ashrillvenheim

[ashrillvenheim]

Awakening Past

Chapter 29

pairing: Ashley Graham x Leon S Kennedy.

IMPORTANT: There are only 2 chapters left to finish the story, so next month I will not upload any, I want to do them well and calmly, so I will probably upload both in June, on the anniversary of the first publication of the fic :3

Content: (+18) romance, angst, gore, erotic/suggestive themes at some point, slow burn, violence, action, self-harm, death talk,

If you're a MINOR DON'T keep reading, thank you.

Archive of our own / WORK LIST / Awakening Past Masterlist

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The warm afternoon light illuminated the wide corridors of the white house. The white of the walls had turned a pleasant cream tone that took away some of the sterile seriousness that used to fill it. The last visitors had left and only security agents and a few political figures were left around the place.

Their footsteps echoed down the empty corridor. They were on their way to the president's office, each carrying a folder. Before going to see William, they had stopped by the DSO offices, where they talked to Hunnigan about their latest findings. The agent was already aware of the expedition to Iceland and everything that had happened there, as well as the incident in the museum lab, but she still gave them each a slap on the wrist for almost giving her new heart attacks.

They told her about the visions Ashley had in the fight and the woman went white. She asked her a thousand questions, including whether Viktor was aware of it, to which they both replied that they were going to go to his office after meeting with the president.

Leon and Ashley thought about telling Hunnigan about them but felt that after everything that had just been brought to her all at once, maybe it was better to wait a bit. Besides, she had to wait for the satellite to do a near-continental scan, so she would need several days, in which they could tell Ingrid more calmly about the relationship they now shared.

So now they were standing in front of Ashley's father's office door.

They both stood pinned in place for a moment and looked at each other.

“We'd better tell him another day.” The blonde whispered to the man, who watched her silently for a few seconds before nodding. Other agents' footsteps could be heard approaching.

Ashley knocked on the door and her father's voice was heard from inside. She turned the knob.

Graham lifted his eyes from the papers scattered on the table and his lips curved into a big smile.

“ Hi, sweetie.”

Leon stepped aside to make room for the agents who passed behind them, unconsciously circling Ashley's waist to lead her inside the office. Something Graham saw, not without surprise.

“ Hi, Dad.” she replied, coming up to give him a kiss on the cheek with a tight hug.

“ How are you doing?” he looked at them both, inviting them to sit down on the couch in the office. William took off his glasses and walked around the table to take a seat across from them.

“ Better, we've been able to catch up on sleep and a proper rest.” Ashley told him with a sweet smile, turning to Leon without realizing it to see the agent nod in agreement.

“ I'm very glad.” William seemed pleased with the response, but realized that that awkwardness he sensed between them since they returned...it was gone.

“Viktor has kept me up to date with your routines.”

“Dad, we weren't going to do anything stupid.” Ashley rolled her eyes at how protective her father was at times, but felt Leon's hand gently smack her leg.

“Don't complain, you already wanted to get on the weights faster than Viktor recommended.”

The woman's eyes widened like saucers and she gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder.

“But hey! You go snitching when I told you to stop doing pull-ups at home, you had your arm pierced!” she reproached him unceremoniously.

Leon grunted and scratched the back of his neck under William's gaze. The man looked at them with a big smile, glad to see them so energetic, but...aware that their relationship had returned to that original friendship. Although...there were little gestures that didn't quite fit, especially from Leon.

“Well, what do you want to show me?”

Ashley and Leon pulled out their folders and slid the papers onto the coffee table between the sofas.

“Well, I don't want you to be scared by what I'm going to tell you, okay, Dad?”

“You're already scaring me.”

Ashley smiled and slid the papers in front of her father.

“When I had the larvae inside, I had a kind of dream. At first I thought they were just meaningless images, but a few days after the accident, they became sharper and seemed more like memories than a dream.”

William looked at his daughter in disbelief and his eyes turned to Leon as well who gave him a gentle nod of his head in affirmation.

“At first I thought the same thing, but it was too much of a coincidence for it to be nothing, so we started to investigate what it could be about.” explained the agent, showing maps of the northern lights in northern Canada and Greenland. “We made a theory of the path and came to this conclusion, but we were thinking that we might need to use the SAR satellite.”

William took several papers and looked at them carefully as he listened to the young ones.

“Why do you want to use the satellite?”

“We believe that whatever I saw in those memories was buried when the glaciation came after the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs,” Ashley explained, raising her eyes to her father. “And we can't use the same method as in Iceland.”

“I understand.”

William was silent for long minutes, reading and looking carefully at each note that had been brought to him. Leon and Ashley looked at each other, expectantly. Leon could feel Ashley's fingers intertwine nervously and gave her a soft smile before giving her knee a gentle squeeze.

“Because of the area you mention, it's going to take a while to scan that whole area, but I think it could be done. I can make a request for the use of the satellite, but you will have to wait for the results.” The president left the papers on the table and raised his blue-gray eyes to the two young men. He looked at them seriously. “I have a feeling you haven't told many people about this, have you?”

“Just you and Hunnigan. We preferred to keep it as small as possible until the mystery could be cleared up.” Leon explained in a calm, professional tone. Ashley was still sometimes surprised at how different he was at certain times of the job.

“ I see. Well, I'll get right on the application.” He clapped his hands gently, ending the professional meeting they had been having.

Ashley relaxed and guessed that they would now chat about more banal things. It had been two weeks since they'd seen each other since the accident and she figured her father would want to know how it was-.

“Since when?”

The room fell silent.

Ashley blinked, confused, and looked at her father without understanding what he was referring to, but, turning to Leon, she could sense that he did suspect what it was all about.

“We don't understand what you mean, Sir.”

“O come on, Leon, don't play dumb with me.” he pointed at the two of them. “ I may be a president and a single father, but I've been young myself.”

Then they understood.

Leon and Ashley stood stone-faced on the spot, aware that he had caught them much earlier than expected. They would have told them, that was true, but...not so soon.

Ashley leaned forward, clenching her fists against her legs.

But a voice that wasn't hers spoke.

“2 weeks.”

William arched an eyebrow, remembering the way Leon kissed his daughter's forehead in the clinic, bloodied and almost...possessive.

“Since before the accident?” his tone wasn't accusatory, but it wasn't laughing either.

Leon denied.

“Subsequent.”

Ashley looked at Leon as he answered all of her father's questions. She had intended to be the one to tell him, but the way Leon's back was, straight, immobile and tense, told her that this was something he needed to do. Face a reality that wasn't entirely easy.

“Do you know where you stand?”

Ashley frowned.

“ Da-!” but Leon stopped her. His blue eyes told her to let him speak. The soft smile she gave him was her usual way of asking “please” without words.

“ Yes, sir. I am her partner. “His words were firm.”

William stared at him. He respected the boy. He had become someone very important that he wanted to have on the team and as a good acquaintance, but, after all he and his daughter had been through, he couldn't help but wonder if that was temporary. If all that attachment would fade with time and force her away from him like he did years ago.

He remembered how bad Ashley suffered. She never told him, but after Leon left, he was aware of her crying many times. He had called her every night and most if not all of the time, he always sensed a slight redness in his daughter's eyes.

But she always told him she was fine.

And he didn't want her to go through that again.

“You're a special agent under my orders and you're dating my daughter,” he said. This time his tone was a bit more serious, causing Leon to come to the edge of the couch and fix his blue eyes on his boss.

“I know Sir, but this time I'm going to tell you, that even if I wasn't her partner and I was still her bodyguard, I would want to be with her.”

William crossed his arms over his chest.

“And what's different from when you were her guard?” was more accusatory, making Ashley want to confront him, but Leon didn't hesitate in his words.

“Because now I know what I don't want to lose. Because now I know what I want.”

The president's eyes widened imperceptibly, very subtly as he heard him say those words. He remembered that conversation, years ago, when he told him that he wanted him to assign Ashley another agent.

Because he was aware of how he lied to him.

But, this time, he saw no doubt in his eyes, but a defiant resolve.

“Is it what you want? What if it's not what I want for my daughter?”

Ashley jumped to her feet.

“Dad, you don't-”

“Well, with all due respect, you can go to hell.”

Ashley was stunned.

William was stunned.

The room fell silent at those words that neither of them would have thought would be uttered, least of all from Leon's mouth.

“You can transfer me, you can sanction me, or you can fire me too if you want, but I'm not going to stop loving her. I love her, and I'm going to love her until the day I die, but, until then, if I have to go against you to be with her, if I have to fight and work like a dog to never be separated from her again, I will.”

William Graham did not know what to answer.

For the first time in a long time, someone had managed to unsettle him and leave him speechless. And that man sat across from him. Motionless and with the look of a wild wolf.

And he could only laugh.

Ashley looked at her father stunned, her body still shaking from the adrenaline of the moment. Her cheeks were burning from Leon's words. He had always told her that he was a man more of actions than words, but she never would have imagined that he would be able to...express his thoughts in such a way.

She watched her father laugh out loud, but she didn't know how to react. She didn't know if Leon's words had been enough to convince him, but she was willing to fight for him too.

When William managed to calm down, he massaged his jaw. It had been a long time since he had laughed with such intensity, but he had his daughter looking at him with an expression he didn't like as a father.

“I see.” he finally said and got up from his seat, adjusting his suit jacket and then added. “Well, don't forget the condoms, I don't want you to make me a grandfather so soon.”

Leon almost choked and Ashley wanted the earth to swallow her up and spit her halfway around the world.

“Dad!”

“What? I think that's a pretty valid concern” he walked over to Leon, who stood up with his face flushed to his ears, and rested his hand on the agent's shoulder. “If I had taken Katherine Connors' bet, she would have fleeced me.”

“ I can't believe it, you too? What did Katherine tell you?” Ashley exclaimed in astonishment, beginning to wonder if everyone had made bets with de Leon and her.

William smiled and put his other hand on his daughter's shoulder, staring at them both.

“That there are right people, but wrong times.”

Leon and Ashley understood the meaning of those words. Their separation so abrupt and painful that it took a part of each of them. The two looked at each other for a second and smiled shyly. Ashley reached out to take Leon's hand gently.

“ Maybe Katherine and Emily can see the future.” joked the blonde, causing the two men to smile.

William gave his agent's shoulder another squeeze and smiled back.

“ Even with everything I've told you, I'm glad you are my son-in-law, I couldn't think of anyone better for Ashley, take good care of her.”

“ Thank you sir, I won't let you down.” Leon's voice was firm and his hand around hers closed unconsciously, clutching her tightly.

William nodded in satisfaction.

“Well, since you are now going to be my son-in-law, you might as well start by calling me by my name.”

Leon looked at him in surprise and this time it was he who let out a soft laugh.

“Let's go by parts, Mr. President.”

Ashley laughed too and William sighed dramatically, but accepting the answer. They picked up the documents from the table he would keep to make the satellite request and he watched the two young men head for the door with their bodies much calmer than ever.

“By the way, Leon.”

The agent turned around.

“Yes, sir?”

“No returns allowed.”

“Dad!”

The three laughed hopelessly and said goodbye with a broad smile plastered on everyone's lips. Ashley intertwined her fingers with Leon's. It had been unexpected, but she couldn't have asked for a better outcome.

*

The thick wooden door opened to let in a man covered in snow. He was bundled up in a thick fur jacket and several inner layers of cloth to combat the freezing cold that was raging outside. The snowstorm was heavy and barely visible from three feet away.

The man dropped the pieces of firewood in front of the fireplace, pouring nourishment into the flames that kept the house warm. He tidied the remaining ones aside and took off his gloves to pull down the neck brace that covered his face to his eyes. He scratched the beard he hadn't shaved yet and grunted as he pulled the heavy jacket off his back.

“Honey, you got the tub ready.”

A female voice called to him from the bathroom, causing his blue eyes to turn to the blond mane that emerged from the toilet.

“Thank you, it's freezing out there.” the man walked over to the open kitchen of the cabin, where dinner was being cooked.”This smells great, Ash, what are you doing?”

Ashley smiled and walked over to the stove where a pot was simmering.

“I'm making Helga's chowder, remember?” she reached up to brush away some of the snowflakes that had stuck to his eyebrows and eyelashes.

“Did she give you the recipe?It was delicious.” he let himself docilely, delighted by the attention.

“Tomorrow it's your turn to cook.” she smiled teasingly, pinching his nose affectionately.

“Hey, I chopped the wood.”

“And I've hunted the dinner, Leon.”

The man fell silent.

“You are right.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek with innocent affection, smooching her all over her face and making her giggle sweetly at the tickle his beard gave her. “Tomorrow I'll cook you anything you want, princess.”

Ashley giggled and responded to his soft kisses, melting against his lips, somewhat dry from the cold, but just as warm as ever.

After William requested the use of the satellite, they had to wait several days for them to reconnoiter in detail the areas specified by Leon and Ashley. During those days, they took the opportunity to get back to full fitness and went to pay some visits to Narsson and Sasha, whom he had not seen for a long time. She had already been removed from Patrick's supervision, who returned to the base with Hunnigan, to help her with some pending missions.

Maria was still with Narsson, at the request of the teacher, who was still going through quite a low point. The accident had made her sleep deprived and she was now alert to any shrill or sudden sound. Vazquez knew how to deal with her, after all, it was a lot like the time he spent with Ashley when he first met her. 

And Enma was grateful that there was someone with her at the moment, Emily had even suggested that she come to his office when she felt better or wanted to talk.

But for now, Maria's company and, later, that of Ashley's dogs were enough for her to sleep better at night.

After medical checkups with Viktor and days of waiting, Ashley's father finally called them to give them some good news.

They had found something.

They used the approximate measurements Ashley had taken from those memories as a reference to look for something that resembled it in size.

And they ended up in Greenland.

Just like Iceland, there seemed to be a wide arctic current that was causing large snowfalls that, for now, kept Leon and Ashley in the cabin.

They had decided that the two of them would go alone to survey and locate the exact location.They did not intend to investigate any grottoes or caves, only to narrow down the area where they had discovered there might be something that resembled what they were looking for. But, for now, they were sheltering in one of the small villages that were scattered throughout the north of the country. It was a secluded cabin, but it had everything they needed to make it through the storm safely.

Ashley stirred the fish and seafood stew she had made from the leftover hunting that some locals had given them as a welcome gift and cooked some of the meat from the rabbit she had managed to catch that morning.

The place reminded her a lot of Iceland. The immense landscape of natural steppes and mountains, with no human presence, made everything feel primal, wild. The place may have undergone many changes over the centuries, but there was still a sense of freedom there.

But with the vastness came the dangers that could inhabit it.

And the ones they were looking for could not be found on the surface.

“I'll bathe later, that water is boiling.”

Leon's voice brought Ashley out of her thoughts, causing her to turn to look at him, now without all those thick layers that protected him from the cold. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his chest against her back and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“That smells great, love.” His deep voice vibrated softly, like velvet.

Ashley smiled and rested her cheek against his.

“I hope it tastes as good as it smells, because it's the first time I've ever done it.”

They both laughed softly and then fell into a pleasant silence, where the swaying of the wooden spoon in the pan was the only thing that echoed in the place.

“There are times when I feel like this is still a dream.” the man finally whispered.

“Us?”

He nodded.

“After so long alone, even socializing in general, the fact that I have a partner and it was you is... surreal.” He paused, in which he gently tightened his grip around her waist. “I went to Raccoon City after breaking up with my girlfriend, and after everything that happened there and the subsequent six years of training and basically social isolation, well...I...didn't...have much hope, really.”

A soft tired chuckle escaped from between his lips. Ashley felt the heaviness in his words and couldn't stop her heart from shrinking. She set the spoon down and turned in his arms, reaching up to cup his face between her hands.

“But it's real, and if you need me to repeat it to you on the nights you wake up from nightmares, I will, just like you do when I call you in my worst dreams.”

Leon laughed with cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“I don't know if I deserve you.”

“You're all I need.”

The man smiled and simply melted at the words of the woman who had now become his treasure. He leaned in to kiss her, not knowing what words to use, so he would answer her in the best way he could.

She smiled against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck lovingly, giving herself to that sweet mouth that brought so many sweet things.

They kissed softly for a few moments, conveying their full support to each other. When the small kitchen alarm began to faintly vibrate, they parted with rosy cheeks and a wide smile.

“Soup's ready.” Ashley whispered to turn and turn off the fire. Leon placed a soft kiss on her neck and pulled away.

“I'll set the table.”

They ate dinner at the small table next to the fireplace in the living room and chatted about movies, serials, the dogs, some new book Ashley had started reading that Leon defended was written porn, though he didn't refuse when she asked him to try something she'd read, the weather, and anything that would distract them a little from the mission they were on.

But in a corner, at the back of their minds, there was a little goblin that wouldn't let them switch off completely. But they managed not to pay too much attention to it.

Leon praised the food to seventh heaven and actually considered signing up with Narson and Ashley to go back to Iceland for a visit.

“You'd probably run into Einar.” She joked to see what reaction she would get out of her boyfriend.

Leon just chuckled under his breath in disdain.

“Maybe I should admit that the tension Einar put in made a lot of things between us come out. - He paused to take another bite. “He may have stolen your first kiss, but I think I may have stolen your voice from repeating my name between moans.”

That was definitely not the answer she had expected, and her whole face turned hopelessly red at the devilish smile on the man's lips.

Those lips that, as he said, had tasted every last fold of her body until, probably, memorizing everything.

Leon's soft laughter filled the place and dinner continued its usual course.

The flames shrank as time went on, until only the reddening embers that warmed the hut remained. When they finished packing up the kitchen, Leon went to take that hot bath his body so desired. He undressed quickly and sank under the water with a loud grunt of pleasure, feeling his muscles slowly relax and his insides warm up.

“Thanks for the bath…” she sighed, leaning back and throwing her head back. He heard Ashley's footsteps approach the open door and leave him a clean towel.

“Aha…” she replied somewhat off-center. Her thoughts were starting to become saturated by the mission, even if the storm hadn't yet raged so they could leave. But her head was already starting to wander outside that cabin.

And Leon noticed it right away.

“Ash, is something wrong?”

“Huh?”

She looked at him in confusion, as if she hadn't processed anything he'd said earlier.

“Love, are you all right?”

Ashley seemed to need a moment to come back from her cascade of thoughts, but when she did, she wasn't able to lie to him, and with a long sigh she leaned back against the window frame.

“I'm nervous, I'm sorry.”

Leon's heart shrunk with affection at her confession and he decided to smile at her.

“You're feeling it, aren't you?”

Ashley looked at him in surprise.

“You...too?”

“Come,” he waved her over to the tub. “Get in with me.”

In any other context Ashley would tell him that it wasn't the time for anything sexual, but the tone in which he said it and the soft smile on his lips told her that wasn't his intention. So he decided to do as he asked.

She undressed with subtly flushed cheeks. Even after all the times they had lain together, it still made her tingle to undress in front of him like that. She could feel his eyes glide over her body gently and when she was done she shyly approached the tub. Leon reached out a hand to stroke her leg and settled into the tub to give her room. Ashley leaned against Leon's shoulder as she immersed herself in the warm water.

“I sure got it hot for you.” She laughed softly, leaning back against him and feeling his tense muscles relax at once. Leon's warm lips rested on her temple in an affectionate kiss.

“Yeah, you almost boiled me alive.” he joked back before wrapping his arms around her. - I've been feeling something weird since we came here. - he finally said, causing Ashley to stare at a distant point in thought.

“Like a tingling.” she whispered.

“Exactly.”

“Do you think it's...what we came here for?”

“I don't know.” Leon rested his cheek against her head, mulling over the various possibilities, though seeing that there weren't many. He sighed heavily, clutching the woman against his body unconsciously. - But ever since we came to this town I feel that tingling every now and then.

Ashley drew circles on the man's skin, self-absorbed.

“Maybe it's because of our mutations?” she proposed in a listless tone.

“It's the only thing that makes any sense.” Leon nodded with a soft, thoughtful grunt. - We don't have plagas inside us, though.

“Maybe that's why we only felt the tingling, when we had the parasite inside, you could hear voices and grunts all over the place.” Ashley remembered those horrible sounds as if she heard them at that moment, but Leon's strong arms pressed her even more against him, as if he wanted to protect her from those memories.

“I know it's unreliable, but I think we're close. Closer than we've ever been.”

Ashley snuggled against her partner's body and nodded.

“I feel it too,” she paused, hesitant, “but I can't help but be scared.”

“I'm terrified.”

Those words made the woman open her eyes in surprise and raise them towards him. To meet a sweet gaze that looked at him with infinite tenderness, but also with fear.

“I know you're tough and you can handle anything, but I can't help...thinking that I might lose you. I think, ever since I entered this world, I've been afraid of just that, of committing myself in this way.”

Ashley felt her heart shrink at that confession. How it pained her to see him, the man she loved so dearly, with such a shadowed expression.

“Do you see me as your weak spot?” she whispered to him without realizing it.

“Am I not yours?” He pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and the way Ashley closed her mouth was enough to know the answer. To make her smile. “And yet you're my strong point too, because I know you'll always have my back.”

Ashley looked deeply at him and couldn't help but laugh softly.

“We've definitely taken the rough road, huh?”

Leon smiled in the same way and leaned down to brush his nose against hers.

“It's a good thing we have experience on rough roads, isn't it?”

This time Ashley couldn't hold back a laugh at those words and moved to his side to lean against him.

“We should put that on our resumes.”

The two laughed hopelessly, feeling part of their nerves melt away with each other's company. They chatted and washed together amid laughter and giggles.

This was one of those nights when they didn't resort to sex to clear their minds. Sometimes they needed to laugh and play with each other to feel grounded. Their heads were ruminating too much to turn to a night of carnal passion. It was an option they had both thought about, but their bodies needed that shared bath. To be together, whispering their worries and giving each other words of encouragement.

That night they drank the infused milk together and cuddled in each other's arms in bed, with the snow and wind howling outside, like a voice of the night announcing a new storm.

*

The road felt like absorbent cotton. Their feet sank like foam and made their progress very slow. The sky was covered by a gray blanket, but there was no longer a storm. Only clouds that were indistinguishable from the snow under their feet.

The silhouette of the mountains in the distance resembled colossal teeth closing around them. Or maybe their imagination was playing tricks on them.

The two figures glided like two specks of dust in the vast immensity of those lands. Their breaths rose and disappeared in the icy atmosphere.

Everything seemed incredibly calm and peaceful. The silence and the soft sound of the snow beneath their boots was pleasant...and yet their bodies were still pumping with adrenaline.

One of the figures stopped and the other caught up with him shortly.

“We are entering the area that Ingrid tracked.” Leon's voice was muffled by the buff. He pointed to the digital map he was carrying and then raised his eyes to scan the place.

“ How are you doing with the tingling?” he asked, concerned about how upset she seemed the night before.

Ashley inhaled deeply and exhaled heavily.

“I feel like a metal detector.”

Leon laughed softly and stroked her cheek that peeked out from under her glasses and between the neck brace.

“Looks like we swallowed a battery.”

They both smiled and Ashley appreciated her boyfriend's humor in those moments. Some would think it was inappropriate, but now that she was doing the same, she understood why it was so helpful in coping with his nerves.

“What was the most accurate area?”

Leon studied the screen and pointed to a spot on it.

“To the east. The scanner was densest in that area.”

Ashley nodded and they set off.

The blizzard may have subsided, but that didn't make walking through the snow any easier. They had to stop every so often to catch their breath before resuming their march.

Then, as they passed over the side of a hill, a sharp whistle echoed in the wind.

Leon stopped in his tracks.

His eyes looked all around as his ears tried to find the source of the sound, but it seemed to have faded.

“Do you smell something?” whispered the man, approaching his companion without taking his eyes off his surroundings.

Ashley lowered the cloth from her nose and sniffed the environment. For a slight moment she thought she caught a whiff of iron, but it soon faded just as it came.

“We don't have the wind on our side and it's too dry, I can't smell much other than what we might be stepping on under the snow. What about you? What have you heard?”

Leon leaned over and grabbed a handful of snow. It wasn't compact. He cursed under his breath and looked up again into the distance.

“A whistling sound. It could have been an animal, a bird, maybe.”

Ashley looked in the same direction.

“In this environment you have more of an advantage than I do. Unless the wind changes, I'm not much help to you.”

“As long as you can detect anything under our feet, that's good enough for me.”

“Well, you've stepped in fox shit before.”

The agent turned to her with unbelieving eyes. Only to be met with a dazzling smile faker than a $3 bill.

“Remind me why we're together.”

“Because you love me unconditionally.”

“Right.”

He turned around as he heard her giggle, unable to contain a soft smile beneath the fabric of his face. They kept walking, chatting occasionally or in silence as they listened intently for any strange sounds.

Leon didn't hear the whistling again, but he did hear the occasional fox bark. The snow could only be heard when he rested his whole chest on it, it was so loose that he got to see the smaller animals long before he heard them and Ashley seemed to have the same difficulty, so they used the help of the thermal option offered by the radar, even if it wasn't much, he would at least see if something big was approaching them.

“STOP!!!”

Leon tensed suddenly and turned toward the scream, only to notice, on the snow beneath his feet, a shadow looming over him.

He jumped with all his might away from the shadow, rolling toward Ashley and drawing his pistol. A hand helped him up and the air left his lungs.

That should be a polar bear.

But the misshapen monstrosity emerging from its back like slimy whips made it look more like a demon out of hell.

The white fur, like the snow at its feet, was stained with dried, blackened blood. Its eyes were almost out of sockets, white and crimson injected, devoid of any iris that could give it any life. The jaw gaped so wide that it had torn the flesh from the cheeks and chunks of skin hung, frozen, to the sides of the emaciated creature's face.

“But how...?”

Ashley couldn't help but whisper as she pointed the gun at it. It shouldn't be able to move, extreme temperatures was something the plagas could never tolerate, so why was that thing alive almost at arctic altitude?

“This is bad.” It seemed that Leon had come to the same conclusion and clutched the weapon next to her, feeling the muscles react to the growls of that abomination.

Running was not an option, that bear was more prepared than they were to snow.

The wind was still against them. Ashley reached to her belt, clutching a blinding grenade. She knew its weak spot. There was no sun with those clouds so thick and dark, so it would give it some Vitamin D.

She gritted her teeth, pulled out the grenade and went to pull the pin.

“Go to hell, you bastard of a-”

A blur grabbed her by the hood and dragged her violently, losing the grenade.

“ASHLEY!!!”

Leon's shot echoed and the assailant fell to the ground. Ashley roared as she broke free from the drag, but claws found her wrist and sank into her flesh like butter. She screamed in pain, but pulled out the knife with boiling blood and plunged it into that horrible beast.

The arctic owl, deformed by the immense plaga that had dismembered its body, screeched and attacked her with its other paw, barely reaching her face as she plunged the knife into the animal's thorax, again and again and again.

She stood up out of breath and splattered with blood only to see the huge bear charge at Leon. The man shot at the beast's eyes and managed to dodge the claws that would have ripped him in half, but something bit his ankle. He fired at the ground, meeting an abominable arctic fox that shrieked as the bullet struck the side of its skull, but not killing it.

He moved away from them, shooting to get them to move away, but anguish began to fill him as another disfigured fox emerged from the hillside.

Those plagas had nothing to do with the ones they knew.

These were abysmal beasts.

Leon backed up to Ashley, who was reaching for the grenade. He tried to pull his own, but the long tentacles of the Ursid reached for him. He pulled the knife out, deflecting just in time a bone-edged blade that was headed straight for his throat. Ashley shot at the animal to push it back, but only got it to retract the tentacles.

They gasped loudly, feeling their lungs burning from the cold that crept into them. They couldn't waste bullets pointlessly, they had no extra ammunition, so they would have to find a way to distract them and be able to use the grenade on them.

But these bugs had thicker skin, even armor, unlike the plagas they knew.

“Are you all right?” Leon gasped, watching as the three beasts separated.

“Yes.” the woman managed to find the grenade, but one of the foxes lunged at her. Leon fired and Ashley tried to run too, but her legs went too deep.

Shit, shit, SHIT.

“Ashl-”

Leon turned to the other two with his heart pounding. They were trying to corner them. He dodged another blade and fired at the fox, but it was more elusive than the bear. Ashley roared as the animal knocked her to the ground and parried the teeth with the knife, driving it away with all her might. FUCK, how tough it was, stronger than the Colmillos of the village.

Her pulse trembled in that hand from the wound in her wrist. It was bleeding and burning. She saw out of the corner of her eye Leon struggling with the other two, trying to keep them away from him and look for a weak spot.

But he was running out of bullets.

Ashley groaned from the effort and the fox thrashed furiously, tearing at her flesh with the knife, but determined to be left without a lower jaw as long as he could grab her by the scruff of the neck. Ashley tensed her muscles even more and, holding back the pain, reached out for the dropped grenade. The fox's tentacles exploded from the animal's spine and one of them wrapped around the woman's injured wrist. She roared in pain as she could no longer push the creature's maw away and one of its teeth began to sink into her collarbone.

COME ON. COME ON.

She smelled blood. Adrenaline. Sweat. Pain.

COME ON.

Fang sank deeper.

She grabbed the grenade and slammed it into its mouth, reaching in to its stomach and grabbing the ring.

“Digest this.”

She pushed it as far as she could with her legs and spun on the snow, shielding herself from the blast.

Leon gasped, was she all right? He couldn't think. That damn bear wouldn't let him breathe.

He managed to dodge its claws, but the fox jumped onto Leon's back. The agent shielded himself with his jacket and kept it from hurting him, but now it was tugging at his hood, knocking him off balance.

“EYES!”

He saw the grenade fly through the air and went to take cover when the bear pest whipped the blinding grenade skyward.

Ashley blanched. And fired.

Leon froze. The bear grabbed his leg.

“SHI-”

“LEON!”

A fiery arrow plunged into the pest's back. The bear and the parasite roared and shrieked with a shrill, horrifying sound.

Leon shot the fox at its shoulder and as the animal fell to the ground, another flaming arrow plunged into its side.

Where had they come from?

Leon and Ashley looked around and saw huge crossbow bolts, sprayed in oil and fire, sticking into the two beasts. And another. And another.

It wasn't until they were almost on top that they saw pale figures appear. Silently they threw fire bombs and the oil made the animals' fur catch fire like grass. The monsters roared and kicked, but the more they resisted, the more fire reached them.

The first to fall was the fox.

The bear charged at the figures, incredibly agile in the snow, and this time they drove harpoons into the deformed body, which caught fire an instant later. They riddled it without regard or questions, as if... it wasn't the first time.

After a last howl of pain mixed with the unnatural screeching of a creature that should not have existed, the bear fell to the ground. Dead.

Leon and Ashley gasped. The blonde reached her partner and they both leaned against each other. They watched their rescuers. Dressed in furs and cloth the color of snow, they were barely distinguishable from the ground if a little breeze stirred up the flakes.

They carried hunting crossbows and harpoons, and in backpacks of rope and leather, arrows of wood and bone. They looked like creatures from another land. But the important thing was that they had been saved.

One of them stepped forward and spoke in a language neither of them understood. Leon and Ashley looked at each other for a second and the woman was the first to respond. Some other language they would know there, maybe Danish?

“Norwegian? Spanish? English?”

“English?” replied the stranger with a strong accent and the two agents nodded vigorously in relief. They would have found a way to communicate with them anyway, but they were grateful for the ease.

The strange figure walked towards them wearing a curious piece of bone with two thin slits over the eyes. Removing them they met the deep almost black eyes of a woman, whose face was adorned with fine hand tattooed lines.

She pointed to the inert body of the beast.

“You know Tupilak?”

The two agents looked at each other somewhat quizzically. Tupilak? Ashley thought the name sounded familiar. She reached into her torn jacket, and from one of the inside pockets she pulled out a tiny notebook, where she flipped through some of the notes she had made before coming to Greenland.

“Yes, we know it.”

“Do we?” Leon looked at her in confusion and Ashley showed her his notes.

“It's an evil spirit in their culture, an amalgam of living things created by shamans to attack people. Gunnar called them Eyda, remember? Each one resembles them to their culture.

Leon looked at the woman's notes and understood.

“You wounded.” she walked over to them to look at their wounds, but her dark eyes narrowed when she saw that Ashley's wrist was no longer bleeding and that some of the blood had clotted. She stepped back and pointed her crossbow at her.

“Tuurngaq…”

The rest of the group tensed up and aimed at them as well. Leon opened his eyes wide and stepped in front of Ashley, shielding her with his body.

“No! No! We are not demons, please let us explain.” his voice was a plea as he held the woman behind him - please.

Silence reigned in the place for a few seconds. He could not even hear the snow crunching under his feet.

“How know Tupilak? Not leave the island.” hissed the woman without blinking or moving the crossbow.

Ashley turned the pages of her little notebook quickly, feeling the adrenaline numb her fingers this time. She was shivering from the cold and her wounds, as was Leon.

She found what she was looking for and handed it to the man.

“There are other Tupilak in the world.” The agent added with his hands up and gently extended the notebook to the woman. The native frowned, but finally reached out to quickly take the object and look at the small pictures. Her eyes widened like saucers as she saw three creatures similar to the ones she knew, but in some ways different as well. She read Iceland, Norway and Spain.

Her heart stopped.

“More outside?” her voice was anguished.

Leon nodded.

“Yes, but not as big as the bear. She and I” he pointed to Ashley and himself with hand gestures. “We had a small one inside,” he pointed to his chest and then grasped the air and gestured to pull something out, “but we managed to get it out before we became that.” he referred to the bear lying dead.

The woman looked at him in disbelief.

“Pull it out? Can pull it out?” her tone sounded almost...hurt and the two agents understood that she had suffered the misfortune of losing people to those beasts. This place was becoming more and more like Spain.

“Yes, but it is difficult if it is not done soon,” Ashley spoke this time and pointed to his wounds. “That's why we heal faster, but we're not Tuurngaq, really.

The woman looked at the pictures one more time and decided to pass them on to her companions. Leon and Ashley felt their hearts pounding in their ears, but an immense relief washed over them as they watched them lower their weapons.

The woman approached them again and handed the notebook back to them.

“Me, Issui, you?”

“Leon and Ashley,” the man replied, extending his hand in friendship. Issui hesitated for a second, but finally agreed and shook hands with both of them.

“Come, so much to tell.”

And there was indeed so much to tell. After burning to ashes the bodies of the plagas, they dedicated a few prayers to the bodies of the animals that had succumbed under the claws of those monsters, wishing them a good journey back to the spirit world.

They took them back to their village in dog sleds, which they had left safely away from the conflict zone. Issui didn't talk much on the ride, wanting to wait until they reached a safe area so he could chat quietly with those two strangers who had appeared in the vast snowy lands.

They were left to make a call from the woman's house, to alert a companion of the discovery they had made and then began to talk about the rest of the plagas Ashley and Leon had encountered on their travels and how they had gotten there.

*

Beeps echoed in that darkened room, each from different locations and monitors.

The workers' fingers were rapidly scrolling across the keyboards, searching for anything that would give them a clue or help them find the trail they had lost.

“Sir!”

The soldier's voice alerted the man who sat in an armchair, behind a large screen reflected against his dark glasses. The figure stood up and walked over to his subordinate, who pointed to a faint, flickering red light to the north of the world map.

The man gave an eerie, lopsided smile and an intense red glow appeared behind the thick sunglasses.

“I've got you.”

[ashrillvenheim]

Forgot to post this study I did last year of Cowboy Leon

[ashrillvenheim]

Awakening Past

Chapter 28

pairing: Ashley Graham x Leon S Kennedy.

Content: (+18) romance, angst, gore, erotic/suggestive themes at some point, slow burn, violence, action, self-harm, death talk,

If you're a MINOR DON'T keep reading, thank you.

Archive of our own / WORK LIST / Awakening Past Masterlist

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Soft light streamed into the room, though not much due to the rain that fell incessantly outside. A pair of birds took shelter under the balcony roof, snuggling up to each other for the warmth of their feathers, oblivious to the small nest that other “birds” had made behind the windows.

As much as she liked the smell of his fabric softener, that mix between cologne and his natural scent was something that surpassed any kind of air freshener.

She buried her face against Leon's warm chest and listened to his calm heartbeat. Slow and deep, accompanied by the gentle movement of his chest.

She could get used to it, it didn't seem like a bad idea.

She kissed that sun-tanned skin softly and heard a soft growl followed by a deep chuckle that made her tingle.

“Good morning, princess…”

Leon's husky, velvety voice made Ashley raise her sleepy eyes to him. She settled in beside him and Leon brought his arm up so that she rested on his shoulder.

“ Good morning, handsome.”

Leon smiled hopelessly and turned his body toward her, wrapping his arm around her waist. Their noses brushed and they nuzzled them side to side gently, a gesture they had shared before, but now it meant much, much more.

“ How did you sleep?” whispered Leon.

“ I haven't slept a wink because of your snoring.”

“ Me? But I don't snore.”

“ I recorded you.”

“ You what? Delete that.”

Ashley laughed with a soft blush and Leon finally got the joke.

“ Ha ha, very funny.” He paused to pinch her nose. -I'd have been eaten long ago if I snored.

It was a pretty dark joke, but Ashley knew Leon's humor, which, unfortunately, had rubbed off on her as well.

“ Right. “ She entwined her bare legs with Leon's. “I haven't slept this well in a long time.”

“ Me too, every time we've slept together I've slept like a baby.” Leon confessed with a slight blush on his cheeks that melted her heart.

“ Wow, have you become more mellow?” Ashley couldn't hold back a giggle, which ended up becoming a sigh when Leon's broad hand rested on her cheek.

“ I've become honest.” he whispered in a whisper.

They both smiled, inhaling and feeling the new vibrations they now had between them. There were still nerves, but it was no longer one of anguish and uncertainty. They no longer blamed themselves for feeling or acting in inappropriate ways with each other.

They finished crossing that line the night before.

They looked into each other's eyes with faint goofy smiles and, without putting up much resistance, their lips met in a tender good morning kiss.

“ Doesn't seem like a bad way to wake up in the morning. “ Leon whispered between each kiss, pressing his naked body to her hopelessly. Ashley gasped softly, melting into the warmth of his skin and giggled against his lips.

“ Me neither.”

They both laughed, and between their little kisses their tongues began to poke out hopelessly, welcoming each other much faster than the day before.

Leon turned his body, wrapping his arms around Ashley and slowly pulling her under him.

“ I'd make love to you again…” Leon's soft beard tickled and gasped along with the kisses he began to leave on her neck.

“ Would you?” she smiled entwining her fingers in his silky hair.

His laughter vibrated against her chest and his blue eyes lifted to look at her.

“ I am going to.” he corrected with desire.

A sharp knock against the door caused it to open as it was not quite closed. Leon and Ashley looked at the entrance in surprise, only to burst out laughing loudly when Pepper and Mint stared at them with sheepish eyes.

“ I don't think they agree.” Ashley laughed and Leon shifted his weight away from her.

“ Definitely not.”

The two dogs gave a soft synchronized bark to get their owner's butt off the bed.

“ Do you want to go outside?”

The moment Ashley uttered the magic word, the dogs bolted into the living room, grabbing their leashes with their teeth and running like mad. Leon growled and dropped his head against her chest.

“ Now you have to share me with them.” smiled the blonde, kissing the top of his head, and laughed at the man's annoyed growl, who didn't seem too happy with the idea.

*

Ashley put the coffee pot away while Leon put the harnesses on the dogs. She brewed him a cup of the steaming liquid and held it out to Leon. The man smiled at her with a slight blush as their fingers brushed and blew on it before sipping a little at a time.

They put on their jackets and grabbed the umbrella before heading out of the house.

The rain had calmed down a bit and the wind gave them a lull during the walk.

They let the dogs loose in the park and they scampered through the trees.

Leon was holding the umbrella and Ashley was holding onto his arm somewhat sheepishly. He turned to look at her, his heart racing, and took her hand, interlacing his fingers with hers.

“ What's on your mind?” he asked as they walked along the quiet stone paths. Ashley smiled.

“I think the same as you.”

Leon made the same gesture and looked down at their joined hands.

“I know it's a little late to be thinking this, but where do we stand now?”

Ashley listened and thought for a few seconds before answering.

“Well, I guess we are now...officially a couple, aren't we?”

The agent smiled and gave her a gentle squeeze in acknowledgement.

“If you're willing to put up with a knucklehead like me, I guess so.”

“And if you're willing to put up with a pain in the ass like me, then I guess so too.”

They both laughed hopelessly, clutching their hands tighter, trying to get used to the new tingles and closeness they now shared.

“We'll have to tell it at some point.”

Ashley sighed and leaned her head against her partner's shoulder.

“The truth is, I don't really feel like planning anything right now.”

“So what do you want to do?” he chuckled softly.

“ Well, catch up on reasonable sleep, clean the house, cook with you, sleep with you…”

“ Is having a shower with me part of the plan?”

Ashley looked at him with surprise, but with a wide, amused smile.

“Are you already thinking about a shower together?”

“I think I can do that when we skipped most of the previous steps yesterday.” Leon's blue eyes bore into her, subtly darker and surrounded with a slight blush, causing Ashley to go red up to her ears. For a second she felt tingles over her skin as she remembered the needy kisses and nibbles he gave her the night before.

“Yeah...it was maybe a little rushed.” she whispered shyly. She was surprised when Leon let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her waist with a lopsided smile.

“Does that mean we have the green light for the shower?”

Ashley smacked his chest with a laugh.

“Leon! You're such a slut-”

Ashley went pale and everything suddenly started spinning.

“Ash!”

Leon clutched her tightly and his face contracted in concern as he saw her stagger.

Ashley gasped as the blurry images of the last few days began to come into focus until they became so sharp they made her nauseous.

The dogs heard Leon's voice and ran to their owner's aid in concern.

It took her several minutes to breathe normally again, but when she managed to do so, she was able to open her eyes again. The spirals became softer and softer until the ground stopped moving and the trees stopped bending. Leon held her all the while, tense and expectant.

“Princess, are you okay? What happened?”

Ashley massaged her eyelids before looking up at him with a confused, but at the same time amazed expression.

“I...I saw…”

Leon arched an eyebrow, not understanding the woman's words.

“You've seen them? What?”

The rain began to pick up again.

“Those images I told you and Narsson about. They were very blurry, but...now I remember them.” she finally managed to explain as her face was tinged with horror. “My head hurts…” she finally whispered with a grunt and Leon grabbed her around the waist, holding the umbrella up.

- Let's go back home. Let's go, guys. - He gestured with his head to the dogs and they followed without a whimper.

*

The rain soon returned and darkened the sky again, causing Leon to have to turn on the living room lights.

He brought her a glass of water and the notebook Ashley had asked for. He sat down on the couch next to her and let her lean against him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Are you feeling better?” he whispered kissing her hair. Ashley settled against his body and began to scribble on the paper.

“Yes.” she paused. “Do you think I've gone crazy?”

Leon sighed with a soft laugh.

“ Depends on what you tell me.”

“ I saw the plagas.” she raised her amber eyes at him. “And that I was their mother.”

Leon's eyebrows arched in surprise and he looked at her in disbelief.

“ If you put it that way, you do look like you've taken a hit.” he meant to say mockingly, but his look and tone betrayed concern, so Ashley elaborated on her explanation, recalling.

“ It was more like he was seeing things through someone else's eyes. - Leon saw the similarity to what happened to them in Spain with the rest of the parasites. He kept listening. “ Those plagas were huge, much like the ones in Iceland, but my point of view was much taller and bigger than them, much, much more. I watched as they hunted dinosaurs and brought them to me, as if that was the only way they could feed me. The scenery was changing, as if they were memories of different places, as if they were moving.”

“ Maybe they migrated?”

Ashley was silent, analyzing the images she could now discern without her brain threatening to explode.

“I think so, a lot of what I remember is...sensations, so it's hard for me to know for sure. I think they went north, because I remember some very intense aurora borealis.”

“Auroras…” whispered Leon thoughtfully, drawing circles on Ashley's shoulder without realizing it. “That fits with the areas we've visited where the plagas were older.”

Ashley let out a sound of affirmation, immersed in the memories or visions she'd been having. She preferred to separate them from herself, she was finding the reality of the situation horrible enough as it was.

“Leon...I believe that all the plagas we know of, even the “Mother Plagas," all come from the same creature," her voice was whispery as the reality washed over them both. “I saw a light in the sky, like a meteor, and then everything became vague. The weather was changing, food was scarce and there didn't seem to be any more hatchlings that could bring nourishment. It was getting colder and colder and everything was getting darker, as if...I was sleeping on ice.”

Silence formed in the room after Ashley finished speaking. Leon's eyes were lost in a distant point as he thought.

“Are you sure it wasn't a dream?” he whispered, turning his gaze back to her.

“ I saw it when the lab bug got its tentacles into me and...filled me with pests.” Ashley's body shrank unconsciously, shivering at the mere memory. Leon sensed her muscles contracting and hopelessly hugged her.

“Hey…” he whispered to her as he laid her down on top of him on the couch, leaving the notebook on the carpet. “Are you all right?”

The man's whispery voice made Ashley smile, calmed for seconds by his mere presence.

“Yeah, I'm fine.” she smiled softly at him. Leon looked at her profusely and raised his hand to rest it on her rosy cheek that made her so precious. He stroked her cheekbone and his body moved of its own accord, grabbing her face with both hands and kissing her passionately.

Ashley tensed and moaned in surprise, only to surrender to those warm lips and close her eyes. Leon pulled away gently and she laughed softly.

“What's with the kiss?” she whispered to him with her cheeks burning as Leon's did. He smiled sweetly.

“Do I have to have a reason to kiss my girlfriend?”

The woman's amber eyes widened as she heard him say that for the first time, which made Leon smile at the expression.

“Say that again…”

Those words took the agent by surprise, whose heart skipped a beat that I'm sure Ashley had felt as well.

“You're my girlfriend, Ash.”

Leon's voice was so sweet that Ashley felt birds instead of butterflies in her stomach. She smiled coyly and looked up at him with lambent eyes.

“Then you are my boyfriend.”

“I am, I'm your boyfriend.”

They both laughed like two teenagers in high school, as if neither of them had ever felt butterflies before in their lives. But the truth was, they had both avoided them for a long time out of fear.

But there was no fear anymore. Only love.

“I love you, Leon.”

The man was surprised at the sudden confession, but he smiled and stroked his beloved's mane.

“I love you too, Ashley.”

This time it was Ashley who granted him a sweet kiss that made the man melt under her, but also heat up like a volcano irremediably.

“I was thinking we could do a little research on these visions of mine, give them a think and see if we get anything out of them.”

“That's fine with me, but could we start tomorrow?”

Ashley looked at him blankly.

“Um, yeah, why?”

Leon's eyes darkened and his hands slid to her waist to squeeze the flesh he now craved so much.

“Because I'm not going to be able to concentrate right now.”

Ashley's face turned even redder and she couldn't hold back a gasp at the man's hands squeezing her buttocks with calm eagerness.

“Aren't you hungry for lunch?” she whispered to him, swaying her hips gently.

“ I don't mind starting with dessert.”

Ashley rose from the couch and tugged him with need. Leon was surprised at the urgency with which she pulled him out of the living room, but with a smile, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her into the air with light steps toward the bedroom, Ashley's squeals echoing down the hallway.

*

The following days were much easier than they could have ever imagined.

The complicity, trust and their usual attitudes had not changed. Now they only added an inevitable attraction and a freedom, which both felt as if they were breathing again after years.

It was as if everything was integrating easily and fitting together perfectly, almost as if it had always been made for that moment.

The days passed calmly. Leon had started to invade Ashley's room with his workout clothes, some jeans hanging on the seat, or a few t-shirts mixed in with Ashley's dirty clothes. They didn't have to think long about it for the agent to share a bed with her, it was a silent agreement that neither needed to mention to know what the answer was.

The mornings became warmer and usually tinged with laughter and giggles, though as many others, moans and gasps wafted through the air along with words of love and exclamations of ecstasy. They became a melody that filled the apartment with a new atmosphere.

Sometimes they spent the whole morning in bed, usually from a night too busy to have rested all the necessary hours. They would chat or play for hours, until their stomachs would often let them know what time it was. Or the dogs would jump on them for uninterrupted attention.

Soon after, they started training again. They started going out running with the dogs and going to the neighborhood gym together, although the latter was somewhat difficult when they couldn't take their eyes off each other. But they managed to start getting back into their exercise routine, they both needed it after so many days of rest. At the gym, Leon came to notice some marks on his neck. Small stains left by a certain person some night or morning and that many times he would find her looking at him during a break.

At the time she felt sorry for him that the bites and marks he left on her body didn't last long thanks to her recovery.

But that only encouraged him to do even more on her.

During those two weeks they talked a lot. Of her fears, of her dreams and nightmares. Leon opened up to her as he had never done with anyone, a power that Ashley always had over him and that he could hardly evade. They talked about everything a little, it shouldn't have been important, they just lay side by side and whispered as they lazily caressed each other.

But they also talked about Ashley's visions.

After she explained it in more detail, Leon could understand that it definitely hadn't been a dream. It was too much like the shared consciousness that the villagers in Spain had, where they seemed to share thoughts or images. During those days, when they weren't amusing themselves by rote learning each other's every scar or mole, they pulled Ashley's whiteboard out of the workshop and reorganized a lot of ideas.

Using everything they had discovered in Norway and Iceland, they plotted the ideas on a world map, with string, thumbtacks and stickers. When they started with that breakdown, they thought about calling Narsson, but soon gave up on that idea. The professor had had enough of man-eating parasites and conspiracy theories for the time being, so they decided to leave her alone.

They were on their own for now.

Her first notes confirmed the hypothesis of a primordial plaga from which the rest of the plagues emerged, the Mother Plagas included. Just as the smaller parasites swirled around the Mothers. They theorized that they too would be attracted to their creator, which squared with Ashley's vision of an abnormally large creature.

The fact that she had seen those images and Leon had not, they attributed to the fact that that bug that attacked them in the lab infested Ashley with plaga larvae before they were expelled, so that could explain it. The memory of those tiny creatures crawling out of Ashley's body was something Leon still couldn't manage to digest when it came to his mind.

It produced too many sensations that just made him want to take Ashley in his arms and hold her. Just to make sure she was okay, though he didn't know if it was more for his own mental health anymore.

That morning they set about jotting down a few more ideas and as she spoke, he could sense Leon's blank stare. She reached out and tucked a few strands of hair behind his ear.

- Honey, are you all right?

The soft voice made the man turn to her and blink at the end. These days, Ashley had gotten into the habit of calling him by affectionate nicknames. It was easy for him, he'd always done it even if it was in a sarcastic context, but to hear someone call him that while looking at him with eyes pure as tree sap...it was another feeling.

“Yeah, I was just thinking about those larvae. I'm sorry, they give me chills every time I remember them.” he confessed with a sigh. He wasn't hiding anything from her anymore, he didn't feel the need to deny her truths to protect her. Ashley could see right through him even if he did.

Ashley bounced up and down on the couch at a sudden jolt of memory.

“Ugh, it gives me the creeps just thinking about it.” She leaned in to give him a sweet kiss on the cheek. - Let's try to mention it as little as possible.

Leon nodded with a half smile.

“Yeah, I've had enough of this giant parasite.” He winked and laughed at his partner's offended expression.

“You want to end this relationship so soon?” she said indignantly, but Leon knew she wasn't serious.

“You said you were willing to put up with a jerk like me.”

“Remind me to slap myself the next time I have to make a decision like that.” She sighed dramatically, only to have Leon grab her by the legs until he threw her back onto the couch. He threw his full weight on her with a malevolent laugh and Ashley begged for mercy with grunts of exertion.

“You don't usually mind so much when I sink you into the mattress,” he whispered, mischievously, and enjoyed watching her cheeks redden by the second.

“Can you not think about something sexual for a minute?”

“Can you?”

“I try, until you make a comment.”

“You mean, if I didn't make a comment, you wouldn't think of anything sexual on your own?”

“ Not as often as you do.”

Leon arched his eyebrows.

“ You don't even believe that.”

“Really? I can focus on something other than getting you into bed for the fifth time today.”

“Let me argue that.”

Ashley stared at him with narrowed eyes. Whenever she wanted to take him to task, he always had some comment, whether he was right or wrong. She wanted to slap that devilish grin off his face.

“The other night I was focused on reading a book and you ended up coaxing me into having sex.” she muttered under her breath, running out of arguments.

“Yeah...and who ended up riding me until I couldn't take it anymore?”

Ashley turned bright red and looked away, puffing out her cheeks. Maybe I did think more about sex than I was letting on.

“Maybe I think a little less about sex.”

Leon smiled and grabbed her cheeks, squeezing them gently and parting her lips like a fish.

“That seems a little more accurate to me, my love.”

Ashley laughed and Leon gave her an amused kiss on those lips.

“Now that we've got that out of the way, we can get on with the investigation.” The agent added with a mischievous grin and Ashley ended up pressing on his ribs so that he jumped up and down to get away from him. The man laughed and got up from the couch to fetch his laptop from the dining room table.

“We have the aurora borealis as a reference point.” Kennedy began, which made Ashley turn to look at him in surprise.

“So you have been listening to me?”

“I think about sexual things, but I never said I can't do two things at the same time” He grinned lecherously at her “you know that very well.”

The blush covered Ashley's face hopelessly.

“You're horrible.”

“I know.” He blew her a kiss and Ashley rolled her eyes with a long sigh.

“Well, where we were going. Yes, the aurora borealis is the only thing characteristic of the memories. If it was the Jurassic, then the landscapes must have changed a lot.” He turned the board to the side of the world map.

“Do you remember anything in particular?”

The blonde was thoughtful for a moment, trying to recall the disjointed images.

“They were very bright. The colors were incredibly sharp and even had shades of red.” Ashley circled the entire area of the Arctic Circle where the auroras were occurring. Meanwhile, Leon did some quick searches for smaller areas that had these characteristics.

“For the colors to shine so brightly, it has to be a place with no light pollution, away from cities.”

Graham began crossing out the larger cities on the map, narrowing down the areas that still covered thousands and thousands of square kilometers. The sound of Leon's typing and Ashley's marker were all that could be heard for a few minutes. When she finished, the woman stepped back to look at the map more generally and crossed her arms thoughtfully.

“Do you remember what Narsson and I said about Pangaea?” she then inquired, causing Leon to lift his blue eyes from the screen and lean back in the seat, looking at the world map intently.

“To explain how the Plagas had come to Norway and from there to Spain.”

“Exactly.” she took a different color marker to mark a circle over Spain and then pulled out a small atlas with a map of the supercontinent. - if we mark the points where we have found plague specimens, and we number them from the most recent to the oldest, the order leaves us in, Spain, Norway, Iceland. And if all those came from somewhere else, if we take into account that those from Iceland are older than those from Norway....

Leon got up and walked over to the board.

“It means they came from the west.” He slid his finger across the paper and then frowned, “But that leaves us with a huge area covering half of Greenland, practically all of Canada and much of Alaska.

“Rule out Alaska. If they had been that far west, they would have crossed through the Bering Strait and it wouldn't make any sense for the pests to go to Iceland if they already got to Norway first through northern Russia and Europe.”

“Right. So that leaves Canada and Greenland.”

Ashley plopped down on the wooden stool with a long sigh.

“If we already had trouble finding legends about plagues in Iceland, I don't know if there are even going to be any in those areas.”

“I don't know if the “looking for stories” method would do us that much good in such large terrain. It would take years.”

The agent plopped down next to him in the seat next to him, and the two of them stared at the map silently, arms folded. Nearly a dozen Icelands were entering Greenland, not to mention Canada, where four entire Greenlands seemed to fit.

They were at a dead end again.

Ashley sighed and dropped her body to the side, resting her head on Leon's shoulder.

“Well...I can't think of many other search methods when we don't even know what we're looking for.” said the woman with a somewhat discouraged look due to the magnitude of the problem. He put his arm around her shoulders, gently stroking her arm up and down unconsciously.

“What do you remember from your point of view?” he asked without taking his eyes off the map or caressing her.

“That it was very big. I seem to remember seeing some of the “Mother Plagas” and it was absurdly small in proportion to me.” she pondered, doing some mental calculations of how big it could be, remembering the rigging of the creature they fought in the lab.

“I'd say...like a 4-story building, or maybe a lot more.”

“So if a critter like that had been buried without being found, that meant it had to be in a place where nothing had been built. He paused, thoughtfully.” Maybe...we could use one of the DSO's SAR satellites.

“SAR?”

“Synthetic aperture satellite. We use it for surveillance and security, but I understand it's used for other tasks like geological scans.”

Ashley arched her eyebrows and looked at him in surprise.

“Are you knowledgeable about satellites too?”

“No, no.” Leon laughed, pulling his arm away from Ashley's shoulders. “Hunnigan mentioned it to me, she's a tech geek and is usually up to date on different developments, we could talk to her, it would help us narrow down the search area.”

Ashley thought about Leon's words, aware that it was her best option, considering that they now knew that the plague fossils only needed blood to awaken. It was absurd and should be impossible, but in that village they saw things out of horror stories and on this trip...those nightmares may not have been alive, but just thinking about what monsters of that scale could do if they woke up....

All I could think about was the end of the world.

“We could talk to her, but we'll have to prepare a report to my father about the plan.” her amber eyes descended to the area where Leon was stabbed and her fingers went to the scars in the hollow of his shoulder from the bite. “Wesker's men hang around many places.”

“ We'll have to be careful.”

“Yes...” she whispered, lost in thought. She stared at a distant point and Leon noticed the way she was looking at his side and she was squeezing his scar.

“ Hey…” he called to her softly, taking her chin with his fingers to make her look up at him. - We're not going to get caught with the same trick, we're tougher now.

Ashley smiled at the caress of his words, although she was aware that he was also a little nervous, but no longer because she was involved. He was no longer shutting her out or thinking of a way to keep her from exposing herself to danger.

“Yes, we are. With your bad jokes and my thick head no one can take us on.”

Leon laughed at those words and couldn't help but lean toward her to kiss those lips with his own. It was his way of conveying his unconditional support to her.

Ashley surrendered to the kiss, subtle but long, in which they said everything to each other without a word.

When they parted with soft smiles, Ashley got up from her stool.

“We should make lunch, it's time.” she took his hand and they went to the kitchen.

“I saw a recipe for pumpkin gnocchi the other day, I'd like to try making it. I have the dough for the bread made in the fridge, so I can bake the pumpkin while it ferments before making it.”

Ashley smiled. Since everything between them had changed, Leon was more animated.

Excited.

He wasn't as scared to get into the kitchen as he used to be and he would try new things and cook for her from time to time, even though they usually prepared the food together. It was as if that daily routine was bringing out that dreamier Leon again. And that alone filled her with pure happiness. To think that being with her in a romantic relationship was bringing him so much positivity...it was everything she had wished for him.

Because to Ashley, Leon deserved the world. And she wanted to give it to him.

“I think that's a really good idea. I'm going to see if there's any of the parmesan left.” She gave the chef a peck on the cheek and opened the fridge while Leon searched for the video he'd saved a couple of days ago.

The dogs wandered around the living room and kitchen, cocking their heads to the side as they watched their owners sing and dance amid laughter and kisses. Their sessions in the kitchen could be a bit more chaotic, especially if flour was involved, and that day was no different.

“Hey, Ash.”

She turned curiously, only to feel her boyfriend's hands brazenly encircle her breasts. Leon laughed with a soft blush of excitement, pulling his hands away and seeing the silhouette of his palms drawn over her round breasts.

“Perfect.”

“Leon!” she smacked him on the chest and he cringed, trying to avoid her smearing his face, but without much success. “You're shameless!”

The man laughed, only to grunt when the raw flour went into his mouth. He spat with sounds of disgust and Ashley laughed out loud, only to receive a shower of white powder that hit him full in the face.

“Homemade face mask.” she sketched a lopsided grin, glad to have exacted her revenge.

“You-!” and she started sneezing like a dog. Ashley had to stick her face under the faucet to stop jumping up and down from the loud sneezing. She cursed Leon in four languages this time and didn't punch him because she loved him too much.

Even if sometimes she wanted to strangle him, too much too.

“You're supposed to be older than me, you should be more mature.” mumbled the woman drying her face, although she would definitely have to take a shower afterwards to get the flour out of her hair.

“I am, but you've never asked me about my mental age.” she winked at him as she continued preparing the gnocchis.

“4 years old mentally is what you have.”

“I'd say 5.”

“On your best days.”

“Come on, honey, don't be mean, come here, give me a kiss.” he tried to grab her with a devilish grin.

“Get off! No way I'm kissing you, you've got flour all over your beard.” He pushed her face away with a gentle push.

“But you love my beard.”

“Clean, Leon, clean.”

The man smiled and blew her a kiss in the air before returning to his recipe.

He was liking this atmosphere more than he could have imagined. It reminded him of his childhood, when he played in his aunt and uncle's kitchen and helped his aunt when she made cakes. She often wondered if it was back then that she started to develop a special taste for sweets.

He glanced over at Ashley, who was preparing the pot of water to boil the gnocchis, and couldn't help but smile at it all. What he never thought he would get to experience.

Normality and confidence.

Two words that long ago remained on the back pages of his personal dictionary, waiting to disappear completely at some point.

Only for Ashley to get to put them back in the title.

With that pleasant warmth he turned to the little balls he began to form in his hands and was placing them on a tray.

The chatter became calm, as calm as it could get between them. The dogs managed to earn a snack or two, either because Ashley gave them to them or because Leon dropped them on the floor and Mint was quicker. Whichever it was, they did their job as vacuum cleaners well.

They left the gnocchis baked and Leon got on with the bread, getting the oven ready.

“I'm going to go take a shower, I have flour balls in my hair, thanks.” Ashley reported, taking off her bathrobe and inhaling the delicious aroma of bread that flooded the house, so much so that it didn't even smell the dogs.

“I'm going to clean up the kitchen, will you clean the oven later?”

“Yes.”

Leon nodded and got to work as he heard Ashley walk away to the bathroom. Ashley squinted at the door so the smell of bread would follow her into the bathroom and began to undress. She couldn't help but stare at herself in the mirror for a few minutes, noting the scars that now adorned her body.

They were much softer than they should be, thanks to her regeneration, but still, they weren't completely gone. He looked at the one on his neck, from the knife he tried to kill herself with, then the bite from Wesker's soldier, then moving on to the other side, the one Ada made with her hook and on her thigh with the knife.

Watching them all made the biggest of them all on her back tingle subtly, giving her goosebumps for a moment.

She used to look at them with tired, even sad eyes, but now...each of those marks came with kisses. All the ones Leon gave to each of her scars, as if he wanted to heal them with his lips.

And in part he had succeeded, because he was unable to look at the marks and not blush at the memories of his partner's passionate kisses. Her boyfriend.

There were times when she thought she was in a dream, only to be reminded for many nights that she was as real as those scars they shared.

She smiled once more and turned on the shower faucet to step in behind the fogged glass. She closed her eyes as she hummed under the stream, shaking her hair and watching the water pale. She grunted as she felt the mass forming, but rinsed her hair calmly.

Hands slid around her waist, making her jump in surprise and turn around wild-eyed. Only to be met with ocean irises, obscured by that lopsided smile, which had nothing innocent about it.

“You scared the hell out of me.”

Leon smiled at the comment and whispered, ducking under the water with her.

“I'm sorry, but you were too focused.” His voice was a purr that by now she knew all too well. Ashley blushed as she felt his naked body press against hers. He smelled of bread and pumpkin.

“You're going to have to make it up to me.” She whispered back the same way, wrapping her arms around his neck and hearing a restrained growl in his throat. Leon smiled and grabbed her by the hips, running a hand up her strong back.

“I think I know how…”

His lips found hers and he gasped as Ashley received him passionately, making them forget the world in an instant. Leon devoured her mouth, dancing with her tongue as he had done many nights, feeding on her moans and gasps. He groaned at the scratches she delivered to his back and pushed her against the shower tiles.

“It's...cold…” she gasped against the icy wall.

“I'll warm you up…” he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her tight against him and making her aware of his arousal. Ashley moaned and slid a hand to Leon's buttocks, squeezing one eagerly and making him smile in amusement.

“Isn't the bread going to burn?” she murmured between moans, feeling his teeth close around her neck, drawing her skin with continuous red stains that in a few hours would disappear, leaving him a blank canvas to paint even more.

“I have the timer...and your sense of smell.” he laughed, squeezing Ashley's jaw to get her to open her mouth.

“I can only...smell you, I can't sense...bread…” she moaned at his possessive grip, firm, but gentle.

“Good.”

He took her mouth like a hungry wolf and squeezed the flesh of her waist and buttocks. Ashley stifled a moan and grabbed the hair on the nape, welcoming him in and getting drunk on the warmth of their naked bodies.

The sound of the shower and Ashley's gasps were all Leon could hear and Ashley became intoxicated with the scent of his skin under the hot water. All their senses were on each other, on feeling each other, devouring each other and getting ready to make love one more time until their bodies said enough, until their throats ran dry from screaming each other's name and gasping in pleasure, until they lost all sense of time, of where they were, of-

“Ashie?”

Leon tensed violently and covered the woman's body with his own, encircling her. Ashley clutched him just as tightly and they both looked toward the bathroom entrance bleary-eyed and breathless.

“Ems?”

Emily crossed her arms, leaning against the door frame, looking at them with questioning eyes.

“Let's talk, please.” she turned away from the door and walked back down the hallway toward the living room.

Ashley and Leon looked at each other in confusion, but he soon saw a worried expression in her eyes.

“I'm going to talk to her, you-”

“Both of you.”

The loud voice coming from the hall left them no choice. Ashley sighed and stepped out of the shower to grab a towel and silently hand Leon another one.

Emily was sitting on the couch, looking at the painted world map while cuddling Mint beside her, when the couple arrived. Her caramel eyes watched them seriously, analyzing their gestures, their fleeting glances and postures. They both sat down on the couch and Emily moved the armchair to face them.

“Ems, can I-”

Emily's raised hand shushed her suddenly and the blonde felt a soft shiver run down her spine. It had been a long time since she had seen her this serious, not since the first time they had met and she took on the role of watching her.

Leon watched as Ashley shrugged her shoulders and he himself swallowed saliva. He didn't know Emily well enough to know what she was really like or how she dealt with serious situations.

But he was about to find out.

“I see a lot has happened since your last trip.” Connors began, leaning back in the armchair with her legs crossed.

“I wanted to call you to tell you everything, but... a lot has happened.”

“Too much.” Leon joined her, which now made Emily turn to him with cold eyes.

“Oh, I can see you've had no lack of entertainment.”

“Emily, let us explain-”

“I don't know if you're the best person to explain yourself, Agent Kennedy.” She cut Leon off with a sharp voice and the man was surprised by this facet he was unaware of.

She was just like her mother, maybe even tougher. The man lowered his head, looking at Ashley sideways like a lamb with its throat slit, and she felt guilty that Leon was in the middle with Emily. She went to reply to her friend when she uttered in a firm voice.

“I just have one question. You're going to answer me honestly, because if you're lying, I'm gonna know.”

Leon and Ashley didn't doubt that she possessed any skill more infallible than their sense of smell and hearing. They just shrugged their shoulders and listened.

“Who gave the first kiss?”

Leon and Ashley blinked and raised their heads to look at each other, confused, then turned to Emily.

“What?”

“Answer.”

Ashley was speechless, not understanding what the question was about, and Leon decided to take the lead, just as confused as his girlfriend.

“Well, the first time was kind of weird, I'd say we both did it, and the second time, after we cleared up our misunderstandings, she was the one who kissed me.” He blushed as he remembered the night that started it all. That first time that even if they had repeated several more nights, it wasn't possible to repeat.

“I see.” Emily scratched her chin thoughtfully and pulled out her cell phone to type something.

Leon and Ashley didn't understand anything that was going on. They looked at each other and then at their interrogator, still somewhat embarrassed that she had caught them red-handed in the shower. The minutes felt eternal and the silence was heavy and uncomfortable. Ashley clenched and unclenched her hands in an attempt to make it lighter, until she ran out of patience.

“Emi-”

Emily's cell phone rang in the living room and she instantly picked up. Several voices were heard on the other end, but the first one to utter a word was a very familiar one.

“Well, who was it?” Casey's voice made both Leon and Ashley blink, even more confused than before.

“Leon says the first one was the two of them and the second, but more official, was Ashley.” Emily explained, leaning back on the couch. “ How do we decide?”

“Decide what? What the hell is this, Emily? Casey? What are you talking about?” the blonde finally managed to articulate with a frown.

“John, do the honors.” Casey said on the other end of the line.

“Me? Why me?”

“Because you and Sergio started it and Sergio is hoarse.”

The man grunted in the background.

“But I didn't propose the bet.”

Ashley arched her eyebrows.

“Bet? You have three seconds to tell me what the hell you bet.” her voice was more threatening, and this time she looked at Emily angrily. “ 2.”

“ We bet to see which one of you would kiss the other first.”

Leon and Ashley were stunned. Their eyes, wide open as they heard those words they could only have heard in a comedy movie or a bad love book.

But they really had made a stupid bet.

“Excuse me?”

Ashley looked at Emily with questioning eyes, though unable to contain the blush in her cheeks. Connors turned the cell phone around and rested it on the coffee table, showing the other three cronies on the screen.

“Hey, we had to find some entertainment, there was too much tension between you guys.” sighed Casey, waving his hand to play it down. “Have you guys slept together yet?” he went straight to the point.

Leon's ears reddened and he cleared his throat uncomfortably, leaning his back against the backrest.

“I'll take that as a yes. How many times now?”

“Casey, that's not the point. We have a conflict in the bet, which one do we take for valid?” Emily redirected the conversation, but Ashley got out of her seat.

“But are you guys stupid? I can't believe you guys made a bet to see who-”

“I think it's a tie.”

The room fell silent.

It took Ashley a moment to realize who had spoken and a second later she turned to Leon, puzzled.

“Huh?”

The man leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“The first time it was both of us, but if we only count this second time, the whole kissing thing was brought up by me, because I wanted to talk about it, that's what led you to kiss me, but if I hadn't brought it up, or you hadn't kissed me, I would have done it.”

“ So you're saying you incited her?” Casey asked curiously, causing the agent to turn back to the cell phone screen.

“I brought up the subject and prepared dinner.”

“Hum...that changes the subject a bit, gives him more points.” Emily whispered thoughtfully.

Ashley looked at them all in disbelief. At what point had their relationship become a topic of discussion for a bet? And that Leon was taking part in it? She turned to her boyfriend and he shrugged his shoulders, as if he didn't understand why she was looking at him like that. Was he playing dumb?

“The verdict is a tie.” Casey sentenced with a sigh, seeing that they had neither won nor lost. Ashley crossed her arms, giving up and going into all that stupidity, but if Leon had “betrayed” her, so could she.

“Ah, I forgot to add, I got kissed by a guy who made Leon jealous afterwards, does that count for anything?”

Leon stiffened and his wild eyes turned to her, only to see his girlfriend shrug her shoulders the same way he had done.

“I knew there was that possibility! AAAA! Why didn't I bet on the third wheel?” Casey held his hands to his head at the screen and John pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “ I call for a new bet!”

“The one we made was already the request for a different bet.” sighed Emily. “This one is a tie, Casey, we all owe John five bucks.”

Casey grunted in exasperation, but reluctantly agreed along with Sergio.

“Well, I'll eliminate the betting group then.”

Ashley was speechless again.

“You guys made a group for that? I can't believe it.”

“Patrick made a group by leaving me out so I wouldn't know where they kept the cookies.” Leon added with a soft laugh.

“Well, that's it, John won.” Emily clapped her hands and retrieved her cell phone from the table. “Thanks for calling, we'll see you another time.”

“See you, Ashie! See you, Leon!” said the three of them goodbye and Connors ended the call.

Only for everything to go silent again.

Ashley sat back down next to Leon, and he rested his hand on her leg, giving it a gentle comforting squeeze, causing her to take his hand with a smile.

“Are you serious?” the voice was already directed at Leon. The agent fixed his eyes on Ashley's friend's candy.

“Emily, plea-”

Leon stopped Ashley with a gentle caress. He didn't need her to defend him, he understood why Connor was so worried.

After all, he was the cause of Ashley's dependency after returning from Spain.

He looked at the woman with a serious expression, his eyes turning steely.

“Yes.”

His voice was deep and strong, echoing through the room like a sentence that left no doubt. Even Ashley felt a shiver. But Emily seemed convinced.

“Are you going to tell William?”

This time Leon turned to Ashley and she nodded.

“Yes, we don't know when, maybe when the mission is over, but we don't want to hide it from him.”

Connors listened to them calmly, analyzing every gesture and tone. She couldn't help but worry. After everything Ashley went through when she met her, how little confidence she had in herself when her mother asked her to meet and be her friend. She worried and even went so far as to think that this “Leon” she kept talking about back then was no good for her, that he didn't reciprocate the way she did.

But after getting to know him...and now she saw how wrong she had been.

“Don't you dare hurt her.” she warned him without realizing it, aware that this was something much more personal than the professional perspective she had tried to maintain.

“I'll give you my gun if I do,” he paused unblinkingly, aware that Emily's warning wasn't just words. - I swear.

Emily nodded and turned to her friend for a few seconds, watching her silently.

“And you, you already know.”

Ashley nodded with a smile.

“I'm valid. I want it, but I don't need it.” She repeated the words Emily had once repeated to her ad nauseam. Until she admitted them and they became a truth.

The truth that she could want things and crave them, but she didn't need them to survive, that she herself was valid on her own.

“Good.”

Emily seemed satisfied and finally got up from the couch with a long sigh.

“I think I'd better come back another day so you can update me on your trip. I know it's confidential, but you can give me a general tour.”

Ashley and Leon got up and walked her to the door.

“Yes, we plan to go see my father to notify him of some new theories, we'll meet after that.”

Connors nodded and turned around to give her friend a hug, squeezing much tighter than usual.

“I'm happy for you.” she whispered to them with a warm smile that made Leon feel joyful, pleased to know that Emily accepted him even with all the history she had. He respected her immensely for all she had done for Ashley. For helping her to be the way she was now.

“Take care of yourself.” The agent told her as the woman crossed the driveway. Emily waved her hand in farewell.

“By the way.” she turned in front of the elevator. “He's got a nice ass.”

Leon turned red in the face as he knew she was talking about him in the shower and heard Ashley's soft giggle next to him.

“Yes, he does.”

Emily laughed and disappeared behind the metal doors.

The two returned home and felt the tension slowly disappear, causing them to start laughing at the absurdity and surrealism of the whole situation.

“It's unbelievable what happened, but for some reason it doesn't surprise me as much as it should.” Leon laughed, drinking a glass of water and listening to his girlfriend's sweet giggles.

“It's something Casey would do just fine.”

“And in the end it was John who won,” the agent sighed with a soft laugh. “I'll ask him about it.” He approached Ashley, sliding a hand around her waist gently.

“Are you all right?” he asked gently, brushing his nose against her cheek. She smiled and reached up to tangle his fingers in her still damp hair.

“Yes, it was a bit abrupt, but it was only a matter of time.”

Leon let out a low but subtle sound in affirmation and his lips soon slid to Ashley's neck. She gasped in surprise at the man's warm lips.

“Can we get back in the shower then?” Kennedy's voice was deep and almost like a purr. He accompanied it with his mouth, kissing Graham's neck with increasing intensity.

“But we've already showered.” she replied with a soft laugh, but not pulling away from him. He had a magnetic pull on her.

Leon growled softly, pressing his body against her harder.

“I couldn't do to you what I had planned…”

This man was going to be her undoing. Or rather, he already was. How could she refuse with that velvety voice of sin? She didn't even have to answer, she didn't even give him time before he lifted her in his arms and carried her back amid giggles and squeals to the shower.

[ashrillvenheim]

Awakening Past

Chapter 27 (GET READY!!)

pairing: Ashley Graham x Leon S Kennedy.

Content: (+18) romance, angst, gore, erotic/suggestive themes at some point, slow burn, violence, action, self-harm, death talk,

If you're a MINOR DON'T keep reading, thank you.

Archive of our own / WORK LIST / Awakening Past Masterlist

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Hurried footsteps echoed against the bare rocks. Thunder began to rumble in the distance, warning of the coming storm. The curtain of water blurred the landscape, making it impossible to see in the distance. Gasps could be heard in the rain. Two figures trying to take shelter reached a hut at the end of the winding road. The first silhouette kicked open the door and closed it after the two entered.

“ The storm will protect us tonight. With the thunder they won't hear us and with the rain we can build a small fire without worrying about smoke.” Leon's shoulders relaxed violently, feeling the adrenaline begin to fade. His partner slumped against the wall with a groan of pain.

“Are you all right, Ashley?”

She was unable to formulate words, her lungs were burning from keeping up with Leon and she nodded her head, trying to catch her breath.

The agent, more relieved, decided to inspect the cabin. A small room with a tiny fireplace in the back and to one side an old iron bath tub. He approached it and saw to his surprise that it was not full of mud and worms, but dry and worn. He ran his fingers inside and felt immense joy when it yielded only dust and dry leaves.

“ Today is our lucky day, princess.” His playful tone came out without thinking, catching the attention of Ashley who had managed to regain a calmer breath. The young woman stood up and her eyes lit up like embers. Leon couldn't help but smile and get to work. He tore off the old gutters from the roof wing and used it to bring the rainwater into the bathtub through the window. He used stones in the gutter to filter the water and headed for the chimney.

“ Clean the bottom of the tub, I'm going to build a fire.”

Ashley nodded and with rough hands removed the dirt at the bottom and then watched it slowly fill up. It was small, she wasn't going to deny it, the rim of the tub would come up to her waist if she was kneeling, but the mere thought of knowing they could wash after a week of Leon's arrival made her heart skip a beat, especially considering she had been there for two weeks already.

“ I feel like I could tear the dirt off me in strips.” Ashley sighed dipping her toes into the water. A soft chuckle sounded beside her and her amber orbs turned to him and his broad back.

“ I guess we've already used up all our bad luck, so something had to ring.” Even if it wasn't incredibly noticeable, it was possible to sense the mirth in Leon's voice. Ashley may have been there longer, but Leon had only been fighting and getting dirty from shooting villagers. He had been getting his hands dirty while she stayed huddled in a corner. She felt a pang in her heart, but her companion's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

“ I think we could even take advantage and clean the clothes in the rain.”

She stood up once the fire was done and looked at the bathtub, it didn't have much left to fill.

“ You bathe first, I'll clean the clothes.”

Ashley felt the blood rush to her cheeks.

“All the clothes?”

She snorted a crooked smile.

“ Unless you want to clean mine.”

Ashley watched him for a few long seconds, and though her mind screamed at her not to, her eyes vibrated for an instant, dipping down to Leon's hip and slightly lower than they should have. She shook her head quickly and unbuttoned the sweater from her shoulders. Leon smiled and turned around to let her undress calmly. He heard the sound of fabric falling to the floor and bare feet walking on the boards. Something inside him screamed, but he managed to still it as he stared at the floor, trying to distract his thoughts with something else. He pulled out of his side pocket some cloths he had kept just in case and held them out to Ashley without turning around.

“ You can wash yourself with them.”

The young woman looked at the man's hand, took them and held out her folded clothes. Leon walked to the entrance and left to go clean the clothes. Ashley suddenly felt an intense pressure, as if she found it hard to breathe when she didn't see Leon. Without Leon she felt unsure, she didn't know where they might attack her or if she could run away. Her heart raced violently and her breathing began to quicken, but she heard a soft sound and saw the front door ajar. Ashley could sense the back of Leon, who had pushed the door open so she knew he was there.

So she could see him.

Ashley felt instant relief and walked over to the tub to put her feet in. She was surprised to feel the warm water, at this point, warm being the equivalent of what didn't kill you from hypothermia.

Leon heard a distant sigh, a groan of relief and the water rippling. Sounds that sent a shiver down his spine. Maybe it was just the sweat cooling from not running, but still his ears were set on the sounds coming from inside the cabin. He had opened the door at the sound of Ashley's nervous breathing. At this point she wasn't capable of going long without seeing him. So how did it feel when he asked her to hide in those containers? There was only darkness in there, she couldn't come out until he called her. He hadn't stopped to think about it. He was fighting with the villagers to protect her, with all his attention on the fight, because he knew Ashley was well hidden, but her? She was left alone with her thoughts, with the uncertainty of whether he would survive. Of whether the one opening the container was a possessed villager or the agent. She remembered those moments in Raccoon City when only the sound of his footsteps and his breathing accompanied him. And he knew that sometimes that was worse. The pressure in his mind of not knowing which way they would strike again. If behind that door there would be a moment of rest or more living demons. To say that every shadow cast by the moon rippled towards him. He could fight if those scenarios he created in his mind came to pass.

But Ashley couldn't.

She wasn't trained and she knew it.

Leon's hands stopped as he reached for the next garment. The underwear now soiled with dust and sweat. He hesitated for a few seconds, feeling embarrassed now for intruding on Ashley's privacy, but finally intertwined his fingers with the garments, Moments white and continued to clean with extreme care.

Ashley's knees were wrecked. She ran the damp cloth over the bruised and cut skin. She would definitely reconsider wearing a skirt again. Her hands paused.

If there was a new day.

She shook her head to push those fatalistic thoughts away and squeezed the wounds, stifling a hiss at the stinging. Immediately her eyes went to Leon's back worried that he had heard her and she saw his muscles tense and his shoulders rotate slightly before stopping short.

He had wanted to turn around. He had heard her and had been worried. A great feeling of guilt invaded her body and she finished cleaning herself as quickly as she could. She stood up and the sound of her wet feet on the wooden floor filled the room.

“ I'm done Leon, I'm going to sit by the fire and I'll hang up the clothes.”

He heard her say before he heard the sound of buckles. Ashley sat in front of the fire with her knees against her chest, feeling the drops slide down her bare back. The truth was that it was being more uncomfortable than she would have imagined. She heard Leon's heavy clothes fall and the occasional Clark probably from his stiff muscles as he undressed.

They were long minutes in silence and soon after, with long strides, she heard him enter and close the door. Ashley shrank in on herself, aware that they were now both inside naked. Her eyes tried to focus on the tongues of flame, but she could only pay attention to the approaching footsteps. Her heart skipped a beat and a shiver ran down her spine.

“ I'll leave your clothes here.” Leon's deep voice sounded a little farther away than she had thought. Ashley waited a few seconds before she heard Leon's body sink into the water with a deep sigh of relief.

“ For you to be the one to tell me to shut up, you're pretty loud.” Ashley tried to joke to defuse some of the tension in the air.

“ Says the one who's going to wear my name out.” She laughed softly.

“ Leon!” she exclaimed indignantly, softly, drawing a laugh from the agent.

She hadn't heard him laugh since they'd met, not in that hearty way. She reached out without turning, touching the floor with the intention of hitting the wet clothes. Bingo.

She picked up the pile and spread them out on some wooden sticks that Leon had placed horizontally in front of the fire. She spread her clothes out first and almost exclaimed at the sight of her white underwear again.

“ I'm going to have to ask you to clean the clothes more times you're really good at it.” Ashley teased with a soft playful laugh.

“ Don't push your luck, I'm going to start charging you, princess.”

Third time he'd used that nickname on her. The first, one of the times she had to go down some stairs, but they broke halfway down, and Leon told her to jump into his arms. “I'll catch you on the fly, princess, don't be afraid.” he told her. And the last two, that same night. At first she thought he was just teasing her for being someone ignorant to anything related to combat, physical training or experience in mountainous areas, but these last two felt more intimate, affectionate even. He was softer when he said it as if he wanted to convey reassurance with his words. Something he achieved just by being close to her.

Then a grunt of pain snapped her out of her thoughts and before her mind could stop her, she had already turned to Leon.

God, how she hated what she saw.

His entire back was stained different shades of purple, greenish and blackened tones furrowed by cuts and abrasions. Ashley covered her mouth, feeling her eyes begin to sting as she watched Leon raise an arm, reaching for the wounds on her back, but to no avail. Her muscles were too tight and sore, but she had to clean the wounds, otherwise they might get infected.

“ Let me help you.” Her words burst from his lips before his hands could stop them. She covered her mouth as she saw Leon stand perfectly still.

“ And I've been a gentleman and didn't look while you were bathing.” It was hoarse, even if he said it with humor, his tone sounded pained and tired.

Ashley stood still, ashamed of her attitude, but her eyes couldn't tear away from Leon's broad back covered in shocks she would have received if he hadn't been there.

Her body moved on impulse and she walked to kneel behind Leon looking down at the ground.

“I'm sorry, please let me help you.” Even though her voice was a whisper, a prayer almost inaudible under the storm, but Leon heard it as if it were speaking in his ear.

“ You don't have to worry, sit next to the fire, I'll manage.”

Make me an idiot as one day the cloths in the water and slid them over his shoulders, clearly holding in grunts of pain.

Then Leo felt fingers brush against his arm and his body froze. Ashley's warm fingertips touched his skin like feathers fearful of producing more pain. He went to ask her to go to the fireplace, but the words got stuck when he heard her pained voice.

“ Please Leon you have done nothing but take care of me since you have found me, let me at least help you with this, please.”

Leon stood static. He felt so close, so vulnerable, so warm. Heart pumped hard, causing him to let out an unwanted nervous sigh.

But he held out the cloth.

Ashley felt the excitement course through her body and took the cloths, brushing her fingers against his damp ones. She settled in behind him closer so she could work easily and watched Leon lean forward slightly. She moistened the fabric and started at the neck. Leon grunted at the stinging, but for some reason Ashley made it hurt less. She was treating him with overwhelming gentleness, as if she was afraid of making it worse.

“ I won't break if you rub some more.”

He felt her hand waver.

“Are you sure?”

“ It takes more than that to finish me off.”

She pressed a little harder, and though Leon hissed at the pain, soon his shoulders relaxed under her partner's gentle caresses. Her hands were warm and soft and moved easily down his back, drawing sinuous patterns as she slid the water down his skin. Leon closed his eyes and let Ashley soothe the stinging of his cuts.

Some had almost healed completely, some were hardened by blood and sweat, and others looked reddened from being untreatable. The lump in her throat grew increasingly painful as she faintly heard Leon's low uncomfortable murmurs.

This was all because of her. Because she didn't know how to defend herself, only hide like a mouse waiting for the cat to get bored looking for her. All the while Leon was giving his life for her. Was she worth that much? If she wasn't the president's daughter, she was nothing special, just a posh girl who didn't know how to run properly and froze when fear came over me. I was just a nuisance, a nuisance that Leon had to carry.

If only it wasn't so.

His hands stopped and Leon opened his eyes, looking to the side. Wondering why she had stopped, but then he felt hot drops fall on his back, followed by a sob.

“ Why won't you leave me, Leon....”

Those words fell on him like embers.

“ What are you saying, Ash?”

Another sob, still with her hands resting on his back, echoed with pain.

“ All this, all these battles and wounds are because of me. Why risk your life for me? You're so much more valuable, you know how to fight, you're smart and an amazing person. Why tear yourself apart like this for me?”

“ Because your father loves you, he doesn't want to lose you.”

“ But at what cost? The plaga inside me will hurt you and everyone I care about.”

“ We will find a cure.”

“ You don't even know if Leon exists, it would be easier to leave me here.”

“I will not abandon you, they would do whatever they want with you and I will not allow it.”

“ Then kill me, you know perfectly well that would be your only way to get out of here and prevent me from hurting anyone.”

Leon's hand violently gripped the edge of the tub, startling Ashley and seeing her knuckles turn white.

“ I never want to hear you say that again.”

Of course he knew that was the easy solution. Maybe some other agent would have been able to do it. Kill the possible threat she could become and return with some personal item of hers to pay condolences to her father. Going even further, so the president would have no more weak spots to kidnap.

“ I don't want you to suffer for me.”

Her voice broke, pained and pleading. He had thought she would not hesitate to use him as a shield, after all, he had only gone to rescue her, but she was asking him to live for her. To save himself. Not to fight for her.

To leave her.

Silence fell.

Ashley kept her hands resting on him though giving of herself to pull away. Tears slid silently down her cheeks and fell on her bare thighs. She went to pull her palms away in surrender when Leon's deep voice cut through her in a tone she had never heard before.

“ I met a cop, Marvin Branagh, the first day I was assigned to the Raccoon City Police Department. A fellow officer had bitten and infected him, but I didn't know that and he didn't tell me either.” Ashley gave him a puzzled look. “He helped me arm myself, get ready and escape from there, but he never planned to come with me.” He paused, bending one knee and resting his arm on it. “When I applied for the police post, I wondered, what if I wasn't good for it? Maybe my stupidity was what gave me courage, but I was afraid of failing.” He took another long pause during which Ashley continued to hold her breath. “I couldn't save Marvin or many other people who lived through that nightmare. I thought it all ended there, that I had accomplished nothing of what I had set out to do. I am going to be strong to defend those who could not stand up to those monsters. I wanted to be the shield that one can lean on to stand up again. I met Sherry and Claire. The 3 of us managed to escape, and when we got out of the city and I saw the sun reflect in Sherry's eyes I knew that, as much as it hurt, that was my cause. I only know how to fight, so let me do what I do best, regardless of whether you are the president's daughter. Daughter or not, you need my help and I will do everything in my power to get it.”

His voice faded to silence, accompanied only by the distant thunder and the pattering of the rain against the window.

Leon sighed. It had been a long time since he'd talked this much, let alone about Raccoon City. Something he honestly hadn't thought to tell Ashley about. Surely she would have heard about the incident in town by now, though not many people knew the details of what happened there. Leon sighed, still feeling Ashley's trembling hands on his back.

“Don't worry about me.”

Suddenly, arms wrapped around him. His eyes widened like saucers as he sensed Ashley's bare chest against his back, enveloping him in an immense quality. Her body trembled nervously and still with tears in her eyes.

“ Don't say that.” she whispered closer to her ear. He felt Ashley's head rest in the hollow of his neck and couldn't help but turn around, resting his cheek against her head.

“ That I don't worry about you because, even though you're a soldier capable of taking on an Army, you're still human.” A soft sigh escaped her lips, causing Leon to tense at the warm breath against his skin. “Let them take care of you too, let me at least do this for you.”

Her words sent tingles through Leon's body, feeling Ashley's embrace wrap around his shoulders and cross his chest, clutching him against her. But this time he didn't feel it was out of fear.

She wanted to comfort him.

He didn't know what to say or do. Silence formed between the two of them and Ashley began to think she had just made a mistake. Leon didn't respond or move, maybe he was finding the hug too invasive? After all, they were both naked. Ashley sighed heavily and went to pull away when a hand stopped her. Leon's fingers closed gently around Ashley's forearm, preventing her from releasing her grip. She sighed at the feel of his touch and felt an enormous joy at not seeing her embrace rejected. She pulled herself up a little and wrapped it around him better this time, resting her cheek against his neck.

He let Ashley's warmth wash over him like a hurricane. He clutched her forearm and closed his eyes as she hugged him tighter, pressing her naked torso even tighter against him. He let out an agitated sigh.

He'd be lying to himself if he said that the touch of Ashley's bare skin didn't make him tingle. She was his protégé, but he wasn't stupid. Her soft skin felt like a cloak over him and the pressure of her chest was producing racing heartbeats. He felt ambiguity. Her closeness brought him comfort and calm usually, but in that situation he also felt nervousness and tingling. One part of him felt the stress slowly fading away, but the other was terribly receptive to her proximity.

He controlled his impulses. He wanted to turn to look at her, to rest his hand on those flushed cheeks that held an amber gaze. He wanted to slip his arms around Ashley's soft waist to pull her into his lap in the tub and hug her face forward. He wanted to see her eyes concerned for him, for his well-being. A kind of look he had missed in those 6 years of training where he had become a tool of the government.

He wanted to hold her, to feel her caresses and see her watching him tenderly.

He couldn't. That was out of the question. Because, if he turned to her now and brushed her lips with his fingers, he knew Ashley would forgive him. He knew she would let him hold her in his arms in front of the fire. Let him lay her on the floor with him on top of her and love her all night long.

But was that love or desire?

He couldn't do that to her, not now that he knew what she was like and how far she could go caring for another person. It was an embrace like fire and all she wanted was to appease his tormented soul.

She wanted to protect him. That kind of love for other people was what made saving her worth it.

So he simply enjoyed the unconditional support she offered him.

*

He hadn't noticed those stains on the roof. The rain had picked up, though he didn't know since when. What time was it? He turned his head to look at the clock beside the television.

Two o'clock noon. Well, at least they'd had the recommended 8 hours of sleep.

Leon sighed heavily and covered his eyes with his wrist. Suddenly he was back to the night before and all that cuddling. He also went back to when Ashley was bedded and gave him intimate words in front of his father, his own boss.

But...something in him didn't feel as remorseful as he would have months ago.

He could still feel Ashley's hands sliding through his hair.

He lay on the couch staring at the ceiling for long minutes, no longer sleepy, but not really wanting to get up either. Then she heard soft footsteps leave the room and enter the bathroom.

Ashley looked at herself in the mirror, ogling the bruises that had softened a lot since the early morning, though the recovery seemed to be slower than usual. She sighed softly and kept her eyes glued to the sink, remembering everything that had happened the day before.

The images were still blurry and trying to force her mind to remember wasn't helping, so she put it aside for the moment. She wiped her face with cold water and changed into a large t-shirt and leggings.

“ Ahh…” she tried to utter something, but her throat still hurt. She tried to whisper a little and that worked much better. Well, at least now she could talk and Leon could hear her perfectly, so she combed her hair and came out of the bathroom.

She saw Leon sitting on the edge of the couch, stretching his arms and back. Mint and Pepper had gotten up to greet him and when they heard Ashley, they turned to her and went to her legs.

Her eyes met his and they both felt their hearts flip over. For a few seconds they didn't know what to say or do. The last few days, since returning from Iceland and since the...incident, they had avoided each other like the plague, but now they were alone again and there was nothing to do that they could use as an excuse.

“ Do you want to go for a walk?” the soft whisper echoed through the room and Leon felt a shock run down his spine. Hearing her voice again, even though just the day before he had, after hearing her scream and gasp with a broken voice, hearing her whisper was like music to his ears. It took him a few seconds to respond, still hearing, sharply, her delicate voice.

“ A walk?” was the only thing he was able to utter. He felt like an idiot.

Ashley smiled and stroked her dogs' heads.

“ They haven't gone out.” Her sentences were brief, not wanting to strain her voice too much.

Leon seemed to descend from the clouds finally and blinked taking a deep breath.

“ Oh, yes, the dogs, yes, they need to be taken out, I can go if you want. You must be tired, did Viktor tell you to rest? Maybe it's good for you, you shouldn't force yourself, I'll…”

“ Leon.”

The man fell silent and realized that he was looking at him with a soft smile.

“ I'm fine.” she whispered to him, her amber eyes glinting into his like molten gold. Leon realized he had sped up without realizing it.

“ I'm sorry.” He looked down at the ground, feeling that little demon of guilt digging its claws into him again. But her voice was gentle even as it was a mere whisper.

“There's no hurry.” she told him, walking toward the living room with the dogs at her side. Ashley looked out the window and let the sun warm her skin gently, letting it wash away her heaviest thoughts.

Leon looked at her silently and cleared his throat before standing up.

“ I'm going to get some clothes from my apartment, I'll be right back.” He announced before heading out the door and Pepper followed him home. Ashley smiled at the fixation the dog had picked up on Leon in particular and got the animal harnesses ready for the walk they would take.

She just hoped it wouldn't rain again.

*

She loved the smell of wet grass, she'd missed it on the journey. They walked along the stone paths, still wet, as the dogs scampered like crazy through the field. Leon and Ashley walked side by side, but in quiet silence. It wasn't awkward like the last few days in the lab, it was almost like...they were giving each other space. Ashley had a lot of questions, especially regarding Ada since she smelled her scent on Leon the night before. But she couldn't get up the courage to do it, not after seeing him so down. So she decided to give him space to tell her. If he wanted to.

Leon felt grateful for the attention and calm she conveyed. His mind was clearer, though a part of him still felt bad that he hadn't been able to keep her from being caught by the plaga. Even if Viktor had said she was clean, it had to have been horrible to see those things come out of her. He still remembered the first time she coughed up blood in Spain and how scared she was that she couldn't stop what was growing inside her.

His expression darkened without realizing it and when Ashley noticed it, she gently grabbed his sleeve.

“ Hey.” she whispered, but Leon could hear her loud and clear. “What's wrong?”

Leon's gaze sank on her and he hesitated for a few moments on what to say to her, only to finally sigh.

“ I wasn't fast enough.” he finally replied. Ashley tugged at his sweater, causing him to stop.

“ It was my blood, I was the irresponsible one.” she replied with a frown. She didn't like Leon doing that to himself. “You have a bad habit of blaming yourself for things that escape your control.”

His companion's words made him open his eyes in surprise. He hadn't expected her to answer him in such a direct way and he couldn't help remembering that she had said something very similar to him in the hot springs. In that vulnerable moment when they whispered apologies to each other for the arguments they had had. When...something connected in them and their lips met before either was aware of what was happening.

Leon looked at her, and his eyes descended for an instant to the woman's lips, only to look away quickly, returning his gaze to the floor. He heard Ashley's violent heartbeat. She had realized where she had looked.

“ Yes, I'm sorry, it's...I have a hard time avoiding it.” he confessed with a sigh. He felt a gentle tug on the sleeve of his sweater that made him raise his eyes to hers.

“ Well, start by thinking that the lab was my mistake, okay? Keeping all this hidden from Narsson was the cause of the argument and the accident.” She stared at him, waiting for him to respond.

Leon exhaled heavily and gave a tired smile.

“ You're right.” He paused, looking off into the distance, where the dogs were scampering through the trees. “I was right to leave Mint and Pepper with Chris and Jill.”

Ashley followed his gaze and smiled fondly at her dogs.

“Yes, see? your instincts told you to leave them outside when you normally wouldn't. Thanks to you they're not hurt.”

Her companion's words made her heart calm and warm beyond repair. Ashley saw the soft smile that formed at the corner of Leon's lips and couldn't help but quirk the same smile. After seeing him so grim that night, it filled her with joy to see him more cheerful.

“ Hey, I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get really hungry.” the woman suddenly announced. Leon turned to her with a confused gesture.

“ Can you swallow solid food?” he couldn't help but ask, a little worried.

“ It doesn't hurt to drink water anymore. I'm not going to know without tasting it, am I?” she smiled at him and he couldn't help but mimic her. She called the dogs and they turned around.

“ Let's go then.”

*

The meal was pleasant. They enjoyed some simple dishes, but they satiated their voracious appetites. They didn't talk much, Leon didn't want to strain Ashley's voice, but he did chuckle a little at her seeing her having to chew more than usual to swallow without it hurting. The warmth they gave each other was very much there, still feeling, very vividly, what they shared the night before.

But they were both aware that something had changed. Even if they weren't talking much and the excuse was Ashley's voice or Leon's tiredness, they were both aware that they didn't look at each other the same way.

Ashley could smell the soft nerves that roamed the man's body, and he would have heard the sudden racing heartbeat that her heart sometimes had.

As much as they both wanted everything to be the same as before the kiss, they knew it was no longer possible. Their gazes were a little more elusive, the smiles didn't feel as innocent as before and the compliments...they were only reminded of the warmth and softness of each other's lips.

Ashley...she was a mess. She told herself she would call Emily to help her clear her thoughts and emotions, just as she had helped her manage her fears and traumas from Spain.

But she hadn't. When she called her to tell her that she had returned from the trip, she couldn't tell her the truth, because, although a part of her was confused by what had happened, there was another part of her that knew those emotions.

They were different, but...it was not the first time she had experienced them.

She had told her that Ada's words were poison, that she didn't have to listen to them, but...they had reminded her of too many things. Mostly to the time after Leon left, when he didn't know what to do.

For a while she focused on getting better and learning to fend for herself, but when she was faced with the choice to continue down a path that could cross Leon's, the question formed in her head.

Did she do it for her, or did she do it to follow him?

She didn't want to think about what Ada told her, because Leon gave her the option to pursue her life in the most normal way possible, which for a while she did. Everything changed at Enma's talk. When she wanted to take that steep route she could cross with him, although she didn't think about that possibility then.

Her thoughts plunged her into a deep maelstrom and Leon perceived the most serious expression on her.

“ Ash, is something wrong?” his tone was low and concerned, causing Ashley to blink and raise her eyes to him. He was silent as he sank into his blue irises and then smiled unconvincingly.

“ It's...my stuff.” she answered hesitantly.

Leon tensed his muscles and hesitated to reach out to take her hand, but something told him that... it wasn't a good idea.

“ Are you sure?” he whispered this time and Ashley knew he wasn't buying her answer. She sighed heavily and finished drinking the glass.

“ I have a lot on my mind and some things are fuzzy, nothing else. I just need a little...time.” she explained in a somewhat weary tone. One part was true, the other...not quite, and she was sure Leon had noticed.

And he had, but the last thing he wanted to do was to badger her and have them end up arguing again, so he opted for something softer.

“ If you need to talk at any time, I'll listen.” He gave her a sweet, but shy smile to which she responded with the same gesture.

When they finished eating and decided to go home, they did it practically in silence. They exchanged words from time to time, but enjoyed the gentle breeze.

Neither was able to bring up the subject. Anything they started a small conversation with were banal topics or about people they both knew, it didn't transcend much more. Ashley got a call from her father and Viktor and William seemed calm as they watched their daughter take a walk with Leon and the dogs.

Viktor questioned them about their condition, to which Leon was the one who mainly spoke, including Ashley's health, prioritizing the recovery of her throat. He wanted to know if they were suffering from any unusual symptoms or if Ashley had vomited in the last few hours. All the answers were positive and they denied any abnormalities. They were just tired and sore.

That call helped distract the two of them and they didn't notice their arrival at the building until they reached their front door street.

“Well, the investigation is on a temporary pause while we clean up all traces of what happened and receive the results of the samples you examined.” Viktor reported in his deep voice. Ashley looked at him and her father on the small screen of her cell phone and smiled softly at them.

“ Sounds good to me, we have hours of sleep to catch up on.” she joked, eliciting a soft laugh from her father.

Leon pulled out his keys when he saw a familiar figure ringing the doorbell.

“ Isn't that Narsson?”

Ashley looked up for a moment and confirmed it when the faint scent reached her. The hospital smell still permeated her.

“ I'm going to leave you two, I'll talk to you another time, okay, Dad?”

“ Anytime, sweetheart, you two take care of yourselves.” William said gently before he and Viktor ended the call.

Leon and Ashley stood on the other side of the road for a moment, watching Enma ring the buzzer panel, but receiving no answer. The two young men looked at each other, somewhat hesitantly, and after taking a deep breath, Leon called out to her.

“ Hey, Enma!”

The woman remained static and her body was slow to turn in the direction of the voice. When she finally managed to do so, her hands began to sweat and her air became short of breath. Her greenish eyes were fixed on Ashley and the dark bruises she was trying to cover with the neck of her sweatshirt, but she could see them.

Guilt and anguish began to consume her like a horrible hurricane, and although a part of her was eager to throw herself at Ashley to hug her and beg for her forgiveness, another went completely limp, consumed with fear and terror that he would now hate her for everything she had gone through because of him.

She watched them approach the doorway and felt short of breath, unable to breathe. Her body trembled and she almost ran in panic.

“ Enma.”

Ashley's whispering voice stopped the woman's impulses, as if bringing her back to reality. She met those golden eyes and didn't know what to do or say.

She just stood still with an anxious expression.

“ Do you want to go upstairs? There's coffee.”

Enma blinked, confused by the young woman's words, but something about them made some of her anguish subside, at least enough so that she no longer wanted to run away.

“ Y-yes...thank you.” she replied shyly.

Ashley smiled softly at her and Leon opened the door for the three of them to enter.

*

She didn't know where to start. She also didn't know how long she had been staring at the coffee in her hands. She had been practicing her words. Those last few days he had spent planning his apology, but, now that he was finally in front of Ashley, suddenly his mind went blank.

Only guilt and remorse gnawed at her insides, making it impossible for her to look up at her hostess.

“ Did you get a good night's sleep at the clinic?”

Ashley's sudden voice snapped her out of her thoughts, causing her to raise her eyes to her.

“ What?” She looked at her with a confused expression, as if she couldn't conceive of him not yelling at her in anger. She only saw her smile at him.

“ Last time you said the hospital sucked, but have you been better off in this clinic?”

Narsson was slow to react. First he looked at her in surprise, then her brows furrowed into an expression of pain and anguish, and soon after the cup fell from her hands and she rushed forward to hug her as she cried inconsolably.

“ I'm sorry! I'm sorry-I'm sorry-I'm sorry...forgive me, Ashley, it was my fault, all this, your injuries, Leon's...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...” she sobbed desperately, sinking her face into Ashley's neck and clinging to her fearfully.

Graham was surprised at the sudden change, but soon responded to her gesture and wrapped her with a worried expression.

“ Enma, no, I-”

“ I didn't trust you, I thought that...you didn't trust me, and...that woman...what she said to me...I couldn't help it...I'm sorry...it was my fault....”

Ashley opened her eyes in surprise and looked at Leon, who sighed as he understood who Narsson was referring to.

“ Enma, that woman, Ada, is manipulative by nature, if it gets her to her target, she won't hesitate to use you.” The man's words made Ashley look down, remembering the scent she smelled on him the day before.

The teacher shook her head.

“ No, I should have told you from the beginning. I tried to ignore her, but-”

“ We should have told you the truth from the beginning too, but...I didn't want to involve you in this, Enma.” whispered Ashley in a guilty tone, aware of how hard it must have been to feel left out of the group. “They tried to kidnap you and I...I didn't want to put you in any more danger.”

Narsson lifted his head from her lap and looked at her with reddened eyes and tears streaming down his cheeks like waterfalls.

“ You warned me and I didn't listen, Ashie...you warned me of the danger and I didn't see it...I didn't see it until...that thing came out of the stone. I'm sorry...I know you must hate me....”

“ I don't hate you. I could never do that.”

Ashley's voice was so abrupt that Narsson fell with a jolt and looked at her in surprise. She had prepared herself for him to yell at her, slap her, or just ignore her for the rest of her life, but...his words felt...comforting.

“You don't...hate me?”

Ashley's expression became pained and her amber eyes moistened hopelessly.

“ You helped me so much when I didn't know what to do. You walked me through my entire odyssey of switching colleges to Amherst, you stood by me through all my bad times, and you've taught me everything I know. I could never hate you, because I never told you the whole truth either. - She took her teacher's hands tenderly and looked at her painfully, feeling terrible that she was involved in her own crusade when none of that whole journey was her business.

“But that has nothing to do with-”

“It has everything to do with it, Enma.”

Leon riveted his eyes on Ashley and the surprised Narsson, trembling and more confused than he had walked in. The man took a deep breath, aware of what Graham was about to tell him.

“ What does this have to do with anything?” The woman didn't understand anything and looked at the two of them in anguish. Her student gave her a squeeze and, after a brief pause for breath, answered.

“The reason for this whole investigation is because I was kidnapped.”

Narsson blanched.

“ What?”

Ashley nodded and her tone deepened, lost in memory.

“ I was kidnapped and taken to Spain, where they infected me with one of those bugs. They wanted me to hurt people Enma, they wanted to turn me into a weapon controlled by that parasite. They tortured me to succumb and I would have if it hadn't been for Leon.”

Enma turned to the man, who gave her a grim look.

“ I was sent to rescue her. Everyone was infected by that bug in that village and they did the same to me. Ada was there too, but she went to take a sample of the parasite. We almost didn't tell.” His voice was hoarse and deep, sending shivers down Narsson's spine.

“ The scar on my back...it almost killed me. Leon pulled me out of there when everyone thought we were dead. The bug we had inside changed things inside us.” she paused to look down. “What happened to Leon and me in Norway should have killed us, but thanks to the mutations that bug caused us, we survived.”

Narsson was stuck, not knowing how to react.

“ So...your whole trip to Europe for medical treatment?”

“ It was a cover-up for the kidnapping.” Ashley nodded, dropping her shoulders.

Silence filled the room. Leon and Ashley watched Narsson, anxious to see how she would react to the sudden news, but the whispered voice that came from her took them by surprise.

“ Why did they cover it up?”

Ashley went to answer, but Leon beat her to it.

“ To prevent the bug's existence from becoming known.” he paused, his blue eyes remaining lost in an infinite point for a few seconds. “That parasite creates monsters. We have seen how it feeds on the host until it takes complete control and turns it into an abomination capable of taking on tanks of war. You have seen what it has done to Ashley and me, we managed to get rid of it, what do you think could develop with such a bug?”

The question hung in the air and Enma didn't need any further explanation to understand what he meant.

“ Weapons...” she whispered in a whisper, aware that this answer encompassed much more than one could believe. Military weapons, political weapons, religious weapons... If this parasite was capable of doing everything they were describing, then he understood the eagerness of the whole group to destroy it.

To eradicate it from existence itself.

“ That's right.” Leon replied softly, watching as the woman looked down at her intertwined hands with Ashley, staring at old scars, at wounds that should still be fresh, but were not.

Her greenish eyes slid down Leon's arm, bandaged, but moving more freely than it should.

They were living proof of what that parasite could do, but in the wrong hands... she was only able to glimpse the grotesque body of the lab. Those serrated teeth of countless animals that didn't fit together, the tentacles ending in bone blades, the shrieks, the smell of blood... She wasn't aware of her breathing quickening until Ashley gave her a firm squeeze.

“ Enma.” she called her softly. “Are you all right?”

Narsson took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure, but the cold sweat sent shivers down his spine.

“ Yes, I think so.” she finally managed to articulate with a faint, tired sigh. “I think...I need a little time to...process everything that's happened.”

Ashley gave her a soft smile and was quiet for a few seconds before speaking.

“ The truth is, ever since the lab, I've had some blurry memories.”

Leon arched his eyebrows and looked at his partner.

“ What do you mean?” His tone was concerned and Enma looked at her student with anguish.

“ Is something wrong?”

Ashley denied, soothing them with a soft smile.

“ No, it's just...blurry images that I have trouble remembering. I feel like they're a little sharper with each passing day, but...the feeling I had was...like it was a dream.”

Narsson looked at Leon with concern.

“Should we call Viktor?”

The agent thought for a few seconds, fixing his eyes on Ashley's golden ones.

“ I'm with her, so if I see any abnormalities I'll take her to the clinic, don't worry.” He didn't want to be alarming, after all, he was the first one who wouldn't hesitate to call Viktor, but he trusted Ashley, and if she hadn't asked for help, it might not be anything serious.

Enma seemed to hesitate, but in the end she nodded. She managed a faint smile.

“ I'm sorry...for everything I've put you through, but...thank you for telling me.”

Ashley and Leon gave her the same gesture and the blonde hugged her tightly, causing the woman to cry again for a few minutes.

When everything finally calmed down, Ashley made Narsson a fresh pot of coffee while Leon cleaned up what had fallen on the floor, but Mint seemed to have done most of the work and was now running back and forth down the hallway.

The dog managed to make the little conversation they had later more pleasant, though Ashley still sensed the guilt in the woman's gaze.

By the time Enma finished her cup, Mint's caffeine had started to wear off. And now he was just pacing around the kitchen and living room. Narsson decided it was time to leave and let them rest. Ashley offered to stay for dinner, but the woman gently shook her head.

“ I think I need a little time to myself, Maria is helping me.” she paused as she opened the door to the house. “By the way, my regards to Sasha, he's looking forward to meeting us for coffee sometime when we can.”

Ashley was touched by her former running mate's thoughtfulness and smiled.

“When you get rid of those dark circles under your eyes and I get rid of those bruises, otherwise we're going to scare him.” The blonde wanted to joke a little and was happy to hear her teacher laugh softly.

“Yes, we'd better. Thanks for everything.” she said again with complete honesty.

“ You're welcome.” They both replied in unison and soon after Enma left.

The sound of Mint's paws on the wooden floor was all that could be heard for a long moment.

“ She took it better than I expected.”

Leon's voice brought Ashley out of her thoughts and she turned to him.

“ Yes, you’re right.”

Their eyes met and, for an instant, they stared at each other for longer than could be considered normal. When Ashley noticed, he cleared his throat and turned on his heel.

“ Do you want to order food?” she asked, trying to ease the subtle tension that had formed in a moment.

“ Is it good for you to eat solid food now? I don't mind making you another one of my soups.” he laughed as he watched Ashley roll her eyes.

“I'm hungry, and even though they're good, I need the whole pot so I can get my fill.”

Leon smiled and pulled out his cell phone.

“ Whatever the princess says.”

As he reached for his cell phone, Ashley looked up at him with flushed cheeks. The nickname...it didn't sound the same, or at least not to her. It felt more intimate, though she may have been imagining it and it was just Leon's usual tone.

She looked down, drawing circles on the pillow, when the question came out of her throat without permission.

“ Ada went to the lab, didn't she?”

Leon's finger paused over the screen. He paused for a moment, remembering the cold storm that witnessed his words towards the woman he once believed in. His expression turned somber and Ashley was unable to look up from the pillow.

“You smelled to her.” she added in a whisper and it was enough for Leon to finally blink and turn to her with wild eyes.

Had he smelled the scent since that day? Why hadn't she said anything to him? He looked at her without credit, aware of all she had done for him that night even though he knew he had seen Ada alone.

“ Yes, it was to be expected,” he finally managed to say and walked over to the couch. “But I didn't let her take anything.” the memory of how he pulled the trigger and shot the vial Ada was carrying came to him, feeling a pang. But not for Ada, but for Ashley.

“ I should have told you yesterday, I'm sorry, I....”

“ It's all right, Leon. The important thing is that you're unharmed and that you're back.” the last words came out of her without thinking. You're back. She hadn't realized what that word implied for them and for a moment, she remembered the words Leon had said to her years ago, on the jet ski.

“ I didn't apologize for not shooting her in Iceland, I put you in danger.” he added looking down, standing next to the couch. Ashley felt a tightness in her throat.

“ I understand, you don't have to apologize, she's important to-”

“ Was.”

Ashley cringed at his abrupt tone and turned to face him, to be met with a serious, hard expression.

“ Leon…”

“ No. That's enough. You are a thousand times more important, period. I've always been aware of her lies, but it's one thing for me to be a fool and another for you to get hurt because of my stupidity. Don't tell me it's okay. It isn't.”

Ashley didn't know what to say at those words. Part of her wanted to hide under the pillows out of sheer embarrassment and another, she felt...excited. She dodged his blue eyes and squeezed the pillow between her arms, unable to respond to his blunt confession.

“ I'm the one who should have left her down, I took her out.” she murmured.

“ Because of me.” Ashley stood still at the cutting voice. “You did it for me and I know it,” Leon added in a harsh but non-judgmental voice. She heard him take a deep breath and bounced on the couch as he dropped all his weight in one fell swoop.

“ Tell me what you want for dinner, whatever you want, I'll buy it for you.”

Ashley blinked and looked at Leon confused at the sudden change in attitude.

“ Leon, you don't have to-”

“ Ssh! What do you want? The pizza from the Italian place in the park? That burger you wrote down on the fridge? Pasta? Greek salad?”

Ashley grabbed the cell phone and Leon's hand between hers on impulse. Her amber eyes bored into his in anguish.

“ Leon, if you want to talk about-”

“ No.”

Ashley fell silent with a jolt and felt Leon's other hand encircle hers tightly.

“ I'm not going to talk about Ada anymore because she doesn't deserve to be mentioned. I'm not going to waste my breath and time talking about a person who has only endangered the people I care about, and when she has hurt you.” the man's gaze sank into hers like an unstoppable ocean and Ashley felt her breath catch for a moment, until the soft whisper of his lips brought her back to her senses. “So, tell me, what do you want for dinner?”

It was barely a whisper in the room, but one that sounded so intimate and close that it ruffled the woman's hair. She looked down at their intertwined hands for an instant and couldn't control the subtle blush on her cheeks.

“ I want...those spinach and mushroom ravioli we saw some time ago.” she whispered in a shy voice. Leon smiled, making Ashley's heart skip a beat, and turned his eyes back to the screen.

“ Okay, ravioli. What else?”

She thought for a second.

“ And...tiramisu.”

“ Don't you want the focaccia? You really like it.”

Ashley turned even redder and simply nodded, totally embarrassed at how little Leon had needed to convince her. He laughed softly and remained focused on the order.

“ The focaccia too then.”

Their voices became soft whispers in the room, creating an atmosphere they had missed. The subtle tension was palpable, but...not so charged, rather, delicate and pleasant. They enjoyed dinner as they had done countless times before. Their worries dissipated as they tasted and melted at the delicious flavors of their meal.

They laughed and chatted quietly with the complicity they had always shared, but since they had returned, they had not been able to recover.

When they had finished filling their stomachs to satiety, Ashley went to take a shower before going to sleep. Leon took the opportunity to go to his apartment to get the laptop and sit back down on the couch while listening to Ashley humming underwater.

They said their goodbyes shortly after, after discussing that Leon was comfortable sleeping on the couch and that she shouldn't worry. Ashley didn't understand, but didn't insist, so she said goodnight and they turned off all the lights.

Except for one screen.

Lying on the couch, with his headphones on, Leon remembered the blog Maria talked about, the one Sergio, Jonh and Ashley shared for the songs.

He searched until he found it and, for a moment, hesitated.

He didn't know if he should listen to it, but his hesitant thoughts were soon pushed aside when the memory of the sweet voice of that song came to him.

That melody she sang at a festival in another country, but which meant so much and which he was aware he would not find on that blog.

So, in the end, he pressed the button and closed his eyes, letting the little demons that had been inhabiting his consciousness fall silent at the sound of that voice.

So that the doubts began to have answers and the ideas to be clearer than ever.

*

The next morning was a strange one.

When Ashley went to prepare breakfast for the two of them, she saw Leon coming back with the dogs from the walk and he had bags on him. He looked...happy? Or nervous? She wasn't sure, but he seemed restless in a positive way.

He helped her with breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen afterwards and, for a while, Leon was at the dining room table with his laptop and headphones.

From the couch Ashley couldn't see what he was doing, and though curiosity was gnawing at her insides, she gave him his space. She wasn't understanding the sudden change in his attitude, even though the day before he had seemed pretty determined not to talk about the woman in the red dress anymore. But her words made him toss and turn a few times that night. The way he told her that she was more important, period. The blunt way he sentenced that sentence felt...right.

In the afternoon, Ashley went to take the dogs out for a long walk, but at the end of her walk she had to run back in the face of the storm it decided to pay a visit. The weather had been crazy lately and Ashley felt they were accompanying her mixed feelings a bit.

She hadn't talked to Emily yet, but with Leon now in her apartment, she couldn't do that.

Not when the conversation was about him.

The storm wasn't as violent as it had been that night, but when the first clap of thunder echoed across the dark sky, Ashley felt a chill run down her spine. She hurried home, soaked from head to toe and her hair standing on end from the unpleasant memories that storms always gave her.

She opened the door with a growl and the dogs came running into the apartment, waving like spinning tops.

“ Now the whole floor is going to smell like wet dogs, great.” Ashley mumbled, wrinkling her nose. She hung up the harnesses and watched Leon come out of the kitchen.

“ I'll get them a towel, go take a shower.”

Ashley arched an eyebrow, puzzled by his attitude.

“ Hey, you're being very...charitable today.”

Leon threw one of the towels over Pepper's head and started waving it around with a soft laugh.

“ You think so? I guess I want to return the favor from the other day.” His voice was soft and soothing, causing Ashley to blush as she remembered the tenderness with which she treated him the night of the accident. She wanted to rebut him that there was no need, that's what they had each other for, but he thanked her in detail and smiled, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Leon.

“ I'm going to take a shower then.” she announced, taking off her jacket and shoes before heading to the bathroom.

Leon took his time to dry the dogs thoroughly before cleaning up after them and listened attentively to the sound of the shower for a few seconds. He stood still and then returned to the kitchen to get to work.

His heart had been beating wildly since that morning. He was convinced of what he was doing, but there was still a small part of him that doubted. It had occurred to him the night before and he had spent all morning getting things organized for that moment.

He set the table and finished preparing the dinner that had taken him all afternoon to make while Ashley went off with the dogs for a walk. The rain pounded against the living room window and distant thunder could be heard from time to time, sending shivers down his spine, as did Ashley. They had both ended up hating storms. He took a deep breath to calm his incessant thoughts.

He could almost see his pulse in his wrist. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this nervous, maybe when he was still at the academy.

She lit a couple of scented candles in case there was still some of the dog smell he missed and heard the bathroom door open.

Ashley sighed in relaxation after her body warmed up. She wore her short summer pajamas and walked barefoot to the living room. Only to stand static.

Her amber eyes widened and she dropped her hand with the towel.

The table was spotless, with several dishes laid out that were making her mouth water just smelling them. The light was pleasant and she could see a couple of candles burning on the countertop.

She looked up to find the man responsible for the whole scenario.

“Leon, what's all this?”

The man smiled a little nervously, trying to hide the slight blush on his cheeks.

“ I told you I want to make up for the other day.” His voice was soft, almost velvety and even... shy. Something very uncharacteristic of him.

“ But you didn't have to do all this-”

“ Yes, Ashley.” His voice was firm, making the woman shut up suddenly and look at him in surprise. “Let me, please.”

It sounded almost pleading and Ashley didn't have the- How could she refuse in any way. How could she? She had to be heartless not to see the care he had put into every dish served on the table, how perfectly folded the napkins were.

It almost looked like...a date.

Ashley swallowed unconsciously and sighed.

“ It smells great.” She finally admitted with a shy smile. Leon looked pleased and pulled out the chair for her to sit in.

“ After you, your majesty.”

Ashley rolled her eyes, but sat down with a soft laugh so that Leon could then join her. He served her her plate and tried to take it all in as normally as possible, but...she felt like there was something else.

She could smell the sweat on Leon's skin, caused by nerves, and if he was uneasy, it was that this dinner meant a lot more than the ones they usually had.

And that made her uneasy.

She was convinced she could hear his heart beating wildly as he took the first bite into his mouth.

“ It's delicious, Leon.” she chewed happily, savoring the taste calmly.

“ I'm glad, I've been thinking about what to make, I didn't know if you'd like it.”

Ashley laughed softly, reaching out for another of the dishes that looked so good.

“ Are you kidding me? Thanks to you I've learned to eat anything.”

Leon couldn't help but smile and scoff under his breath, remembering how they had to adapt in Spain to eating anything that was fit to digest.

“ I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing." he joked, eating with her.

“ Well, it depends if you have to share or not. I wish you didn't like lasagna and I could eat it all myself, but you're an all-rounder when it comes to eating, so I have to share.” Ashley grabbed more from another plate. “Wow, this is really good too.” The food managed to calm their nerves a bit while it lasted, but as they filled up and the platters emptied, the inevitable end was getting closer and closer.

But they still enjoyed the talk, just as they had the night before. They talked about how Hunnigan was going to strangle them the next time she saw them and that they would have to find a way to escape her. They also talked about Patrick and Maria, thinking about when they could meet up with Sasha and them to catch up. They were both trying to talk about banal things or anecdotes that weren't too deep for the conversation to get serious, because Ashley had a feeling it was going to get serious and...she didn't know if she was ready to hear what Leon might say to her.

Because as they began to pick up the used dishes and put away the leftovers, Ashley was lost in a distant memory.

To that night at the hotel when Leon took her to the University of Massachusetts. When he told her he was leaving.

The nerves she was beginning to feel as she mopped up the drinks were making her remember what she felt at that moment, the pain and loneliness of being left behind. She didn't have the same feeling, but her twisted little demons were making her think that this dinner might be to soften something coming later.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that it wasn't, until she felt a hand wave in front of her eyes that she finally managed to react.

“ Earth to Ashley.” Leon's voice made her turn to him with a confused expression.

“ Huh?”

“ You finally reacted, was my food so good that it left you feeling lightheaded?” the agent mocked with a lopsided grin, leaving the rag on the counter after wiping it off. Ashley smiled.

“Well, don't get too cocky.”

Leon made the same gesture as the woman and for a few seconds they were both silent. The sound of the faucet was the only thing that filled the kitchen for a few moments that seemed eternal, and in which they both began to feel their nerves returning. Leon took a deep breath and cleared his throat before deciding to dive into the pool once and for all.

“ Hey, Ash.”

Her hands hesitated for a moment on the glass.

“ Yes?”

“ I want to talk about the kiss.”

Ashley stood stiffly with her hands under the faucet. Her eyes were glued to the soap between her hands and it wasn't until she realized she was holding her breath that she came to. She finished rinsing the cup and setting it aside before turning off the faucet.

“ Leon…”

“ I think we've dodged this conversation quite a bit, don't you think?”

Ashley felt cold and hot at the same time.

“ It was...a slip, we were both sensitive after our discussions.”

“ I thought so too at the time.” he cut her off gently, but decisively. “But I think we both know it wasn't quite like that.

Leon kept a small distance from her, not wanting to be intrusive, but close enough for her not to ignore his presence. Ashley took a shaky breath and looked down with her heart in her throat.

“ I...I'm a mess, Leon.” she finally confessed in an anguished voice. “I never thought I'd do that, I never thought we'd get to....

“ To kiss.” he finished the sentence, only for Ashley to feel her heart trying to break his ribs.

“ It wasn't supposed to happen, I was supposed to...I had worked to overcome my dependency.” She clenched her fists, feeling helpless in a situation where her training was useless. She saw herself again as that little girl who begged Leon not to leave, to stay with her. “you left because you knew what was happening to me, you left to...avoid all this, and now...we are in exactly the same place as we were almost 3 years ago.”

Leon felt Ashley's words stab into him like cold daggers, but he stood his ground, even if he himself was scared of what might happen.

“ We're not, Ash.”

“ I'm just giving you trouble, Leon, can't we... let it go?”

“ No, I can't.” his tone was harsher than he expected and he added in a softer tone. “ And neither can you. It didn't mean anything?”

“ It's not that, Leon…” the tension started to get to her.

“ Is it because of Einar?”

“ What? No!”

“ Then what is it?”

“ Me, OK?! What Ada said about me!” the sudden exclamation made Leon's heart shrink, but he heard her. “Because you've always been there, even when you left, you were always in my thoughts. The decisions I made were mixed with my experiences with you, in my trainings I had you as motivation, my career changed because of what I saw with you... You have always been there in these last years and...I am afraid...that the effort you made when you left was in vain, that I haven't really changed and I have only been chasing you….”

The words sank in on Leon little by little. He watched Ashley's hands tremble violently even as she clung to the edge of the countertop. He supposed that kiss meant a lot to both of them, more than either was aware of and seeing now that it went to a much deeper point than they had imagined.

“You haven't changed, Ash.” her voice was almost a whisper, a caress. “You've only advanced to who you are now.”

Ashley lowered her head, hesitant.

“You weren't in my place, Leon…”

Those last words were enough for Leon to see. For a few moments he didn't know what to say or how to react. The tension could almost be cut, but she wanted him to see that it hadn't been a slip of the tongue and that...it wasn't just her that he hadn't been able to get out of his head.

Because during the time they'd been apart, she'd worked to forget, but the weight of the bracelet on her wrist kept Ashley's presence very much alive in his thoughts.

He swallowed saliva, horribly nervous of what he was going to do next. He didn't quite know how to express himself, he was always bad at doing it, but he let his heart guide him and reach out to her, hoping that she would finally understand him.

His cheeks reddened as never before and he parted his lips to let his deep voice sing a melody.

“ All the storms…” he paused hesitantly, but continued “we have faced...That...tried to break our embrace...Didn't win 'cause.... you're still...mine...By a thread…”

Ashley's heart stopped. Her amber eyes widened as that voice sang for her. Just for her.

Because that was their song. The refrain that she felt represented them and that...Leon had memorized to now sing it to her.

She turned to him slowly, her expression astonished and her heartbeat through the roof.

She saw him red to the ears because she was aware of how he had emphasized her words.

In how he had emphasized that she was his.

Ashley felt a fire run through her veins as she heard him sing that melody and still look at her that way after claiming her the way he had. Had he done it deliberately? Or unintentionally? No. She couldn't lie to herself that way when she saw those blue oceans crashing into her with fear, shyness, but determination.

For ever since their paths had crossed, they had always been each other's.

Her body moved without thinking, and before she was conscious, her lips took the mouth of the man who had whispered to her what she had been so afraid to utter. It was so sudden that even Leon was surprised, but when that warm mouth came to rest against his, his body responded in kind, clutching her around the waist and reciprocating fervently.

This time they were aware. Very aware of what was happening and precisely because of that, they simply surrendered to each other.

Their kisses were nervous, mixed with ragged gasps. Ashley slid her fingers to the nape of his neck, tangling them with his short hair. The gesture made Leon growl as he felt the caresses behind his neck and he gently licked her lip, asking her permission to enter.

Ashley moaned as Leon's tongue met hers and began to taste her with ravenous slowness. Their kisses became heavy and deep, leaving behind some of the shyness with which they had begun.

Leon took her face in his hands and gently pushed her body against the countertop. Ashley gasped at Leon's pressure and exclaimed in surprise when he grabbed her waist and lifted her onto the kitchen island.

A shy moan came from her as Leon pressed his hips against her, causing Ashley to wrap her legs around him, feeling the other's ardor.

They both tensed and for a moment stood still with their foreheads pressed together. It was very evident the arousal between them. Ashley could smell Leon's changing scent and he could hear sounds that even Ashley didn't know he was emitting.

They looked at each other breathlessly.

“Want to stop?” Leon's whispery voice, husky and velvety, made Ashley let out an almost imperceptible moan.

“ Do you want to?” she asked, her lips swollen and glossy. Leon watched them move as they spoke and then looked at her.

“ No.”

Ashley bit her cheek on the inside and clutched him by the back of the neck eagerly.

“Me neither.”

Their mouths met again and now their hands joined the dance. Ashley slid her hands down Leon's chest eagerly, squeezing and feeling his muscles contract beneath the fabric. He gasped nervously and let it run down his abs as if it was burning him, but he was unable to pull away. A deep moan came from him as her fingers lifted the edge of his shirt to touch his bare skin and his instincts understood her desires.

He pulled away just enough to remove the garment in one swift motion and again claimed that mouth eagerly, devouring Ashley's moans.

She gasped and touched Leon's burning skin as if it were silk, feeling every fiber twitching and smelling the sweat beginning to form on him.

“ You smell...salty...” moaned Ashley between kisses with an urgent timbre in her voice. Leon pulled her even closer to him and smiled against her lips.

“ Is it bad?” he purred, biting her lower lip.

“ I love it…”

He kissed her eagerly, but with a gentle touch, holding her cheek with one hand while the other clutched her around the waist. Ashley melted at the gentleness of his kisses, as if nervous again. He caressed her bare torso gently, sensing every muscle contract at his touch. Leon's hands were gentle, but firm, squeezing at her waist and gradually moving down to her buttocks, as if admiring the curve of her hip. She gasped as she felt his fingers slide under the edge of her pajamas and her body tensed.

“ May I?” he asked her permission in a breathy voice, almost like a desperate plea.

Ashley reddened with embarrassment and looked to the side.

“ I...don't...have...underwear.” she looked hesitant, but the soft kiss on her cheek made her turn to him.

“ It's okay.” he whispered with a smile, causing Ashley to hesitate for a moment, but then raise her arms.

Leon pulled off her pajama top and almost gagged when he saw her bare chest. Ashley shrugged her shoulders, terribly embarrassed, but Leon raised his eyes to her with a sweet smile.

“ You look beautiful.” His voice vibrated and she couldn't help but smile too, making Leon lean back into her mouth. - That's my girl.

He kissed her passionately, calming both their nerves in the process and feeling the divine touch of their bare skins against each other. Leon gently moved to her neck and descended, leaving small reddened marks along the way, until he reached his destination. He gently caressed the perfect rounded shape of those hills and Ashley exclaimed when Leon took one of her breasts into his mouth. She shivered with pleasure and her moans began to echo in the kitchen as he delighted in the sweet taste of her skin.

“You're so soft...” he whispered between gasps and moving to her other breast, refusing to neglect it.

Ashley clutched Leon's hips between her legs, feeling the man's arousal and hearing him grunt at the pressure against her crotch. The moans of both mingled in a chorus that would make the devil redden, accompanied by caresses and soft words of encouragement. Insecurities soon began to fade, giving way to simple, pure desire.

The wait had been long and they had denied all those feelings for too long. Ashley tugged gently on the back of his neck, receiving delicious grunts in response, but in return, Leon laughed and gave her a gentle nibble that made her bounce.

“ Don't be mean,” she moaned at the last nip he gave her.

“ I can be worse.” he purred, moving back up her neck to the mouth of the woman he craved so much. “I want you, Ash...” he whispered in a deeper, almost visceral tone before taking her mouth again.

Ashley melted and pressed her chest against his, gently wiggling her hips.

“ Shall we... go... to the... room?” she gasped between desperate kisses. Leon nodded with a grunt, drunk on her, and lifted her with absurd ease. He didn't stop kissing her at any point and hissed at Ashley's soft scratches along his back, equally as needy as he was.

With the occasional stumble they reached the bedroom and Leon laid her gently on the mattress.

“ Le-” Ashley's voice turned to a moan as she felt the delicious weight of him on her body. Her skin burned and his scent was a drug she didn't know if she could ever get off. She parted her legs to welcome him on top of her and Leon accepted unceremoniously, deepening the kiss as if he wanted to melt into her.

In the darkness, their hands slid down each other's bodies, unfastening pants and undoing pajamas that were soon found strewn across the floor. The bodies lying naked on the bed shivered uncontrollably, absorbing each other's heat like two insatiable torches.

“ God...Ashley…” he kissed her as passionately as he could.

“ Le...on…” she moaned, returning his caresses with her tongue that tasted like glory.

“ Will you...god...do you...want...to...go...on?” he managed to articulate in a moment of lucidity, barely breaking away from her lips.

Ashley was terribly red and the question only made her heart hammer against her chest, aware that Leon probably felt it too.

“ I...it's been so long since I've done this, I don't know if...I'm going to be really awkward.” Her voice was shy and her eyes looked to the side even though their noses were brushing against each other.

Leon melted at her sweet words and kissed her with a smile on his lips and then whispered against them.

“ It's been a long time since I've done this either, so I'm a little rusty too.”

They laughed in the dim darkness of the room, subtly lit by moonlight. Their soft caresses and gasps graced the place like chants.

“ I don't think it's so bad then, do you?” she joked coyly.

Leon smiled with flaming cheeks and disheveled hair.

“ No, never with you.”

Ashley laughed softly and wrapped her arms around his neck before feeling the full weight of him on top of her. They kissed for long minutes, caressing their bodies and losing themselves in each other's warmth.

“ I have...protection in the drawer.” Ashley informed him in a slightly embarrassed tone that only got worse when Leon arched an eyebrow.

“ Why do you have condoms?”

Ashley looked aside with an embarrassed sigh.

“ I took them the night I...met Dylan, in case he didn't bring them.”

The admission took Leon by surprise and he could feel Ashley's slight tremble under his weight. He remembered that night once again, but this time he didn't feel the rage he suffered at the time, because now he lay with the woman that guy couldn't value.

And he also remembered another detail.

“ Hey, could you put on that pink underwear outfit you wore another day?”

Ashley looked at him with wild eyes.

“Really? We haven't even slept together yet, are you already thinking about next time?”

Leon gave one of his devilish lopsided grins and thrust with his hips, pressing into her intimacies and drawing a delicious moan from the woman.

“ I hope this isn't a one-night stand, is it?” his voice was a soft purr that sent tingles down her partner's spine, who smiled fondly.

“ No, I don't want it to be.”

“ Good.” Leon kissed her one more time and they finished settling the last step they would take that night.

“ I'm going to get the box.”

Ashley turned in on herself and Leon lifted her body to let her stretch toward the nightstand, watching as she pulled out one of the metallic wrappers. His blue eyes slid down her back, noting the large scar that adorned her skin.He rested his weathered hand on her waist and before she was aware of his actions, he leaned down to rest his lips on the end of the scar that started at her shoulder.

Ashley felt a strange shock run down her spine and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Her whole body began to shiver as if she were cold, but it was the strange tingles that produced her agitation.

“ Le-Leon, wha-”

She moaned with a start as she felt Leon's hot tongue lick her scar with a leisurely eagerness. She felt his moist lips kiss every corner of the mark on her back and it was provoking sensations she didn't understand. It was very sharp. It wasn't painful, but it was borderline, testing the hypersensitivity that part of her skin suffered from.

“ It's...very sensitive...Leon...too much…” she begged him to stop.

“ Relax, I like to hear you…”

She was nervous, horribly, but with every kiss and with every caress, Leon made her mind cloud a little more. Her senses went numb like they never had before, for some reason, and her gasps and moans became choppy and agitated. She struggled to breathe and stifled exclamations as Leon remained focused on his scar. He seemed to be liking that strange torture, but Ashley couldn't resist. Her thoughts were so clouded that she didn't notice Leon taking the wrapper from her hands.

Her body burned uncontrollably. She felt terribly vulnerable, totally at Leon's mercy, and the heat and weight of him only accentuated the swirl of emotions.

She thought she heard something, though she didn't know what it was that he said. But when she felt Leon lie on top of her and invade her interior, a choked moan took her breath away.

She almost whimpered as she felt his hips pushing against her body, filling her with heat and fire as he continued to kiss her scar.

The sensation was strange. Almost...suffocating.

“ You're...burning...fuck,” he growled as he thrust into her ever so gently, losing himself in the pleasure of finally joining her, of feeling her core like the flame of a sun. He needed to go very slowly at first, overcome by the intense sensation, but soon he picked up a leisurely pace that drove him wild.

Ashley was emitting sounds that even she wasn't aware of, and Leon's gentle lunges, along with his incessant kisses on her scar, were bringing on a pleasure that was going straight to her lower belly.

“ Le...Le...on is...too...much…” the high-pitched moans echoed like music to Leon who gasped, lost in the pleasure of feeling her under him, welcoming him as if he were her home.

“ You can princess...I want...to...hear you.” He growled before returning to licking her back.

Ashley exclaimed and grabbed the sheets as if they were her lifeline, but a very familiar knot was forming. Leon could feel it, hear every nuance changing as he moaned her name and sank inside her slowly, melding with her in a sensual dance that was taking her over the edge.

“ No...Leo-n if you keep going...I-”

“ Let it out, come on...let me hear you, let me...feel you trembling beneath me.”

Leon's panting voice sent tingles throughout Ashley's body, deep and velvety, like a demon that made her lose herself in the embers of desire.

Ashley gasped, clung to the pillow, panting, whimpering and moaning as she had never done before, on the verge of the peak.

And then Leon delivered a gentle nibble on her scar. Ashley tensed like a cable and screamed his name and then bit down on the sheet as that whiplash of pleasure sent her into heaven. Her whole body tensed and her senses went numb all at once to the wave of pleasure.

“ That's it, good girl.”

Leon pressed his hips against Ashley's glutes, wrenching one last moan of defeat from her. He was far from finished, but having felt her reach for the sky beneath him had turned him on inhumanly.

Her gasps and moans were driving him crazy, but he controlled himself and gave her a little time, deciding to pull out of her.

Ashley moaned and cocked her head to the side, her face flushed and panting. Leon's heart skipped a beat and he turned her face to kiss her deeply. Their tongues met, much hotter than before, and she let Leon turn her around again. Their gazes met again and this time Ashley smiled, wrapping her legs around Leon's waist.

“ You need a momen-”

Ashley rolled over him like a bolt of lightning, fearing him on the bed and sitting on him. It took Leon a second to react, but he felt her lift her hips and slide down on him mercilessly.

“ Fuck!”

Leon's eyes widened then slammed shut with a visceral roar of violent pleasure. He dug his nails into her thighs and threw his head back with every muscle tense. Everything clouded over for a few seconds as the sharp tingles subsided.

Then he realized that Ashley wasn't moving.

He half-opened his eyes and went to tease her when he saw her expression completely pale, her body tense and her pupils dilated. He knew that look.

“ Ash?” he propped himself up on his elbows. “ Ashley?” this time he sounded worried.

Ashley finally blinked and remembered to breathe, taking a breath.

For a moment she had been back there. The way Leon had roared and dug his nails into her had been so much like...that dream.

“ Princess.”

Her amber eyes met his blue ones and she snapped back to reality.

“ I'm...I'm sorry, I, it...it reminded me” she didn't know what to say to him, how to explain to him what had just happened. But he had forgotten that Leon could see her as an open book. It didn't take much for her to string a few things together since their reunion.

“Were you back in the dream, was that what was going on?”

Ashley turned her eyes back to him, subtly glazed in the darkness, and Leon stroked her cheek.

“ Did you...remember that thing you said to Narsson?” he whispered softly, sinking his gaze into hers. Ashley shivered, feeling their bodies still close together and burning. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, as if seeking the warmth of his body all of a sudden.

“ You heard everything, didn't you?” her gaze turned elusive, but Leon's warm hands encircled her waist and his fingers entwined in her blond hair.

“ Yes.” He paused to give her a gentle kiss on the cheek. “That was your dream months ago, wasn't it?”

A frightened tear came from her eyes and Leon rushed to kiss her eyelids. It was an impulse, he didn't think about it. Neither was the way he licked the tears from her cheeks and then wiped them away with his thumbs.

“ Hey...don't cry, I'm here, it's all right, we're fine.” He kissed her nose, her forehead, her cheeks and her neck as lovingly as possible. Ashley surrendered to him and sighed heavily, feeling the sudden anxiety slowly ebbing away.

“ Sorry, I didn't expect to be so...surprised to be on top of you.” She whispered, sinking her face into his neck and Leon inhaled the sweet scent of her hair.

“ Don't apologize to me, you wanna stop?”

“ I think I'm going to die if we stop.” Ashley tried to joke and managed to pull a soft smile from Leon, who kissed her cheeks again affectionately.

“ Shall we go slowly?”

Ashley nodded with a sweet smile and subtly reddened eyes. She kissed his soft beard and he instantly relaxed, surrendering in the small moment of calm that had now become his intense night.

Their lips sought each other again, meeting in soft kisses and whispers of encouragement. It took Ashley a few minutes to come back from that memory, but when she finally did, warmth began to fill her body again.

Her kisses became more needy, as if she wanted to make sure Leon was there, with her, in her arms, and before she was conscious, her hips began to wiggle gently.

“ That's... it…”

Leon moaned low hopelessly, reddening at her sudden sound, which tore a smile from Ashley and encouraged her to continue.

Gasps enveloped the place again and slowly, the atmosphere began to warm up again.

Ashley moaned as she felt Leon's hands grip her waist and guide her movements. Their tongues transmitted their need to each other and Leon was laying back down on the bed.

“ That's it...I'm here, it's all right.” the man whispered to her between gasps and grunts of pleasure as he intertwined his hands with Ashley's to reassure her. To keep her with him and not go back to that dark well.

“ Like this?” she rammed into him with a little more resolve and watched Leon's muscles tense with a groan.

“ Fuck...yeah, are you...okay?” he gasped, dropping Ashley's hands to his chest and sliding his hands to her hips.

“ Yeah-ah!” she exclaimed as Leon lifted his hips to meet her. Ashley couldn't hold back a yelp and her body followed the rhythm of the devil beneath her. Leon bit his lip at the dazzling sight above him. She was gorgeous and watching her wiggle before his onslaught was sweeping him off his feet in a way he hadn't thought possible.

The moans grew higher pitched and Leon's grew louder. Ashley gave in to her deepest desires and lay on top of him to give him freedom of movement, wrenching screams and cries of pleasure from him.

Leon devoured those sounds with his mouth, clutching her around the waist with one arm and a strength that almost felt like he was going to melt her to his body, while his other hand dipped it behind Ashley's head.

His hips and hers synchronized wordlessly and they both began to feel that familiar knot in their stomachs.

Their breaths intertwined between the agitated wet kisses and their voices whispered their names like a mantra. The tingles were sharper, their muscles quivering as they neared the top. Their voices sharpened and their grips became painfully hard.

“ Le-Le-on no-I...can't...no... more…” gasped Ashley in a choked timbre.

“ Me...nei...ther.” he moaned voicelessly, consumed by the pleasure of her onslaught. He wanted more, they both wanted it.

“ Together?” Ashley moaned on the verge of tears of pleasure.

“ Always.” Leon grunted and kissed her fervently, tensing all his muscles and joining her in one final thrust. They both moaned into each other's mouths as their bodies jumped together. They trembled and moaned for long seconds, feeling the stars run across their skin like tiny butterflies. They parted their lips to breathe again, still disoriented by the pleasure, but feeling a peace and calm that neither thought possible.

At a certain point, they both rolled onto their sides and hugged each other under the sheets, feeling the doubts disappear. There were no words in those minutes before they fell into sleep, only soft laughter and kisses of love and understanding. The caresses on their skins were their words, the marks on their bodies were the messages they had said to each other.

But still, as if their minds had connected in a last glimmer of lucidity before falling into sleep, they both whispered almost imperceptibly.

“ I love you.”  “I love you.”

[ashrillvenheim]

Awakening Past

Chapter 26

pairing: Ashley Graham x Leon S Kennedy.

Content: (+18) romance, angst, gore, erotic/suggestive themes at some point, slow burn, violence, action, self-harm, death talk,

If you're a MINOR DON'T keep reading, thank you.

Archive of our own / WORK LIST / Awakening Past Masterlist

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The sky glowed in a more yellowish hue than usual, or maybe it was his eyes? She blinked and looked down from the sky to observe the ground.

Very high up.

She wasn't standing on anything that would lift her off the ground like that, so how was she so high up? She looked around and saw only huge trees and ferns surrounding her. There were no flowers, and some plants were not familiar to her at all. Where was she? 

Her body shifted and she felt terribly heavy, as if she were almost anchored to the ground. She noticed a small pond in the distance and silhouettes drinking from it.

Wait a minute. Those were... Dinosaurs?

She didn't understand what was going on. Why were there dinosaurs alive? 

Her body kept moving and then from her throat emerged a strange roaring or screeching sound that didn't resemble any familiar sound...or did it? It resembled...the shrieks that...the pests produced.

The dinosaurs in the distance snapped their heads up and without a second thought took off running, but a poor unwary Ankylosaurus wasn't fast enough.

From out of the trees and bushes emerged huge, almost alien creatures.

Pests.

They assaulted the poor dinosaur who roared in despair. But it could do little in the face of the sharp blades that sank into its flesh until it was dead.

The body jerked in convulsions until it stopped moving altogether, only to have its body rise up a second later.

Like a zombie.

The dinosaur was dead. Its torn and bleeding body showed that it could harbor no life in it, but tentacles emerging from its back made it move like a living body.

The walking corpse reached down to her and when she looked down she saw that its own limbs were claws and tentacles What the hell was that? What appeared to be her own hands reached out towards the Ankylosaurus and slowly dismembered it and the plague that inhabited it, then devoured it.

The rest of the Plagas returned to her with water in their bellies or small insects. All for her, as...if she were their Mother.

The Plagas were huge, but small in comparison to her, and they scampered around her delivering food or preening her limbs. She began to understand their behavior better when suddenly there was a strange sound. She looked up at the sky again and saw a glowing trail across the vault, illuminating it as if it were the sun itself. The fireball spread into the distance and hit the horizon.

Silence fell.

A rumbling began to be heard.

And the earth began to shake.

The impact of the air threw her body to the ground and the plagas shrieked and ran without understanding what was happening.

Suddenly everything became more diffuse. The sky suddenly darkened, the landscape changed, as if she had moved to some other place. She began to feel cold in her body and the pests were taking longer and longer to bring her food, traveling farther and farther and making her unable to give birth due to lack of nutrients. She seemed to perceive some colors in the sky, like blue and purple flags waving in the dark starry nights. Were they aurora borealis?

Her vision became more and more blurred as the sound echoed louder and louder. What was it? It sounded rhythmic and continuous, like a drum.

The images became darker and increasingly difficult to make out, only perceiving the loneliness of no longer having young to come to her.

The beats were fast and deep. That sound rang a bell. She felt it thundering in her eardrums more and more, until everything faded away and only that rumbling remained.

The beating of her heart.

*

Her eyes snapped open as her hand touched the hilt of the knife. She felt that horrible pressure still inside her throat, preventing her from breathing. 

She had to get it out before it suffocated her.

She heard screams and gunshots, the alarmed voices of Chris and Jill unloading their weapons on the beast.

And Leon calling out to her.

Still with a foggy mind she managed to grab the knife and cut the tentacle that was trying to choke her. The beast roared and Leon saw Ashley move again. Her heart pounded again as Chris and Jill threw everything in their arsenal at the critter and she used the distraction to leap at the larger tentacles. She climbed up onto what looked like the neck and pulled the knife out while Ashley did the same from the ground. She managed to pull the appendage out of her throat and breathed out with a cry of pain.

She wanted to cry from the insufferable burning, but her instincts plunged the knife into the flesh and cut it.

She cut. And cut deeper. And deeper.

Leon plunged the blade all the way to the hilt, only to separate the muscle and plunge it in again. They became blind and deaf to the rest, only able to focus on slicing his head off as the beast thrashed and buffeted them violently.

They sank their knives. And they kept going again and again and again amidst desperate roars. Their sweat burned and froze at the same time. Their voices broke from the effort. Their visions blurred under the pressure.

They cut and cut and cut.

And the head fell.

The tentacles lashed everywhere, knocking Leon and Ashley to the ground. It convulsed violently and then instantly collapsed.

Silence reigned in the place, disturbed only by the gasps of those who had prevented that beast from destroying the place.

“ Ashley!!!”

Leon's shout made Jill and Chris react as they searched with their eyes for the blonde's body among the appendages. Kennedy grunted as he lifted the one holding Ashley imprisoned and she violently turned over her body to vomit.

Blood gushed from her throat, mixing with tears of pain and saliva. Leon clutched her tightly, his breathing ragged, and distraught with panic at the sight of the blood gushing out of her.

“ Chris, call for help!” shouted the teary-eyed agent toward the Captain. Redfield was stunned, the first time he had ever seen such an expression on him.

He had never seen him with such deep fear written all over his face.

Without another thought, he pulled out his cell phone and called, while Jill calmed Narsson in the hallway.

“Ash, Ash!” Leon called out to her in anguish, hearing her sobbing in pain.

She was white as paper and her body was shaking limply. He had seen her lying there. Immobile and unconscious. For a moment he thought there was no escape.

Ashley vomited scarlet again and at that moment none of them noticed some small dots that seemed to be present in the viscous liquid. Vision began to blur again as she gasped for air. She still saw fleeting images flash through her head in no order that she could understand. Even if she started breathing again, she felt like she was going to collapse. She managed to grab hold of Leon's arms before collapsing, unconscious, on the floor.

“ ASH!” he lifted her up with his muscles screaming in pain and rushed to get her out of there. Jill lifted Narsson as well, who paled at the sight of Ashley covered in blood in Leon's arms. Everything was spinning around her, she wasn't able to process what had just happened, what had come out of a fossilized rock.

Had she lost her mind? Was this a nightmare? Had she died? Ashley was-

“ Enma.”

The woman blinked, and her greenish, terrified eyes turned to the skies of the woman beside her. She couldn't respond. She couldn't remember how to utter words.

“ Let's go.” helped her up and led her away from the nightmare that now lay headless on the ground.

*

He hated that sound.

Of everything he had ever heard in his life, that intermittent beeping sound that followed the rhythm of a screen was definitely the worst.

His head ached. His body ached. Everything hurt. And yet, he was only able to focus on that beeping sound and the breathing of the woman lying in bed. 

He looked at the floor. Still. Sitting in the chair backwards, with his arms crossed over the backrest and his head resting against them. But his thoughts were not there, only his senses.

In his head still hovered the image of that hideous creature out of the underworld, which resembled and at the same time did not resemble the demons they saw in that village.

Seeing her there, lying on the ground, immobile...had brought him back to that hell. When he almost lost her. When he was about to fail in his mission.

For a moment he went back to Raccoon city.

He found himself again on that bridge about to collapse, holding Ada so she wouldn't fall into the void.

Only this time he didn't see Ada.

He saw Ashley.

For a moment he saw her and felt just as helpless as he had that first and last day as a policeman. Fear, helplessness, anger at himself and frustration were the only emotions he had when that beast had almost suffocated her.

He had felt weak again and unable to protect the people he loved. The most important people in his life. He counted them on his fingers. People who, if he were to lose, his sanity would hang by a thin thread on the edge of an abyss.

And now, the one who had become the main one, lay unconscious in the bed of a private medical center.

Hunnigan had pulled strings after Chris's call for them to be treated under seal. A helicopter came for all of them and Ashley, Leon and Narsson were taken care of, but the agent had refused to leave her alone.

He had done it once before, when they had found them in that cove after escaping from the island, and he didn't intend to do it again.

This time he would not leave her side.

He tightened his grip on the hilt of the gun, hanging from his hand, but not moving a millimeter. Even if his mind was not present, all his instincts were alert. 

She would not be harmed.

No one would hurt her.

The door swung open and he jerked up with the gun poised to fire.

William stiffened when he saw the barrel pointed at his head. Leon's bloody hands, the sweat, his tired breathing, his deep circles under his eyes and wounds all over his body.

Nothing stopped that man who had not hesitated to aim at the first person who had approached Ashley. Not even the president himself.

Leon's blue eyes met William's, and the president could see that the agent was not well, not when he hadn't even recognized him. Patrick stepped between Graham and his partner.

“ Leon, hey, Leon, it's me, can you hear me? Mr. Graham and I are here to see you.” Jonshon's voice was calm, but deep down he was worried to see his friend in such a state.

Leon finally blinked, and as if waking from a dream, he met his companion's gaze and then noticed the president behind him.

He lowered the gun, remembering to breathe again.

Patrick let out a long sigh and approached his partner cautiously and then looked toward the bed.

“ How's she doing?”

Leon turned to Ashley, lying on the bed with the monitor beeping steadily.

“ Stable.”

William and Patrick felt a shiver as they heard his voice, hoarse, tired and broken. Graham looked at him with a shrinking heart and saw the way he was looking at her. With his eyes lost not only on the sleeping figure in the bed, but on something much deeper. He didn't see him blink, as if he was afraid Ashley would disappear if he did.

His attitude was much like it had been when he and Ashley were in quarantine, but at the same time he felt...something different.

He had already noticed in Viktor's office that something had happened between them and the way Leon hadn't hesitated to point his gun at whoever came through that door only confirmed it.

William took a soft breath and walked over to the agent, gently resting a hand on his shoulder.

“ What happened?” he asked in a calm voice.

Leon needed a second to think and another to drink some water and be able to speak. Patrick and William waited patiently.

Leon gave them a summary, for the sake of his throat. He mentioned Ashley and Narsson's argument, the blood and the appearance of the creature because of it, and the confrontation. 

He told it all without taking his eyes off the door, alert that no one would hear them and no one would enter. 

Patrick sighed as his companion finished bringing them up to date.

“ Hunnigan told me she had the lab cleaned out. It's a good thing it was late and the rest of the workers weren't there, but she's going to have to talk to the museum's security staff.” He informed Leon and Leon just nodded.

Ashley grunted and started coughing. Leon's eyes widened and he hurried to sit her down so she wouldn't suffer any complications. His blue eyes met her amber ones and watched her try to speak, but it only caused her to cough more.

“ Shh, don't force yourself Ash, it's okay.” Leon whispered gently, brushing her sweaty locks away from her face. She nodded, but terrible nausea made her suddenly cover her mouth, but she couldn't hold back what her body was trying to force out.

She vomited through tears of pain and Leon grabbed her hair and head without hesitation.

“ Easy, throw-”

His voice was cut off when he saw tiny silhouettes among the reddening bile.

Those were...plagas?

Ashley coughed and vomited again, groaning in pain. Leon held her when she looked like she was going to collapse again.

“ Call Viktor.”

Leon's voice was barely a whisper. Patrick looked, horrified at the small creatures scattered on the white sheet. William had gone white too.

“ W-what is that?” Jonshon hesitated.

“I said call Viktor!” roared Leon, causing him this time to groan in pain and cough as he forced his voice out. William went static and Patrick startled, only to then leave the room in a flash and call Viktor.

William stared at his daughter in Leon's arms, who wiped his mouth before balling up the sheet and pulling it off the bed.

“ Have this burned, sir.” The officer held out the cloth. It took Graham a second to react, but then he did as he was told and called housekeeping to have the sheet burned to ashes. No one asked any questions.

Ashley gasped, her eyes watering with pain as she processed what had just come out of her. She was pale and trembling in Leon's arms. He soothed her and threw one of the clean blankets in the closet over her, laying her on the bed again. William re-entered the room and seemed to calm down when he saw his daughter lying down again.

“ Leon, what was that?” he asked in confusion, though something in him told him they were familiar. Leon dug his fingers into his hair and sighed heavily.

“ When Viktor comes, we'll know better.”

William looked at him worriedly and could see the deep frown on the man's face. His eyes reddened with pain and exhaustion and his gaze lost in some thought as he looked at Ashley without blinking.

“ Leon, I think you should get some rest.” William whispered, concerned for him.

“ I will when she's discharged.” he replied dryly, looking at her like a hunting dog that wouldn't take its head out of its target. Graham sensed something deep in his voice. The president was aware that Leon was very important to him, and no longer as an agent. He was a boy he cherished and had become indispensable around him, just like Ashley. Almost like... family.

“ Leon, at least sit down, I'm going to be here too, you're going to end up fainting after your injuries.” He pointed to the gauze scattered around his neck and limbs, as well as the bandage around the tear in his arm, caused by one of the bug's tentacles.

“Sir, I'm-”

The door burst open and Narsson appeared with an anguished expression and agitated breathing. The first bruises could be seen forming on her face and arms, but other than that, she was unharmed. 

“ Professor,” William turned to her. “How are you?”

Enma looked at them in distress and then turned to Ashley, sprawled out and pale. Her eyes watered suddenly and tears began to cascade down her face, unable to contain the guilt of what Ashley had suffered.

“ It's my fault…” she mumbled between sobs in anguish and almost unable to breathe. 

William and Leon looked at her worriedly and Leon took a step towards the woman.

“ Keep an eye on Ashley, Sir.” he asked the President as he wrapped his arms around Enma's shoulders and led her out of the room.

Enma wept inconsolably, unable to look Leon in the eye as he carried her to a more secluded spot.

“ I'm sorry...I'm sorry...God...it's my fault.”

The woman repeated in despair. Leon looked around as they stopped at the end of one of the corridors and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“ Enma, look at me, please." he asked gently.

She shook her head.

“ This is all my fault, Leon.”

The agent held her gently, not wanting to bruise her any more.

“ Enma. Look at me.” His voice was soft, but firm. Narsson tried to hold back her sobs and finally raised her head somewhat hesitantly. Her greenish eyes met Leon's blue ones.

“ Now tell me, what have you done?” her voice was no longer as alarmed as it had been when she discovered that Narsson had tried to hide something from her, but he still made it clear in his eyes that he didn't intend to let her go until she told him.

Enma was very upset, but managed to get some thoughts in order.

“ She texted me, she found me in Iceland and told me that you would destroy everything, that you were getting me in, I...I didn't want to believe her, but...I ended up thinking that Ashley had lost her mind and I...and I...sent her the location of the lab." she sank her face into her hands as she cried again from guilt.

It wasn't detailed, but Leon knew.

He knew who she was talking about.

He was now aware that it wasn't his imagination that red blur he saw at the bar in Iceland, before Ashley and Einar fought.

She had followed them from the beginning.

Leon's jaw tightened and his eyes darkened in anger, but he held back the urge to want to punch the wall.

“ Go to your room Enma, and get some rest, okay? I'll take care of this.” he whispered, gently shaking her hair. The woman could only nod as he escorted her to the door of her room. He left her with the nurse and returned, striding back to Ashley's room.

With the gun, now holstered, she entered the room with a serious, darkened expression. His thoughts and emotions much clearer than ever.

William heard him enter and he and Patrick turned to the agent.

“ Viktor is on his way.” Patrick informed him after talking to the doctor.

“ Okay, keep a close eye on Ashley, if she vomits again and you see those things, burn the sheets and if necessary the mattress too.” he said with a grim expression that made Jonshon swallow. His partner nodded without complaint.

“ Where are you going?” William asked with a worried tone.

The agent's eyes lost their sparkle for an instant. Turning cold floes of ice.

“ To take care of someone.”

Graham froze. He had never heard him speak in that tone or in that manner. His expression was...menacing, but not simply an intimidating one, no. His eyes betrayed a much deeper, more visceral instinct that had been seared into him with red-hot iron.

A murderous look.

William hesitantly stopped him, ready to tell him not to go and do something crazy.

“ Le...on…”

All three turned with a jerk at the weak, broken voice.

Leon's blue eyes flickered and the expression from a moment ago disappeared. He walked over to her and leaned down beside her.

It was as if everything disappeared around him. The anger, the pain, the anguish, it all disappeared when Ashley's voice called out to him in pain.

“ Hey…” he whispered leaning towards her, oblivious to the fact that they were not alone in the room. But he forgot about the rest of the world for a few seconds.

There was only her.

Those amber eyes turned to him, reddened and clouded. She reached up her trembling hand to grasp, weakly, his shirt. He held her gently and brought his other hand to her head to stroke her hair. Ashley parted her lips and her expression became pained as she tried but failed to speak to him.

“ Shh, shh, I'm here, don't force yourself.” His body moved on impulse and he bent his head to rest his forehead against hers.

“ I'll be back, I promise. I won't leave you alone.” he whispered intimately and lovingly, almost as if her anguish was his own.

Ashley moaned painfully and managed to lift her face enough for their noses to brush. She couldn't speak, but it was her way of telling him that she heard him, that he wouldn't think of breaking his promise and showing her affection back to her.

William watched the scene in silence. Any father might say it was shameless and that he should intervene. But he knew the relationship Leon and Ashley had developed after Spain. He knew it was complex, from the beginning he knew that. But he had a feeling that there were things inside them that...weren't settled.

And at that moment he saw it.

He saw, in the way they both pressed their foreheads and noses to each other with their eyes closed, that there were things unspoken between them.

But he did not intervene.

Leon slowly pulled away from Ashley and kissed her forehead without thinking. He pulled himself upright as he watched her close her eyes again and her expression slowly returned to that which William had seen before.

His jaw tightened and his fists clenched. He rounded Ashley's bed.

“ I leave her in your care.”

William grabbed the agent by the wrist, feeling his daughter's bracelet strapped under his palm. His gray eyes met Leon's and his voice was firm.

“ Be careful.”

Leon felt the president's words in his bones and nodded decisively before he let go of her wrist and left the room. The first rumblings of thunder echoed in the distance and the rain soon followed.

*

She forced open the back door with one of her many tools, shortly before she heard the first thunder in the distance. She raised her brown eyes to the dark clouds that covered the night sky and sighed.

She wondered why on most of her missions it always ended up raining. She definitely didn't have good luck with the weather as she did with other things.

She opened the door and walked quietly into the museum.

She glanced at her cell phone and the small blinking dot on the screen, marking the exact address Narsson had sent her a few hours ago. She wouldn't have thought they'd have the lab in the natural museum itself. It made perfect sense, but at the same time it hadn't occurred to him that it would be in such an obvious place.

Sometimes what you're looking for is right under your nose.

She had made sure to wear noise-absorbing footwear and to suppress her scent. She never would have guessed that Ashley would develop the nose of a bloodhound. She still remembered how she sensed it in that village in Norway, when they were talking to other cavers at the dig. It was very difficult, but she managed to find old documents in the database from almost 3 years ago, where the doctors who treated Leon and Ashley in Spain in their quarantine, noted changes in their sensory abilities. She didn't think much of them, after all she knew Leon had very keen senses, but Ashley's sudden change in little more than 2 years had been...overwhelming.

She brought her hand to her head, where now rested a soft reddened layer from the wounds Graham had inflicted on her with headbutts. 

She had become dangerous, maybe even more so than Leon. Ashley held no sympathy for her unlike Kennedy, and that showed in the way she didn't hesitate to shoot him when he fled in the helicopter in Iceland.

She was now a threat to Ada.

She walked the halls of the museum, avoiding the cameras or hacking them to move out of place. She followed the directions on her radar and walked down the stairs to the labs until she reached her destination.

She opened the door and arched her eyebrows.

Where was everything?

She entered the room and shone the flashlight around her. Where were the samples Ashley stole from her? She sat down at one of the computers and forced her way in to see if she could find anything. The latest notes showed that they had been sorting a fossil, one she had no record of. Would it be that thing Ashley had extracted the eggs from? It seemed they still hadn't managed to find the origin of that critter.

She leaned back in her seat with a sigh. Had she been too late? No. Narsson had sent her the location a few hours ago, and that was assuming they had discovered it, if they hadn't, the fossil should still be in that lab, but for some reason she only saw the dented tables and everything in a mess, as if there had been a fight.

Had Narsson and Ashley fought? Clearly Ashley would win, but moving a boulder like the one they brought was very complicated.

She got up from her seat and shone a light on the ground, looking for anything that might give her a clue.

Then she heard footsteps.

“ I guess we're getting paid overtime for this, aren't we? I wasn't on the night shift this month.” A male voice echoed in the corridors outside the lab and Ada hurried to hide behind the door.

“ They better hope so. They had us coming at full speed and to meet a bug like that, how disgusted I was getting picking up those squishy tentacles, it looked like it was melting.” said another who was walking next to the other man. Ada heard them approach the door and open it. She stuck against the wall, protected by the shadows and before they closed again she slipped out of the room. She stood outside, eavesdropping.

“ I don't even want to ask what that thing was that they had us clean up on such short notice.” followed the one whose voice was a bit more raspy, but young.

“They don't pay us to ask questions. Let's finish cleaning up the mess and go home.” said the older-looking one.

“ Puff, the work that still remains for those in the furnace room, I didn't know this museum had a crematorium.”

“ Less talk and more work, I don't want to miss my daughter's theater tomorrow because I came home late and overslept, come on.”

Ada walked away from the door and pulled out her scanner. The crematorium, where could it be? She decided to head back toward the entrance to look for the museum plans in the security room, but her thoughts went elsewhere as she analyzed what the two workers had said.

A bug? a squishy one? had Narsson been mistaken? Ada hurriedly reached for the museum map. Those workers seemed to have come on outside orders, they weren't even from the museum itself if they didn't know there was a crematorium on the premises.

They had definitely been sent to clean up whatever was in the fossil they brought in.

She reached the security room and used her scanner to reproduce a map of the museum on her device. She twirled her fingers around the 3D silhouette shown on her screen and saw an area that appeared to be the basements of the museum. There were only a few rooms in that area so he hurried, he didn't want to get chewed out by his bosses again.

In the darkness of the place, protected by shadows, he slipped through with the agility of a cat. The thunder rumbled loudly outside, like war drums, as if they were furious at what Ada was doing. But she had long since stopped listening to the voices that wanted to stop her. She did what she wanted to do, and it would stay that way, because her life was hers and hers alone.

She didn't have to look far when she reached the lower floors. At the end of the hallway she could see the glowing light of a furnace and voices echoing. There seemed to be only two of them.

She pulled out the gun and loaded it with stun darts as she approached the room, feeling the heat coming off the fire all at once.

“Don't forget the little ones too, they're in that bucket over there.”

Ada listened silently as she slithered like a snake through the door. She gasped for air for a moment as she saw them throw out a huge chunk of meat that seemed to be melting into a viscous liquid like tar.

That wasn't a stone or a fossil. That had been alive.

“ The bucket would be the last of it, wouldn't it?” the second man took the handle of the bowl, where there was blood collected, contaminated by some small dark bodies that seemed inert.

“ Yes, although these little things don't seem to be moving.”

“ We've been told to burn everything.”

“ Yes, Sir-”

Ada raised her gun as she came to and fired quickly when she saw them go to throw the bucket on the fire. The other turned as he saw his companion collapse.

“What the-!”

The dart stuck in his neck and a short second later he was lying next to his companion.

Ada walked toward them and saw the bucket at the entrance to the furnace, melting hopelessly.

But, in the light of the flames, she could see a few tiny figures that the fire couldn't reach. She hurried to collect them in a small pot and closed the container to get a better look at them.

Those were...plagas. But they weren't moving. Well, neither did the fossils when she found them and now it turned out that they had somehow come back to life.

But that was none of his business.

She gripped the boat firmly and took the darts away from the workers so as not to leave a trace. She took a few steps back, watching the silhouettes inside the flames melt like wax, and for a moment she remembered the screeching of those creatures. But she soon silenced those memories.

There was no room for emotions at work.

She turned and left the room the same way she had arrived. Silently and like a ghost.

*

The rain was violent when she stepped outside and lightning decorated the sky like pale veins. Ada pressed the button on her watch, sending the call for them to come pick her up at her location. She looked up to find a good area and noticed the main tower of the museum. She spun on her heel and headed for the roof. 

In the end, her soundproof footwear and odor suppressant had done her no good. She hadn't run into Ashley or Leon, so she assumed they would be debriefing whatever had happened in the lab.

She climbed the stairs and opened the door to the roof, being greeted by the cold rain. She looked at the small canister in her hand as she walked to the edge of the tower, waiting for her driver.

When she heard a click behind her neck.

“ We should stop running into each other like this.”

Ada froze. She hadn't heard him, but she knew who it was.

“ Unexpectedly?” she replied with a subtly amused smile.

“ At gunpoint.”

Ada turned on her heel and her brown eyes met those deep blue irises. They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds as Leon pointed his gun at her.

“Give me the boat, Ada. You know how dangerous those things are.” Leon's voice was strangely calm, but at the same time deep and threatening. Ada looked at him with that almost imperceptible smile.

“ Are you still playing the hero?”

The rain was falling on them like a reminder. Just like in Raccoon City.

“ And you the villain?”

“ Oh Leon, I'm just doing my job.”

“ And I'm doing mine.”

Ada's smile faltered for a second. It wasn't the first time they had been in that situation, but there was something about Leo's tone and the way he looked at her. Something in Leon's tone and in his gaze that felt...different. But he pushed the thought away. She knew Leon and she knew he was weak with her. He always had been, and always would be.

“ Didn't your pet come with you?”

Leon clenched his jaw at Wong's dismissive tone toward his companion.

“ She's no pet.” he growled under his breath, holding the gun tightly.

“Are you still mad about Iceland? You know I'm right.” she smiled mischievously, speaking softly and trying to make him flinch. And Leon sensed it. He could see it now with blinding clarity.

“Yes, but I know you're right.” He lowered the gun and Ada smiled. 

“I'm always right.”

“ But Ashley has it more.” he paused, looking at her with ice cold eyes. “Ever since I met you you've only lied to me, I doubt Ada Wong is even your real name, but I've had enough since Raccoon City. I will not tolerate you harming the people I love. You used Narsson to your advantage and Ashley has been hurt because of it.” He pointed to the vial in Ada's hand. “This is my last warning, Ada. Give me the vial and don't get in my way again.”

Wong was surprised at the man's words, but she was still sure she had power over him. She didn't listen to the little voice telling her to be careful. That there was something strange.

She took a step toward Leon, closing the small distance that separated them. She stared at him, brushing her chest against his subtly.

“ Are you going to shoot me? You're too good for that, Leon. I know you.”

Leon felt the venom slide across those lips that once kissed him. But that felt terribly cold compared to those of...Ashley's.

Leon's expression darkened and a dark chuckle escaped the man's lips. Ada shivered as she felt his gloved hand reach up to stroke her cheek coolly.

“ You've hurt a lot of people Ada and there's a person important to me in the hospital because of it. This is not a warning, it is a PROMISE. If you harm her in any way again, I will not hesitate to pull the trigger.”

The little voice got louder and her smile faded.

“ You're not going to-”

“Goodbye, Ada.”

The hand on Wong's cheek slammed against her chest and as she blinked she darted over the edge of the tower.

Time stood still. Her eyes looked at him unblinkingly. Unbelievingly, uncomprehendingly, as her body fell into the void. 

She would never have imagined that he would throw her. That was what she had sensed from the beginning, what had felt so different about him. And in that moment she realized that she had come to lie to herself.

She didn't know him.

He was no longer the same as in Raccoon city. She could see even in Spain, after those 6 years, that he had changed, but a part of her continued to think that he still felt the same as he did that fateful night. That he still remembered that kiss she gave him.

She saw him raise the gun again towards her and the roar of the shot echoed even louder than the thunder itself to her.

A sharp pain flooded her up and down as she fell and she managed to fire the hook at the last moment. 

She fell violently to the ground, out of breath and searched for the source of the pain, finding her hand bloody. He had shot the vial and now she had nothing left.

She heard the helicopter arrive and raised her eyes to the tower. The rain hissed and thunder rumbled along with the lightning that illuminated the figure at the edge of the tower.

She had believed that in that cat and mouse game she would always manage to beat him with chunks of cheese. That she would always be one step ahead.

But the mouse turned out to be a wolf.

*

The bike gave way gently under her weight. Leon dropped onto the seat with his eyes downcast and his head down, still hearing the propellers of Ada's helicopter in his head. 

He felt...heaviness and at the same time lightness. There had been a time when he felt that sensation, although the guilt was greater at the time. When his partner left him before leaving for Raccoon City. That night was more painful than now, but the lightness came later.

At that moment...sitting on the bike in the rain...the lightness was greater than his guilt.

He had finally been able to face a part of him that he had come to hate. That side that clung to what Ada made him believe she gave him in Raccoon City.

But everything she showed him was nothing more than a lie.

In Spain, when he met her again...he already felt something different.

Mistrust and...anger.

She was the one who made him lose the ability to trust people. He was always told, since he was a child, that he was an honest person and that he trusted others.

But Ada broke that.

Only to meet Ashley and...have her give him back some of the humanity he had lost.

The cell phone vibrated in his pocket, snapping him out of his thoughts. He took the call and held it to his ear.

“ Tell me.” His voice was muffled.

“ Have you...been able to take care of the problem?” Hunnigan's voice sounded on the other end, sensing his partner's depressed tone.

“ Yes.” he answered without much explanation and then added. “Has Viktor seen her?”

Hunnigan nodded on the other end of the line.

“ Hunnigan nodded on the other end of the line. They've given her a full assessment and made sure to remove all the debris from her body. She said she was out of danger, that her body was getting rid of whatever had been put in her.”

The news made Leon's shoulders slump and he suddenly started to feel the cold.

“How is she doing? I'm going back to the hospital now.”

“ Viktor has sent her home.”

“ What?” Leon tensed again, worry tingeing his voice hopelessly.

“ Relax. Ashley woke up after all the scrubbing and asked to be sent home, you know, because her wounds heal so fast and all. She didn't want to draw any more attention to herself at the clinic, so Viktor released her after making sure she was okay to go back. Chris and Jill have taken her home.”

Leon let out a long sigh of relief, but also of exhaustion. He was at a low level. The adrenaline was gone from his body and he now felt like a walking stone.

“ I see...then I'll go home.” he sighed feebly.

Hunnigan heard him on the other side and was silent for a few seconds before she asked softly, concerned for him.

“ Leon...are you all right?”

No. He wasn't, but he wasn't to talk to anyone about it either. He trusted Hunnigan, but...it was too personal a subject that even she didn't know the depths of.

No one knew how deep his thoughts, regrets and emotions went. Only Ashley was the one who had managed to delve the deepest into them.

“ It's nothing, I'm just...tired.”

Ingrid heard the sigh and heaviness in the man's voice and, even though she knew he wasn't telling her the whole truth, she knew this was no time to talk about it. She had learned to interpret Leon's tones. He had never been the most expressive person in the world, so he had to manage to be able to interpret his words based on his tone of voice.

And at that moment he was overwhelmed.

“ All right, get some rest. Good night, good night.”

“ Good night.”

He hung up and stared at the black screen.

Ashley was safe and out of danger, but...god, the guilt was gnawing at him like a piranha.

They had talked about it. They'd talked about it that night, in the therma. Ada's words that made him wonder if he was to blame for Ashley having followed in his footsteps. He couldn't help but feel responsible, even though he had already told her that it had been her decision.

The demons were much stronger that night.

He gritted his teeth and sunk his face into his hands as he leaned over the bike. Was it Ada's poison that was giving him such a headache? Now that he had decided he would protect Ashley at all costs, even from her?

He needed...time. Maybe he needed to digest everything that had happened in the last few weeks. His head was in chaos and just thinking about what it had meant for him to do what he had done in the tower left him exhausted.

He took a deep breath and managed to pull himself together enough to start the bike. Better to go in parts, first back home, then...he would think about how to deal with the rest of his demons.

*

Ashley sighed as she finally managed to swallow some water. Her throat hurt horrendously and she couldn't make a sound for now. She stroked Mint's head with her free hand, lying on her thigh. She smiled at how calm he was and felt Pepper climb up on the couch next to her. The dog gave her a soft lick on her cheek, as if showing his concern. Ashley smiled at her and kissed her muzzle lovingly and then tapped the hollow next to her. Pepper looked for a spot and curled into a ball.

Silence reigned in the living room for long minutes, leaving Ashley alone with her thoughts. She kept an eye on her cell phone, but soon blocked it as she wasn't in the mood to chat with anyone. As she did so, the black screen reflected the dark skin around her neck and jaw.

The tentacles had caused ugly bruises all over her body and, from what Viktor had told her, they would take a little longer than usual to heal as her body seemed to be fighting off the toxins that bug had put into her.

She dropped her head on the back of the couch and stared up at the ceiling. Thunder rumbled in the distance and the rain lashed against his windows with force.

Those images she had seen, what were they? Right now she couldn't remember anything, everything was blurry and I couldn't remember the scenery or elements she had seen. 

Her body weighed a ton, but she didn't feel tired. She had tried to sleep when she got home, Chris and Jill had even offered to stay with her if she gave her security, but she still wasn't sleepy.

Not when she knew Leon had gone out alone.

Neither Patrick nor her father had been able to tell her where he'd gone, only that he had to take care of someone. 

Every time she tried to think about who it might be, her head started to hurt like hell. She took another sip of water and sighed again, staring blankly at the dark TV screen.

She thought of her argument with Narsson, of the injuries Leon had suffered before the Plague, of the bugs that came out of his body when he vomited, and of the way he promised her he would return to her.

She closed her eyes, recalling the softness of his lips against her forehead. She could barely maintain consciousness when he did it, but the warmth of the gesture and his words came to her like a bonfire on a cold winter night.

She was worried about him and so she couldn't sleep.

She looked at the time and saw that it was well into the early hours of the morning. Viktor had ordered her to rest until further notice, so she would probably spend the entire day tomorrow sleeping. Maybe if she read a little she would get sleepy.

She decided to give that idea a chance and got up from the couch to head to her room. 

And Leon's scent reached her.

She stopped in her tracks and turned toward the door at the back. She stood in silence for a few minutes, until she finally heard the sound of the elevator. Her body moved of its own accord and she approached the entrance, standing silently.

The dogs sensed him as well and got up from the couch to walk around the living room, curious. Ashley stood still, listening to her companion's heavy footsteps approach the door.

She heard him pause and for a second nothing else was heard.

She knew he was there, and she was sure he knew she was there too. She thought he would knock on her door for her to open it, or ring it in a whisper so he wouldn't use the doorbell so late.

But she heard him take a step to the opposite side and the jingle of keys echoed like a noisy bell to her.

She couldn't control herself. She reached out and turned the knob to open the door.

She saw him stand still. He was shod from top to bottom and his back betrayed the tension inside. Ashley just stood in the doorway, watching him. She saw him subtly tilt his head, as if hesitating and after long seconds of silence, he turned to face her.

The light from Ashley's living room illuminated Leon's shadowed face. He had dark circles under his eyes, just like her and his expression was tired and grim.

Their eyes met in the silence and Ashley could see in those deep oceans the torment his mind was suffering at that moment. So much so, that he had been about to leave for his apartment without telling her.

Ashley exhaled, relieved to see him well. His arm was still bandaged and he had small wounds across his neck and face, but he was safe and sound. Her body shifted and she gently reached out her hand to him, holding it out to him. Leon looked at her, somewhat reluctant and confused. He saw him hesitate and tense his fists, debating inwardly what the right move was, but finally gave in and took it.

Ashley gently tugged him inside her house and knew they were both in a delicate moment. Her head was a mess from everything that had happened with the plaga and Narsson and Leon seemed to be waging an internal conflict with his emotions.

When he entered the apartment, the dogs came to greet him, but Leon wasn't much in the mood to play with them, so he just petted their heads with a tired smile.

“ Hey guys, good night to you too." he greeted in a tired whisper. He could barely lift his arms to pet them, his muscles ached too much to even try. 

After giving the dogs a small helping of affection, his eyes lifted to Ashley. He noticed the very dark purple color that covered her entire neck and jaw. She had cuts and bruises all over her arms and legs and he imagined that underneath her clothes she would be the same or worse.

“How...how are you feeling?” his voice wavered and he had to swallow saliva to soften the lump he felt in his throat at seeing her in that state. Ashley gave him a soft smile and nodded her head in positive response. Leon seemed relieved to see her out of that horrible bed.

He had so many questions and worries, but his mind and body were so saturated that he didn't know where to go from here. Ashley sensed Leon's state and knew they both needed calm and...closeness.

Leon may not have said it, but Ashley could see the gentle twitch in the fingers of his hands, as if he was holding back from lifting them toward her. She could see him so...down and that's when she caught another scent.

Ada's scent.

Ashley froze for a few seconds. That had been the person he had gone to see? The one he had to take care of? Her heart skipped a beat at the mere thought of that woman, remembering the anger she felt at their first encounter.

Doubts began to populate her mind and questions piled up like grains of sand on a beach.

But one thing was clear. He had returned to her, just as he had promised.

She smiled gently and stepped toward him to take his hand gently. Leon looked confused at first, but let her pull him in. She led him toward the bathroom, where she closed the door and turned on the bathtub faucet. Steam from the water soon began to envelop the room and Ashley turned to him, raising her hands to the buttons of his shirt.

For a moment Leon tensed, not understanding what she wanted to do, but soon surrendered to the smoothness and calmness of her movements. He felt his tired heart subtly quicken as she slowly moved down and finished removing his shirt. He let himself be done without complaint, feeling the cold leave his drenched body little by little. 

He felt her fingers move down to his belt and calmly unbuckle it. His breath hitched, but he watched her walk away a moment later. Ashley turned off the faucet to the tub now open and covered in an even layer of bubbles. She finished unbuckling his belt and motioned him toward the tub before exiting the bathroom.

Leon understood the duties and lazily finished undressing. He slid under the water and a deep growl emerged from him hopelessly. His muscles screamed at the pleasant warmth of the water and he needed a few seconds to breathe calmly again.

A few more minutes passed when he heard the door open timidly and Ashley came in with clean towels and a tracksuit she seemed to have gone to get from his apartment.

She set them down on a stool and picked up another one to approach Leon and sit behind him. He turned with a worried expression and whispered to her.

“Ash, you're hurt, you shouldn't-” his partner's fingers sealed her lips and she saw him shake his head.

“ Ashley…” he replied as he saw that look he knew so well. She arched her eyebrow, adopting an expression that didn't let him argue anything else and just hoped he got what he gave her. 

Leon sighed and gave up, unable to bring himself to argue against her.

Or rather, unable to when she was looking at him like that.

Ashley took the movable faucet from the tub and began to wet the agent's hair. Her fingers gently and softly glided across his scalp. The shampoo suds emulsified between his hands and thoroughly massaged Leon's skin. 

Silence reigned in the place. The gentle movement of the water, the faucet or Ashley's hands soaping the man's head, were the only sounds that pervaded the place.

It was just calm and quiet. They both needed it. Ashley had felt Leon's dark shadows as vivid as the night of his nightmare and had wanted to do something. Maybe wanting to wash his head and bathe him was a way to distract herself too, to stop thinking about everything that had happened in the last few hours and to stop smelling...Ada's scent on him.

She still wondered what he would have talked to her about, if they had talked at all. Even if she'd had her voice, she wouldn't have been able to ask him. Not when he seemed to be in pain. Was it because of Ada? Or was it about something else?

Whatever it was, she didn't let those thoughts wander much in her mind. She focused on Leon, just as he had done while she was bedridden in the hospital.

She heard him sigh in exhaustion and pleasure, surrendering to Ashley's massages as she washed his hair and then rinsed it out. He wanted to tell her so much. He wanted to tell her about his decision regarding Ada, what had happened, in how she had been the one behind Narsson all that time.

But the words got stuck in his throat, unable to find their way out, maybe out of tiredness or maybe embarrassment, he didn't know.

What he did know was that all that attention was calming him down, but at the same time making him feel dirty and...guilty.

And so, he could only remain silent as Ashley's gentle hands kept the demons that threatened to drown him at bay. Memories began to come to him, bit by bit. One of those memories that...stuck with him by fire and he was sure with Ashley as well.

A stormy night on their escape, in a moment of rest they found and...shared many things.

His thoughts were interrupted when Ashley patted him gently on the shoulder, being aware that she had finished grooming him. He raised his eyes to hers and Ashley gave him a faint smile again, pulling the towel and clothes closer to him.

“Thank you.” he whispered in a husky, velvety voice. Ashley blushed subtly and waved her hand to get out of the bathroom and give him some privacy to get dressed.

She went to the kitchen, petting, tenderly, the dogs that had laid down on their respective beds on one side of the living room on her way. She decided to make some of the infused milk Leon showed her, hoping that, in this way, sleep would eventually come to her. While the milk was heating, she took the dryer into the living room and tossed the wet, tattered clothes Leon had brought in to wash. Although, on second thought, it was a better idea to throw them away and buy new ones, seeing the state they were in.

She turned off the fire and heard the click of the door opening. Ashley poured two cups of milk and took them to the coffee table. She saw in Leon's expression the worry and guilt that she was doing all this for him, but it only took one look from the woman for him not to reply. Ashley tapped the seat for him to sit down and plugged in the dryer.

Leon simply ducked his head in front of her and let her do it. She turned the air to the lowest setting and gently, she slid her fingers through Leon's soft hair, drying it.

He closed his eyes, elbows resting on his knees and head down, until the point where he hopelessly let his head fall forward against Ashley's belly.

She stood still for a moment, feeling one of Leon's broad hands gently hold her leg. She stared at him for a moment and couldn't help but smile with a slight blush on her cheeks.

That was Leon's way of showing his affection. Small physical gestures, like caresses or squeezes. She let him rest his head against her belly while she dried his hair.

That situation was very intimate and they both seemed to have butterflies inside. The storm outside made them feel like they were in a bubble, away from danger and trouble. There were only two youths there, tired and exhausted by their surroundings, seeking refuge in each other. The calm and the feeling of home they conveyed to each other was the only thing that mattered to them at that moment. The mundane sound of the dryer was a small glimpse of normalcy in their surreal lives.

They were just grateful for the peace they felt at that moment.

The dryer turned off and Leon opened his eyes as he felt Ashley's hands stop massaging him. He lay still for a few seconds, not wanting to move his head away from her belly. He groaned softly and closed his eyes as she massaged his neck gently. 

They didn't exchange words for long seconds, but they both understood the need they had at that moment for each other.

“Could I... stay on the couch?” Leon's voice was soft and deep, feeling the sleep and exhaustion begin to weigh his body down. Everything Ashley had done for him had helped horrors and the smell of infused milk was finishing whispering to him to rest.

But, as much as he wanted to hold her and lay with her, another part of him needed to be alone with his thoughts. He lifted his blue eyes to her amber ones, waiting for her response. Ashley looked at him worriedly for a moment, but then smiled and nodded.

She moved her hands away from his neck and went to give him some blankets and a pillow while Leon drank the milk.

The warmth of the drink was what was missing for his nerves to calm down and his mind was too tired to think too much.

Ashley brought him the things and between the two of them they set up the wide couch for him to sleep on. She picked up Leon's empty cup and smiled at him as a goodnight gesture.

Leon was quick to catch her wrist, looking down at the floor with some embarrassment.

“Thank you.” He whispered to her with a tone of guilt, but genuinely grateful.

Ashley stood still for a few seconds and then took his hand. She raised it to her face and kissed his knuckles softly and then gave it a gentle squeeze.

Silence reigned in the room when they turned off the lights, plunging the place into a static atmosphere, as if time had stopped. The storm raged outside, but the apartment was warm and quiet.

A haven. A refuge for both of them.

[ashrillvenheim]

After I did this study, I realized he could be the dog of RE4 XD

[ashrillvenheim]

Awakening Past

Chapter 25

pairing: Ashley Graham x Leon S Kennedy.

Content: (+18) romance, angst, gore, erotic/suggestive themes at some point, slow burn, violence, action, self-harm, death talk,

If you're a MINOR DON'T keep reading, thank you.

Archive of our own / WORK LIST / Awakening Past Masterlist

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He never liked goodbyes.

“ Remember the way back.” Helga said, giving Ashley and the rest of the group a hug, almost strangling them.

“ You are invited to the next winter solstice celebration, don't even think of skipping it.” Gunnar warned them with a firm but affectionate tone.

“ We've done you little good as guides in the end.” laughed Einar and Sven when they were paid for the end of the trip. 

Enma sighed heavily looking out the window of the military cargo plane they had sent for them and their discovery.

Her eyes were still puffy from crying. 

Gunnar with his wife, Helga with her children and husband, Einar and Sven and almost the entire village went to say goodbye to them at the small airstrip on the shore.

It was painful for everyone, though more for some than others. Ashley and Narsson promised that they would visit again in the not too distant future and come for the winter holidays. Einar and Sven had ended up winning a little corner of their hearts as well. Although Ashley seemed a little...weird when she said goodbye to the Norwegian, he promised her that he would go with Sven to the US someday and that they would need guides there. That boy made Narsson laugh and she was grateful to have met them.

They were paid what they were owed for the trip and after saying goodbye to dozens of people, they sailed back home. But they knew they would always have a home there too. Maybe she would propose to Ashley to make an annual trip there.

She turned her head toward the large boulder that loomed at the back of the hangar, bound and covered by dozens of chains, ropes and tarps.

Thanks to the locator Ashley placed on the fossil, the team that was sent on the plane managed to get it out. They had to fragment it and surprisingly, having to split the creature was something Ashley proposed in order to get it out. That was something that went against the grain for a paleontologist, who usually looked for any way to preserve the specimen in one piece. 

But the fact that Graham had had it cut up without looking for other options...brought it home to her that there were things he knew, but didn't share with her. Even when he asked her about it, she only received a vague response of “It's for the best, trust me.”

By now she was finding it harder and harder to believe.

Enma's greenish eyes traveled to the other side of the hangar, where Ashley was sitting alone with her notes. She'd looked strange since the night she'd sung.

And Narsson was right, because even though Ashley seemed to be concentrating on her notes, her mind was not there, but lost in memory.

Every time she stopped reading a line from her notes, she felt her lips tingling again and unconsciously raised her eyes to the back of the plane, where Leon and Chris seemed to be amused talking to Hunnigan.

She turned her attention back to the notes and her memories flashed back to that night in the hot springs.

Of their bodies pressed together, her arms around Leon's shoulders and him, gripping her waist and neck with an almost visceral need. In how they lost themselves in each other between shy moans of passion and desperation. 

Until someone called out to Ashley.

She remembered the way Leon went static and his reddened lips parted at the voice. His gasps were agitated and his cheeks were flushed to his ears.

It was that moment when their eyes finally met and they were aware of what they had done. It was as if Leon got a reality check and went to utter something, but when Ashley was called again, and they both turned to the distant voice, he sank into the water to swim the other therm behind.

As if running away.

Ashley sighed and put the notes aside to close her eyes and try to fall asleep, though she knew she wouldn't sleep a wink the entire trip.

*

Leon was a mess. His mind kept going back and thinking about what he had done. He left after kissing her so they wouldn't be seen together. Ashley had to be either very hurt or terribly angry, but when he glanced at her from time to time, he only felt...confusion in her eyes.

Because they were both aware that they had overstepped that line they always put between them.

It disappeared as their tongues danced between the gasps of desire.

“ Leon” Chris's deep voice brought him out of his thoughts. “We're here, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

The agent fell silent and got up from his seat.

“ It's nothing, I hate flying.” he replied shrugging his shoulders and taking off the thick jacket he had had to buy in Iceland. 

Chris watched him pass toward the hangar ramp, but didn't inquire further. He just wondered if he had talked things over with Ashley.

When they arrived in Washington, the five of them had a terrible headache. The contrast between the cold of Iceland and the summer heat of the capital knocked them out like nothing else, so much so that they had to sit for a while in the military hangars at the airport.

“ Would you like an ice cream?” sighed Jill, who was lying on the ground with a wet towel on her head.

“ After all the snow we've seen?” scoffed Chris, drinking some water.

“ You can't eat snow, Redfield.”

“ You don’t say, Valentine.”

“ Shut up for a while for God's sake…” Leon was lying on the bench with his legs up against the wall and his head hanging off.

“ Don't you think you're exaggerating, Kennedy?” asked Chris with arched eyebrows.

“ I invite you to take a 7 hour trip with the propellers of a military plane drilling your eardrums, it's an experience.”

Chris and Jill looked at each other and Jill sighed.

“ You and Ashley have a hell with your sense of smell and your hearing, my goodness.”

Leon stared at the back of the inverted hangar, silent and thoughtful. At times his heart skipped a beat, remembering the softness of Graham's lips against his.

He watched the aforementioned woman talking in the corner on her cell phone. She was pale from the trip and there she reeked of machine oils and welding fumes, so she was probably holding back the urge to vomit.

He watched her pull the cell phone away from her ear and walk back toward them. 

“ Victor wants to test us today.” said the woman addressing Leon, but unable to look at him and pretending to be looking at something on her cell phone.

“ Really? Can't it wait until tomorrow? You look like you're going to faint.” he told her in a tone somewhat irritated by the doctor's insistence, but also concerned at how pale she looked.

Ashley couldn't stop her eyes from darting to him, and in the brief moment their gazes met, they both cleared their throats to turn again.

“ He wants to rule out us being a danger to others.” she replied, sitting down next to Chris with a heavy sigh. “My father will be there.”

“You should go, there has to be an explanation for what happened to you.” Redfield advised them. 

The two young ones were aware that he was right, but going back to the usual, neither of them were good with needles, scanners, x-rays... anything that implied doing a complete and exhaustive test.

Leon and Ashley grunted at the same time in discontent.

*

They wanted the earth to swallow them up.

They had never felt that horrible tension between them, not even when they argued. There were other workers in the elevator, but Leon and Ashley were side by side.

Leon could hear her heartbeat and Ashley could smell his nerves. There were a couple of times she tried to comment on something, only to shut her mouth a second later, and he wasn't capable of much else either.

“ They were very nice, the people from the village.” Leon managed to articulate in a whisper at the end.

Ashley was surprised as she watched the elevator numbers go up slower than she would have liked.

“ Yes, indeed.” she didn't know how to continue that banal conversation. “The food at the celebration was very good.”

“ The breads were amazing, Helga gave me a recipe.”

“ She gave me the recipe for her Snúdur, I'll have to try it.”

Leon had to stop the words that were about to come out of his mouth, wanting to ask her to share it with him. He cleared his throat nervously.

“ Let me know how they turn out.”

“Yeah.”

They were silent again, and this time it was even worse.

They couldn't look at each other or barely have a conversation. Ashley felt horrible about it, but she couldn't find a way to deal with what happened at the hot springs. She still still didn't understand why she did it. Plus, right after rejecting Einar. Her head was a mess, just like Leon's, but she felt it had been her fault, even if neither knew who had kissed the other before.

They could almost feel each other's nerves.

They breathed again as the doors opened and they finally stepped out into the hallway. They walked to Victor's office and Leon knocked on the door before opening it.

“ Dad…”

William stood up from" his seat with a wide smile and in two strides wrapped his arms around his daughter in a hug, almost lifting her off the floor.

“ My God, you've had me on the verge of a heart attack.” he whispered and she responded to his gesture with strength, so much so that even her father asked him not to break her. They both laughed and Leon couldn't hold back a soft smile, but what he didn't expect was Graham to let go of his daughter and then give him another hug.

“ I'm glad to see you both well, Hunnigan told me about the accident in Norway before we lost contact with you.” he pulled away from the agent, still with his hands on his broad shoulders and looking him in the eye. “How are you doing?”

From the tone of voice, Leon and Ashley could understand that they were aware of Wesker's soldiers and the infection they carried with them.

“ Perfectly, really.” replied the agent with a soft smile, happy, although also surprised by William's concern for him.

“ We'll see about that now.” Viktor's deep voice echoed from the back of the room as he rose from his seat. “Get undressed.”

They both froze at the doctor's dryness.

“- Now? Here? Man, um... I'd like to give Ashley some privacy.” Leon said in a more nervous tone than he would have liked and avoiding looking at Ashley, a gesture William noticed.

“ I don't think we're at a time for your chivalry. I want to see the wounds. Get undressed.” Viktor didn't seem angry. Leon had known him longer and knew it was concern that was making him act that way.

Ashley and Leon both cleared their throats slightly uncomfortably and it was Ashley who was the first to take off her shirt. The two avoided meeting eyes with each other, unable to stop thinking about how hot their skin felt in that hot tub.

When the two found themselves in nothing but their underwear, Viktor asked William to stand to the side and witness whatever they discovered. Graham nodded, but froze when he saw the soft bite scar between Ashley's neck and shoulder and... a misshapen mark on her other shoulder, as if some object had been ripped out from under her that had been thrust into her. But he also saw the ugly mark Leon now bore on his waist, perhaps from the stabbing Hunnigan told him he suffered.

“How did it happen?” Viktor asked as he felt Ashley's shoulder.

“ Leon was stabbed and after neutralizing the enemy, I managed to make a makeshift IV for him so he wouldn't bleed out, but while I was doing that, that soldier...came back to life and attacked me.”

“While you still had the IV.” finished the doctor passing Leon and pressing gently on the scar on his waist.

“Yes.” Ashley nodded and fell silent. Her eyes made the occasional gesture to look at Leon, but she quickly turned her head away to avoid doing so.

William was puzzled by these small gestures they had not made to each other until now.

What had happened on the trip?

“ Did you notice anything different?”

“ We heal faster.” Leon said, remembering the cut Ashley had made in front of Gunnar and how quickly it had stopped bleeding, only for it to be almost closed by the next day.

“ More than you were already doing?” the doctor arched his eyebrows. He paused to look at the two of them carefully. “You can get dressed, I'm going to do a blood test.”

Viktor opened his cabinet to take out several glass vials. Leon and Ashley hurried to get dressed, unable to stand any longer, almost naked, next to each other. Viktor had them sit down and gently stuck them each with a needle to draw blood.

“How long did it take for your stab wound to close?” he asked Leon first.

“ I'd say about 5 days for full healing.”

“ And you Ashley?”

“ 2 days, maybe 3 until I stopped feeling the skin pull.” she pointed to the shoulder where she suffered her deepest wound in the confrontation with Ada, but gave no further information.

Viktor finished drawing their blood with a sigh and took the vials.

“Come with me to the lab.”

The three followed the doctor without complaint.

The ride to the subway labs was silent and Ashley and Leon stood on either side of William, as if they were avoiding being near each other. But Graham could see that they didn't look angry with each other, but nervous. He couldn't help but wonder and the gears in his head started to work, trying to fit the pieces together.

Viktor swiped his card through the reader on the armored door and they walked down the white corridors. He entered one of the rooms where different machines beeped or whirred and inserted the vials into a small centrifuge. He asked them to take a seat and wait.

For several minutes they just watched Viktor fill different items with the blood from the vials to run various tests or so it seemed to the three of them who watched every move. Ashley chatted a bit with her father about the dogs and his work, nothing relevant other than catching up a bit and probably trying to focus on anything else.

When a few small beeps echoed and Viktor stood up, they all turned their attention back to the man, who sent them over to the computer.

The doctor stared at the screen in disbelief at what he saw and dropped into the seat with a soft chuckle of surrender.

“ You're really going to delay my retirement.”

The three of them looked at him without understanding either what he was saying or what the graphics on the screen represented.

“ Have you found anything?” William asked with a concerned tone.

“ Oh, definitely.” he pointed to some parameters protruding from a lower horizontal line. “Your daughter and your employee have mutated cells that make them immune to... practically every virus.”

Ashley and Leon blinked.

“ What?” they said in unison.

Viktor turned his chair toward them.

“ The Plaga you had inside you messed with not only your physical capabilities, but at the cellular level by the looks of it, and if these tests don't lie, coming in contact with that new virus that soldier was carrying has set off a chain effect that has activated those mutations that seemed to be half dormant and basically eaten the virus.”

William blinked.

“ I'm sorry, what do you mean it ate the virus?”

“ The mutated Plaga cells have eaten the cells that entered Ashley and Leon's bloodstream. She has more of these cells, which explains why she heals faster, but the immunity is shared by both of them. It seems that that parasite you had is not a big fan of external agents.”

The three of them were silent, still processing what they had just heard. In part they were very relieved that they carried no trace of the virus Wesker had developed, but on the other hand, it made them even more aware of how much the Plaga had changed them.

“ And...are we safe for people?” Ashley then asked in a still confused tone.

“ For now I would recommend no more home transfusions or donations until I do more tests on it. I wouldn't want your cells to eat up the recipient's immune system. Leon probably accepted it because he was infected too, but better not to risk it.”

She nodded and kept quiet, as did the other two. They didn't know for how long and Viktor escorted them out. In the elevator they didn't say a word, deep in thought and when they reached the outside of the DSO, a car was waiting for William to take him back to the white house. Graham turned to his daughter and Leon, only to hear Ashley laugh before smiling at him.

“ Well, at least now you don't have to worry about colds.”

The sudden comment took the president by surprise and the agent as well, who couldn't help but smile at something he too had hopelessly thought. William sighed with a soft laugh and was glad that he was now aware of the things that were happening to Ashley.

“ I guess not, but cold from going out in the winter with wet hair isn't viruses, so don't forget to dry it, I know you.”

Ashley laughed, happy that her father wasn't alarmed by the situation. He would probably be worried, but he didn't seem as alarmist as before. She smiled at him and gave him one last hug before watching him drive away in the security car.

Leon and Ashley stood there in silence, not knowing how to break it, until Ashley took a step to go downstairs.

“ I'm going to go pay Dana a visit and then go back for the dogs at Narsson's house.”

Leon turned to her, watching her back as she descended. His heart shrank and he took a step as well.

“ I'll be back then, Hunnigan will want the reports.” He felt the subtle nerves that tinged both their words.

“ I'll fill mine in when I get there.”

“ Good.” He took the keys off the bike and hesitated before adding. “I'll see you later.”

Ashley felt her heart skip a beat and hoped Leon didn't hear.

“ See you later.” She gave him a fleeting smile before getting into the car and starting it.

*

The next few days were tense.

Ashley went to the museum lab the day after the consultation with Viktor. She took the dogs with her and focused on the work together with Narsson.

The rock with the Mother Plaga fossil was moved to her lab and they got to work. Ashley took it upon herself to disassemble the fossil and look for anything else that might be inside, other than the eggs that she managed to keep Ada from taking.

She didn't find it funny at all to see that creature day in and day out, but at the same time it seemed incredible that nature had created something like that. Or maybe it was one of these bugs that wasn't thought to survive and made it to the top of the food chain, although, that she didn't know.

While Ashley was busy chipping away at the stone to expose the fossil, Narsson took charge of taking samples for analysis and sorting, as well as being the one studying the eggs.

Ashley had forbidden her to open them, though. So she was limiting herself to x-raying them and trying to get something out of them. She didn't understand why it upset Graham so much to open a fossilized egg from the Jurassic. She had found out more about what they were looking for, but she still felt there were things hiding from her. She knew it was a parasite that attached itself to the spines of animals, something that modern day creatures did. So what was it about this particular one that made it so special that it didn't even walk among them anymore? They acted as if there were still such things running around among humans, something that was impossible.

Narsson couldn't stop thinking about it, but from the second day of working, she noticed that Leon always arrived later and that their departures and breaks never coincided. Maria, who came with her every day, noticed it too, but unlike Enma, she didn't ask about it, or rather, she didn't insist again when she mentioned it to Ashley and she simply ignored her.

They were weird, really weird.

Leon would arrive on his bike much later, after staring at the ceiling of the room for an hour, usually, thinking.

Thinking about what to do, how to react or what to say. He didn't know how to bring it up to Ashley when she didn't seem to know either.

He heard her in the mornings, getting ready to leave first thing. Probably the last thing she wanted was to be alone with him in the car. 

 He felt terribly nervous just being in the same room with her and what to say when he had no choice but to tell her something or have her bring something up too. Generally, so that she would bring him some material or about the dogs.

The days went by and Leon saw Ashley working on the stone of the fossil to get to the inside and every day he wore headphones to listen to music. She knew perfectly well that he was there, even on those rare occasions when they were alone for a moment.

But neither could bring it up.

Neither could talk about the kiss.

Ashley kept going over and over the way Leon looked at her when their lips parted, only to then avoid seeing them together. She wondered if he regretted it, if he did that because he was aware of what they had just done. Of how they had thrown away their friendship.

Leon felt guilty about what he did. He was so confused when he came to that he wanted to talk about it, but at the same time he didn't want to put Ashley in a worse predicament. She was the president's daughter and he worked for her father, at what point did they lose their minds and end up kissing?

In the mornings, Leon would wake up with tingles on his lips and at night, Ashley would feel chills on her bare skin as she showered. Why had they done that when everything was fine between them? They didn't need more, they kept telling themselves that over and over again and only ended up remembering everything they had been through together.

What Ashley sang in Iceland. A song that spoke of togetherness. A bond they both shared and wore tied around their wrists, on their bracelets.

But Ada's words were taking their toll on Ashley. She was definitely inept. Even Emily was worried about the same thing Ada told her.

That she was chasing Leon.

She didn't want to. She didn't want to be that for him. She wanted to help him, to accompany him on the path she herself had chosen. But then she doubted whether she had really been herself. She didn't want to cause Leon trouble, she didn't want to lose his friendship, but they had crossed a line that couldn't be undone.

And she just thought, would she have done the same if they were in a different situation?

As the days passed, Narsson continued her work in silence, fascinated by that creature that came into existence. It was a real discovery and she couldn't wait for them to finish all the research so she could develop a complete thesis.

She took a bathroom break when her cell phone vibrated while she was washing her hands.

He pulled the device out of his pocket and arched an eyebrow when he didn't recognize the number. Was it to sell him something? He slid his finger across the screen and his body froze as he began to read the message.

“Hello, Professor, have you figured out what that creature is, or have they destroyed it yet? Because if they haven't yet, tik, tak, Professor, it won't be long now.”

Narsson blanched at the message. She didn't know the number, but she knew those words came from this Ada. She looked around, even though she knew she was alone in the bathroom, but she couldn't help feeling terribly uneasy. 

She locked her cell phone and put it away again. She was lying...they couldn't destroy something so important, Ashley wouldn't be able to. She studied this career to discover the secrets of the earth, not to eradicate them, right?

Enma shook her head. That woman was lying again, for sure. She took some more time in the bathroom before leaving and decided that was enough work for the day. She announced her end of shift and Ashley went with her, not wanting to be left alone with Leon.

Over the next two days, now almost two weeks since they returned from Iceland, Ashley managed to disengage all the rock from the fossil and found a hole in the central area of the creature, close to where she found the eggs. While Enma finished sorting and jotting down the results of the previous samples, Ashley formed a hole to see what the creature was hiding and found small fossils, crushed or half-hatched eggs.

Plaga larvae.

A terrible feeling of disgust washed over her, but she struggled to get on with the job. There were silhouettes of tentacles among all that interior, perhaps from another, larger plaga that was still in the womb of the mother Plaga? She didn't know, but she would find out shortly. 

In the process she extracted other, smaller eggs and undeveloped Plagas between the tentacles, though they almost looked as if...if they had absorbed them? Maybe it was just her imagination.

She picked up a glass vial into which she poured the smaller shards of her extraction. Then her watch chimed to tell her it was time to rest. She sighed heavily.

“ My hands are going to fall off at this rate.” the blonde joked, swiping a soft brush to remove the dust.

Enma laughed softly.

“ I thought that too the first few times, but you get used to it. I can't wait to see the clean fossils displayed in a nice display case with your name on it.” added the teacher with an excited tone.

*

Leon walked down the hallway toward the lab. He had taken the dogs for a walk and left them with Chris and Jill in the park next to the museum.

He was about to turn at the end of the corridor when he heard some more raised voices.

*

“ This isn't going on display anywhere.”

Enma remained static in her seat and gently turned around with a puzzled expression.

“ What?”

Ashley followed with the brush and glass jar.

“ As you heard Enma. Once we know where this thing originated from, we send it to the crusher.”

The doctor looked at the fossil and then at her former student.

“ How can you say that in the face of this discovery? It could be one of the oldest new creatures on earth, it could shed light on an era we know very little about.”

Ashley frowned in an attempt to remain calm.

“ Discovery? Professor, it is a parasite that attaches itself to other living things.”

Enma thought that Ashley speaking in the present tense about that creature was a mistake.

“ They are dead and fossilized, they are harmless.”

Graham clenched her fists, remembering the bloodshot red eyes of all the villagers in that village.

“ Enma, believe me when I tell you that some things are better not dug up.” she put the brush down on the metal table.

Ada was right. She had been lied to all this time.

“ Are you out of your mind? They're fossils, for God's sake, you talk as if they were alive.”

“ There are things you don't know Enma and that's why I'm telling you that this can't come out.” Ashley's voice got deeper.

“ I don't know because you won't tell me! You've kept me out of it from the beginning!” Enma clenched her fists in fury and helplessness.

“ It's for your own good Enma.”

“ Bullshit.” she paused, her tone of voice deepening. “You're taking that “it's personal” too far Ashley. You're letting your emotions come before your judgment.”

The glass jar shattered between Ashley's fingers.

The woman's amber eyes turned to her teacher, darkened and menacing along with her deep, almost growl-like voice.

“ My emotions?”

Enma froze. She had never heard Ashley speak in that dark tone. Violent.

“ You have the audacity to tell me I'm putting my emotions first when you don't know what this thing can do?”

Blood slid onto the table, staining the shards and the base of the stone she'd been cleaning.

“ They're dea-”

Ashley pounded the table with her bloody fist.

“ You don't know what a bug like that can do. You don't know what it's like to feel the teeth of a parasite, biting your intestines and its tentacles spreading through your veins every minute, until sometimes you move without wanting to.” her voice became a menacing growl “tell me what are my emotions when you smell blood and feel a bug squirming between your organs, asking you to tear the flesh from the bodies and devour it. What are my emotions when you dream and wish to rape and disembowel the person who comes to save you as you kill him, slowly, drinking his blood and taking his body.” her fingers twitched and her hair stood on end. “when you know you're succumbing to the darkness and you don't know if the next thing you're going to see is his guts in your hands and his heart ripped open.”

Narsson blanched and shrieked as Ashley grabbed her by the collar of the robe, pulling her dangerously close.

“ Tell me they are harmless when you hear their screeching in your brain and their impulses in your body, until you can't tell friend from foe and watch helplessly as you stab the person you love while something inside you screams for you to keep going until you kill and gut him.”

She pushed Narsson and she fell back into the chair, trembling. She looked at her in horror and fear. Ashley watched her with fury, but also with pain, and before she did anything stupid she headed for the door with long strides.

*

Leon remained static.

His eyes were lost in the distance as Ashley's words echoed through him like a force he felt a shiver.

He'd never told her he felt that way. He understood what she was referring to, as he felt those same symptoms, but the other thing she had mentioned...was she referring to him? Was that what she had referred to months ago, when she had a nightmare in which she was hurting him?

Even when they were in confinement she never told him about it, and now that she had heard him mention something like that, she wondered if he still felt guilty about it. She wondered if that was what made her want to kill herself when Saddler ordered her to kill him.

She'd always been afraid of hurting him, of losing control.

The door to the lab burst open and Ashley stormed out. 

Their eyes met for an instant, but said nothing. Leon could see in those amber irises a terrible fury, but also...fear. He sensed the solid of droplets and looked down to see her bloody hand clenched into a tight fist.

His heart shrank and he took a step toward her with a worried expression.

But Ashley stepped back and walked away in the opposite direction, holding back her emotions and not wanting to explode. Leon watched her go silently, wanting to go after her, but he knew she needed to be alone now. He was sure she knew he had heard her and he had a hunch she still felt bad about it, even if it had never been her fault.

He looked at the open door of the lab several feet away, where he could hear Enma's agitated breathing. It took him a while to calm down and then he thought maybe he should go check on her.

*

Enma didn't know that Ashley, what had happened to her, when did she become so paranoid? She gripped her chair in fear of falling over as she tried to catch her breath. She looked at the table a couple of feet away, with the broken glass and blood soaking the stones. He smelled the iron on the collar of the robe.

Had she lost her mind? How could she talk to him about ancient fossils as if she'd had them inside her? Had she suffered a concussion in Iceland? Or maybe Norway fever?

It couldn't be real. What she was saying to him had no basis in fact. She had trusted her, only to find that she wasn't thinking clearly. 

All that she had risked to find that very fossil, now resting on the table, and she was telling him she was going to destroy it after analyzing it? I couldn't let her do that.

She couldn't let him destroy something so important. It was a unique fossil and it spoke as if it were alive. Ashley was not in her right mind.

Narsson reached out with a trembling hand toward the table where the cell phone rested.

All this time she had been right. Ever since they had met in Iceland he had warned her of the group's intentions, but she had been blind. Wanting to trust her classmates and her own student, she had forgotten that they had never told her the whole truth from the beginning.

She had been deceived.

She slid her fingers across the screen and searched for the anonymous message. If she couldn't stop Ashley, someone else had to.

She typed in anguish and hit send.

“ Enma?”

Leon's sudden voice made Narsson freeze. 

The color left her face and a violent shiver ran down her spine. She realized she was holding her breath and sucked in a breath as she turned in her seat.

“ Leon, when did you get here?” she tried to hide the slight tremor in her voice, caused by her racing heart.

The agent heard the teacher's heart like a drum and thought the argument had left her worse off than she thought. 

“Just now, hey, are you all right? You look pale.” he took a concerned step toward her, but Narsson stepped back unconsciously, causing Leon to arch an eyebrow.

“ Did you hear us?” Enma asked in a nervous tone.

Leon hesitated, but they had been heard from the hallway.

“ Yes. You seem to disagree about something?” he added, playing dumb.

But that only made Narsson angrier.

“ You already know what we disagree on. You have lied to me from the beginning. You never told me you would destroy all the research, do you know what that is?”

Leon dropped his shoulders, aware that this could happen, but he had hoped that it wouldn't.

“ Enma, it's complicated.” he sighed heavily.

“ Complicated? It's the find of the century! How can you even consider destroying a creature that existed from the Jurassic to the Roman Empire?” The indignation in the woman's voice was palpable and Leon could understand it.

“ Narsson, you have to trust us, we know why we do it.”

Those words ended up breaking the thin hope that the teacher had tried to maintain.

“ I can't trust people who have deceived me from the beginning! I should have listened to her before!”

Leon remained static.

“ Enma, what are you talking about?” his tone became more serious and...alarmed.

The woman's eyes widened and she took another step back as Leon approached her.

“ I had no choice...” she whispered unable to contain the trembling in her voice and felt fear as Leon strided up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

She had never seen those blue eyes so dark and menacing. He looked like someone else when his voice came out in a deep growl.

“ Enma. What have you done?”

*

Her blood was still boiling when she reached the coffee machine. She sat down on the bench next to it and buried her face in her hands with a heavy sigh.

She had let herself get too carried away, but at the same time she couldn't help but still feel angry at Enma's words.

But at the end of the day, she didn't know the whole truth.

She didn't want to take her away from the investigation, it was thanks to her that they managed to get to Iceland by learning the origin of the shipwrecks.

But she didn't want to involve her in everything that concerned biological weapons, she already had enough worries without adding the existence of a danger, so it was mostly unknown.

But she couldn't let him publish the research either.

Ashley growled in despair, seeing how everything had gone wrong when it seemed to be near the end. Because something told her that fossil held the secret that would make them understand where the Plagas came from and why they were starting to wake up after so many millennia.

Chris talked about the heat that could affect the ones that were frozen underground, but that did not apply to the ones in Spain.

There they were not frozen and yet they found a way to awaken even while fossilized, like the Mother Plague they had in the lab.

Her amber eyes stared at the ground, thoughtful.

Something made them come back to life when they were petrified on the ground. She made a memory, recalling all the monsters they had encountered in that town from hell.

The Colmillos, which were still roaming the area. The villagers who were turned. The Novistadores and all the insects that looked like them. All the nutcases that created the Garradores and even the Verdugos.

But then she remembered the armor that hurt her. The one that left her with that huge scar for life.

Those weren't humans or animals that had been infected, but when she had to walk past them...she saw the jumble of flesh that moved the metal.

She stood still.

Even the armor had organic material inside, but it wasn't alive like the villagers, soldiers, or animals, so the fact that the host was alive didn't keep them alive too. And to top it off, she and Leon had eggs injected into their bodies and it wasn't-.

Ashley's eyes shot open and her heart stopped.

It wasn't until they had the eggs in their bloodstream that they woke up.

She got up overturning the bench violently as she ran out to the lab.

It was not spores that the villagers inhaled. In jobs like mining, there were always accidents or injuries.

All this time they fed on only one thing in order to keep living in whatever body they inhabited.

Blood.

*

“ Tell me you haven't done something stupid!”

Leon's voice echoed violently through the walls of the room, causing Narsson to stifle a shriek of anguish and terror.

“- You can't destroy it!” she exclaimed in panic, but Leon tightened his grip on her arms and shook her urgently.

“ What the fuck have you done Enma, tell me or I swear I'll-”

Something creaked.

Both he and Enma fell silent and the man turned back to the fossil. He saw the bloody table and then his eyes moved to the stone that had been stained with it. He arched his eyebrows as he sensed something he didn't sound like he had seen on his way in.

Had that crack been there before?

He heard a strange sound. Something...slithering? Wait, something had moved inside the crack?

The door burst open and Ashley shouted.

“ GET AWAY!!!”

She threw Narsson to the ground before one of the whips reached her, but Leon was out of luck.

One of the tentacles pierced his arm and slammed him against the shelves. He screamed in pain and pulled out his gun to shoot whatever was emerging from the stone, smashing it to pieces. Ashley shot one of the tentacles and Leon broke free. The agent roared in pain and grabbed Narsson tightly, dragging her away as he and Ashley fired in their escape.

“ RUN, Enma, GO!!!!” Leon shouted and Ashley ran towards them to help him. He felt her hands help him up as Enma shrieked in terror. The teacher managed to get up and Leon dragged her towards the exit.

That thing was getting bigger. Its whips were twitching hysterically. Just like those of the Spanish fangs. They managed to dodge the attacks, though one knocked them to the ground. Ashley kicked Narsson out of the doors and Leon grabbed her as the Plaga turned its attention back to them.

It was monstrous.

The beast shrieked and Leon screamed, feeling his eardrums burn, as if they were going to explode.

“ LEON!!! “

 Ashley shot at what looked like the critter's mouth, but she wasn't sure when all she saw were teeth from a huge variety of dinosaurs.

She grabbed Leon tightly and he held her by the waist to start running for the exit, hair a tentacle grabbed their legs and grabbed Ashley by the throat.

“ASHLEY!!!”

The tentacles dragged her under the monster as Leon cut off the one imprisoning her leg. He reached for her in desperation and saw her struggling with an amalgam of tiny tentacles.

Ashley pulled the knife and cut them off, but the grip on her throat tightened. She tensed and exclaimed taking a breath of air.

But it was a mistake.

One of the appendages burst into her mouth and without being able to react it inserted itself through her throat into her.

Ashley ran out of air and kicked to push the bug away, but it grabbed her legs and hands.

She couldn't even scream as she felt tears fill her eyes at the pain in her throat, tearing as it went even deeper.

It hurt. It burned. She couldn't breathe.

She could hear Leon screaming. Gunfire hissing at the shrieking beast, but he wouldn't let go.

She used all her strength to reach for the knife that had fallen to her side.

Her vision was blurring.

“ ASHLEY!!!”

The sides were beginning to darken and her body becoming heavy.

“ LET HER GO FUCKING BUG!!!!”

She could no longer hear the gunshots.

Nor his voice.

“ ASHLEY!!! FUCK!!! ASHLEY!!!!”

[ashrillvenheim]

This is Izel, an OC of one of my Resident evil fics. I might re-do her, but wanted to share her :3

[ashrillvenheim]

Some environments studies. I've always done mostly characters and I'm studying some new tecniques.

[ashrillvenheim]

Awakening Past

Chapter 24

pairing: Ashley Graham x Leon S Kennedy.

Content: (+18) romance, angst, gore, erotic/suggestive themes at some point, slow burn, violence, action, self-harm, death talk,

If you're a MINOR DON'T keep reading, thank you.

Archive of our own / WORK LIST / Awakening Past Masterlist

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“ Okay, be careful, we'll meet you there.” replied the brunet before cutting the transmission.

Leon let out a sigh as Jill approached him at a brisk pace.

“ Did you hear that? “ she asked, brushing dust and gravel off her clothes.

“ Yeah, I guess we'll just have to figure it out. Do you have the radar? “ the agent checked to make sure his weapons were in good condition and had not been affected by the fall.

“ Yeah.”

“ Good, then let's get going.”

The two began to walk through the strange grottoes carved into the stone. Leon listened carefully to the echo of their footsteps, sensing where there was a path to follow or just a dead-end hole. He looked like a bat. 

Jill was walking beside him, looking at her surroundings with cold sweat trickling down her spine, so he decided to bring up some conversation.

“ Well, can you start explaining what happened to you and Ashley?”

Leon's neck gave a subtle tug.

“ It's not the time or the place, Jill.”

“Oh, it's the perfect time and place, Leon. There's no Ashley or Chris, there's no one to hear us, bother us or judge you, just me.”

“ That's enough for me not to want to tell you.” growled the man climbing a rock. Jill rolled her eyes.

“ You're jealous of Einar.”

“ I'm not jealous of that idio-” he shut up suddenly when he was aware of how unconvincing he was sounding. He sighed heavily and knew that with Jill he had no escape in this conversation.

“ I'm not jealous, I'm worried and...I was an asshole.”

Jill was silent as she heard him finally give in, even surprised, as stubborn as he was, that he gave in so quickly.

“ Why?”

He sighed, slipping through the cracks.

“ Because I said something barbaric to her, and it's all getting mixed up in my head.” He paused. “After seeing how she came back from her date with that guy at the Springfield museum, I can't help but wonder if Einar will do the same to her. If he'll be using her or if what he's showing is real from the start, I don't know if Ashley sees it, or doesn't want to see it, or it's just me being paranoid.”

Jill was silent for a few seconds before asking.

“ What did you tell her at the bar, Leon?”

The man swallowed for a second.

“ That her choices of men hadn't been the best.”

Jill stood in place and threw her head back, covering her face with her hands.

“ Oh my God...Do you realize what an outrageous thing you said to her? Just be glad she didn't smash the bottle over your head, how much of an asshole can you be?”

Leon grunted and turned to her.

“ She gets lots and lots of nasty guys Jill, she may not see it sometimes, but-”

“ Doesn't see it? Ashley's been around snooty, phony people since she was a kid, way more than we have, and you say she doesn't see it?”

“ She's been out of touch for a long time.”

“ How long?”

“ More than four years,” the agent whispered and Jill threw her arms up in the air.

“ And isn't that proof enough for you? Doesn't the fact that she's gone more than 4 years without dating prove to you that she's capable of discerning the ones that suit her from the ones that don't?”

“ There are times when desperation clouds your judgment, Jill.”

The woman frowned.

“Like you?”

Leon's eyes widened wildly and his heart shrank as if he'd been punched. His blue eyes met the woman's and Kennedy's lower lip vibrated for an instant.

“ I-”

“Guys! We've been attacked outside, I don't know who, but someone has broken in!

Jill and Leon tensed at the sound of Gunnar's voice, could it be Wesker's men, how had they found them?”

The earth began to rumble again and Leon looked around, listening and feeling the vibration in the bowels of the place. He watched his feet, ready for any cracks that might appear as everything began to rumble.

But nothing moved.

The two stood still as the tremors and reverberations subsided again. They looked at each other and tried to contact Chris, but he was unresponsive.

“ Crap.” Jill said with a grunt. “Let's go ahead and try again to contact Chris or Ashley.”

Leon nodded with his heart pounding.

For the next few minutes, the man could only hear his and Jill's hearts pounding. They were both terribly worried, when suddenly Leon's radio beeped. The officer picked it up at full speed.

“ Ashley? Chris?”

“ It's me. - Redfield's voice echoed through the machine and Jill sighed in relief.”

“ What happened?” asked Valentine.

“ It's Ada, she followed us and in the earthquake she fell with Ashley.”

Leon went white and for a few seconds everything around him disappeared.

Ada was there. And Ashley was with her.

A violent hurricane of emotions began to tear him up inside and Jill had to slap him on the cheek to bring him back from that deep well. He blinked and looked at the woman, who was watching him with seriousness and concern.

“ She's fine and has found the "Mother Plague". She told me she will collect samples and look for the way back. Do you see with the radar my location?”

The two agents looked at the small screen on their machines.

“ The signal is weak, but I think we're in a nearby area. We'll go look for you and then meet up with Ashley.”

Leon was still worried, but the words wouldn't come out of his throat.

“ What about Wong?” Jill asked.

“ 'I don't know, but I hope she fell somewhere other than Ashley's, it looks like she knows Graham's olfactory ability and used something so he couldn't smell her, so she caught us by surprise.”

“That was something Ada would do” Leon thought unconsciously, but didn't say it out loud.

“ Keep us posted, we'll meet soon.” was all he was able to say.

Chris nodded and ended the call. Jill watched the screen for a few seconds before turning to her partner, whose expression had darkened drastically and who seemed to be in an inner struggle. He didn't seem to be doing very well, so she raised her hand and rested it on his shoulder. Leon blinked and turned to her with a look of concern. 

“ Ashley will be fine, you know she can take care of herself.” Valentine whispered in an attempt to calm him. Leon knew this, but a part of him needed someone to remind him.

“ Yes.” he said in a whisper, trying not to think about Ada. “Let's move on.”

Jill nodded and they set off again.

*

Her head was spinning. The smell of blood filled her nostrils like a hammer blow and it took a few seconds for her eyesight to focus.

She grunted in pain and gently sat up to a sitting position. Slowly the memories came to her and filled in the gaps in her memory.

Ada. She knew she should have left her down there.

Ashley hissed, raising her hand to the wound on her head that seemed to have stopped bleeding, but had stained half her face. She reached for the flashlight and saw that it was still there, but, right next to it, was her shattered radio.

She cursed the woman in every possible language.

She stumbled to her feet and needed a moment to recover. She noticed that her backpack was not there, nor was her gun, and deduced that Ada had taken them with the samples.

How nice of her not to have shot her already.

She sighed heavily and retrieved what little she had left. She inhaled deeply and stood still.

But she hadn't taken her scent with her.

She smiled inwardly. Whatever she had used to camouflage her scent, it was losing its effect.

She adjusted her harness and picked up the ropes. Her eyes were riveted on the creature petrified in the stone. She thought for a second and decided to place her locator beacon on it before heading deeper into the grotto and climbing.

*

Leon presses the button on the talkie to try to contact Ashley, but only noise could be heard. He sighed again and turned his eyes back to the front. His thoughts couldn't help but go to Ada, why, why did she have to be there to ruin what little progress they were making? She had followed them from who knew where and now Ashley was stuck with her. With a mercenary who years ago had not hesitated to tell him to leave her behind in Spain and go with her.

The venom spewing from her lips was unrivaled. Even he wasn't.

The words he had shared with Jill a few hours earlier echoed in his head like drums. He should have apologized, should have gone to Ashley so she wouldn't have to face Ada alone. Wong was ruthless and would not hesitate to play dirty to take what she wanted.

He knew that all too well. He just hoped Ashley was safe.

Leon picked up a tiny echo in the depths just before the radar beeped softly, alerting them to someone's approach. They followed the signal and both raised their guns as they approached an uneven intersection. Leon heard the footsteps and shone the gun on the figure emerging from a steep grotto.

“ Chris!” Jill exclaimed, unable to contain a big smile. Leon lowered his gun and the Captain lowered his with an exhalation of relief.

“ At last!” he sighed, receiving a hug from his partner. He looked at Leon and his expression darkened. - Have you been able to contact Ashley?

Leon frowned and denied.

“ Shit.” Chris cursed. “this area is full of pathways, those creatures look like they came out of the very bowels of this place.”

“ If the “Mother Plague” is as deep as Ashley says it's gone down, then it's no wonder they had caverns all over the place. The exits may be blocked, but I'm sure the walls aren't as thick in those places.” Leon analyzed by touching the porous walls. “Although Ashley is better at detecting the paths leading outside. Do you have any of those explosives left, Chris?”

The three of them sighed.

“ Yes, but we should find her first, do you have her location?” asked Chris to his partner, who looked at the screen.

“ It seems to be below our level, but she's not moving.” Jill's expression became anxious. “Do you think something might have happened to her?”

Leon clenched his fists.

“ Maybe she's climbing vertically and that's why we see her in the same place. Let's try to get to that area and see what we find there.” Leon's voice was neutral and controlled. As much as he could to contain the trembling in his voice and the anxiety that was eating him up inside. It was okay, he had to trust her.

After hearing Leon's words, both Chris and Jill knew how nervous he was, but he was right. They couldn't be fatalistic. So, following the radar's lead, they set off to regroup all together again.

As they walked through the steep grottoes, the earth shook several times. The rumbling from the bowels of the mountain ranges was like the internal roar of a volcano. Chris told them about what they found before Ada appeared and they were separated in the earthquake. He told them about the size and how they seemed to devour each other when they were buried there. Jill and Leon looked disgusted, as did Chris when he saw them.

They climbed up steep slopes and crevasses that they barely squeezed through. They didn't know how much time had passed, that place seemed frozen in time like the ship graveyard in Norway. 

Leon listened intently to every movement of the place, concentrating on picking up any sign that might give him a clue as to where Ashley was.

But then he heard footsteps and...an all too familiar voice.

He raised his fist to stop the group. The voice didn't seem to be in the same grotto as them, it would have to be on the other side of the wall.

“ What is it, Leon?” whispered Jill, her muscles tense.

The agent's face darkened and his brow furrowed deeply.

“ Ada.”

The two ex-STARS tensed and tightened their grip on their weapons.

“ If she's here, Ashley shouldn't be far behind.” Chris whispered with a growl. The three of them walked through the grotto as Leon came to understand the woman's words more and more.

“ I think she's above us.” Leon pointed.

“ I'm close to the outside, send me a helicopter, they're right on my heels.”

Leon's eyes widened.

“She's going to get away!” He hurried to make a run for it to find a path that would lead them to her so he could stop her. “She must have gotten something, otherwise she'd still be searching!” The anguish he had managed to calm came back to him.

Jill and Chris ran alongside him, but stopped when they reached a closed road.

“ Fuck!” Chris exclaimed, holding his hands to his head, and Leon nervously looked around every corner, but found nothing.

He heard a whistle.

He stood still and pressed his ear to the wall. It was no ordinary whistling, it sounded...like the sound of the wind.

“ Chris! Blow this wall down!” he called to his companion, his heart pounding. The brunet looked confused for a moment, but didn't question his partner's words. Without hesitation, he pulled out another small explosive which he placed in a hole in the porous wall and the three backed away before detonating it. 

The icy wind came at them with almost painful force. The change in temperature left them disoriented for a moment, but Leon soon broke into a run outside. They were a long way from the original entrance, but he couldn't hear the helicopter.

They still had time.

Another explosion was heard several meters above them and the man turned to see that figure emerge from the dust.

The figure that had caused him so many headaches since they had known each other.

Ada waved her hand to push the cloud of dust away from her face and looked down to where she had heard a rumble earlier.

Her eyes widened, subtly surprised as they met Leon's familiar figure.

It was only an instant that they shared glances, only to then turn and start running up the mountain. When she turned around, Leon saw the backpack hanging from her back and his blood froze.

Ashley's backpack.

He broke into a sprint up the steep, volcanic, half-flopped rock faces. His legs sank into the rubble, making his ascent excruciatingly tedious. He had to get to her, he couldn't let her get away. He drew his gun and saw Ada reach out with her hook gun.

No, he couldn't let her.

He raised the gun and took aim. Ada's hook stuck in a distant rock above her.

Leon's finger rested on the trigger.

He had to stop her. He had to shoot...Like he had to do in Raccoon City...when that time he couldn't.....

Ada's legs shot out from between the rocks, propelled.

But he couldn't pull the trigger.

An explosion burst the wall above Ada, who was ascending the hook, and suddenly a body charged at her. The violent impact and weight released the hook and the two bodies tumbled down the loose stone of the hill.

Leon blinked and heard Ada roar as she struck her assailant. He saw a blonde mane roll and rise from the ground. Leon's heart felt an indescribable relief when he saw Ashley safe and sound.

But Ada didn't think so.

Wong pulled out her hook and fired at her rival without a glance. Ashley managed to dodge it and charged at the woman with all her might. Ada was superior in technique and experience, but Ashley was stronger now.

Ada exclaimed as Ashley's fist impacted her side and threw her to the ground. She coughed and her hand shook, where the hell did she get that strength? What had happened to the girl hiding behind Leon in Spain?

She stood up and pulled out the gun. It was a threat, it was clear now. Ashley grabbed a handful of gravel and threw it at her as she went to fire. The echo of the gun detonating echoed, but missed her. She tried to take the backpack from her, but Ada pulled the knife with her other hand and Ashley pulled hers to engage in hand-to-hand combat. 

“ Well, the pretty girl has learned how to fight.”

Ada's vicious voice whispered between metallic blows. Ashley gritted her teeth as the woman's elbow struck her in the waist.

“ Do you want Leon's attention that badly?”

Her venomous words took her by surprise and the knife caught her in the thigh. Ashley roared and grabbed the wrist of the gun to avoid a shot that rang in her ears.

“ What the fuck do you know about me or Leon?” the blonde snarled and kicked her in the knee. Ada roared as she fell to her knees and felt Ahsley yank the backpack forcibly off her. Wong lost the pistol which slid away from the two and kicked Ahsley away with a kick to the chest.

The two fell to the ground and sat up in gasps.

“ More than you know. Leon has no secrets for me. You think I don't know how you called him in Spain? Come on, Ashley, admit it, you're only doing this to be with him.”

Ashley clenched her fist around the hilt of her knife.

“ Do you think I'm that simple?” she growled through her teeth like a dog.

“ And Leon is just like you, unable to change his Hero complex, he's even passed it on to you, who was unable to leave me lying there when I was unconscious.”

Graham tensed her muscles and charged at her again.

“ That's not true, don't talk about Leon like that, he saved you from Saddler.”

Ada narrowly dodged the blade, which caught her glancingly in the shoulder, making her hiss in pain.

“ He saved me because he is incapable of hurting me or leaving me to my fate. Leon is a poor rookie cop who fell in love with a mercenary.”

Ashley felt rage pumping her blood like fire and managed to reach across Ada's throat to deliver a headbutt. Wong staggered back.

“ Don't you dare insult him! He deserves it all and I'm not going to stop fighting for the second chance he gave me to live!”

Ada snarled and like lightning fired the hook. Ashley couldn't dodge it this time and the metal dug into her shoulder. She screamed in pain, but grabbed the metal cable to pull it and drag Ada to her. Wong blocked the blonde's knife, grabbing her.

“ You're inept and living in a fairy tale! The world is cruel and merciless and Leon is up to his head in that shit, you think you're going to pull him out? He can't let go of his past, he can't let go of me.”

Blood trickled down Ada's arm and down Ashley's. Graham looked at her with the eyes of an enraged jaguar and grabbed her with all her might to lunge again with her head. Ada withstood the onslaught.

“ I don't care if he has demons! We all have them! I chose this path because I want to help! Because he taught me not to lose hope!” she struck her head again, blood splattering on the floor. “ I don't care that he won't forget you! I will fight and fight so that he won't have to stand alone against the world you feed!” And once again. “Even if he can't see it, I'll be there!”

The last headbutt knocked Ada to the ground and Ashey stumbled backward with the backpack clutched in her other hand. With blurred vision she reached for the gun and pointed it at her, her hands shaking from the effort and strain.

Ada was still seeing in spirals, but when she sensed Ashley's figure aiming at her, she managed to pull the trigger on her hook. The rope recoiled, snapping violently out of Ashley's flesh and driving her knee into the ground, off balance.

A whirring sound echoed through the clouds and snow. Ada shot the hook skyward with difficulty, her body dejected and blood staining her face. 

The helicopter caught the hook, and Ashley's shot missed against the rocks as Ada was lifted into the air.

Leon watched the figure disappear behind the curtain of thin snow as he finally reached the bottom of the hill down which Ada and Ashley had fallen. He looked at the figure of his companion and his heart shrank. 

She was covered in dirt and blood. She held the prized backpack with an iron grip in one hand, while in the other was the pistol. The hand that carried the gun was shaking, but her knuckles were white from how hard she was squeezing it, as if she was holding back a terrible inner rage.

And she was. Ashley felt like she was going to burst at any moment. She wanted to scream, curse and cry at the same time, from the fury she felt.

She should have left her down there, it would have been the logical thing to do.

But maybe Leon wouldn't forgive her. “ He can't let me go.” Ada's words echoed like daggers inside her. Part of her knew it wasn't that simple, but then...she remembered how furious he'd seemed when he'd first told her about Ada. And he didn't seem angry because of the woman, but because he seemed incapable of hating her to some extent.

Or so she thought at least.

She smelled Leon approaching and gritted her teeth to push the woman's horrible words out of her head.

Leon had seen the violent fight. He would never have thought Ada would attack her like that, but Ashley...she had fought almost...to death. The two seemed to have wanted to finish each other off at that moment, though Leon had sensed that they wouldn't have.

But that didn't make him feel any better when he finally got to her.

“ Ash... ley?” he whispered her name, somewhat fearful of upsetting her current delicate state. He saw the woman's shoulders shake for a second before she turned to him and made him swallow saliva.

Her face was covered in blood. The wounds on her body had stained all of her clothes and now seemed to have stopped bleeding, when they shouldn't have.

Her expression was grim and angry. Her golden eyes glowed menacingly and Leon had to approach very cautiously.

“She's escaped.” she whispered hoarsely from the effort.

“ Yes, but she won't be back soon, you've hurt her badly.” he answered her softly.

He didn't want to talk about what he had heard. Because he had heard it ALL. He watched Ashley simply nod and let Leon take over the gun and the backpack.

Shortly thereafter Chris and Jill arrived, who had been left behind in the chase. They went to ask when they saw Ashley's condition and hesitated.

“ I left my locator in the Mother Plaga” said the blonde in a whisper."

Her three companions looked at each other for a moment.

“ Let's go back to Gunnar.” was all Chris said, aware that they needed to regroup and heal their wounds before thinking about how to proceed at this point.

Ashley simply let out a slight sound in affirmation and let them help her walk back.

*

Gunnar soon found them with the ponies. He had followed the source of the sound of the explosions and the helicopter and the group could see how far they had ended up from the main entrance. The mayor was horrified when he saw the condition of the group and rushed them to the old woman's hut.

There they tended to everyone's injuries, none being extremely serious, being mainly cuts, abrasions and bruises from the falls and fights. Ashley's shoulder hook wound was the only one that needed more attention and it was Jill who stitched up the injury.

“ Gunnar, do you have any cell phones I can use?” Ashley then asked as Jill finished bandaging his shoulder.

“ Yes, but who are you going to call?” he held out his cell phone in confusion.

“ Someone I sent for help.” she said, dialing the number she had memorized.

The other three understood who he meant.

“ Do you think he's arrived?” Leon asked softly, looking away to give her privacy while she was being bandaged.

“We'll find out now.”

She pressed the call button and the sound echoed in the room heavily, like a bell breaking a dense silence with its rumbling.

Someone picked up.

“ Rag-”

“ I'm gonna tie you up and gag you. I'm going to stick your feet in a pool of ants and pull out all your hairs one by one with a pair of pliers. I plan to kill you, revive you and kill you again by giving me non-stop heart attacks.”

The anguished voice echoed in the room and the team's eyes widened at the familiar tone.

“ Hunnigan?” Ashley's voice was shaky.

“ Don't ever, ever, ever, EVER give me these death scares again.”

Ashley felt her eyes become watery at the sound of that voice.

Ragna had arrived and had managed to give them her message. Ahsley clutched the Vegrisir around her neck and thanked whatever entity would listen for crossing her path with Ragna.

“ I'm sorry Ingrid, but we're fine, we are and we've found it.” said the blonde, unable to contain a smile of excitement, relief and nerves, which spread to the rest of the group.

They were no longer alone.

“ Have you found a sample?” The agent's voice was unbelievable and they needed a while to bring her up to date with everything that had happened in the last few weeks.

The feeling of absolute relief ran through everyone's body when they heard that call and many of the worries that had been eating away at them since they were left alone, gradually disappeared.

“ Well, now that we have your location, we will send a plane to pick you up and extract the specimen, good job.”

When they said their goodbyes and the call ended, the agents dropped into the first place they found with a long grunt of pent-up emotions.

Now they just had to wait to go home.

*

Narsson's expression when she saw them get off the horses was one of absolute horror. Her face went pale and she approached Ashley with trembling hands.

“ My God, Ashley...” she whispered, taking the young woman's face in her hands. Graham sighed heavily and closed her eyes, feeling all the tension snatching at her remaining energy. She received her teacher's embrace like a warm blanket and was grateful that she didn't decide to lecture them. Enma could see in her former student's golden eyes that she had enough on her mind.

She greeted the rest just as worried, seeing how dirty and tired they came. Night had already fallen, and the orange lights of the town felt warm before the soft snow that was still falling, although the storm had already seemed to pass altogether.

They were taken care of at Gunnar's house. They had already told him what they had seen down there. It was decided that after they extracted the Mother Plague fossil, they would proceed to reseal all the exits that had formed in the altercation with Ada.

During the talk, Leon was quite absent, as was Ashley. He had heard the words they had shared in their confrontation and felt a terrible knot ever since. The way Ashley defended him from Wong's hurtful words...they were eating him up inside. So much so that he didn't even know how to apologize anymore.

That night they spoke very little. Over dinner with Narsson they updated her on the eggs they had found and the dinosaurs they had seen, but because of the dangerous terrain, they didn't think it was safe to go back into those caves.

They did not tell her about the Plagas they had found or Ada.

Ashley and Chris were the first to go to sleep, being the worst off when they met the mercenary. They slept through the night, and Ashley didn't wake up until noon the next day.

It was the shuffling she heard from the haystack in the stables that woke her. Ashley grunted, pained, and got out of bed to see what was going on outside. Children and animals could be heard everywhere, as if it were a carnival. She dressed and went down to the stables and then out into the street. 

The snow was an insistent thin curtain, it didn't seem to want to leave. A jumble of smells came to her, a mixture of food, bread, aromatic plants, mint and alcohol.

As she walked down the street she saw the facades of houses decorated with dried herbs and braids made of animal hair.

“ Ashley!” a voice called out to her from a distance. She turned and saw Helga walking towards her with a basket of loaves. “ You're awake at last.” she smiled happily at her.

“Yes, but what is all this?” she asked confused, but unable to take her eyes off the bread in the baskets. Helga saw her mouth water and laughed before breaking off a piece and giving it to her.

“ It's a meslin flour bread with walnuts and raisins. Remember when you arrived I told you that we were thinking of making a Blót? We have been preparing it for several days, and tonight the songs and the feast for the gods will take place, maybe this way they will get rid of their bad mood and decide to give us back the sunlight.” she laughed looking at the sky. Ashley still found it magical the way they still worshipped the ancient Norse pantheon there.

“ Tonight?” Ashley asked with a mouthful of delicious bread.

“ Yes, we will sing in the town square and drink. You are all invited, feasts are for sharing.”

Ashley was grateful for the detail and all the kindness that woman had shown them since they came.

“ Have you seen my partners?”

“ They are with my children in the market making wheat braids.” laughed the woman softly. - They've ended up adopting your friends.

Ashley laughed with her, feeling, for the first time in weeks, at ease.

“No problem, I'll go with them, I'll see you at sunset.”

They both said goodbye and Ashley walked through the old streets full of joy as she munched on the delicious bread.

She greeted familiar faces she had met the previous days and finally arrived at the small town market. It was somewhat difficult to discern the smells, but she managed to pick up the scent of Leon and Chris. She followed it and passing through the crowd saw the figures of her companions sitting in a circle. She called out to them, but they did not hear her in the din.

Until blue eyes were the only ones that lifted in her direction.

Ashley's heart skipped a beat when she saw him rise from his seat. Their gazes were locked on each other, and there was...something. Like a string that made them unable to blink and urged them to go to each other. Ashley slipped through the crowd and saw Leon take a step toward her.

They needed to talk. There was too much going on in Ashley's head that would drive her crazy if they didn't fix their misunderstanding.

They took another step toward each other.

“ Hey, Ashley!” a broad hand gently wrapped around her shoulder, causing her to lose focus of the sapphire-eyed man and turn to one with emerald irises.

“ Einar?” before she could react, the Norwegian embraced her tightly, lifting her off the ground for a second.

Leon was pinned in place when he saw Einar's figure reach Ashley earlier and embrace her. He saw Einar smile and the two walked towards the group.

“ The marmot has woken up.” announced the Norwegian with a laugh and Ashley couldn't help but search for Leon's gaze, only to find him with a neutral expression, devoid of the eagerness she had thought she had seen only seconds before.

“ It's about time, come on, relieve me before my hands fall off.” Jill grunted, getting up from the stool and holding out the wheat braid she had been making with Helga's daughter. Her brother was with Chris and Sven.

Ashley looked a little confused, but on impulse she nodded and took Jill's place, feeling both Einar and Leon's eyes on her.

“ How are you doing?” asked Narsson next to her with a somewhat worried expression.

The blonde resumed braiding the plant under the girl's directions.

“ Well, now that I've slept better.” she smiled at her, trying to calm the anguish she knew it caused her to see her hurt.

Leon watched Ashley as he worked on his own decorations that Helga had asked for. None of the group mentioned anything about the expedition or the condition of Ashley or Chris. One or two things Einar asked, but he realized it was a subject he would not get anything more out of than he already knew. 

They just followed the kids' directions to carry out all the tasks they had to have ready by nightfall. During that time, Ashley felt a strange discomfort toward Leon. Ever since her encounter with Ada, the way he looked at her seemed... different.

Hours passed until finally dusk came. With the midnight sun it would be a very different experience from what Ashley had experienced on other holidays.

The sky was not filled with stars, but the hue it took on as midnight approached almost seemed... oneiric.

They were led to the town square, the largest area of the small village. Everything seemed to have been set back centuries. Torches lit the place along with Viking motifs carved from horns, wood and adorned with skins and braids of animal hair and wheat.

There was food on large solid wood tables that had been set up around the perimeter of the square, and in the center, they carried a pile of instruments. Those who would sing and intone the melodies dedicated to the gods carried their large cow horns, along with Viking harps, horsehair Tagelharpas and skin drums of different sizes.

The inhabitants had dressed in braids, metal bracelets, leather tiaras and drawings on their faces or bodies.

The visitors were led to one side of the stage and sat on the furs they had provided for the audience under tents that protected them from the soft snow.

Helga's children painted their faces with blue pigments, laughing as they decorated them with lines on their foreheads and chins, although they decided to give Chris and Sven more of a raccoon shape.

People were talking loudly and shouting happily with their mugs of alcohol and bread. Gradually they took their places on the huge fur rugs and wooden benches they had pulled out of the houses around the square. The town itself seemed to have taken on the essence of a giant living room, with the torches as fireplaces and the musicians as the center table.

Ashley was elated to hear them. Narsson had long ago taught her about fascinating Nordic folk music and she had longed to attend one of these festivities ever since.

So her heart was pounding.

The crowd gradually quieted down and the voices soon turned to distant whispers until silence reigned in the square.

The characteristic sound of the Tagelharpa resounded in the place, echoing among the houses. The melody was soon accompanied by the first drums, reverberating in the chests of those present and rumbling against the facades next to the stringed instrument, immersing them in an ethereal aura.

With the deep sound of the horns, the ground seemed to tremble and spirits to emerge from the depths of the earth. As various instruments added to the melody, Ashley felt them stir something within her, as if the music was the voice of her deepest, most visceral instincts.

The first voices joined the instruments and it was as if they were putting voice to the most primal instincts and emotions of those present. Almost as if they vibrated with their souls.

Narsson closed her eyes, feeling the essence of her ancestors, but when she opened them, she saw the amber irises of her student, glowing in the light of the torches. 

Even if she had not been born there, nor raised with that culture, Nordic music was something that captivated her since she had been taught it when they went to Amherst. It was as if those tunes brought out something in her that she had been unaware of until then, and he was glad to see her enjoying herself in that way. So much so, that it caught the attention of the other agents and the guides. The group smiled as they watched her humming the repeating verses, moving her foot to the rhythm of the drums and her body to the beats of the wooden sticks between them.

It was as if everything around them disappeared. The problems, worries and anxieties vanished with each beat of the drums. The tension in their muscles evaporated with the booming of the horns to the winds and their bodies felt lighter with the sound of the strings.

They didn't know how long it took before the song began to soften, slowly ending in little whispers before fading away.

The audience screamed loudly and applauded the musicians energetically. The songs that followed later were accompanied by the audience, and some people were even encouraged to get up on the small stage with the musicians.

Then Helga's daughter ran, after finishing one of the melodies, to the musicians. The ones who looked younger spoke to her and the girl turned to point out Ashley in the group of strangers. The blonde froze as the little girl ran up to her and took her by the hands.

“ Come sing!” she exclaimed happily. Ashley stiffened as she tugged at her.

“ Me? Oh no, no, no, I couldn't....”

“Your teacher told me you sing very well! The gods will like it, I'm sure!”

Ashley turned to Narsson, who was smiling broadly at her along with the rest of the group. Einar and Sven seemed particularly curious having never heard her before, so they were gesturing for her to come up on stage.

The woman sighed defeatedly.

“ One song.”

“ Two!” the little girl rebutted and lifted her off the carpet to drag her over to the musicians.

The crowd applauded and Ashley greeted the performers shyly, but they were very welcoming. They offered her to first do a song accompanying the backing vocals and held out the paper containing the lyrics. She stood next to a couple of girls as young as herself and let the melody sweep her back into a dream world, where her voice blended into a chorus of whispers and melodic shouts in the wind in their local language.

The guides were very surprised, while the rest of the group smiled at how happy Ashley seemed among the musicians and singers. She got right into the rhythm of the drums and when the song stopped with her soft voice intoning the last choruses, she went to get up to return to her seat, but one of the girls grabbed her arm.

“ Sing your song, sing one that is special to you, you have a beautiful voice.”

Ashley turned red at the mere thought of singing in front of so many people and...let alone a song that was important to her.

“ I don't know, it's not even an original song of mine, it's an artist who sings with more classical and Celtic tones.” she tried to turn down the offer, but that information only seemed to encourage the two girls who were encouraging her to sing.

“ Much better! New songs always come with different emotions, we would love to have you sing it for us and the gods.”

Ashley didn't know what to say. She wanted to refuse, but felt that if she did she would be insulting them in a terrible way.

She had never been able to sing that song in front of anyone, not even Sergio and Jonh, who begged her to be able to record it over and over again and she just refused.

She looked aside for a moment, the emotions that had been distracted until then returning to her. She sighed.

“Okay.” 

The girls exclaimed, happy, and pulled her and the other musicians closer together to agree on the new song. Ashley was terrified when she mentioned Eurielle's “By a thread” song to them. The girls knew the tune and soon got the rest up to speed on how to adapt it to their instruments. They did a little test on the bass and when they all understood where the notes and theme were going, they got down to business.

Ashley sat down with the two girls who would be doing backing vocals for her and they announced to the audience the new song Graham would be singing. She was terribly nervous and couldn't look at her group. Or rather, she couldn't look at one man in particular.

The first, harp-like notes echoed softly, soothing the audience to listen. Ashley clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking and closed her eyes to calm her emotions and let the notes gently rock those feelings that so confused her.

She took a deep breath and her lips parted.

“By the light of the moon....

Not a second to lose...

Two star-crossed lovers entwine....

Her voice predominated in the square. A soft tone that contrasted with the previous songs or even...the one she sang that drunken night.

This one wasn't erotic, it seemed...a song of love and longing.

“They were carried away 

By a powerful wave

Which swept their fears aside...”

Those verses made Leon arch an eyebrow and shift his posture on his mat. For some reason, those words brought him back to that dark village. 

“As they laid side by side

On that cold starry night

And they held each other tight”

He didn't understand why he felt that those words partly narrated his past. Maybe it was his imagination? His blue eyes were fixed on Ashley's figure and he saw that she was not smiling. Her expression was...distressed? As if that song was bringing out a part of her that she had never shown.

As if it was baring her feelings.

“He whispered her name

Over and over again...”

He remained static. It was not his imagination.

The voice was taking on strength as the music became more intense. He could see how Ashley's tense hands showed how intimate the song was and how deep it reached, ascending and ascending until the last chorus burned with her voice.

“All the storms we have faced!

That tried to break our embrace!”

It was their song. Of the two of them.

“Didn't win 'cause you're still mine...

By a thread...”

Leon noticed how Ashley clutched the bracelet on her wrist, the one he gave her and suddenly, the metal he always wore around his, felt heavier.

He realized he was holding his breath and was only able to catch his breath when he saw her drag out the last note and inhale deeply. As if they had both felt the same thing in that song. 

The thread the song spoke of. Their bracelets.

Ashley stood up with flushed cheeks and trembling hands. She did her best to smile and take a small bow before stepping off the stage to applause.

I needed to breathe. She was struggling to fill her lungs. She couldn't look at the group, she couldn't after singing that song. She had felt a jumble of conflicting emotions. Her own from when she had been in the village, the farewell, the rescue, her new path, the reunion and all the memories they had shared until then, and now Ada too.

She had created a horrible hole in his chest.

She walked through the people until a hand took her arm gently and as she turned she met Einar.

“ You've been great, do you want to go for a walk?”

She didn't say it, or show it, maybe because she didn't want to admit it, but a part of her had wished that instead of those emerald eyes, it had been an ocean looking back at her.

“ Yeah, my head hurts.”

Leon watched in the distance as Ashley marched off with Einar, and something in him shrank. Terribly.

His whole body had tensed to go after her, but Einar had beaten him to it and now he didn't know what to do. He didn't want to sit down again, he was too upset to do that, so he decided to leave the square for a while.

*

Einar and Ashley walked through the somewhat quieter streets. The Norwegian gently slid his arm around her shoulders, but he could sense that her head was not with him. He stopped and took her by the chin.

“ Should I kiss you again to get you to stop spinning things around?” he said in a soft but teasing tone, leaning towards her. Ashley didn't respond on the spot, thinking maybe it would be a good idea, but when the man's lips brushed hers, something shrank inside her.

She rested her hands against his chest and Einar stopped.

“ Is something wrong?” he asked, confused by her strange attitude.

Ashley looked down at the floor, her expression nostalgic and vulnerable.

“ What do you want, Einar?” her voice was somewhat muffled.

The Norwegian blinked and stood upright again.

“ Me? To have a good time with you. You're strong, I'm attracted to you and you're interesting.”

The man's honesty surprised her, but to some extent she appreciated it.

“ I...I like you, but...I don't think we're on the same page.” she finished.

Einar watched her in silence, aware now that there was much more inside her than he had believed. He hadn't been looking for anything serious, after all they barely knew each other and had come from far away, he never expected anything from her but to have a good time, but if that was in Ashley's plans. And from what he could see, it wasn't.

The Norwegian sighed and gave a lopsided smile.

“ Is this about your partner?” he asked bluntly, to which Ashley didn't know what to answer at first.

“ No, it's about me. I'm not in a situation where I'm just looking for the same thing as you, I'm sorry.”

Einar understood perfectly well what she was referring to and sighed loudly, but with a comical air.

“ Wow, and I was looking forward to find out if you were that fierce in bed too, it's a shame, I envy the one who will be able to have that experience.”

Ashley turned red up to her ears, but she saw that he really meant it. That he respected her.

“ Thank you Einar.”

“ Don't get sentimental, you know I'm not into that complicated stuff.” He smiled at her and shook her hair. “ But I'm going to steal you a goodbye kiss.”

She went to reply, but before she could pull away, he gave her a soft kiss, almost as a tease, as she felt him smile against her lips.

When he broke away Ashley smacked him on the chest and smiled as she heard him laugh.

“ A revenge.” he said slyly and then added. “By the way, the hot springs in town are open, if you want to be alone for a while.

Ashley thought for a second and seemed convinced by the idea. She needed some calm.

“Yes, I'll go.” She watched him walk away from her back towards the square. - See you tomorrow! - said the young woman to which Einar responded by raising his hand and waving goodbye to her.

She stood there for a moment and then decided to go up to the hot springs.

*

When he saw her return to the square he was only surprised. Leon was resting on one of the tavern benches he had set up when he saw Einar return. His body rose unconsciously as their eyes met and the Norwegian passed him.

“ She went to the hot springs, you guys are too complicated for me.”

The agent blinked and turned to see the guide wander back into the crowd. 

He stood there for a moment. Should he go? He thought he had gone with Einar to be together, but...she seemed to have turned him down.

The logical part of him told him that maybe it wasn't the best time, but after hearing the song and seeing Ashley's expression as he did it, he felt he should at least apologize for everything they'd been through those last few days.

He took a deep breath and walked towards the hot springs.

*

Ashley sighed as the warm water surrounded her and relaxed her muscles. Her clothes rested on a small bench at the edge of the natural pool. She should have asked Helga for a swimsuit, but she would have to make do with her underwear.

The water was up to her chest and she took the opportunity to remove the bandages from her shoulder. The wound looked like nothing more than a nasty cut that would be fully healed by tomorrow. She took a breath and sank into the water. Silence enveloped her like a blanket underwater. After all the hubbub she had been in for hours, she was grateful for the calm. But at the same time, she was beginning to hear her thoughts more loudly.

Although the small worry that Einar was giving her had already subsided. Yes, she had to think positive, that's it.

A few slivers of water came to her and she opened her eyes quickly to surface. She took a breath and looked around. She still seemed to be alone.

She glanced toward the entrance and noticed another small pile of clothes next to hers. She arched her eyebrows.

“ Hello? Einar?” she turned around in the therma, looking for the owner of those clothes. “ Enma?”

Suddenly a hand closed around her ankle, dragging her underwater. She threw a kick that reached no one and propelled herself to get out and breathe.

Only to hear a laugh.

She wiped her eyes tensely and found Leon looking down at her with a smile.

“ You should see your face.” He told her in his usual teasing tone.

Ashley blinked in confusion and stared at him not knowing how to react for a second to the sudden change in attitude.

It took her a second to realize that it had been him who had grabbed her ankle.

“ You're an asshole.” she splashed in his face angrily, but not angrily. She couldn't hold back a smile when she heard him laugh again. “You scared the hell out of me.”

Leon shook his head like a dog to get the water off his face. A gesture that had been characteristic for as long as she had known him.

The man tossed his hair back, now disheveled and with locks falling everywhere.

“ It was the idea, princess.”

Ashley fell silent. When was the last time he had called her by her nickname? Since the incident in Norway? It seemed like an eternity ago and it made her heart beat faster for a moment.

“Are you tired of the festival already? Or have you had too much to drink? You smell of alcohol.” she joked, not knowing quite what to do. The two of them were bathing in their underwear in that bathtub. Alone.

Leon stood upright in the water, which reached below his chest, just like Ashley. He couldn't help but glance for a moment at her bare shoulder, where the wound marked her smooth skin. He turned his eyes back to her.

“ I just got a shot and it was noisy, yeah, but…” he paused to scratch the back of his neck and sigh. His voice deepened subtly. “I came to talk to you.”

Ashley stood static, feeling the nerves start to course through her.

“ Talk? About what?” For some reason she thought playing dumb was the best idea.

Leon fixed his eyes on her earnestly.

“ About our discussions.”

Instinctively Ashley cringed and sighed, wanting to turn away. If she wanted him to apologize it was a no-brainer.

“ Leon, I don't know if this is the time-”

“ I want to apologize.”

Those words took the woman by surprise and she felt Leon's hand around her wrist to prevent her from leaving.

“ Forgive me, Ash. I was an idiot to say those things to you, I...” she fell silent, not knowing how to express herself. Ashley turned to him, moving closer to listen to him carefully, and he saw it. He looked aside and swallowed his pride and habit of keeping it all in.”He was worried and...I think...jealous.”

Ashley stood still with her heart in her throat. What had he just said?

“ Worried and jealous?” she asked, not quite understanding what was going on.

Leon grunted to himself and raised his head uncomfortably.

“I don't know, I...I didn't want you to get hurt again like Dylan did. You're important to me, Ash, what we went through in Spain...it was just you and me, and I know I shouldn't care, and you've grown and evolved, but it's...like an impulse for me to want to defend you. I'm sorry.”

The man gave her a glancing glance, too embarrassed to stare at her, and Ashley knew. The blonde was silent for long seconds and was about to respond when Ada's words came back to her.

“You don't always have to defend me, Leon.” she whispered looking down at the water between them, but rough fingers grabbed her chin to make her look up. Her heart stopped as their eyes sank into each other.

“ I know, but…” he paused, looking at the small wounds on his forehead from the headbutts she gave Ada and then at the ones she suffered on her shoulder in the confrontation, then added, “What Ada told you about me is true.”

Ashley's eyes widened.

“ Did you...hear us?”

Leon nodded.

Ashley's face went scarlet by the second, to the point where she was unable to look at him and had to avert her eyes. Leon could hear his partner's racing heartbeat and his fingers trailed down from her chin to her neck, where a small scar rested, but with a horrible reminder.

“ What Ada said is true. I have demons that sometimes consume me Ash, and I don't want that to drag you down, I don't-”

“ What Ada said is bullshit.” Ahley's violence took him by surprise. “I know those demons and I know you fight them, but you've never dragged me in. You've never wanted to involve me in anything more than you had to, even if it meant risking your life. - Ashley's hand came to rest on the knife scar he wore on his shoulder, a wound that shared a moment with the one on her neck. “Like you did that day.”

They both remembered that day. The horror and fear they went through at that moment. When they thought they were about to escape the island. In how they met Saddler after his miraculous impact with the truck Ashley was driving and...in how he took control of her body.

Leon stroked his thumb over the mark at the level of her jugular vein. 

The pain he felt, when that psychopath tried to stop him while Ashley was unable to control her body, was still vivid. The words the leader of that cult spoke to her, “Kill him” he said handing her a knife. And how she walked to him, controlled by the plaga and raising the blade to finish him off.

Still in pain, he stopped her, but the plaga was strong and Saddler walked away, ordering her to finish him off. By this time Leon was weak and called out to her again and again and again, aware that he may have lost her forever.

Ashley brushed the scar at the end of her collarbone and remembered how Leon's call made her wake up. At that moment she was aware of what he might do to him and her only thought at the moment, was to aim the weapon at her.

At that moment, Ashley pressed the blade against his neck, ready to end his life rather than hurt Leon, but he stopped her as the knife sank into the flesh. He screamed and begged her not to do it as Ashley cried that she didn't want to kill him, that she would rather kill herself than let Saddler control her to kill him.

It was horrible. Those seconds when they both withstood the pain of the pests and Leon promised her that he would save her, that they would both get out of there, only for Ashely to lose control of her body again and the knife to sink into Leon's shoulder.

They both felt a shiver run down their spines as they touched each other's scars.

“ I'm sorry.” was all Leon could whisper, moving closer to her without realizing it.

Ashley raised her eyes to him.

“ You're always apologizing to me when it's not your fault, when it was others who made us do all this.” she whispered, the song that represented all those feelings still echoing in her head.

“ It was nobody's fault when I was an asshole and told you you had bad taste in men.”

Ashley frowned, pained, and took his jaw in her hands.

“ Stop, please. Yes, you were an asshole, but I know you would never hurt me, not on purpose and you may have overdone it this time in your eagerness to defend me to the point of sounding like an angry jealous man, but I forgive you.”

Leon dropped his shoulders at her touch and he himself raised his hands to place them on her cheeks.

“ You shouldn't forgive me so easily.” he whispered, pressing his forehead against hers.

“ You may have been somewhat right, my taste is terrible with men.” she smiled, having missed that closeness and brushing her nose against his.

“ That's not true.”

“ I have you as a friend.”

Leon was silent.

“ You're so silly.”

They both laughed softly and approached each other without thinking, hopelessly attracted. All that pent-up tension they had been feeling for the past week gradually disappeared. They were glad to have resolved that situation, although...they hadn't talked about that...jealousy Leon had mentioned. But she didn't want to ruin the moment of reconciliation, so they just felt for each other.

Ashley had missed Leon's scent, having him so close and soothing her like he had always done. Leon thought the same of her and couldn't help but move one of his hands up to entwine his fingers in her damp hair.

Neither wanted to move and they both felt the same strength that made them cling together in Norway. 

Leon gently moved his nose from side to side, the gesture that was already like a little ritual just between them and Ashley reciprocated. But they both felt something different inside them.

Einar's kiss, Leon's jealousy, Ada's words about them...that whole trip had been testing them and now that they thought they were back to normal, it didn't quite feel that way.

Their breaths became slightly more labored without realizing it and they felt their hearts pounding against each other's chests.

For a moment they were back in the room. To when they clung like two desperate souls.

Leon encircled the nape of her neck gently and Ashley his neck. Their caresses produced sighs that were lost in the mist of the hot springs.

They didn't quite know what was happening to them, or maybe they did, but they didn't want to think about it. They just let themselves go, pressing their bodies together as if they were afraid someone would break their embrace.

Just like the song. Their song.

Ashley caressed the man's cheekbone lovingly, responding to the sway of his nose, but gradually their faces drew closer together. Their breaths reached each other's lips and both felt their skin tingle.

The voices of their consciences faded away and little by little the goblins, which they had always had in the back of their minds, began to emerge. They whispered to them to come closer. They told Leon to sink his hand deeper into her hair and Ashley to wrap his hand around her neck. 

Their bodies had no room and the burning of their skins was the only thing on their minds.

They moved closer and this time, a light touch was the last thing they needed for their minds to finish clouding over.

Their lips brushed and met in a shy kiss. A kiss that led to another less embarrassing kiss, and this one to the next. Their lips becoming heavier and heavier and their kisses deeper and deeper. Soft sighs came from them and, not knowing who asked permission first, their tongues met and moaned hopelessly.

Leon's broad hands gripped her waist tightly, almost as if he wanted to melt into her, panting between each kiss, but unable to pull away. Ashley sank her fingers into his hair, clutching him with gentle tugs that made him growl into her mouth, which she devoured like nectar.

They surrendered to each other in long, slow kisses. So deep they seemed to want to devour each other. The moans and grunts that came from their lips between each bite were invitations to follow the next.

The two lost the reins of their thoughts and simply let themselves be carried away by their instincts. The taste of the other's forbidden lips was poison and, as such, seemed to be consuming them deeper and deeper into the well of desire.

That kiss seemed to be the beginning of their undoing.

[ashrillvenheim]

Happy Halloween!!! :3

[ashrillvenheim]

I've created a Bsky account after what twitter is going to do, so if there is people that follow me have in mind, I'll notify of Bsky posts in twitter, but the FULL images will be in tumblr and Bsky, just to let you know

[ashrillvenheim]

Awakening Past IS BACK!

Chapter 23

pairing: Ashley Graham x Leon S Kennedy.

Content: (+18) romance, angst, gore, erotic/suggestive themes at some point, slow burn, violence, action, self-harm, death talk,

If you're a MINOR DON'T keep reading, thank you.

Archive of our own / WORK LIST / Awakening Past Masterlist

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The trip to the northeast of the island was... weird.

Sven took the wheel in an attempt to strike up a cordial conversation with Narsson, who had decided to ride in the front seat at Ashley's request. Chris and Jill got in the middle of the back seats, separating Leon and Ashley to the sides.

The two ex-cops looked at each other during the ride with a worried expression, watching the two young ones not speak to each other. At first they thought it would simply be a long and tiresome ride but it all got strange after the first break they took.

When Einar replaced Sven, he practically dragged Ashley to sit in front seat. The Norwegian seemed like a different person, or rather, he was much more expressive and loose than usual. 

Ashley tried to be terse with the conversation and responded with short words, but at some point they ended up speaking Norwegian and the woman got a little carried away. 

He managed to get a chuckle or two out of her and when that subtle sound echoed through the room, Chris felt Leon stir in his seat. He was pretending to be asleep, but Redfield knew perfectly well that he was attentive to the conversation, even if he didn't understand anything.

There was a devil within him that ate at his insides every time he heard a tiny laugh come from those lips.

But at the same time there was another devil strangling the previous one, aware that those emotions were not the right ones. At the time he would have been grateful that the stab wound at his waist was still fresh, so he could focus on something else.

But in just a week it was already a scar, just like the bite on Ashley's shoulder.

He remained thoughtful about it. If it was healing soon enough before, now it was an absolute anomaly. Something had changed in their bodies, something that had made them unable to succumb to that soldier's infection and that something had made them even more resistant to injury.

He managed to think about something else for a few minutes, until looser laughter began to take his attention again. During the ride he heard Ashley complaining about her injuries but Leon was sure that underneath those band-aids was nothing more than a small scab.

When he heard her laugh, at what sounded like a joke told by the Einar, he wished he was deaf for the rest of the trip.

*

It took them several hours to arrive, but, fortunately, the weather had been somewhat more merciful to them that day.

It was still snowing, but it was not impossible to drive normally. Einar and Sven told them some curious details about those high hills that were once completely frozen glaciers. Narsson paid the most attention to the guides' history lesson, while the rest began to remember the tension they had managed to leave behind for a few days.

They were getting closer and closer to their goal.

The area they reached was filled with steep hills, cliffs, and deep, long valleys. The roads meandered among the rocky ridges, but finally they reached the western fjords.

Snow was piling up on those landscapes. Narsson bit her lip at not being able to take pictures of all that wonder. It was a shame that the memory of that whole trip would remain in her memories. Unless they found what they were looking for.

They arrived at a village in the late afternoon. They decided to take advantage of the time and ask the locals a bit in case they could clarify further the directions they had gotten so far. It may have been like looking for a needle in a haystack, which it was, but the research gave them the names of 3 villages that were in the fjords. Very old settlements that still retained many stories and festivities from the time of the Vikings.

They decided to travel to the first on the list and spent the night there, but the next day the villagers themselves advised them to ignore the second village on their list, as what they were looking for was probably in the third village. Wow, what a coincidence that it was always the last on the list precisely the most important, wasn't it?

But they were grateful that it saved them both the destination, and the time they would have invested in the next spot they had intended to go to.

Enma felt like an adventurer, but at the back of her thoughts was a little goblin. A little monster slowly digging the claws of doubt into her mind, wondering more and more frequently what would happen at the end of that journey.

She couldn't help but think about that woman and her words. She tried to convince herself that they were just fallacies, but if what she was saying was true, then everything they achieved on the trip would be thrown away. Was that their purpose?

No. She had to trust them. Even though... she had been the one who had asked them to come on the trip, they hadn't counted on her in the first place.

By the time the dark whispers of the devils began to grow louder and Narsson began to fear her own thoughts, they reached the village.

Almost all the dwellings were of solid wood and stone, with bay windows and gabled roofs. The roads between the houses were gravel and Einar parked in the place that seemed the least steep and cleanest to him. He decided to go ask the locals if there was anywhere in the village to sleep, but the old man he asked spat on the ground and grunted, asking who they were. Einar pointed to the rest of the group getting out of the van and the old man mumbled like an old dog.

“ We don't want tourists.” was all he said to the Norwegian and he frowned to reply to the man sitting on the porch of his house, but a woman came outside and slapped the old man's head.

“ If you're so unpleasant to people, Grýla is going to come after your grandchildren.”

“ That old witch can suck my d-”

“ I'm Helga, can I help you with something?” The wheat-haired woman smiled at Einar and he relaxed his shoulders at being able to talk to someone civilized.

“ We are looking for a place to stay for several days.”

The woman got out of the car and walked toward the group.

“ Are you tourists?” she asked in English and the skies opened up for the Americans.

“ We are here for research work.” Jill decided to speak and the woman looked curious. 

“ Research?”

“ We are collecting the oldest cultural heritages of the island, and we have been told that many stories and customs are preserved here that are not preserved in other places.” Ashley interjected and the woman seemed surprised.

“ Wow, you don't see that every day.” she thought for a few seconds and then added. “Come with me to see the mayor and he might be able to accommodate you.”

The group looked at each other and decided to follow the woman down the steep dirt and stone paths. A few children peered out of windows or out onto porches to watch the curious visitors. Chris noticed the stares of some of the adults as well. 

“You don't seem to get many tourists.”

Helga laughed.

“ No, we get the occasional stray, but hardly any like yourselves who come to do field work.”

Ashley walked behind her hostess and soon after asked.

“ Forgive me for asking, but you mentioned a Grýla earlier, who is she?”

Helga turned at the crossroads and came to Ashley's side.

“ Grýla is the old woman of the mountains, a “witch” as some call her, many centuries ago she used to take children away. From time to time she still plays her tricks, but she hasn't been heard from for a long time. But I won't repeat her name too much, in case she hears me and comes for my children.”

Graham was surprised by the naturalness with which she told him about that witch, just as if she were talking about the neighbor next door.

“ Is that a Vesigrir?” she suddenly pointed to Ashley's pendant. She took the amulet between her fingers and smiled.

“Yes, a Norwegian fisherman gave it to me.”

Helga smiled.

“Don't lose it, it's a very useful amulet to guide your path and not lose the favor of the gods. Even if they don't usually make an appearance, you never know when they will make one.” she raised her arms to the sky. “Like snowing in the middle of summer, for example. We're thinking of doing a little Blót, maybe that will calm the gods down a bit.”

The group listened to Helga speak and couldn't help but think that this definitely seemed like the right place to continue the investigation. The woman spoke as if the gods could walk these very streets at any moment. She told them a bit about the town until they reached the mayor's house. She excused herself and entered the building to bring the man they were looking for. 

The group waited on the street and Ashley pulled out her notebook to go over her notes. Einar approached with a curious air and leaned over to look at the notes.

“ You have a nice handwriting.”

Ashley blinked and raised her eyes to the green ones beside her, closer than was appropriate, but which, for some reason, she didn't avert from him.

“ Oh, thank you?” she said sheepishly.

“But you've misspelled these here, see.” Einar wrapped his hand around Ashley's, who was holding the notebook, and picked up the pen to correct the mistakes she had mentioned. She stood static as his body came so close and she couldn't contain a slight blush.

Leon looked down at the ground and pushed a stone away so as not to say anything inappropriate. But it was just that he felt like he was taking so many liberties with her....

The door burst open and Helga stepped out along with another man who greeted them formally.

“Hello, I'm Gunnar. Helga mentioned to me that you are here to investigate the traditions around here.” He looked at the group and ended up at Leon and Chris, to whom he gave a long, deep look. “Are you Americans?”

The question made them tense for a moment and the four natives looked at each other.

“ Yes, is that inconvenient?” Ashley replied softly.

Gunnar looked at them silently for long seconds and then nodded to them.

“Let's talk in private.”

Narsson, Einar and Sven stood on the porch next to Helga with a confused expression, surprised by the distrust with which he had spoken to them.

They only hoped there would be no complications.

*

“ We don't want any trouble.”

The four of them stiffened at Gunnar's words. Ashley deeply and sat down on the seat in front of the mayor's desk.

“ We don't want to cause them.” she replied, peacefully, but the man's eyebrows were raised.

“ But there is something about you that tells me you are no ordinary workers. What have you come for?”

Ashley looked to her companions for support. They nodded and sat down in the seats next to each other. The blonde turned to Gunnar and was honest.

“ We're looking for traces.”

“ Traces? Of what?”

“ Of a creature that has lived among us for millennia and whose remains we found in Spain. Our research has brought us here.”

“ To this town? Forgive my mistrust, but I find it hard to believe.”

Ashley sighed and decided to take a chance.

“ We are looking for a monster that has been around since before the Vikings. A creature that denies the sun and dwells in darkness. A creature capable of corrupting the minds of humans and making them lose their sanity. A parasite.”

Gunnar's eyes widened and he stood up with a frown and his face darkened.

“ What are you looking to do with that thing?” The man had changed from intimidating to distrustful and worried. All the agents tensed.

“ Do you know them?” Ashley looked at him with hope in her eyes, feeling that all these past months of investigation might finally pay off.

“ You Americans are looking for beasts for weapons, is that it?”

That statement took them by surprise and they could see that this subject was much more than just legends in this town.

“ We are going to destroy it.”

“ I don't believe you.”

Ashley's impulses were quicker and the agents didn't get to stop her when she pulled out the knife and cut her palm. He looked at her pale and stared at her outstretched hand with blood dripping from it. 

The liquid fell slowly on the mayor's table, first abundant, then slower....

Until it stopped.

The man looked at the wound and saw the blood clotting when barely 2 minutes had passed. Ashley kept looking at the mayor, who in a trembling voice whispered.

“ What are you?”

That question resonated in Leon too, deep as the echo of a bottomless pit. They were freaks, one could start there, but he decided to take the floor while his companion kept her bloody hand raised.

“ We are survivors of that monster. We know what it is capable of. We have seen how it turns normal people into bloodthirsty animals and we are here to prevent it from happening again. We are looking for the source to destroy it.” he emphasized the last word with force, fixing his blue eyes on Gunnar's, who looked at the group with a frightened expression, but finally seemed to understand.

He sighed heavily and sat back down in his chair. Ashley looked at him as he wiped away the blood.

“You are looking for the Eyda.”

That name was new to them, but Ashley knew it was a word that meant annihilate or raze among other similar ones. Quite appropriate.

“ We know them as plaga.” Ashley reported.

Gunnar massaged the bridge of his nose.

“ Those beasts brought us to the brink of destruction when the first humans came here. But they had been living in this place for much longer than that. According to the stories, which no one remembers anymore, they took refuge in the northern area, annihilating us and not knowing where they came from, but it seems that at a certain point they began to dwindle.  After endless battles against them, they took refuge in this region of the western fjords. It is said that the warriors of the area cornered them in the rocky mountain ranges and glaciers, and there they were burned and buried.” The man paused for a second and then added. “They even raided ships when they had no food.”

Ashley then understood where all those ships in that cave came from. God, what barbaric plaga lived there millennia ago? They were lucky that the parasite didn't like sea creatures or flying creatures, otherwise the whole world would be plagued by those monstrosities. 

“ I know that our presence here does not please you, but we came here to put an end to that threat and that is why they tried to kill us.” Ashley explained, recalling the assault by those Wesker soldiers. “We want a slightly safer future.”

Gunnar looked at the woman silently, seeing that they were not messing around after having seen him cut his hand open with a knife.

The mayor sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped.

“ I have to talk it over with a few people before I make the decision. The storm is going to get worse tonight, so I could provide you with a shelter in the horse stables. There's a clean hayloft and a spare room in my house you can stay there for now, sorry it's not much.”

Jill smiled.

“ That's more than enough, thank you.”

The man looked relieved and got up. The rest followed suit and left the building to join the group.

They explained, briefly, to Narsson, that he was still undecided, but omitted the true nature of the parasite and Ashley's injury so as not to worry her further.

They decided that Enma would sleep in the room the mayor had offered, Einar and Sven in the van and the rest in the hayloft at the stables. Under the stares of the villagers they carried their packs to the mayor's stables and his house. Some watched them in silence, others murmured grudgingly as if they saw in them the presence of a bad omen. 

Leon listened to the whispers and hisses, making his body tense as he remembered the unpleasant feeling of always being watched. The voices he heard years ago in the dark or behind a dense fog had already caused him to react by instinct.

He sensed Jill approach Ashley as they walked toward the stables.

“ Hey, how could you even think of cutting yourself? What if it didn't close?”

Ashley looked around before removing the band-aid covering her split lip. Or supposedly split, because there was nothing left but a thin line over her fleshy lip.

“I seem to heal even faster than before.” she sighed with a worried tinge. “I wonder if it's because of what happened to Leon and me.”

The agent heard his partner mention him and felt a horrible pang run through his body. They hadn't spoken since the night before. He didn't know how to, not when he felt his body burn every time he remembered Einar's mouth on hers.

He shook his head with a grunt drawing Jill's attention.

“ Is something wrong?”

“ No.”

It was so dry, even Valentine was shocked. The man took the lead and the two women looked at each other. Ashley interpreted that he was still angry about their argument at the bar and throwing his drink in his face. She sighed heavily and Jill looked at her as well.

What was wrong with those two?

*

The next day Helga invited them all to breakfast at her house. The old man who spoke to Einar growled again when he saw them enter the house, only to earn another slap from his daughter.

At one point Helga's son and daughter ventured to scamper among them, slurring English, but with more fluency than the Americans would have believed.

They didn't know how, but they ended up dangling from Chris' arms in the living room, who was lifting them with ease. The little girl screamed that he was a big, strong, brown bear, because of his hair and eyes. They laughed and squealed with laughter, and when Chris asked for a break, they moved on to Leon. The little boy pointed at him with elation, saying to his mother, “Look at what blue eyes he has!” Leon was flattered by the kid and couldn't help but laugh when the sister asked if they were real.

The children made references to mythical creatures or Norse gods as if they were lifelong friends or everyday animals like simple cats. Ashley was fascinated by the esoteric aura they and the house gave off. The children compared her to Freya, because of her amber eyes and hair, pointing out that she seemed to glow with her own light. Those words made her smile helplessly and the little ones seemed unable to help imitating her gesture.

Leon could not contain himself from laughing softly, witnessing that power Ashley had to infect the rest of the world with her smile, even if she did not realize it.

The morning was pleasant, even if, outside, the storm was horrible. They had lit the fireplace and the children played with Chris and Leon in the living room, while Sven helped Helga clean up breakfast and Einar argued with Helga's father. Even if he was a grumpy old man the Norwegian was getting the hang of him.

Jill, Ashley and Narsson cleared the table as they watched two brats subdue, with tiny wooden swords, two men trained to break necks with their bare hands. 

Ashley didn't know that side of Leon and now understood how he had managed to handle her when they first met in Spain. Being kind and caring was an innate trait in him, even if he sometimes wanted to hide it behind a steely expression.

Finally, at noon Gunnar knocked on the door of Helga's house and entered to speak to the group. Narsson perceived that he spoke his words cautiously, glancing at her and the two guides from time to time, as if he was afraid of saying something improper. 

It seemed that they had reached an agreement and would help them find their target, but first they would wait for the storm to subside, as they would be going through steep areas and wanted to avoid accidents. The group rejoiced at the news and some of the anxiety they had felt that night disappeared. If they had not agreed, everything would have been terribly complicated.

After talking about the procedure they would take longer than they had thought, Helga ended up preparing the meal and inviting the mayor as well.

“ Won't your husband be mad that you invited so many people?” Gunnar joked as he helped open the dining table to let everyone in. 

Helga laughed loudly and looked at the mayor.

“ My husband is the one to blame for inviting people. If it were up to him, the whole town would eat in our house.”

Everyone laughed. Even though the aforementioned was not present, due to a business trip, Helga had talked to them enough to know that he was a good man.

Amidst more food, talk, drinks and laughter, the day passed without them noticing. Gunnar had said goodbye shortly after lunch, announcing that his wife was going to scold him and advised them to prepare what he would take on the trip. The rest of the group helped Helga pack everything up and when it was time for the children to go to bed they decided it was time to go back.

The little ones were terribly sad when they saw Leon and Chris grab their jackets and asked their mother to let them stay. The two men laughed and Leon knelt down in front of them with a gentle smile.

“ Tomorrow we will come again, we will need guides to get to know the village won't we?”

The children threw themselves around the man's neck with revitalized excitement and Ashley couldn't help but smile at the image.

When Helga managed to release her children's death grip on Leon, the travelers said goodbye to the family and went outside. The cold blizzard whipped them with a whack and they all shrank back with a jolt. They grunted inwardly and after saying goodbye to Einar and Sven, who were staying in the van parked in Helga's garage, they walked up towards the mayor's stables.

Back at the stables the four agents said goodbye to Narsson and went up to the hayloft. They lit a small lamp and sat around it while they ate some dinner and thought about what they would get for the trip.

“ Why do we always have bad luck with the weather?” Jill mumbled as she chewed calmly.

“ Maybe, although I think it will be favorable for us this time. The cold will keep whatever we find dormant.” added Ashley.

“ We could have used it in Spain, those damn dogs pissed us off.” Chris grunted, putting his plate aside. “Even so, I still don't like the cold.”

“ That makes two of us.” Leon drank the hot soup and sighed heavily. “We should get as much rest and replenish our strength as possible.”

“ For your babysitting session tomorrow?” Ashley laughed softly, but regretted it as she was aware that this was the first time she had spoken directly to him since the argument the other night.

Leon looked at her and they both averted their eyes as they met. They were at a point where they didn't know how to address each other and Chris and Jill had noticed. The two former STARS looked at each other for a second and heard Leon finally respond simply.

“ For example.”

God, the tension between them couldn't be cut. It could be kneaded and mashed into a brick with it.

“ The storm looks like it's going to be a while and this town is pretty cut off, so let's take the opportunity to disconnect.” Chris suggested, wanting to end that uncomfortable conversation.

“ Yes, I'll go ahead, good night” Leon said getting up and walking to his straw bed at the side of the room.

Ashley finished her cup and then got up with a sigh.

“ Me too, see you tomorrow.” She went to the opposite side of the room from Leon, where she slept with Jill.

Valentine and Redfield looked at each other for a moment and then sighed in unison and went to their respective beds. They only hoped that the whole situation would not worsen their relationship. If it did, they would be in trouble.

*

The next two days were... relatively calm.

As promised by Leon, Helga's sons were their guides through the town. The storm continued to be bad, but that didn't seem to stop most of the inhabitants from going about their daily lives.

Good thing they kept Leon entertained, because Einar didn't leave Ashley's side either day.

The Norwegian was back to his old ways, but this time Ashley didn't seem so reluctant to have a conversation with him. She had spent the previous night plagued by confusing and inappropriate thoughts, so she wanted something or someone to quiet those demons, which kept popping up.

And Einar was succeeding.

Even though they had beaten each other up days ago, Einar seemed captivated by Ashley's strength, wondering where she had learned to fight like that and if she could teach him any tricks.

That whole situation was the opposite of Dylan's, who was only interested in her more vulnerable, everyday side. And that made her a little more curious about the Norwegian.

Jill and Chris, on the other hand, noticed Leon's irascibility. He didn't seem angry, but for some things he did sound more blunt than usual. Jill even asked him if he was jealous of Einar, to which Leon only replied with a gruff, “ He wished.”

And the reason was that in the wake of his argument with Ashley, he remembered the words of warning he shared with Einar before that. And bringing up things he shouldn't.

On their journey they learned a few things about the village, mainly old stories that were still told about the depths of the mountains and the glaciers. The witch Grýla appeared in a few more anecdotes, and Ashley couldn't help but find some similarities to the ganados in Spain. But, even as she tried to distract herself with Einar and those stories, Leon was still a part of her internal struggle. And a thorn was beginning to form in her chest.

*

On the third day the storm calmed down. A thin curtain of snow falling slowly was all that remained of the previous blizzard. The group was on the move in the hayloft with the first rays of dawn and soon they were dressed and ready with everything they needed.

Gunnar didn't take long to show up at the stables and was surprised to find them coming down the stairs of the hayloft, ready. The mayor provided them with a few more things that the Americans might ask him for and once everything seemed in place, he got ready to speak.

“ We will go on horseback. It is far away and the animals are more accustomed to that terrain. They are safe and well taught, so if someone doesn't know how to ride they can rest assured.”

“ Are you sure? I'm very clumsy with mounts.” Enma was shy as she approached one of the animals.

Chris looked at Leon and Leon sighed heavily, turning to the woman.

“ You stay here, Enma.”

The Professor froze and then turned around with eyes like saucers.

“ What?”

Gunnar decided to leave them alone to settle the matter. He looked at Narsson with a hard expression.

“ It's too dangerous for you, Enma.”

“ And you're just going to leave me out of it? I'm a paleontologist like Ashley, we're the ones who know the tracks.”

“ Do you know how to fire a gun?”

Leon's voice was blunt and his hard stare made Enma shrink back in intimidation.

“ No...but-”

“ What would you do if we found ourselves in an adverse situation? You can't count on one of us being with you all the time. We don't want you to take unnecessary risks, Enma.”

“Or you don't want me to be a liability,” the voice of Narsson's inner demon began to gain strength.

She remembered the words of that woman, Ada. They echoed through the corridors of her thoughts, causing all the demons that were asleep in the shadows to begin to awaken.

Leon could see the professor's frown. Even if he wasn't aware of her thoughts, he could imagine that it bothered her. He raised his broad hand and rested it on her shoulder, making her raise those greenish eyes to his.

“ Thanks to you we have arrived here. Your contact in Oslo helped us and your interpretation of the photos brought us to Iceland when we didn't know how to proceed. But that doesn't make us want to put you in danger. If Ashley didn't know how to fight she wouldn't come either, I assure you. Please, Enma, you're safe here.”

Leon's tone of voice was so soft that it made Ashley look away. Narsson held those blue eyes for a few seconds and managed to push his demons back again.

“ You're right I'm sorry.” she let out a long sigh and smiled gently at them. “Be careful.”

All four nodded and Ashley gave him a tight hug. Gunnar looked up and, seeing that everything was settled, asked Narsson to help him prepare the horses. 

The ponies were small in comparison to what was usually seen, but one could discern, under the thick coat, a much more developed musculature than usual. 

Chris was assigned the largest of them all, an almost black chestnut who snorted at him in greeting. Chris and Jill had no idea about horses and Gunnar assisted them in all the preparation. Enma helped as much as she could and when they took the animals outside, she gave them a good luck salute. 

Once they were all mounted on their horses they set out on the journey to the mountains.

*

“ You two seem familiar with horses.” Gunnar asked, looking back.

The animals were climbing the stone slopes with astonishing ease and the village was no longer visible among the snow-covered hills. Leon rode next to Chris's horse, and Ashley rode next to Jill's, acting as their guides as they followed Gunnar. 

“ My parents used to take me to summer horse camps when I was little, I loved it.” Ashley smiled and stroked her cream-colored horse, which shook its head gently. 

Gunnar smiled and turned his body on the saddle to address Leon.

“ You ride like you have western reins.”

Leon looked at his hand holding the leather straps and the other resting on his thigh. He could sense, out of the corner of his eye, Ashley watching him and he subtly straightened up.

“ I grew up with my aunt and uncle from the age of 11. They had a farm and worked with the horses to drive cattle.” The agent explained, not giving too many facts. Talking about his childhood was not something he was used to doing, and even less so to strangers.

“ It gives me more peace of mind to know that, because from now on the road is more irregular.” Gunnar mentioned, looking ahead again.

Ashley was curious about Leon's aunt and uncle's farm. He had told her about it some time ago and said he would like to take her there sometime. She sighed softly.

For that they would have to reconcile. If they ever did.

*

Narsson walked through the village towards Helga's house. Her thoughts wandered through her head like a restless tide. She had conflicting feelings that clashed with each other and only made her want to bang her head against a wall. 

“ Hey, Emma!” a male voice snapped her out of her thoughts and made her look up from the floor. She found Einar playing in the garden with Helga's children.

“ Hello Einar.” she said with a tired smile. “What are you doing?”

“Helga had to go to the airport to pick up her husband, so we've been babysitting with the children.” The Norwegian looked behind the teacher and arched his eyebrows. “Isn't Ashley here?”

Enma sighed and walked over to the garden where they were playing.

“ She's out in the hills with Gunnar.” she greeted the children and sat down next to Einar.

“ And how come you didn't go?”

His words were of simple curiosity, with no hurtful intent, but they still hurt.

“ It's kind of a dangerous area and I'm not used to it, so I stayed for safety.”

“ Gee, well, I'll wait for her to come back then.” He lifted Helga's daughter into the air and the girl squealed with excitement. Narsson watched the man and his words came out without thinking.

“ Do you like Ashley?”

“Of course I do.” he answered without hesitation as he set the little girl down and walked away with his brother and Sven. “Did you see the punches she gave me? She hits like a truck and has the temper of a tiger.” he smiled proudly.

Narsson was surprised by this honesty.

“Really?”

He sat on the same bench as her.

“ I don't like princesses in distress or those that are delicate.” He paused, turning his head towards the woman. “Hey, you wouldn't happen to know if she and Leon have ever dated, would you?”

“They say they haven't.” Enma replied, leaning back on the bench with a sigh.

“They seem very close.”

“They are.”

“And they're not a couple? That Leon is either gay or dumb. Well, better for me, that's what he gets for not waking up.”

Einar smiled with his chest high and proud that he had gotten ahead of the American.

“ I think it's more complicated.”

“ Ashley doesn't tell me to fuck off anymore and we're getting along fine. That's enough for me, what she has or doesn't have with Leon is not my problem.”

Enma looked at him sideways, admiring the simplicity with which he saw things. She would spend the day with them, so at least she wouldn't stay in her room being devoured by her horrible demons.

*

The entrance to the cave was just a huge crack in the wall.

Gunnar had led them to an old house, where a stout old woman lived, who was the one who guided them to the cave. 

That woman was related to the villagers, but her ancestors had been living in that house since they banished the beasts. She was a sort of lookout guarding the entrance from strangers or lost climbers.

He had to argue with her until she agreed to guide them.

They dismounted and took their packs to go into the grotto. The mayor handed them each a radio to keep in touch. The curtain of snow began to get thicker, not allowing them to see more than 20 meters.

“ I will return to the cabin, keep me informed. I'll notify you if we see anything unusual from outside.” he paused. “Be careful with the terrain, this island has a lot of volcanic activity.”

The group ascended and after checking their weapons, equipment and clothing, they entered the dark crevice that would lead them to the bowels of the earth.

*

The flashlights illuminated the abyss. Their footsteps echoed and their breaths showed the gentleness of that place.

They followed Gunnar's instructions to reach the sealed entrance, avoiding the traps that, centuries ago, were set. They did not know if they were still working, most probably not, but they did not want to risk an arrow ending up embedded in someone's skull.

The four of them tied themselves to the same rope, making sure not to get lost. The light illuminated the stone wall that separated them from their target. Chris pulled out a small explosive to make a controlled detonation. He placed it on top of the rock that acted as a door and they moved several meters away before detonating it. The captain stared at the nook.

“ I don't think I'll go through there.”

“ Don't worry, under pressure anything goes through.” Jill scoffed, being the first to pass by. She was followed by Redfield, who had to be pushed from behind to get through the hole. Ashley followed and finally Leon.

When the four regrouped they surveyed their surroundings once more.

“ Gunnar, do you read me?” Ashley called in Norwegian, for line security.

“Yes, have you passed the entrance?” the robotic tone of voice came out of the radio.

“Yes, are there any more traps in here?”

“ No, the ones they set were so that no one would try to get in, not for the beasts not to get out.” said the mayor.

“ Good, keep us informed.”

The line was silent.

“ He said there are no more traps here.” translated the woman to the group. Chris and Jill nodded, but Leon scoffed under his breath.

“ So careful now not to speak English, did you forget when you argued with Einar?”

Ashley frowned at Leon's sudden hurtful words. The calm she had achieved over the past few days was gone.

“ Are you going to accuse me of things?” she snarled angrily.

The memories came back to him, sharp as if it had been yesterday. His blood boiled.

“ It was you who sent the cover to hell.”

“ I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't been such a jerk.”

“ Now it's my fault?”

“ SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU.”

Chris's deep roar struck them dumb and Ashley clenched her fists tightly and then spun on her heels.

Chris and Jill watched Ashley take the lead and the two soldiers sighed heavily. How had they gone from being an amazing pair of buddies on a mission from Spain to spiteful teenagers?

The way they descended was in silence. Their steps were calm and they looked both at their feet and around them. The terrain was uneven and they had to make use of Ashley's ropes and rings to descend at several points. 

It seemed as if they were traveling to the bottom of the earth, descending through time through those tunnels buried under tons and miles of volcanic rock.

They reached a point where they began to feel a little warmer. Ashley's theory about the cold slowing down the ancient plagas was logical, but in that volcanic realm it seemed more like they had been buried alive under those shifting lands, similar to Spain.

“ This seems to be alive.” Leon whispered in the darkness. To the rest of the group it was barely perceptible, but the agent heard overtones in the earth, like the subtle vibrations in the deep rock and the gas slipping into distant crevices.

As if growling from deep in the abyss. 

“It's a little scary, yeah.” Jill nodded, looking up at the vast walls of black rock that opened up in places and narrowed in others, like veins and lungs.

Then the ground beneath their feet creaked.

A slight tremor shook the earth and before they could react Jill and Leon plunged into the void. Chris and Ashley had no time to act and the weight of the two of them dragged them hopelessly into the depths.

*

“ Did you see that?” the old woman spoke to Gunnar, pointing to a spot in the soft snowfall that had calmed down in the last few hours. The mayor raised his binoculars and saw a subtle flicker on the other side of the hill.

“What the hell is that?”

The Icelander peered through the thermal sight of his rifle at the entrance to the grotto in the distance. 

There didn't seem to be anyone there.

“ There's noth-”

A violent blow to his neck made everything a blur. His body slumped next to the old woman, who lay unconscious beside him. He tried to reach for the radio, but a boot pushed her away from him. He raised his clouded eyes, the tunnel growing darker and darker, and he could make out only a dark reddish blur before he lost consciousness.

*

Grunts and coughs echoed through the grotto.

“ Are you all right” Chris's voice echoed with an effort.

“ Yes.” replied a female voice next to him.

Redfield saw Ashley's figure emerge from the rubble, but did not hear the voices of the other two. 

“ Jill? Leon?” he called out to them, but got no response.

Ashley spat sand and her radio beeped softly.

“ Chris? Ashley?” Jill's voice came out loudly. The captain and the young woman looked at each other and Redfield pressed the button.

“ We're okay, where are you?”

“ According to the scanner, we've fallen 100 meters. The rope broke at some point. Let's find a way back to the path at the beginning.” Jill suggested with a grunt of effort. 

“Okay, be careful, we'll meet you there.” replied the dark-haired man before cutting the rope.

Ashley and Chris raised their eyes around the grotto and saw that they were unnatural. They looked at each other before pulling out their weapons and started walking around looking for a way out.

That area was steeper and they had to slide between crevices and rocks. Ashley sniffed from time to time to avoid dangerous areas or find places with cleaner air.

Her footsteps were the only ones that accompanied the silence. Chris walked behind Ashley cautiously, shining a light into the strange grotto. He couldn't help but think about the previous discussion between her and Leon, he was still surprised by the sudden change they had undergone. If he was simply a professional he wouldn't ask, but he considered her a friend at this point and was concerned for her and Leon's well being.

“ Hey, Ashley.” sighed the captain finally, causing the young woman to turn to him. “Can you tell me what's going on with you and Leon, and don't tell me “nothing”.”

The woman's eyes widened at the question and she was speechless. She looked away, not knowing what to say at first.

“ We had an argument.” she whispered.

Chris rolled his eyes.

“ I've noticed that already, Ashley.”

The blonde shrugged her shoulders.

“ I don't think this is the time for this, Chris.”

“ I'd rather know now than you two have a fight later and endanger us all.”

Ashley grunted and sighed at the man's insistence. He was stubborn too.

“ He still doesn't see me able to stand on my own.” she finally said and Chris arched his eyebrows. 

“ If he didn't he wouldn't have let you come here or to Spain.”

The young woman looked at him with a frustrated expression, remembering the words he said to her in the bar.

“ I mean as a woman.”

“ What?” this time he didn't understand. Ashley sighed.

“ A lot of people see me as a little thing, a pretty girl who wants love. But that doesn't give him the right to threaten to break a guy's arm for talking to me.” she clenched her fists. “And then she tells me my romantic decisions have been shit so far.”

Chris pinched the bridge of his nose with a snarl.

“God, Leon, what have you gotten yourself into?” he thought hopelessly. He was precisely the last one who could say such a comment to Ashley. The woman had every right to be angry, but she could also partly understand why Leon was doing it.

“ Ashley... I can't give you advice. I understand that you're angry and that Leon was being a jerk, but... if I were in his shoes I'd be worried too.”

“ Won't you say jealous instead?” mumbled the blonde.

Chris sighed heavily.

“ Look, there's one thing I can tell you, and that's that, although Leon and I are different with women, I can assure you that sometimes he's as much of a jerk as I am.” he shook his hair, looking at her. - Sometimes we men are idiots and are incapable of expressing ourselves properly. Maybe Leon had a different intention than you think, but his more stupid impulses made him say what he said.

“ He was hurtful, Chris.” she frowned.

“ I believe you. I'm not saying to forget what he said, I'm just asking you to talk it out. I sometimes fail to say things and that leads to misunderstandings.”

Ashley stared at him, still hurt by Leon's words to her a few nights ago. But she listened to Chris.

And she realized that was something she used to say. To talk.

Because she hid many things from him that angered Leon and that by dialoguing they managed to overcome. She looked at the floor for a moment and exhaled deeply.

“ I will, but he has to apologize.”

“ Of course. It may have been a misunderstanding but he was the jerk.”

Ashley couldn't help but smile softly.

“ Thank you, Chris.” she whispered warmly and the brunet gave her the same gesture.

“ You're welcome, but you'll have to give the Einar thing a whirl too.”

The reality made Ashley growl again.

“ Yeah, that's another issue too.”

“ Whether your decisions are good or bad I'm not going to question, but the fact that you tend to get yourself into a bit complicated situations is a fact of life.” laughed the brunette trying to cheer up the woman and make her see that there was a solution.

“ Yes, I'm not going to deny it.” she sighed with a soft tired laugh. “But first things first.” she added, shining the flashlight to the bottom of the grotto.

“ Yes, ma'am.”

They walked for an hour.

Jill and Leon were fine, but they had not made it to the main path yet either. 

Ashley and Chris realized that the grotto they were walking through was...strange. Ashley noticed the walls on their way, until she realized that the markings they had been seeing since they had found that path, were claws. The Captain's face darkened when the woman mentioned it to him and they walked cautiously with their weapons held high towards the depths. 

But what they saw there did not please any of them.

Plaga corpses.

A jumble of bodies was piled up on the walls of the place, buried or embedded against the volcanic rock.

“God...” whispered Ashley in horror. She pointed her gun as she approached the fossils. 

“These are bigger than the ones in Spain.” said Chris brushing the stone with his fingers.

Ashley analyzed the bodies of the creatures and seemed to understand what had happened there.

“ They ate each other.” her tone sounded horrified and made Redfield turn to her with wild eyes.

“What?”

“Gunnar told us that the first inhabitants of Iceland locked them in. That grotto we saw, it seems there were so many of them that they made new paths in the rock, trying to escape from here. It may have taken them so long that they ended up feeding on each other to survive.”

“ I'm getting more and more disgusted by these things, and I haven't seen any of them alive” Chris mumbled, disgusted.

The two looked around the room and saw no other paths they could go down, although they did see small nooks and crannies. Ashley took a couple of bags out of the backpack and with the knife chipped the stone to get samples and fragments in much better condition than the ones they found in Spain.

“ If these Plagas are here, there has to be a “Queen Plaga" somewhere, after all they are the ones who store the little ones.” Ashley stood up with a sigh and took the small explosive Chris gave her.

“We may be able to make our way through one of those holes upstairs, you climb up.”

“ I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to stay where you are.”

Ashley and Chris tensed violently and turned toward the source of the voice. They pointed at the figure walking toward them and the flashlights illuminated a silhouette very familiar to Ashley. The radio beeped.

“ Guys, we've been attacked on the outside! I don't know who, but someone's broken in!”

Gunnar's voice echoed in the silence of the room, where three people were pointing guns at each other's heads.

“ A little late, she's already found us.”

How come she hadn't smelled her? At certain moments she had been able to perceive the scent of Leon or Jill, how come she hadn't smelled her when she was behind them?

“ Ada.” she whispered her name suspiciously.

The dark-eyed woman's subtle smile brought all of Ashley's instincts to alertness. 

“Well, well, has the little chick hatched from the nest? I'm sorry I didn't bring anything to celebrate our reunion, but I'm going to take that thing you pulled out of the wall.”

Chris raised his gun and Ada followed suit.

“ You're not taking anything for Wesker.”

The faint, subtle laugh that escaped Ada's lips made Ashley frown.

“Wesker? Oh, please, I don't work for that paranoid man anymore. If he carries out his plans I'm going to be out of a job in the future.”

Graham felt her blood boil at the woman's words. Her job seemed to be more important than saving thousands of lives. Ashley knew Ada had some conscience, but she was always going to put her job and herself before others.

The two agents watched the mercenary and the earth began to vibrate, as if it were growling.

“ I don't think it's very safe to stay here, don't make me repeat myself, give me the samples.”

“ Over me, Wong.” Chris growled, raising his gun. The woman sighed and her smile faded.

“As you wish.”

Ashley didn't see the smoke bomb coming and it clouded her sense of smell. She took a punch to the stomach and heard Chris roar before a shot rang out.

“ CHRIS!!!” Ashley screamed in panic as the earth roared even louder. She sat up on the curtain and pulled the knife out holding the backpack tightly against her chest. A part of the floor caved in under one foot and she jumped to avoid falling.

“ ASHLEY!!!” she heard the man's voice just before she saw a figure pounce at her. She managed to dodge the kick and as she went to kick her back, there was a violent crack and the grotto came crashing down.

*

Ashley grabbed as best she could at the sliding earth that carried her elsewhere. She rolled aimlessly until she collided with a wall of stone and water. She exclaimed in pain and the echo echoed through the caves.

She gasped as she tried to catch her breath, feeling the cold water up to her elbows. Where was she? 

“Chris?” her voice was barely a whisper from the effort, but she got no response. She grunted from the pain and sat up gently. She reached for the flashlight she had dropped and saw light between some rocks a few feet away from her.

Once she recovered, she looked around, searching for an upward path, but instead she remained static when she saw a body lying on the ground near her.

Ada lay unconscious with blood staining the side of her face and half her body in one of the cave's small water pits. It looked like a rock had hit her head.

Ashley hesitated and shook the woman's arm first before kneeling beside her. 

She examined the wound and found that it was not serious.She got up again with the intention of leaving. 

She had to find a way, maybe she could climb, there seemed to be ledges. She adjusted her harness and pulled out a long rope. She walked to the wall only to stand still, watching it.

She should leave her there, she had followed them. But she was unconscious.

Ashley kept up an inner struggle for several minutes and her thoughts ended up coming to the same place.

She had saved her and Leon years ago.

She remembered it was the first name that came from Leon's lips when she went to find him in Spain the first time and felt a pang in her chest. 

He would probably get her out of there.

Ashley cursed under her breath like a rabid dog and turned around. She walked over to Ada and after tending to her head wound and putting some bandages on it, towed her onto her back. 

The added weight was going to take its toll on her hands, but she could do it, Dana taught her not to give up.

She took a deep breath and with one push began to ascend.

*

EVERYTHING was crawling with pests.

On her ascent up the stone walls she could see remains and dismembered parts of the parasites, but next to them she could see...other fossils.

She followed the trail as she climbed, beginning to see prehistoric animals and to her dismay, she saw that most of them had huge Plagas attached to their skeletons.

With her hands raw and her heart pounding, she made it to a safer area. She took a few moments to catch her breath before moving on with Ada on her back. 

She had definitely used something to camouflage her scent. She could only pick up her scent with her so close and probably because the water they had fallen into would have dissolved whatever it was she had used to make it undetectable.

And now that she was analyzing her scent, she realized that it was the same scent she smelled in Norway, in the village they were attacked. How long had she been chasing them?

She climbed up a slope with her head in chaos, but the instant the flashlight shone on that path, Ashley felt terror coursing through every cell of her body.

Dinosaurs.

Those bones were unmistakable. She would have been happy to have discovered them if it weren't for the terrible silhouettes that accompanied the Jurassic creatures on the stone.

Plagas as big as cars.

She unconsciously drew her weapon and held it tightly, but the weight of the metal could do little to assuage her fears of beasts of that size. She noticed that they seemed to be coming from somewhere, all the skeletons facing the same way. She followed the trail and pulled out her radio to try to contact someone.

“ Chris? Jill? Leon? Gunnar? Can anyone hear me?” her voice echoed off the walls as she moved forward. In her wait she rounded a corner and almost dropped her talkie on the isle.

“ Ashley? Are you all right?” Chris's voice was a relief.

“ Yes.” she stood silently, unable to take her eyes off what lay before her, encrusted in jagged pinks as it had been engulfed by the passage of time. “Chris.”

“ Where are you? Where's Wong?”

Ashley's body vibrated at the instincts that were surfacing, imagining what those lands must have been like before the Vikings arrived. Hell on earth.

“ I found it.”

She had found the “Plaga Mother” of that whole place.

She laid Ada down on the ground and pulled out the small backpack. She armed the ice axe and slid her hands along the porous stone, trying to find the area where the creature's “womb” should be or where it stored the Plagas.

If it was like the one that merged with Salazar, then it would have even older Plagas inside and they would know with greater certainty the place or time they came from.

But the fact that there were dinosaurs buried there together with such large Plagas already told her that they coexisted with them in the Jurassic. 

But that thing was immense.

It had been incredibly well preserved, but it took her time to find the bag. When she thought she had found it, she bit into the rock with all her might. The sound of metal hitting rock was the only thing that echoed in the place along with Ashley's breathing.

Finally she plunged the point into a softer hollow, like hard mud, and carefully poked around. She felt a few lumps inside, some misshapen, some cracked, but when she pulled them out she saw what they were.

Eggs.

“ Chris, I found eggs inside this thing, I'm going to take them and look for your location, this bug had to get here somehow.” Ashley announced, opening the backpack.

“ Okay, we'll meet up with the radar.”

Ashley nodded and put the talkie aside. She pulled out some bags and carefully took out one of the eggs.

A sharp thud impacted against the back of her head.

Her body froze and her vision blurred. She fell to the ground trying not to close her eyes. She raised her clouded gaze upward, only to see a red figure.

“ It's not personal.”

Another kick knocked her unconscious.

[ashrillvenheim]

A time ago I read some stories fo Leon becoming a teacher, so here he is :3

[ashrillvenheim]

OMG.

I love how you draw Death from Darsiders.

Maybe if you have some time can you do it with Strife also?

Hey! I'm glad you liked my Death version. I was planning on doing Fury, as Strife and War are already in Genesis and this was a personal project to add Death and Fury in the last game's style.

[ashrillvenheim]

A little more of this AU. Sometimes I get stuck on a piece that doesn't move forward, so I prefere to end it and start a new one instead of trying to fix it over and over again, never being totalu content. But I liked what I learned here :3

[ashrillvenheim]

Some nature study for a change :3