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mandalhoerian · 2 years

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NO TIME TO DIE | leon kennedy x oc | 3

pairing: leon s. kennedy x oc word count: 15K~ (I AM SORRY) warnings: past child abuse, gore, descriptions of vomit, suicide attempt, vera being blasphemous to god , again with cringy humor inspired by my real life experiences of awkwardness, they're getting to know each other ur honor 😭 summary: For the sake of getting out of the station and to save Marvin, Leon and Vera end up establishing field agent and mission support unit of two without knowing what it is through trials of trust and vulnerability. READ ON AO3 ! CH. 4 ☆ NO TIME TO DIE MASTERPOST

Lt. Branagh was lying sideways on the couch, one glance at the him would suggest he was sleeping but the man was visibly shivering and his lips were pressed into a thin line, face shiny with the pearly droplets of sweat, a white sheet taken from the curtains surrounding them draped over his body that Vera had taken extra care to tuck underneath — so his back wouldn't be exposed should he toss around, according to her crestfallen explanation.

This must be how her father put her to bed when she was a child, Leon thought, cocooning her into warmth and safety. He had to look away from her lovingly caressing her father's head like he was the child and she was the parent, the lump stuck on his stomach got twice the heavier with the sight.

A hollowness curled its way home within his ribs at not being able to imagine that kind of love between him and his late parents, hell, he couldn't even remember receiving that kind of agonizing affection from them, feather soft and sitting-before-the-stove-on-a-winter-night cozy. The closest he got to it was when he successfully completed deliveries or brought money home as a child beggar, his father spared him then from the usual beatings that he told was necessary for people to pity him — people loved broken pretty things, always wanted to fix 'em . Leon was no different from an injured pup in their eyes, he had said, so he had to act like it, too.

Mornings were filled with twenty wink sleeps and nights hardwired him to stay alert like a hawk, gang members coming and going like it was an inn, his mother's cheap sugary perfume hanging in the rotten, molded air as she left home and didn't return for weeks, Leon surviving on salt on bread or bouillon cubes and his father's anger the whole time, the brown-stained refrigerator mostly filled with liquor, strangers randomly spawning in his home with guns in their belts looking at him funny, his father laughing, and then empty film strips and blanks in his memory — and Leon hurting all over, running, sleeping on the streets for a couple of days and managing his hunger until his existence was forgotten and going back home then, body used to the punishment he was sure to receive. It was chaotic and it was routine.

Leon survived. Leon survived because he was simply made that way. He was born into survival.

For him, home was the most dangerous place on earth, a jungle filled with predators — the meaning of the word safe didn't come to him until after the day he lost his family. Then, home was just a box with all the hazardous contents removed, it never meant more than what the definition entailed, never really bothered him unless he was faced with what he wasn't allowed to have, the adolescent Leon avoided parks, hurried straight back after school, anywhere children would flock to, followed by parents who loved them to bits. Those were the places where tears decided to surface after long periods of feeling absolutely nothing. Leon couldn't control his body's response, and he resented the vulnerability and the feeling that he was made of glass — he would never be ready for the danger ambushing him around the corner, salvation had turned him weak.

If only he wasn't introduced to affection by that cop who had shown the first act of kindness in his life that he could remember, changing his life forever. It was when he had gained consciousness, the first time he realized he had autonomy, the first time he had felt unbridled happiness and joy and gratitude in his life that he wanted to share it in abundance: the relaxation of a full night's sleep and a body that could just let go, the warmth of a homemade meal, everyday life not as a fist that came down on him but a hand that was an encouraging push into a kinder world — Leon wanted everyone to feel this way in their life just once. It had healed him. He wanted to change someone's life the way his was changed. He wanted to do that for someone, be that cop for other many Leon S. Kennedy's.

He found his calling in helping people, and he had two people right now who needed him to step up the most.

He tried his hardest not to picture Vera and Marvin in a child's bedroom at night, illuminated by the soft yellow light coming from the bedside lamp, Lt. Branagh younger and healthier and happier, telling a night time story to his little daughter basically made into a blanket burrito. Leon closed his ears to the giggles of a young Vera, of course questioning the story at every turn and nitpicking at every detail ("How's that a twig, dad? It must be a branch if it has leaves!"), enjoying squabbling with her father over the tiny details. Warm, warm, warm.

Leon couldn't swallow the fist-sized rock stuck in his throat. and swore to himself: he would save them, he would take them to safety, no matter what , he would not fail Lt. Branagh.

He had been wavering before, utterly confused and split into two pieces over doing what he thought was right and what he was ordered to do — Lt. Branagh was his boss, but also a man with a family he wanted desperately to be saved before him. It gave massive jitters of anxiety to Leon to be thinking about disobeying orders despite the world ending around them when all he wanted was approval, but at the same time, could he be a good cop if he didn't have the gall to do the right thing?

He was wearing the uniform, he'd better live up to it.

"Let's leave him to rest," Leon whispered, lingering behind the crouched Vera.

The fingers on the lieutenant's sweat-covered forehead stopped and she straightened her spine, looking back at him over her shoulder, a faraway look in her half-droopy eyes. His heart ached for her.

She sniffled without tears, and got up, signaling Leon to follow her to the front desk, and took the Toughbook with her. On the way, she said, "He needs herbs, that could put him to sleep a bit. Help the pain."

Those definitions sounded a bit... Leon stretched out the word, uncertain. "Herbs? You're not talking about cannabis, are you?"

He got laughed at. Again . "I wish. Getting high in the middle of all this would be a dream come true, but no. Herbs I'm talking about are medicinal." She set the Toughbook down on the desk, pulling a rolling chair and sitting down on it, working to open the station's maps. "Native to the Arklay mountains. You know the pharmaceutical corporation, Umbrella? They farm them for medicine. These herbs have healing properties, relax John Law."

His lips twitched upwards from their corners at John Law . Weirdly enough, this felt like they've been acquainted for a long while instead of having met like an hour ago. Leon reckoned it could be because of her personality, Vera seemed like the kind of social, center-of-the-room girl who would get close and chummy with a person who she was just introduced to on the spot. She just gave off the energy of the type who immediately started drunk-defending a girl she met in the bathroom line as if they had been blood sisters since birth.

She had immediately warmed up to Leon and was treating him with the normalcy of a friend, which in turn, he had to admit comforted him greatly. The zombie apocalypse was easier to bear with someone to share the experience together. He only wished Claire could get here soon, safe and sound, they would be stronger together.

He leaned over to see what she was doing on the computer. "That's good to hear, I guess."

One square was slowly blinking red on the map, it had 'Lounge' written on it. He couldn't figure out what he was looking at when she snickered. "The red ones can be used for enhancing the effects of weed though."

He whirled his head around at that toward her so fast that she cackled, holding her stomach and hitting one foot on the ground, not trying in the slightest to hold back the ugliness of that sound. Leon was surprised to say the least, eyebrows shooting up at that. "We are not feeding weed to my dad, oh my god, don't worry I'm just messing with you."

His neck warmed up instantly, but it thankfully didn't reach his face. He was aware his skin was prone to get flushed very easily, it was something he didn't like about himself, it gave away his feelings on a silver platter when he didn't want to. On top of that, Leon really felt bad that he was taking hits left and right in the eyes of this girl, he couldn't be that easy to sway back and forth, could he? "What exactly are these things, then?"

"Alright," she said, sniffling again. "So we have three types of herbs. Green, blue and red. They have official, scientific names of course but I couldn't care less." She stopped, mirth in her eyes. "I only care what flavor they add to my weed."

He made his eyes go wide slightly, a warning in his voice. "You want me to cuff and stuff you or something?"

That earned him fully raised eyebrows up to Vera's hairline underneath her short bangs, and her gaping at him like a fish out of water. Her eyes trailed to the handcuffs hanging from his hip, and back to his face, something suggestive in her face that he couldn't decipher. "Okay, didn't expect to make such a discovery..."

A giant question mark hung above his head as he stared in confusion. Leon didn't get it. "Discover what, that cannabis is illegal?"

She stared for a second, unblinking.

Leon hadn't paid attention before, but they were colorless. Pale monochrome gray eyes. How was that possible? It was striking against the deep tan of her skin and the soot black of her thick and long eyelashes.

Vera hit her fist on the table. "Oh my god, you don't realize," she said, her voice suddenly big, shocking him out of his recent focus on the color of her irises, and panicked for a moment thinking she reacted to him staring into her eyes that intently. "Oh you're the sweet type, oh." Her hand went to her heart.

What was happening? Where had that come from? "I'm not following, but thank you?" That was a compliment, right? This was the second one he got from her that read like an insult but didn't prick like one. Strange.

"Never change," she said, jokingly emotional for some reason and it perplexed him. He knew he wasn't going to get it out of her.

Yep, you guessed it, another insult-compliment.

"Okay?" He half-laughed, disconcerted. "We're getting distracted. Tell me more about the herbs. Outside of their usage in cannabis this time, please."

"I'm tempted to refuse. Oh to be cuffed and stuffed."

Leon tilted his head to the side, not saying anything. He was missing something here, damnit.

"You're sucking the fun out of everything." Vera huffed. "Here I am trying to forget about my sick dad and you just have to pop my balloon." She spun left and right with the rolling chair. The poor girl wasn't serious in her jab, he knew as much, but her admitting she was actively trying to soothe herself bothered him just the same.

Leon wished he could do something already, impatience rising in his stomach to go out there and start working on getting the way out open. He frowned, but she didn't see it, continuing her explanation. "Back to the point, as you wish. Green herbs have the ability to heal basic injuries, chew on 'em and you'll be immediately relieved. It's a huge upgrade from aloe-vera. If you've applied it to any burn or injury you know it's freaky how fast that shit helps, imagine how wild this green herb is. I jumped from the first floor once and the recovery by just eating this was magical."

"Jumped from the first floor, not fell?"

"Hell yeah," she gave him the rock hand sign with both hands. "I’m metal like that."

Leon thought back to her saying twink with her whole chest, amused.

She was searching his reaction for something, eyes squinted a bit, the sheer thickness of her eyelashes made it seem like she was shutting her eyes funny. "Not gonna ask? Not curious in the slightest?"

"Nope," he said. "I respect your privacy."

"Man, we are so different. You don't argue, you're not nosy, you're nice and respectful. How is this gonna work?" Complimenting him once more, making it come out like complaining. That had to be a trait of hers. "We need spice in this relationship."

Easily distractible, got it.

"Let's put herbs in it," Leon reminded her, gently, without making it obvious he was telling her to get back on track. "You were saying blue?"

She came back to the moment, stopping her spins with the chair. "Yeah, uh, blue herbs are to treat poisoning. As for red herbs, they're very pretty but they don't do anything. Or so people thought. I was talking about weed for a reason, they discovered red herbs are amplifiers of some sort when someone in this city accidentally mixed it with pot and thought they were god for like a week and had to be taken to the ER. They said they tried it because they read it in an Asian medicine book or something and now it's being researched and an entire industry is changing. Crazy, right?"

He could indulge her for just a second.

"Were you that person, Vera?" Leon asked flatly.

"No," Vera said immediately, a shocked, deer-in-the-headlights look in her face, she clearly hadn't expected to be hit with that and Leon was satisfied deep down, he had avenged himself. "Why? Thought you weren't curious."

"So you're accepting this is about you."

"I'm— I'm not? I'm not. The fuck." She blinked rapidly, unable to comprehend how fast the conversation had escalated. He had to accept this was kind of satisfying. "Not the point at all."

"Okay," he shrugged, also noting that word irritated her a bit. He did manage to distract her, though, so it was fine. Back to the point. "So how do I get these? They can't be in the station, but according to what you're saying they should be sold in herbal stores. Do we come back once we get out and take what we need from there?"

"You know what happens in a disaster? People stock up on necessities. This is what happened with the herbs. A lot of citizens had the same idea and when they took refuge here, they also flooded the station with all the herbs they brought." She leaned back on the chair and it squeaked. "They are all around the place now. You can imagine why."

"So you're saying I just have to pick them up on the way?"

"Ding-dong!"

"This is the single greatest thing I heard tonight, I can get moving right now," Leon said, knocking on the desk excitedly, an energetic spring to his feet while moving away and inspecting the fenced west wing door and the panel next to it that was covered entirely by yellow duct tape from a distance. The knife Lt. Branagh gave him could slice through. He returned his attention to Vera. "What's the location of the next medallion?"

"Okay, so good news and bad news." Vera raised her hands and then put them down, slapping them on the desk on either side of the Toughbook. "Both medallions are on the east side," her left hand moved to the hellish place Leon had barely made it out of. "One on the second floor," likewise, her right hand moved towards the right. "One on the third floor. I saw you investigating the precinct earlier so you must have seen that the only available way is by the shutter door because the other entrances are locked —- both the east and west side are like that, actually. Doors with a blue spade symbol on it."

"I saw two more spade doors to the left. One on the right."

"There is a spade key to unlock these."

"I'm assuming you don't have it?"

"No. David does. And I have no idea where the hell he is."

From the lack of gunshots, Leon had an inkling of what had happened to the guy, but he didn't voice it out loud, transparent sadness put lines of stress on his brow.

"There are three other doors with different symbols like this one," Vera added. "The interior designer clearly wanted to stick to a theme. This museum is one giant escape room."

Great , Leon thought. Why did he think it would be easy? "So heart, diamond and club keys? How can I get them?"

"Don't worry about the heart key, it belongs to Chief Irons." She almost hissed the man's name, her nose scrunching at it, a faint disgust flashing in her face and then dissipating. Leon’s attention perked up. "It unlocks his private chambers and the places he keeps his art collection in, nothing useful to us."

How did she know that?

Maybe it's common knowledge around here between the officers.

But Vera wasn't a police officer, that much was obvious.

Others could have explained it to her.

It makes sense, Leon concluded, closing that discussion in his head.

“Is the Chief gone as well?”

“Hopefully,” she murmured flatly.

Did he hear that right? “What?”

“I said, doubtfully,” she cleared up, shrugging. “Don’t worry about him. He must have saved himself somehow, getting away is his defining characteristic.”

His eyebrows lowered in discontent, the sarcastic jab was making the hair at the back of his neck stand up.

That was his boss. Leon was unsure if he should try to pry, there was something private there, the hatred burned and he smelled the smoke. He wanted to find Chief Irons as well if he could, but his instincts told him if he tried to talk about that right now, Vera would start pulling away and distancing, that was something he couldn’t afford, he needed her in the moment. He would cross the Irons bridge when he got there.

He pressed forward. "What do I do about the other keys?"

"I guess we just have to look out for them?" Vera shook her head, shoulders pulled to herself, she was clearly lost as well. "Marvin had them together at one point but after everyone split up around the station, the keys got scattered too."

Leon could put together the thought process that led to that decision. Lesson learned. He had to attach himself to Vera and Lt. Branagh by the hip. "Not a good idea to separate, we should stick together moving forward."

"Yeah, I agree as well. They thought they'd be able to cover more ground but they spread out way too thin. The undead overwhelmed them quick. You don't want to be by yourself when that happens."

Leon moved around the desk to stand next to Vera and leaned down, looking at the screen again. He inspected the 'Lounge' area and what surrounded it. Second floor. This had to be the room with one of the medallions. "Lucky to have you look out for me, then."

Vera pushed away from him by making the chair roll away a bit, and cleared her throat, looking unpleasant to be content. How she managed to pull such an expression, Leon didn’t know. "Damn right you are."

Leon gave her a genuine nod to which she slightly scowled that he took as a joke, and then asked, "This where the medallion is?" His pointer finger was on the area flashing red.

"Yeah. It would take five minutes tops to go in and out if we had the spade key since the way is through the library, but we are stuck taking the long road." She groaned, throwing her head backwards, inky strands of semi-long straight hair flying all around with the movement. "Fuck this, ugh."

He had to bring Officer Kennedy out for that, but man, was it hard. This was his first goddamn day, he wasn't used to being authoritative. "For the record, you're not coming with me."

The chair rolled away when she stood up in a hurry. "Listen—"

"I have listened." Leon interrupted. "And I have an idea, but you need to cooperate with me instead of going against everything I say." He recalled Lt. Branagh's words. "We need to trust each other."

" Fine , go on."

Leon sighed in relief. "You need to stay here for the lieutenant, he needs you." He raised one hand when she was about to talk. "And not just as his caretaker. When I get that fence up, there'll be an opening for all the zombies to come through. I'll make sure to be thorough and finish all that I come across but you need to be here just in case."

Finish all that I come across flowed out of him easy as melted butter, but in reality, it was a horrible thing to say and Leon barely held his ground without swaying — like those things didn't use to be living breathing human beings turned into abominations. It was all instinct to see nothing but monsters when looking at them, there was not a shred of humanity about any of those things anymore, but when the adrenaline ebbed away and his conscience flowed in, all he thought was: Oh god, I killed people today, Jesus fucking Christ, what if they were in there? What's gonna happen now? Has the whole world gone to shit? Is there a point to this?

Focus, Leon.

"I can't just let you go out there all by yourself, that's not fair." Vera sucked a breath in, underneath everything, her stiff body language told Leon that she did not really want to come with him, her steel gaze was uncertain at best and begging for him to refuse her at worst. "I wanna have fun too."

Vera needed to sound more condescending, and had to put more vigor instead of discomfort behind having fun if she really wanted Leon to fall for that devil may cry attitude. He knew she was scared, as any human being thrust into sickening survival would, the girl had lost so many people — she was locked in with monsters carrying the faces of once familiar friendly faces and she was all that was left along with her father; nobody could ever be ready for shit like this.

His heart soared at the sight of her trying to sound mean and making it into something personal and isolating it from him so that she could toughen up. She was trying for Leon. That alone was enough to give him strength.

"I know you're feeling guilty because you think you're doing nothing but It's my duty to keep you and the lieutenant safe, and I will." He needed her to trust him for this, just let herself depend on him. Leon knew he didn't look the part, but he was more capable than people would give him credit for. This was the time to prove it. "Just be my backup like before, if you want to? That was a great arrangement and it worked out, didn't it?"

Vera didn't joke, scowling deeply. "I don't feel good about this. You're doing all the work."

"Literally why I'm here for," Leon responded, sure of himself.

She looked down, weary, the light of the chandelier created a big shadow of her eyelashes on her cheeks, her hip leaning on the edge of the mahogany countertop. Then she did a double take at something behind him. "This is Marvin's," Vera said, reaching around a hand and gingerly touching the handle of the knife strapped to Leon's Sam Browne peeking out from his waist. And she pulled her arm back fast when it brushed the fabric of the vest covering his side, obviously not meaning to reach for Leon in the first place.

"Yeah," he confirmed, low and soft. "He gave it to me."

She fell quiet.

Then, a spark. "I know what I can do for you!" She jumped a bit and Leon stepped away, eyes huge, for her to run past him, watching her with interest. "Wait here, I'll be back in a flash!"

Minutes later, he was dumbfoundedly watching as the main desk of the hall literally transformed into a workbench. The Toughbook had returned to its original place to make space. One side had a collection of different sharpening whetstones and the other full of tools used in gun repair — gun lube, cleaning picks, wrenches, hammer, electric screwdriver, a whole hex key collection, torx bits, and all the other stuff Leon just couldn't decipher — he only knew the basics to take care of Matilda.

"You're a gunsmith," he stated, now the part about crafting clicking into place. He did not see that coming.

"Among many other things, yes," Vera said, her head shake was akin to a bobblehead, spreading her arms to span the whole length of the desk. "Velkam to mai şop, diır kastımır!"

Welcome to my shop, dear customer. What accent was that? Middle Eastern of origin like her, but not quite Arabic — the sounds didn’t roll like that.

She played imaginary drums, the energy causing Leon to feel this was just him walking into a gun shop after settling better in Raccoon City and getting his first paycheck. "Brrink mi eni parts end ai şal enhens yor fayırarms! If samtink gets brrokın, kam to mi end ayll fiks it! If yor nayf gets damacd, ayll restor it bak to its formır glori!"

Bring me any parts and I shall enhance your firearms. If something gets broken, come to me and I’ll fix it. If your knife gets damaged, I’ll restore it back to its former glory. Hard r’s, emphasized k’s, vowels flat. Seriously, what accent was it?

Her playing into a stereotype he couldn’t figure out yet aside, Leon could not be any far off in figuring someone out. What in the world was she? He couldn't keep the fascination off his face, trailing one finger from the far right end of the desk to the left, just looking at all the equipment as if they had materialized out of thin air in front of him, which they kind of basically did. "Wow."

He caught her, cheeky in her pride, confidence looked good on her. "I get that a lot," Vera said, arms loosely crossed, a sleazy smile pulling on her mouth that only the upper lip colored with black lipstick.

Leon really had to get going, as much as he wanted to stay there and continue chatting, the clock was ticking for Lt. Branagh. He knocked on the wood two times with two fingers before starting to walk away. "Alright, I'm moving out."

Vera called behind him, whisper-yelling. "Don't worry partner, I got your back..." A pause as Leon pulled out the combat knife and started to tear the taped box. "From right here."

He pushed the button to get the fence door open. Partner . He liked that. Ephemeral warmth tickled his chest. "I feel safer already."

Leon braced himself for the worst, his body locking up and kicking the survivalist animal inside him into the driver's seat, quite anticlimactic when all he found was a waiting room with lined brown leather couches directly in front of the booth and already something he thought was a green herb in a pot next to the reception counter. He pulled on the spiky leaves, inspecting the plant. Then with hurried steps, he brought it back to Vera.

"That was fast," she said. But when she noticed what he was carrying like a baby, she abruptly stood up from her chair. "You found it!"

"To be honest, it was right in the next room. Will this help?"

Circling around the desk-turned-workbench, she snatched it from Leon's arms. "Of course it will! I'll feed it to Marvin right now." Vera stopped in the middle of her jog towards her dad. She couldn't directly look at Leon, her eyes were darting around, coy all of a sudden. Her voice was barely audible. "... Thank you."

He hadn’t even done anything to be thanked for quite gratefully like that, her watery silver eyes shone with the kind of appreciation that closed a fist around his heart. That’s how desperate these people were for a drop of salvation in this hell.

He had to get a move on.

"Anytime," Leon smiled slowly, and turned back to continue his journey into the bowels of this place.

Marvin weakly tried to shove Vera's hand off, scowling at the green herb in distaste and inhaling sharply, air hissing and whistling between his teeth. "Get that thing away from me, girl."

He used to be grumpy and unaccepting of help every time he got hit by a sickness and had to be taken care of, and was reflecting the same behavior right now as well, thinking he was throwing fists with the wound itself by fighting Vera. He thought he was being strong by refusing help and asserting he didn't need it.

Overtime, she had learned this was a Marvin thing rather than a man thing. He got angry (at himself) for getting sick and Vera got to deal with the wrong end of the stick. It was so hard to look after him when all he did was snap at her over the littlest things.

Vera kept an eye on the screen, Leon was still investigating the reception, standing perfectly still in front of the famous bronze statue. "Eat this or I swear to Satan’s left nut I'll shove it down your throat, I'm not joking. You are weak right now and I will take advantage of it."

Ignoring her, he tried to turn away. "Save it for yourself."

Vera put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him, wincing when he hissed. "For my sake. You will feel better instantly, I promise." She whined when he grunted. "C'mon I gotta help John Law over here, he's waiting, don't fight me right now."

"No, no, " he wheezed, voice fluctuating, trying to sit up all of a sudden, but she put a hand on his shoulder and laid him down. He grabbed that hand tightly with unexpected strength that made Vera flinch. "No, you can't. Stay right here. Let him do his job."

The ugly coward in her celebrated, happy to receive the green light that she could sit on her ass and expect having everything done for her. It was disgusting. Vera thought she could suddenly have a bravery awakening with Leon, but that wasn't the case, people just didn't change like that with a snap of the fingers.

"Okay, okay ," she said, urgent. "I'm not going anywhere, it's fine, I'm here. Just please take this and get some rest, yeah?"

"You're going to stop yapping if I do?"

She extended the green herb she'd picked into bite sized pieces. "Normally I'd say no promises but I'll make an exception this time."

"Give it here," Marvin said, taking it all at once like he was downing pills, and started chewing, his entire forearm was shaking. "Leave me alone now."

She itched to argue with him on why he was pushing her away like this and not let go like a dog hanging from a criminal's arm until he admitted something, but her priorities had to be reassessed. At least his breathing had gotten smoother and the harsh lines on his forehead had disappeared with the instant effect of the green herb. The anxiety ball in her torso dissipated instantly, they could do this. If she kept feeding him herbs, grind them into powder when she got more to apply it into the gash, he would be able to hold on until they could get him help. This was great progress.

So she stalked back to the desk with the Toughbook in her arm and one hand holding the walkie talkie. Leon still hadn’t moved an inch. "Found something interesting?"

His low quality head on the screen jerked up at that. "Sorry, I must have spaced out. Shit, I have to get it together." His voice was so on the softer side that it wasn't audible from the next room despite there being little distance between them.

Vera sat down and started setting her layout. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's..." He paused. "Just a weird feeling is all, reading this."

He meant the commemorative statue, she'd never stopped to read whatever was written on it, and interestingly, it had piqued Leon's interest immediately. "What's it say?"

"This bronze statue is dedicated to all the brave men and women who have given their lives so that others may have freedom and safety. It is a tribute to all our everyday heroes who valiantly protect us and are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice." He took a pause. "We do it."

The first thing that came to mind was all the police officers who got turned into monsters trying to do just that.

She cupped her forehead and rested all the weight, droopy gray eyes tracing the monochrome blood trails reflected in the reception’s camera feed, a faint ache seeping into her temples. All those sacrifices were for nothing in the end, everything was lost.

It spread a bitter taste in her mouth, so she took out a clove from her pocket and started chewing on it, relishing in the stinging freshness. "Sounds like Nike's motto, just do it."

He sounded somehow down before, but it melted off like caramel. "I think it's as in we do it so you don't have to."

That was a heroic line, had the potential of a dangerous edge to it, but heroic nonetheless. "Just like you, huh? You're out there right now so I don't have to be."

"I think you're giving me too much credit right now," Leon said, and Vera let out a sound back at that. "This is my first day. I did not imagine it'd be like this."

He made way around to the back door leading to the south west hallway. She switched to the cameras overlooking the whole whole loop consisting of the north west hallway and west central passage all linked to each other, surrounding the record's room, supply room and the operations room. The only active threat she saw was one undead officer banging on a vending machine in the passage, with a couple others lying, or rather, playing dead on the floor.

"The coast is clear in the south east hallway partner," Vera said, flipping through the tabs one more time. "So is the north west. I see the undead in the linked west passage though."

"Got it," was Leon's response before he completely sunk into silence and walked forward. Corners were blind spots, and when he didn't immediately turn right, her gut twisted.

She was debating to reach out and question his status, but the walkie-talkie buzzed before she could. “Is there something else here other than zombies?” He was queasy. “I’d rather not describe what I’m looking at, but I can’t imagine zombies have the intelligence to hang someone from a pipe.”

She heard a hammer fall in the landscape of her head.

Fuck , lickers. She had forgotten about those goddamn fuckers. Shit, shit shit shit . “Fuck, I’m so fucking sorry Leon, don’t move an inch from where you are and lower the volume on this and listen to me and listen to me good .”

“Oh Jesus fucking Christ,” he whispered.

“Keep those peepers peeled for a whole demon that looks like a skinless mutated human. That’s what probably did what you’re looking at right now. They’re all exposed muscles, and those motherfuckers’ brains are hanging out from their skulls and it’s their weak point, but they’re lethal and have insanely sharp, long claws that can take a whole elephant out in one strike. They’re blind as bats but their hearing more than makes up for that. Whatever you do, stay quiet and move like a shadow, don’t run around like a dog out of leash — make like a snail, and you’ll avoid them altogether.”

“Great, awesome, I should be just fine,” he said, horrifyingly upbeat and casual. Vera ran a hand over her forehead when she heard him say it like that. He wasn’t wrong to be exhausted already, she should have been more attentive and not have fucked around as much as she did back there. Goddamnit. He could have been caught redhanded by those bitches and it would have been on her to not have warned him when she should have.

He said nothing about that and didn’t seem sarcastic or angry at her, but damn, he had every right to be. Vera would have his head if the roles were reversed and he was the one who idiotically forgot crucial information that could have cost her life. Leon was too nice for his own good. Was he a fucking saint or something?

Leon was willingly setting forth on a pilgrimage into the belly of the hell itself for the sake of saving two people he didn’t even know all that well, so that was a stupid fucking question to ponder on. Leon S. Kennedy was whole a guardian angel if such beings existed at all — Vera would be fucked having Marvin wounded on her hands all by herself, and somehow, a rock to lean on had found his way to her. All cloud mellow gazes, and enough boyish softness to go with pronounced cheekbones with a jawline like it was sharpened on a whetstone, Leon had the saying that inner beauty reflected to the outer going on for him. A legitimately great guy. She couldn’t be more grateful, had anybody else been in his place, Vera could only imagine how this would go.

No words would come out of her shame-obstructed mouth after that, she only watched Leon progress and look around—-

—-Until an undead from a broken window fell through and muffled gunshots echoed. He dealt with that smoothly, way too smooth, to be exact. Leon was methodical, shots taken controlled, aiming for the knee first to knock them down, putting distance between him and the target, and popping the heads the last, no panicking whatsoever, nothing that he showed her, at least. She just couldn’t believe he was supposed to be a rookie. All the experienced ones were gone and a rookie was making it.

And all Leon had to comment on was, “I gotta cover these windows with something or they’ll keep thinking this is an open house.”

The line went dark all the way to the operation’s room and the silence only broke when he discovered the record of events by David. Despite collaborating with them and taking jobs from them, Vera was not a part of the force, and was kept outside of documents such as official reports, therefore didn’t know the contents of them. She instructed Leon to read it to her, maybe there was something of use written in there they could work with.

“ September 25th, ” he started. “ We're turning the station into a temporary shelter due to the massive sudden outbreak. All police personnel have been instructed to make the safety of the citizens their top priority as we try to accommodate as many of them as possible. So this is how it started. Did you come here on the 25th as well?”

Vera flashed back to Marvin with all her necessities packed into a duffel bag in his hand basically snatching her out of her apartment basement right after she came back from a crucial meeting with Ben Bertolucci. It came to her in dazed blurbs of hazy, foggy snippets, she was watching it from above; Marvin and she stumbling into a small horde of undead together, seeing the state of a bent Sarah Lakin in with her tattered, bloody long-sleeved linen maxi white dress, insides ripped apart like she was some plush toy, Vera vomiting in her mouth at the sight and pushing the disgusting thick, textured liquid back, and then booking it straight to the station in Marvin’s police car. When she came to her senses, the station had turned into a giant bunker crawling with survivors the officers were having a hard time keeping under control.

That Vera of a couple days ago was dumb and hopeful enough to not know only one infected within the many was all it took to chain-start a massacre.

“There is an addendum here,” Leon continued. “ One of the refugees attacked us in the middle of the night, resulting in the death of 1 officer and injuring 3 others. The person in question was quickly restrained. We believe this was simply a case of someone snapping under intense stress. ” He sighed. “It wasn’t stress was it?”

“No,” Vera said. “It was an undead. Those three others turned eventually as well, and the person proclaimed dead also came back like two days later.”

From the grave she had put him into.

“Shit, no quarantine system?”

“Simply too many people and not enough officers to hold the law above their heads. Cliques formed, leaders were made. And they did not like anybody being accused of being infected, barely any action could be taken without a scuffle and it threatened the safety of others who didn’t want to be involved. It was a mess, no need to go more into it.”

“God what the hell, I should have been there.”

Sweet as always, it squeezed Vera’s heart, bless this guy, fucking seriously. “Again, no need to go more into it. Don’t beat yourself up over hypothetical what-if scenarios, dude.”

“Okay, dude ,” he repeated, and her face soured like she’d eaten a lemon slice. Oh, she did not like that. It was alien coming from him, a suburban middle class cream khaki pants wearing white dad trying to be hip with their children was what it sounded like.

“Don’t ever say that to me again.”

“I also like partner better,” he said, making it obvious he was smiling slightly.

Oh.

Leon gave no time for her to recover from that. “ September 26th, a mob attacked the station today, resulting in a number of casualties. A few survivors were able to make it safely behind the emergency shutters, but surrounded as we are, it'll be hard for any of us to escape this place. We're not sure we can fix any of our comm equipment, so we remain cut off from the outside world.” He contemplated something. “A mob? From the outside? Citizens were able to run around?”

“A horde of undead. To be honest, the news and radio stations were treating this like any other virus, just more deadly. Nowhere did they say it led to coming back from the dead with hunger for human flesh. So we caught on very late and as blasphemous and uncanny as they looked, we still thought of the undead as infected people, just very very sick. Not walking corpses.”

“You said you were trying to fix the comms, so that happened after the 26th. If the news had changed after that, all of you would have known, damn.”

When did she say that? He remembered but she didn’t?

“And September 27th, there was another clash on the west side of the station around 1pm. Twelve people died, and there is only a handful of survivors left. Everything is falling into disarray in here.” The slow exhale he let out continued for about two seconds. “Signed, David Ford.”

The swallow came as a reflex even when all saliva had magically evaporated from the roof of her mouth, the sensation was prickly. This would be the last fucking thing she would hear from David? “Nothing in here, this was a waste of time,” she said thickly, biting back the rolling waves of nausea in her stomach. She didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t want to think anymore.

Leon didn’t say anything back.

The way to the passage was blocked, the door to the supply room was locked, and Leon had no choice but to jump from the clerestory window in the operations room leading to the other side. Vera wasn’t sure about this, tossing the clove inside her mouth around while she weighed the possibilities. “How about you come back and we think this through?”

“I can climb just fine, Vera.”

Well, he was a rather bulked up guy for his age… Not the point though. “I don’t doubt your physical capabilities, it’s the scenario in which you’re running away and have to back up, and before you’re able to climb that they get you. You have no way of circling back here if you get in trouble.”

The girl was more bothered by the fact that she would be too late to run to his rescue if it came down to that, putting her fear aside. This police station had a lot of shortcuts, but all of them were off the table at the moment, and Leon compromised beyond the operations room would mean Vera taking ages to get to him when his story would be over within seconds, blink and he’d be bitten.

Maybe it was time to work on some lockpicking. Oh how Vera wished Jill revealed some of her tricks in the time they spent together.

“That’s… a great point actually.” Leon acknowledged, though not defeated. He did see her point. Vera knew then he would follow it up with an objection. “But I have to push through. No use in overthinking, I’ll be alright.”

Vera sunk her nails into her palms out of frustration, slumping back on her chair, the clove crushed between her molars. The walkie-talkie made clicky and popping sounds under her tight grip. “Leon—”

“I have you watching my back after all, right?”

Oh you sweet talking son of a bitch.

Fuck, praise was her weak point. If she was on a telephone and it had a cord, she’d be twisting it with her finger right now. “You’re playing into my ego to get what you want, that’s not fair.”

“All’s fair in love and war… and the zombie apocalypse, I guess.” He moved to climb the crate right under the window he wanted to jump out of. “You with me?”

She croaked, “Yeah, I’m with you,” like a cranky old grandma who was dragged out of bed for dinner.

“That’s good,” Leon chuckled, a bit held-back by the strength he put into hopping over to the other side, and Vera promptly changed cameras to follow him.

The vending machine undead was still beating the shit out of the same machine, he’d been at it for a while. She had to commend him for the persistence, the guy maybe was expecting the meat to fall through and had no cash, which was admirable compared to his peers thinking they were entitled to eat other people.

She grimaced, hell below, she was fucked in the head coming up with shit like this. That used to be a human being.

“Leon, up ahead—-”

“Yeah, I see it.” He braced his gun. “Leave it to me.”

“Who else can I leave it to? God?” She scoffed. “The old man has been of no help thus far.”

“That is so offensive.” For a guy who was uncomfortably saying that, Leon sure sounded a tad bit entertained.

Gunshots. Undead down. Leon making sure it’s going to stay down.

Even though he couldn’t see it, Vera threw her hands in the air and audibly smacked them on her thighs, picking at the threads of the fishnets. “Oh, my apologies . For compensation, those offended can kindly suck my dick.” Vera was sure they’d understand true abandonment when they saw what terrible fate the most undeserving, sweet souls were condemned to. No better awakening than shock therapy.

“An atheist,” Leon remarked, picking up something off the ground, possibly bullets. He was big on stocking up, it was good foresight on his part, with the speed he was going through shots, Leon needed all the cartridges he could find. Upon seeing it out with its whole polymer-framed glory the first time, Vera had immediately noted down his Heckler & Koch as a 12-shot capacity 9mm handgun, maybe she could teach him how to make handgun ammo with gunpowder so he could manage better in the future without worrying about running out. “Goes with the punk aesthetic, I guess.”

“You’ve been profiling me, John Law?”

“I—” he began to stutter, panicking, going up a couple pitches. Police profiling had incredibly bad connotations, she was a person of color, and he clearly was aware of how wrong this could end. “You’re not a criminal, of course not, I just— um, I’ve just been observing , it’s not as bad as it sounds, really I just—-” He stopped to breathe. “I thought it’d be inappropriate to rapid fire questions right now, so I… Uh…”

“Now we’re going into the stalker category.”

“And now you’re teasing me,” Leon groaned.

“I’ll cut you some slack. You are at a literal crossroads after all.” It was so fun to poke fun at this guy. “You can either go into the safety deposit room, the west office, or follow the corridor all the way to the stairs leading up to the second floor, there is also a darkroom just in the corner.”

The smile on her face died down like a candle unexpectedly being put out. The west office. Ah, no . The welcoming sign was still up. A series of shivers went down her spine picturing Leon standing in the bloodied room with the only unblemished thing being his coworkers’ celebratory welcome surprise, he never got to meet any of them other than Marvin —- this was the only memento left behind for him. Welcome Leon. Welcome to the bloodbath, none of us are here anymore and you are forced to take down each one of us when you were supposed to shake our hands to greet us.

Vera thought not even in her most empathetic moments could she come close to understanding what he would feel upon seeing that. Her new friend had lost a promised life the moment he had got it and the reminder of it was going to be right in his face as the cruelest mockeries from a trickster. The physical want to be there for him overwhelmed all her senses in that moment, she should be able to do at least that when he was risking his life for her and Marvin, but was stuck in front of a Toughbook monitoring his activities. She threw another clove in her mouth and relished the sharp sting. How useless.

She supposed it was a good thing that he went to check out the safety deposit room first, and the movement outside distracted her from the silent mourning and what’d happen with the inevitable discovery. “Leon, two undeads outside. I know honey is the most tempting to a bear, but it also has a whole coven protecting it. Look through the lockers after you deal with them, don’t risk it.”

“On it,” Leon said, baiting the unwanted guests in and looping them around the room to gain some safe distance. The deeper he went into the building, the fainter the gunshots became.

When he was done, Leon became completely invested in getting all the items in this room, but the keypad to the lockers terminal was missing a few keys. “I don’t suppose you have the missing keys on this thing? Or the keycard… I could really use a shotgun…”

Vera raised her eyebrows at that. “Just use a pen or a hairpin to push them down, you don’t necessarily need—-”

“And the keycard to the shotgun?”

Damn. Oh he really wanted that shotgun, didn’t he? One would think he was talking about a girl he had a crush on he was dying to get to. “You’re really en armor ed with that shotgun, eh?” Vera repeated, “Got shot through the heart at first sight. Eh? ” again when Leon fell quiet.

“I don’t know,” Leon began, tentatively. “That’s a loaded question.”

“Oh my god,” Vera could clap like a little kid, voice squeaky. “Keep this up and that’s dinner on me right there.”

“Oh shoot.”

Dad jokes were a language of love between her and Marvin, it felt great to have caught a common frequency they could at least bond over a bit with Leon.

So much for joking back and forth, though, it sure became awkward right after she eventually went into the west office and stumbled upon the welcome sign. After that, Vera didn’t get much response from him apart from humming and agreeing when she tried to engage in distracting talk. Leon focused on solving the little puzzle Marvin and the others had set up for him so that introductions and mingling would make it easier to remember the names —- he would surely not be able to forget it now, with it being radically burned into his mind.

Vera had pumped herself up in her mind to pep talk Leon through this and be the emotional support he would need, to know just what to say to him so that he could bear the weight a bit better, but it all went down the drain when Leon withdrew into his own. Words were suddenly intangible. She was never the type to give inspirational speeches or make someone feel better, always the solution-focused problem solver —- she strongly disliked only listening only, especially whenever someone just needed a person to be there emotionally. It drained her. She wanted to get things done for them and it was irritating as fuck to see the situation not get better.

Vera was terrible at this. She couldn’t do anything for Leon, hell, she couldn’t even give him a helpful couple of words.

“He in the west office?” Vera damn-near jumped out of her skin when she heard Marvin sneak up on her. “I’ll be damned, that thing’s still hanging.”

“Why are you up?” She turned in the chair to see him force himself to sit on the item box, a hand pressed onto his side. Vera immediately reached for him as if he was about to fall. “Go get some rest.”

“No rest for me with this right here.” She helped him give his back to the wooden wall behind, breath shivering. He vaguely pointed at the pink walkie-talkie with his head. “You two established a modus operandi in my absence.” He had that there’s hope for you yet, tone.

“That’s one way to put it.” Vera glanced briefly to Leon when she heard gunshots, he was dealing with two other undeads that had risen from their sleeping state. A self-deprecating ghost of a smile came upon her. “I’m not that much of a help, though.” A beat, her showing the Welcome Leon s ign to Marvin.. “I don’t know how to.”

“Give him time,” Marvin grunted out, swallowing back breaths, it pained her. She really wanted him to go back and lay down, but pain was pain wherever the location, according to a wise man. “He’ll go through it on his own terms. Keep him out of his head in the meanwhile.”

“Don’t think. Thinking slows you down. Slow gets you killed. I know. I’ve been trying” Leaning her head back, she followed Leon’s figure explore the west office, puzzle forgotten for now. “I just wish I could comfort him, you know? I’m not good at shit like this.”

“You got a crush on the rookie or something? To think…” He closed his mouth, giving a stuttering breath from his nose with eyes closed to keep the pain at bay. “You were criticizing the Disney princesses for marrying a guy they just met.”

That green herb had worked too well in restoring his health.

“Marvin! It’s not like that!” The fucking clove flew out of her mouth with the power she put into quietly screeching like she had heard the most blasphemous thing that day, and she immediately closed her her mouth with a hand and wiped her lips. Marvin clutched her wound as he laughed weakly. “You’re seriously that eager to get rid of me?”

Marvin held her gaze, misery and love both nestled on each shoulder, a forlorn smile pulling his lips up. “Yeah,” he quavered, fragile as a broken bird. “You’ve been a pain in my ass for too long.”

Spirit wilting, she picked at the scabs on her lower lip, heart thrumming against her ribcage painfully. “You don’t mean that.”

“Listen honey,” he began, and Vera already wanted to hightail it out of here. Whenever he started being sweet, it only meant something hurtful would be following. “I’m not sure when else I’llbe conscious enough to tell you, so I need you to hear me out while I can get these out coherently, okay? I don’t have the energy to argue with you, please give your father at least this.”

Vera looked away, tear glands being pricked with needles already, thumbs beginning to pick at the ruined black nail polish on her nails. “You’re speaking like— like…” She couldn’t dare to get the word out. “Why are you—”

“Please,” he insisted, taking a few seconds to steady the sounds of protest his body made for using too much effort. “Don’t make me beg more than this, don’t make me…”

Vera slapped her hands on her face, dragging them down to settle on her cheeks and pressing her eyes with her fingers, rocking back and forth for a bit before just frantically nodding her head yes.

“I worry about you,” Marvin began, shuddering with a sudden spike of pain. “There is nothing more important to a parent than their child’s safety. You will only understand when you become one yourself. It’s always going to be you before me. I don’t have much care about anything else.”

Vera could taste iron, the soft tissue breaking under her canines.

“I also have to make sure you’ll be okay… after me.”

“I don’t want to do this,” she said, deliriously.

“After getting out of here…” Marvin ignored her, choking on his words. “Don’t go running around sticking your nose in dangerous places. Not again. Stay out of the shithole Umbrella has dug themselves in… Leave that to Redfield and the others… Stay safe. Forget about all this. Start a new life.”

Like he wasn’t going to be by her side, like he would be dead already by then.

“You did all you could,” he said, compassion enveloping her, yet the meaning itself was a thousand cuts against her heart she couldn't push away. The air became stifling, her vision blurred, everything a soft golden haze. “You did your best, Vera.”

You did your best.

But did she? Did Vera truly do her best?

That was when the dam finally broke and her body began to shake with ugly, treacherous sobs. Marvin’s cold fingers found her nape and pulled her into an embrace, as tender as handling a sand castle, it was perhaps the last time she was taking refuge in his arms. She couldn't take that, the thought alone broke her down to a million pieces.

Vera would never be enough to save her dad, she wasn’t enough to put a stop to this outbreak in the first place. She hadn’t done all she could, hadn’t even done anything. A fucking coward paying for her inaction is what Vera was.

She deserved it, but her dad didn't. Why did it have to be him who got hurt? Why?

“Vera. I’m right by the west office door, can you slip me a hairpin from the gap in the threshold if you have any? I’ll try to push the missing keypad buttons with it.”

Leon.

She gasped for air. Vera didn’t know how long she’d been crying for when he paged in with that. She rose from Marvin’s chest and pushed her wrist to her nostrils, sniffing the tears back in, trying to ignore the coldness of his body. “Go lay down, Marvin,” she said, avoiding eye contact. “You need to conserve your energy.”

More tears swelled up against her will at him leaving at that with the pace of a heavy stock animal, she wanted nothing more than to rush to his side and take his arm to her shoulder, supporting his weight and laying him to sleep like he used to do back in the day when Vera would feign sleep just to be carried to bed in his arms, just to feel that warmth and be a small baby despite her big age of ten to thirteen. Marvin would coddle her every single time, knowing she was starved for that kind of love.

Vera couldn't even give the fraction of that comfort back to him, she had chased him away the moment agitation took over. Why was she like this?

Like a little kid wiping her face with her hands, she palmed at her face trying to erase the evidence for the weakness she'd just exhibited, gloves getting wet with her tears and making for an uncomfortable sensation.

"Vera?" Leon repeated, with more urgency. His voice was audible, layered twice, both from the walkie-talkie and right behind the door he was behind —- that’s how close he was to where Vera was. "You there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," she said, walkie-talkie wobbling. "I'll bring a hairpin to you in a moment."

"You sound..."

She shut him down. "Don't worry about it."

Moments later, she was in front of the spade door leading to the west office with the desired object in hand taken from her purse. They didn't need the walkie-talkie to hear each other anymore as she said, "I'm sending it through right now. It's dark in there, will you be able to see?"

"I have a flashlight, it’s fine." Leon's natural voice, not accompanied with the static, was so soothing.

"Here goes nothing," Vera huffed, getting on to her knees and positioning the hairpin right where she could flick it through the slot underneath the door. Hopefully it wouldn't be too strong to go flying that he would lose it in the midst of all disarray in the office.

Rhinorrhea from her nose had to overflow at that moment. "Shit, hold on," she cursed, wiping it with the back of her sleeve, the pink material darkening with the fluid. Sue her. She didn't have tissues. Sniffling, Vera said, "Okay here you go," and flicked the hairpin right towards Leon with a faint 'ping' sound. It was a success.

"Got it!"

"Nice," she echoed back, dusting off her hands and moving to stand up.

"Hey, uh," Leon mused, uncertain, sweet . "Are you okay?"

She couldn't handle kindness at present, couldn't allow it , didn't deserve it. There was no time for this. "Are any of us?"

"That's fair..." He raised his voice when he heard her footsteps. "Just know I'm here for you! We're in this together." Vera could choke in the benevolence, it was a rope tightening around her throat. "Partner."

She had gotten comforted again. When it was him who needed to be consoled.

"Yeah," she cleared her throat, feeling like absolute horseshit, not having any idea what she could say to him. "Together."

"Hey, I got some wooden boards. Gonna backtrack a bit and cover any open windows, you guys are wide open for any zombies that might fall in through those. I don't want to risk it."

"Yeah, okay," Vera acknowledged, no contradiction whatsoever. She'd been quiet the whole time Leon finally solved the puzzle to his desk and acquired all kinds of goodies from the security deposit room; marinating in her own puddle of self-deprecation about not being able to match his energy every time he was enthusiastic about each step and tried his best to draw some sort of response from her. "I don't see any undeads around, you should be okay."

"You got a hammer I can gun these bad boys in with?"

That put a smile on her face scarily fast. "I can meet you halfway if you want, no need to run all the way back."

"No."

"Leon."

"No, seriously, it's dangerous."

"Hey dangerous, I'm Vera."

Unbearable whooshing began to claw at Vera's ears from the walkie-talkie, like wind was blowing directly into a microphone. "Jesus fucking Christ—-"

Vera was closer to the hallway, she had lazily picked up the hammer lying on the counter, closing the distance between the main hall and the reception. She had been so scared before, the fight or flight survival instinct never let her get any close to danger, but this time, she crossed the threshold with no resistance, like she was walking into a room in her own house. Her mind was calm, serene, uncaring if she crossed paths with any undead on the way. She wasn't thinking anything, she just did it. Her mind was blank.

Fuck it, really.

The echo of muted, pounding footsteps was all she was greeted with as she closed the door to the dark, shadowy hallway seemingly reaching into infinity. In the distance, some light with the source being far away, was dancing wobbly on the walls, erratic. Whatever was coming, it was fast as hell.

It could be a licker. All the blood in her body retrieved back to her heart at the thought, a chill taking over her limbs.

Survival instinct didn't kick in, what settled instead, liquid warmth spreading under her skin, was acceptance. Weird as it was, Vera didn't really feel anything, not even fear. Her heart didn't pick up. If Marvin wants to go, then I'll follow, was the faintest childlike whisper of her unconscious, barely picked up by her.

She squinted her eyes to discern just what she was looking at, but soon enough the light got stronger and clearer, the frantic footsteps got closer, the source of it turned the corner and almost splatted on the wall, the momentum was too strong to make a sharp curve such as that.

Holy shit, Leon?

It hadn't even been minutes. What the fuck? He could run like a fucking cheetah?

Eyes wide as plates, hammer clenched in her hand, standing there like a kid who'd gotten caught staying up at night, Vera watched in shock as he came up to her in seconds with the same speed, his chest rising and falling in rapid breaths.

A strong, prolonged clap of thunder blended into the labored, shaky sounds. "Don't... don't ever." He doubled over, putting his hands on his knees, panting choppy. "Do this again. Ever."

Her blood decided it was the perfect time to restart the flow in her veins, pulse pumping in her ears at the tone of his constrained yet petrified tone.

The lightning that followed afterwards illuminated his tight and tense brow enough for Vera to see she'd scared him to death, despite Leon's torso being basically parallel to the ground due to him leaning forward, his sandy blond hair was damp at the roots. Then it dawned on her that she had basically wandered into a possible death trap willingly and forced his hand to race against time.

What was she doing?

Not thinking.

What was she expecting to happen?

Nothing.

Nothing?

"I know you're going through a rough patch," Leon rose back, breathing still shallow, but able to get sentences out. "Being reckless isn't the solution, please just." His hands reached forward, hovering between the two, like he wasn't quite sure what to do with them. "Don't scare me like that, fuck. I can't have you die on me, you can't throw yourself out this way."

No, she wasn't.... She wasn't suicidal. She just... she just.

"I don't," she stammered, as if she was being impeached, her shoulders pulled into her bosom. "I didn't. I'm sorry..."

"Can I?" He was asking her for something, but it didn't register until she was able to tear her eyes away from his genuinely worried baby blue gaze, drowning in the earnest compassion for another human being, burning in the darkness despite the absoluteness of the defeat, candidly and undeterred like a humble candlelight, the unbending desire to safeguard a soul.

Vera wasn't aware she had pulled her hands into herself right over her heart, knuckles white as they could get, nails about to draw blood from her palm. Leon's own gloved hands were just above hers as if he was about to try petting a feral, hissing kitten. He wanted permission to hold her hands. Her singular nod accompanied by frantic blinking almost went unnoticed by him.

She made a small noise behind her throat the moment his fingers brushed over the back of her hands and slipped into her palm, the hammer clattered on the ground and Leon paid no mind to it, gently gripping the ends of her fingers as if he was a gentleman helping a lady get off her carriage, awfully respectful to not cross any boundaries with her. His fingertips were burning up, the heat sent little zaps up her arms. "I know you can't be open as a book with me, that's fine. You don't have to say anything. Just know you can lean on me and that I am with you. I am here." He gave her hands a firm squeeze. "We can do this. Don't give up, don't let yourself go like this."

Vera didn't know where, "There's no point if Marvin is gone," came from, she was watching someone else speak for her, awfully numb inside, yet her voice still shook. "There is no point in anything."

"We will help the lieutenant," Leon asserted, determination radiating from him. "But until then, you have to stay vigilant. He is scared too, Vera."

That got her lower lip trembling. Her mountain of a father, small and weak, all on his own, brought tears to her eyes. "He is?"

"Terrified, even. When you're hurt to that point, all you can think about is death. He fears what will happen to you if he dies. That's why he's frantic. He can't be strong for you, so you have to be strong for him ."

There was not one strong bone in her body, Vera was pitiful in front of Leon picking up all her pieces for her, but upon hearing that, something within Vera shifted, all that protectiveness and despair for her father started rebuilding itself from the ground up. "What do I do?" The question came out as if she was 12 years old instead of 21.

"We do this together ," Leon's fingers caressed hers encouragingly, one wayward strand of hair that had probably gotten misplaced while he was running like death itself was chasing him, fell over, curtaining one eye. "We work together to get those medallions. No more running off into oblivion. Okay?"

"Okay..."

"Whenever you feel hopeless, talk to me. Trust in me. We are a team now." Leon leaned in a bit, staring deep into her eyes in determination. "You have me, alright? You're not alone."

Vera could cry. Fuck. She wasn't a crybaby, she really wasn't. Something about the unfiltered gentleness in this guy made her feel so safe that her emotions took it as a green light to flow forward. "You have me too," she said, taking her hands away from him and wiping the sweat on her shorts. "I'm not much, though. Unfortunately you have to make do with me for now."

"That's not true. You're perfectly fine," When you're not attempting suicide, Vera completed in her head. "I couldn't ask for anyone better."

She did smile tiredly at that though, and he drank that in like it was water.

“A good partner wouldn’t have forgotten to inform you about lickers,” she pointed out.

“We’re both rookies, go easy on us.” He bent down and picked up the hammer, throwing it in the air and catching it right at the handle after it spinned in the air a couple times. “Now, I better get those windows boarded up or we’ll really become midnight snacks for zombies.”

Since the only option left for Leon to gain access to the upper levels was the west stairway, the second floor had become entirely inaccessible due to a ruptured steam tank in the men's locker room (courtesy of a Mr. Carlos) with no valve to turn it off with. Leon had to cut his exploration short and return downstairs, focusing on covering another broken window just on the way to the stairs.

Vera was back at her usual station in the main hall as well. She had gotten another set of green herb gifts from Leon, which were fed to Marvin promptly, much to his complaints and chagrin. He was doing a bit better, those really had helped after all. And with understanding what his mindset was better thanks to Leon, she had calmed down considerably, her spirit stood strong with newfound determination to keep her chin high so she could actually be someone to be depended on.

Leon had taught her in such a short amount of time. For a guy as naïve as him, the sincerity in his soul inspired great wisdom.

While he was hammering the nails, she said, "Your name fits you, by the way. Leo-n. L aw E nforcement O fficer." Vera stopped to think about the joke, seriously pondering. " N early."

She thought he would counter with something along the lines of, "Great. Rookie joke. It's not like I haven't heard a dozen of them already."

The real Leon was in awe for some reason. "How did you manage to come up with that? How is the acrostics that fitting? How does this even happen?"

She couldn't differentiate if it was a real reaction or if he said that on purpose after picking up she liked to be complimented. To be honest, Vera had been sitting on that one for a while, wondering what she could put for the last letter 'n'. If he was a detective trainee, she would have said noir .

Rookie joke bested that one, but damn, was noir a good alternative.

In the camera, he rotated towards the darkroom. She mused, "It would have been perfect if your name was just Leo. The n is ruining things."

"Law Enforcement Officer. Not."

Vera snickered. "Good one."

"Another thing about you," he started pacing around the darkroom, checking out the lockers. The quiet clacking of the metal translated as rough static in the walkie-talkie. "Dad jokes. Got it from Lieutenant Branagh?"

Leon profiling him had been a passing joke, but the sheer attention to patterns in her behavior? No joke. " Duh . Though I wonder what else you have noted down in that golden noggin of yours about me? Real detective work right there."

"I wouldn't say it was difficult," Leon blurted, shyness seeping through.

He was trying to be humble and dodging praise, just for that she would be evil to him for a minute. "So I'm that much of a basic bitch, huh."

His breath hitched. "I didn't say that."

"But you thought it."

"I honestly didn't. I'm still thinking about you," Leon said, and had it not been said in that context, the whole thing would sound romantic as hell. But no, it was about a dude analyzing her. "And I still have questions. What else can you do?"

"This sounds derogatory."

"No," Leon corrected. "What else can't you do?"

"That also sounds derogatory."

"It's all compliments. I know you like those."

That was the most derogatory one out of the three, but coming from Leon, it was most probably said in harmless, affectionate commentary. Vera too had picked up a couple things about him, annoyingly, the first thing being the guileless, unusual sweetness. He was cute, she would give him that.

After gathering items and putting some things in his newly acquired hip pouch, he left the darkroom, heading towards the third floor. "I thought you were linked here as a computer technician or something along the lines, but turns out you're a gunsmith?"

"Assuming now, aren't we?" She leaned back on the chair, kicking her feet up on the surface of the desk. Security cameras on the stairs only saw certain areas, and all the cameras in the third floor had gone out after a series of explosions which they had discussed before, so she had to rely mostly on her ears to follow Leon along. "What else do you have?"

"You play the guitar, your fingertips and short nails make it obvious." Vera turned her hands inside, palms up, and curled her fingers inwards to take a look, she'd never really thought about it like that before. "You build electronics because you clearly said that you customized the walkie-talkies. A lot going on here."

Man. She almost blushed there at the notion of having been looked at as intently like that. "Gee, you know how to make a girl feel special, huh, partner?"

"Not exactly the time to play 20 questions, so," Leon explained, modest and apprehensive, not as panic-struck in his answer as before. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Survival depended on observational skills, what could Vera say to that? There was no time for getting to know each other, he was right. "Nah, not even in your wildest dreams. Making people uncomfortable is my job."

He must have laughed soundlessly at that, because only a puff of air was what the walkie-talkie relayed to Vera. He'd reached the third floor.

Yeah, third floor, she had to remind him. "Quick PSA. Be on the lookout for lickers. I don’t like that it’s been quiet so far. Easy and slow, Leon. I'll be tapping out for you now."

"All sweet, all golden," he chirped, and the phrase was familiar to her from somewhere, but Vera couldn't put a finger on it.

It hadn't even been a couple seconds of silence when Leon paged in with, "Jesus Christ, I found it," causing Vera to get closer to the edge of her seat. "I found the spade key."

"You're shitting me. Just like that? Where was it?"

"I went through a hole on the wall into... a study, I guess? It was right on the desk." He was weirded out. "What the fuck happened here?"

"Long story," Vera admitted, Irons polluting her thoughts. "For another time. Now , follow the north west hallway, it should take you directly to the west storage room. Interestingly, you'll be getting to the maiden medallion first. I don't know what condition it's in, you'll have to see."

"Cameras not working, I remember."

"Good luck."

"Don't need it when I have you."

Vera tutted, embarrassment dusting her cheeks. Leon didn't say shit like that for flirting or joking around, he strangely meant this kind of stuff in a corny, cheesy, genuine way. It was hard to get used to. The innocence was legitimately throwing the girl off every single time she got a one-liner such as this.

Leon interrupted the quiet that had befallen between them, hesitant and solemn. “You said that Officer Ford had the spade key, right?”

“Yeah,” Vera confirmed, afraid of what was coming, mouth set in a hard line. “Why?”

“He was here. I found a note about lickers. I think he may have left the key on the study.” He was apologetic when nothing was his fault. “Do you want to…?”

“No,” Vera refused. “I don’t have it in me to listen to it right now.”

Vera wasn’t strong enough to accept now this as what remained last of David, and the fact that this piece of information was possibly going to be how she would remember him for the rest of however long her life was. She had built the last boulder up only for it to be tumbling down the hill like this? Vera could take only so much in one day, she didn’t even know how to explain it to Marvin that yet another friend of his was lost to the faceless sea of the undead.

“As you wish,” Leon said, and that was it.

A little while later, Vera found herself listening to Leon's explanation about the room filled with filth and debris, and the note he found in the west storage room with bleeding repugnance and a firestorm of an outrage, her entire body burned up with the whirlwind of emotions she couldn't let the slightest gust of it out to not Leon know.

Irons. That motherfucker had fucking tortured his own officers up there while innocents fought for their lives underneath him, they fought to protect him all the while their friends were being violated unbeknownst to everybody, and that's what Brian Irons enjoyed the most —- the art of suffering.

She couldn't tell Leon that this asshole was a serial killer. How could she even prove it? Why would he believe a girl he just met over his supposed boss who he'd only ever heard admirable stories about? If Irons materialized out of thin air at the moment and ordered Leon to arrest Vera, he would. He was still a cop. The world had gone to shit but Leon still clutched to some semblance of purpose and order his duty brought, there was nothing to indicate he would go against the whole Chief of RPD.

And because she was blinded red by all the fury her body was trying to contain and her brain was in maintenance, all she could come up with to tell Leon was, "I don't know."

Which was a big mistake, he was an observant guy. "But you just said it was a long story."

Rubbing her brow like it could ever ward off the incoming headache, Vera huffed, "I said that because I don't know."

It felt as if she had accidentally chosen the wrong dialogue that unlocked the bad ending in a video game.

"That's okay." Leon didn't argue back, though, unable to hide the hesitance. She was grateful he had stepped down to change the subject regardless. "By the way, we have a problem with the statue."

"Of fucking course," Vera spat.

"It's behind bars. From what I see, we have two options. Safe or big ."

"Hit me."

"We can find a tool like a pipe bender to open the bars enough for a person to fit, or," Leon said, dragging out the word with intonation. "There is an electronic gadget here. I'm thinking it was left behind by the sick maniac who wrote the note, it looks legit enough to me. Can become a C4 explosive detonator with a battery." The sigh in-between was exasperated. "Which is missing."

"Did you not hear me talking about lickers, Leon?" Vera gripped the walkie-talkie harder. "All of them would flock there the moment it goes kaboom. It's a death sentence."

The confidence he had in himself to take the lickers out reflected in his demeanor as he queried, "Do you have a better idea?"

"How tight are the bars? Maybe I can squeeze in."

"I'm pretty sure you can't."

The anxiety came out on top with all the possibilities she was trying to come up with for how to solve their little problem. In retrospect, Vera had to see how bad it was herself to reach a conclusion, but all instinct was screaming at her to go with the safe route. An explosion wouldn't only lure lickers in, it was also an invitation for the undead. Let's say Leon tried to Rambo the lickers back to hell, the undead surely would get in the way - and that was the least of what they could do to him in such a predicament.

"Let's be on the lookout for anything that can pry them apart, then. You can't fight the lickers, Leon, if these undead people are zombies, then those are actual demons. You'll understand when you see them, it's like a portal to hell opened to this city. Not worth the risk."

"I understand," Leon said. "We'll keep looking."

“You have the spade key, want to go back to the west office real quick and unlock the door?”

“I’m closer to the unicorn medallion, I’ll go get it first.”

“It also would be easier to unlock it from the main hall, you’ve got a point. Only one though. I’m still the smart one here.” She scanned the library, frowning at the screen. “The undead are having a cookout in the library, it’s crowded in there.”

“I’ll be careful.”

Right after saying he'd be careful, Leon literally fell from the second floor, pummeling through some rotten, faulty wooden flooring that gave out under his running steps —- even Marvin heard the commotion, rising from his resting place and peeking his head out from the sofa to the loud crashing and banging accompanied with Leon yelling as he tumbled down.

"Shit," Vera cursed under her breath, heart immediately dropping to her stomach. Half-risen from her seat, she loudly called for him through the walkie-talkie. "Leon! Leon, can you hear me?"

Only static answered. Fuck, what the fuck do I do?

Should she bolt through the reception entrance to go help him? God, fuck, it would take too long, adrenaline was already making every limb in her body tremble like a leaf caught in a storm, so many possibilities racing in her mind.

What to do? What to do?

"Leon!" she tried again. Still no response. No gunshots, either.

"Every goddamn thing in there heard that noise!" Marvin shouted at Vera, alarmed, struggling. She quickly stepped out of the reception desk and ran out to see him sitting up.

Noise. Yeah, noise!

If Leon was being eaten right now, fuck forbid, he would be screeching at the top of his lungs. There was nothing.

It would take him some time to recover if he was still conscious, she had to do something to divert the undead's attention. Noise!

Grabbing her shovel, she scrambled to the spade door of the library. Hitting the door over and over again with all her might with the metal end as if she was beating a rug, she yelled, "Hey! Assholes! Over here!" as high and loud as her voice cords allowed, to accompany the reverberating echoes and ear-grating clangs the shovel made against the wood. It would be okay, no lickers would be able to enter the main hall, she was free to kick up a storm from where she was.

Vera got the fruits of her efforts as she heard the persistent nail clawing and weak banging on the other side, heard the growling and yowling of the undead. Many of them, in fact.

"Yeah, that's right!" Her arms were burning and stinging. "I'm right here! Don't you want a snack? Come!" She kept crashing the shovel on the door, the metal leaving lighter colored dents on the surface. "Here!"

Vera heard gunshots. Yes! "Oh thank fuck," she whined, a wave of warm exhaustion hitting her. But she couldn't stop. Leon could be disoriented, he just fucking bodied one floor.

Gripping the stick tighter and letting out a growl of determination, she went back to making her own ruckus while the gunshots got more frequent and more controlled.

Vera continued until the last of the undeads thumping behind the door stopped after a shot, and the sound of slumping reached her ears. A couple more gunshots followed that, and then silence followed, the shovel slipped out of her hand and clattered on the floor as she tried to settle her heaving chest and thundering heartbeats, suddenly feeling very shaky.

Oh no, was her blood sugar dropping? Right now?

The usual dead giveaway was lips tingling for Vera. She would wait until that happened, otherwise, this could be just adrenaline wrecking her body.

"Leon?" she cried, with nervous anticipation.

Something heavy was being dragged on the other side, blunt shuffling.

"Leon!"

"I'm here!" A thump. "Give me a second! The door-- they got stacked over it."

"Oh my fuck." Vera's body deflated with a groan of relief, her knees buckling. She crouched back on her heels and rested her elbows on her knees, extending both arms forward like she was offering them for vaccination. Her pounding head rolled down. "I almost died of a heart attack, shit. This guy..."

"Vera," Marvin called, unnerved, interpreting it as something else. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," she waved a hand weakly, unable to look back at the moment, her back was to him. "It's the adrenaline."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

She got up eventually as she heard the rattling of the key in the hole and the door was finally opened. And there Leon was, a bit ruffled, uniform dusty and dark blond hair messy, but he looked unharmed, no blood visible anywhere on his exposed skin. She could hug him and choke him simultaneously, fuck, she almost expired because of worry.

Instead, trying to keep her voice steady and her expression angry, she lectured him. "I told you to be careful, goddamn."

"Thanks for the help," he beamed at Vera, like he hadn't taken off ten years off her life. "The vest protected me from damage but I was out of it. I would be dead meat if you started banging on the door two seconds later."

Her eyebrows pinched together.

Marvin cut in on Vera's thoughts of pinching both Leon's cheeks and stretching the skin out of frustration. "You okay, rookie? That was a big fall."

Leon stepped around Vera to see Marvin better. "I'm fine, sir."

"Good."

She wanted to ask about his wellbeing too, but the words didn't come out, her concern remained buried and came out as something entirely different. "Where's my walkie-talkie?"

Leon's shoulder jumped and stiffened. "Ah..." He looked back and stared inside the library littered with dead bodies. "It dropped with me. I didn't have time to look for it."

That last sentence made her feel like absolute garbage, stepping over the bodies and trying so hard to keep the smell of decay out of her mind, she gingerly said, "Come, let's search then."

Leon kept up as Vera pressed a button, making a small dot on the walkie-talkie in her hand start flashing red. The reflection of the other walkie-talkie's own light painted the brown stacks across them, and Leon ended up finding it stuck underneath, easily reaching down to get it.

He held it up like a trophy, smiling bashfully, it squeezed something inside her chest. And as he jogged to her, she said, "I'm glad you're okay by the way, didn't mean to be a bitch about it. I was..."

"Scared, I know. You don't need to explain anything." Leon walked backwards to the lounge door, facing her, the understanding of an angel had to be gifted to him at birth. "Let's get the medallion."

Vera nodded absentmindedly, a fuzzy feeling swirling inside her head, and followed Leon like she was bound to him by strings.

Once in the lounge, standing before the gigantic bronze unicorn statue, Vera brought the notebook closer to her face, trying to discern Elliot's doodles, on the verge of getting a headache over the tiny drawing. "Is this supposed to be Gemini or Pisces?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Leon stepped closer, also wanting to take a look. Vera turned the notebook a bit so he could see.

"Yeah, this. Do you think it's Gemini or Pisces?"

Leon went through the puzzle to find the correct symbol. "It's just fish to me."

"They are supposed to represent zodiac signs, though!"

"Okay," he said, a fond, supporting smile on his face despite the 'I don't really care' undertones of his tone.

Vera, invested, put her pointer finger on the next doodle. "You see this is clearly Scorpio. But Pisces has fish representing it, and Gemini is often associated with twins. There are twin fishes in there, so what? I don't get it."

Leon also put the scorpion in. "I don't know, you're really trying too hard to fish an answer out of me."

Vera snorted, and when Leon looked over, surprised at the sound, she covered her lips with one hand, the other still holding the notebook open. "Didn't know girls could make such a sound."

"Shut up," she said, neck heating up. "The next one's Aquarius."

Leon was utterly lost. "What is an Aquarius?" He scooted closer to which Vera gave him space, and looked down to see the symbol. "Water jug." His gaze switched to Vera. "Could have just said that to me."

"Not my fault you don't know general knowledge."

"It's girl stuff," Leon said, working to find Aquarius on the puzzle.

"It's general knowledge." Vera could smack him on the shoulder with the notebook if they were closer friends. "Let's see you try to ask around when it comes up on a crossword puzzle."

Pulling the medallion out from its socket, Leon smirked at her for the first time, cerulean eyes twinkling, the mischievousness was a first sight for Vera. "How would they even ask the question? There are two fishes, is it Pisces or Gemini?"

Smartass. He was lucky to be this cute. "Listen—-"

"Both of you, come back here now ," Marvin's voice buzzed from Leon's radio hanging on his hip. "I've got something important you might want to see."

tagging: @ocs-supporting-ocs @ocappreciationtag

#leon kennedy x oc #leon s kennedy x oc #leon s. kennedy x oc #resident evil oc #leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon s. kennedy #oc: vera kaplan #story: gravedigger #era: no time to die #resident evil fanfiction #ocappreciation #shai's writings #one chapter dedicated to getting the unicorn medallion

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