them is keeping you alive. But I'm not bringing myself down to your level."