Chapter Text
2005
Leon S. Kennedy could already feel a headache coming on.
The goddamn government had canceled his leave, and Washington had summoned him again on short notice. He had barely had a few days to breathe after returning from Spain, but apparently the world had no intention of respecting the fact that he needed a break.
At this rate, maybe he should have accepted the invitation to Ashley’s welcome-home party after all.
I thought rescuing the president’s daughter would earn me at least a month off.
Apparently, his expectations for government employee benefits had been far too generous.
Leon opened the briefing room door with a firm resolution to demand hazard pay and guaranteed vacation time once this mission was over.
Then he stopped in his tracks.
Someone he had not expected to see was sitting in the waiting area.
He was not exactly a stranger.
Or perhaps Leon should say he knew him?
Chris Redfield had dark brown hair, markedly different from his red-haired younger sister’s.
Leon had seen him a handful of times through Claire. They had exchanged brief greetings in a hospital hallway once, and after Raccoon City, Claire had mentioned his name so often in passing that Leon sometimes felt as though he had known him for years. When Claire had been in danger on Rockfort Island, Leon had also been the one to pass along information about her whereabouts so Chris could go after her.
Still, he had never expected to see him here, of all places, at such close range.
Leon could not remember exactly how many years had passed since their last meeting, but Chris looked different now.
Even seated, Chris somehow seemed to occupy more space than anyone else in the room. His broad shoulders and solid build were impossible to hide beneath the fitted forest-green shirt he wore. He was not excessively bulky. Rather, he looked like a man whose body bore the accumulated evidence of years of training and field experience.
There was a certain weight to his face, the kind possessed by someone who did not smile easily. His eyes beneath his dark brows were calm, but sharp, as though they were always watching for something others might miss. His nose and jaw were clean-cut and strong, and his lips remained set in an almost motionless line.
For one brief moment, Leon thought he understood why Claire always looked half proud and half exhausted whenever she talked about her brother.
Chris Redfield was almost certainly a good man.
And there was a very high chance he was an exhausting one.
At that moment, Chris looked up.
His gaze landed directly on Leon.
For no particular reason, Leon straightened his shoulders slightly and slipped an easy smile into place.
“Chris Redfield.”
He was the first to speak.
“When was the last time we saw each other?”
Chris Redfield had volunteered for this operation.
As one of the founding members of the still relatively new BSAA, he had been keeping a close eye on signs of biological threats appearing across the globe. Until now, most of the B.O.W.s he had encountered had been creatures mutated by viruses.
Recently, however, reports had begun to emerge from Europe of an entirely different form of infection.
Not a virus.
A parasite.
An infection that invaded both the body and mind of its host, turning human beings into living weapons.
At the center of those reports was the name Leon S. Kennedy.
The government agent sent to rescue the president’s daughter. One of the few people to return alive from the heart of a village infested with parasitic B.O.W.s, and someone with firsthand experience fighting the threat.
Chris had already been thinking that he needed to contact him sooner or later.
Then a similar case appeared in the United States.
The residents of a small rural town had begun disappearing, and contact with the local police had been lost. In the final footage transmitted from the area, the people still looked human.
But they did not move like normal human beings.
So Chris had come to investigate personally.
When Leon spoke his name with a faint smile, Chris pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked up.
They had met a few times before.
They had briefly exchanged greetings when Leon was with Claire, and Leon had been a tremendous help when Chris went to rescue her. But this was the first time they had stood this close and looked at each other for more than a few passing seconds.
Leon seemed a little thinner than Chris remembered.
His face beneath his neatly arranged blond hair was still youthful, and a reassuring smile rested easily at the corner of his mouth. On the surface, he appeared relaxed. There was no unnecessary tension in his shoulders and no hesitation in his stride.
His eyes were different.
His blue eyes were quiet and sharp, with faint shadows underneath that made him look tired. He had already swept his gaze across the people in the room, the exits, and the documents on the table. Even while smiling, he did not look entirely at ease.
They were the eyes of someone prepared to wipe the smile away and move at a moment’s notice.
The boyish face Chris remembered, with its soft and youthful contours, was gone.
And Leon’s eyes did not look young at all.
Claire had told Chris that Leon was a good person.
Brave. Kind. Sometimes far too careless with his own safety.
When Chris first heard that description, he thought he understood the type.
But the Leon standing in front of him was harder to read than he had expected.
It was not easy to tell what he was hiding beneath that light smile.
For some reason, that bothered Chris.
He rose from his seat.
“I think the last time was in a hospital hallway. You were with Claire.”
Leon’s smile deepened slightly.
“Right. Claire had cornered you and was lecturing you about something.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Leon lifted one eyebrow.
“I hope they were good things.”
Chris studied him for a moment before answering.
“About half of them.”
Leon let out a short laugh.
“Then you’ll have to give me a chance to explain the other half myself. Speaking of which, are you involved in this operation?”
Chris’s expression grew serious as he nodded.
“Yeah. I wanted to look into this case personally. And I wanted to hear about your experience directly, Leon.”
For a brief moment, Leon simply looked at him.
It was difficult to tell what lay behind that gaze. It did not seem like simple curiosity, but it was not suspicion either.
“Chris. Is it all right if I call you Chris? It isn’t a particularly pleasant story, but if it helps, I’m happy to tell you what I know.”
Leon was still smiling, but the smile did not reach his eyes.
Chris did not miss it.
At that moment, the briefing room door opened.
Two government officials in suits entered, carrying files. The man in front looked between Leon and Chris before setting a thin folder on the table.
“Thank you both for coming. We’ll give you the full briefing while you’re in transit.”
Leon lifted an eyebrow.
“You called us all the way here and the destination is still classified?”
“For security reasons, your destination will be disclosed after takeoff.”
The official continued in an even tone, apparently having anticipated Leon’s reaction.
“You’ll be traveling aboard a military transport aircraft. Departure is in thirty minutes. Mission files, field maps, and the video footage we’ve obtained will be provided on board. Any necessary supplies beyond your personal equipment will also be available after boarding.”
“How large is the affected area?” Chris asked.
“One town. Approximately three hundred residents. All communication with the outside world has been cut off.”
“The local police?”
“We’ve had no contact since their final transmission.”
The faint smile vanished from Leon’s face.
The official opened one of the files and placed a photograph on the table. The blurred image showed the entrance to an ordinary rural town. Old houses, small shops, and a low church building lined both sides of the road.
At first glance, it looked quiet.
Too quiet.
The stillness itself felt ominous.
“We haven’t confirmed any survivors so far. However, the last footage we received showed abnormal group behavior and aggression among the residents.”
Leon studied the photograph for a long moment.
“Any signs of parasite activation?”
“None confirmed yet.”
“So we don’t even know for certain whether they’re infected.”
“That’s why we need you, Agent Kennedy.”
Leon slowly leaned back against his chair.
“Always nice to hear.”
The official pretended not to notice the remark.
“A vehicle is waiting downstairs. We’ll answer any additional questions aboard the aircraft.”
With only the necessary information delivered, the officials left the briefing room.
A brief silence followed after the door closed.
Chris looked down at the photograph left on the table.
“Was it like this in Spain at first?”
Leon answered without taking his eyes off the image.
“At first, I made it to the edge of the village with the local police without much trouble.”
“And then?”
“The residents wouldn’t respond properly when we spoke to them. The moment they saw an outsider, they picked up weapons.”
Leon lightly tapped the church building in the photograph with one fingertip.
“Even after the parasite activates, they may not look very different from ordinary people at first. They can still go through the motions of everyday life, although any interaction with them tends to be one-sided. But once they start attacking, don’t hesitate.”
Chris looked at him.
“Even if they’re civilians?”
A very faint smile touched Leon’s mouth.
“Starting with the difficult questions, I see.”
“It’s an important one.”
Leon was silent for a moment.
“If we can help them, we should,” he said at last. “But in the field, we may not have that luxury.”
“Who makes that call?”
“I do.”
Chris’s eyebrow shifted almost imperceptibly.
“That sounds like you’re planning to make decisions and act on your own.”
Leon raised his head and met Chris’s gaze.
“Wasn’t an experienced operative what you needed?”
“Experience and acting alone are two different things.”
“Of course.”
Leon smiled with effortless calm.
“But someone dying while we wait for backup is a separate issue too.”
Chris’s gaze sharpened.
“That still doesn’t mean you get to make every decision by yourself.”
Leon fell silent for a moment.
Then, very slowly, he smiled again.
“Are you giving me orders already?”
“If I need to.”
“Claire told me her brother was stubborn.”
Leon stood and picked up his jacket.
“She was remarkably accurate about that part.”
Chris rose as well.
“Claire told me you treat your own body like it’s expendable.”
Leon’s hand paused for the briefest moment.
Then he draped the jacket over his shoulders as though nothing had happened.
“That story is only about half true too.”
“What about the other half?”
Leon opened the door and glanced back at him.
The easy smile had returned to his face.
“You’ll have to find out for yourself, Chris.”
Aboard the military transport aircraft, Leon explained what he knew about Las Plagas in considerable detail.
If the infection was caught early enough, the parasite could be removed surgically. But treatment had to happen as soon as possible. Once the infection progressed beyond a certain point, destroying the host’s head completely might be the only way to prevent the parasite from mutating and rising again. The infected also moved according to the will of whoever controlled them, like worker ants in a colony.
Leon’s voice remained calm.
But the longer he spoke, the more a faint trace of discomfort passed across his face. It did not look as though he were simply recalling information. It looked as though he were forcing himself to drag up sensations that still lingered beneath his skin.
Chris did not interrupt him.
He merely sat across from Leon with his arms folded, listening quietly.
“Were you infected too?”
At Chris’s question, Leon stopped speaking.
For a moment, the roar of the engines filling the transport plane seemed to grow louder.
Leon looked out the window briefly, then gave a casual shrug as though it were nothing worth mentioning.
“Yeah.”
The answer was short.
“It was a wonderful trip. I went looking for the kidnapped president’s daughter and nearly came home with a complimentary parasite as a souvenir.”
He said it like a joke.
Chris did not laugh.
“How did you get rid of it?”
“Luckily, we found a machine that could remove the parasite. Thanks to a friend…”
Leon’s tone was still light.
But Chris did not ask who that friend had been.
He had caught the flash of regret in Leon’s deep blue eyes.
And something that looked very much like guilt.
Chris was beginning to understand.
Leon smiled more easily when he was not all right than when he was.