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No matter how hard Leon fought against the parasite making home inside of him, the fight was futile. He could only sit and watch, caged within the depths of his consciousness as his limbs were taken over, no longer under his control. He could hear whispers, echoes that sounded faintly like Saddler bouncing around inside of his head, taunting him, telling him that no matter how hard he fought, the Lord would still be victorious. He couldn’t tear it out as much as he wanted to, this was a different sort of battle, he couldn't just come in, guns blazing and expect to save the day, instead he was held hostage as he watched a scene take place his eyes that were no longer his own for the time being. No matter how much he begged and pleaded for you to run, there was nothing he could do to make you hear him, no longer in control of his lips either.
He watched helplessly with the last bit of strength he had over his own consciousness as you backed away from him, hands up placatingly and he wished you would shoot him, do everything in your power to kill him before he could kill you, but he knew that you wouldn’t. Never in his life had he regretted allowing you to work your way into his heart, slipping in between all of his defenses he’d so carefully built and curated throughout the years. His mind was slowly melding with the Plagas, thoughts no longer his own and all he could do was think about how much he wanted to wrap his arms around your neck, snapping that delicate throat of yours with ease. He no longer had the time to tell you to get away as he tilted his head to the side, smirk on his lips.
As you watched his demeanor change, you kept backing away, combat knife at the ready to do what it took to bring Leon back to you, your partner and boyfriend of at least 5 years. Your heart pounded in your chest, taking a good look at his reddened eyes as tears filled yours, while you’d been infected by the Plagas yourself, you’d been able to fight it, at least for the time being, keeping Saddler and his malicious words at bay for as long as you could.
“Leon! Stop, please… I know you’re still in there somewhere.” You knew your pleas fell on unhearing ears as the man stepped forward, quicker than he’d ever been able to before and pulled you into an embrace, one that began to cut off your air supply immediately. Your fingers dug their nails into Leon’s forearms, making an attempt to get him off of you as he lifted you off of the ground, rendering any escape tactics that you knew, useless. You dropped the knife with a groan, feet kicking in the air pathetically as you fought against the stronger man, the one that had only ever held you with love. ‘This isn’t Leon,’ you reminded yourself.
“Silence, Child. Don’t fight it. You were made for this, for salvation.” His words were doubled, you could hear the growl beneath them indicating that Leon might just be too far gone. You scratched and slapped at his arms fitfully, you might as well have been scratching at stone as it got no response out of… not Leon. He simply chuckled, tightening his grip.
“Ple-ase-” You choked as the pressure was becoming too much, there was nothing you could do to save yourself at this point, but maybe you could save Leon.
“I-If you can.. Hear me, Lee. ‘S not you. ‘S okay…” Between words you wheezed, making sure he understood that you were okay. If it was your time to go, it was your time, and while you hated that it was by Leon’s hand, knowing just how much he’d blame himself for it, you would have to be okay.
“‘M sorry.” With one last thrust of your arm, in a pointless attempt at getting Leon to let go, or at the very least getting him to loosen his hold on you, you elbowed him in the face… hard. That was all it took for him to finish the deed, snapping your neck in one solid motion as you went limp in his arms. He dropped your body to the ground without a second thought or even a moment of hesitation or remorse, that is precisely when Saddler decided to relinquish his hold over Leon’s body and mind. The agent dropped to the ground beside your unmoving corpse, chest heaving as he fought against the after effects of the possession, eyes on the ground for a moment before he spotted your unmoving hand in his vision.
“No…” He murmured, chest filling with panic as a pit settled in his stomach. He couldn’t look, he didn’t know exactly what happened, only bits and pieces of it all flashing through his mind’s eye like a scratched up disc playing through a film. He swallowed before biting the bullet and looking at you laid on the ground, neck bruised and deformed. His lips parted in horror as he crawled only a foot or so to get to you, sitting back on his knees as he pulled your lifeless body into his chest, hand burying itself in your locks as his lip quivered, entire body trembling in anguish as he began to cry.
He rocked you in his arms, mumbles of, no, no, no, leaving his lips feverishly along with cries of your name as he pressed an ear against your unmoving chest. What had he done? He didn’t deserve to mourn you, he didn’t deserve to be the one to hold you to his chest as he sobbed, feeling sorry for himself as he lost the most important person in his life, it had been done by his own hands– his own arms. He could practically feel the way your neck gave way under his arm and he felt sick, all he could do was sob.
He remembered your words, the way you’d thought about him right up until your demise, making sure that he knew it wasn’t technically his fault, but it was. There was no way that he could live with himself knowing that he’d been the one to kill you, the love of his life– the person he’d planned on proposing to after this mission. There was no way he could return to your shared home, to a life without you in it and a place that would no longer feel safe when his real home had been demolished within moment, ripped away from him as easily as a natural disaster destroyed livelihoods and he knew that he was a hurricane, a mess of a man that destroyed everything he touched and he should have never allowed himself to have you.. To dream of a life with you, nothing ever worked out for him in the end and he knew that.
He hoped that the President had someone else to come out here in search of Ashley because as far as he was concerned, Leon Kennedy died right here beside you. He was a monster and he deserved to stay that way. He held you, even as he’d given up, even as he resigned himself to his own death in this random village in Spain. He just hoped that he could see you again and repent his mistakes.