Together: A Dark Romance Duet || Leon Kennedy x Female Reader

Chapter 29: FMC

My first breath of fresh air after escaping death seems to get stuck in my throat, the oxygen weighing down my chest until it feels like my lungs are made of iron.

I stare up at the hazy night sky, the metal and rock structures around us slick with moisture as mist clings to the biting ocean breeze. Crows linger on the fences and railings, taking flight at our arrival as the heavy iron doors swing shut behind us. However hollow I may feel upon waking, the open air is a welcomed relief as I take in a lungful, grounding my thoughts and settling into my body.

I'm not quite able to believe I'm really standing here.

I rub my temples, my eyes, trying to clear the fog from my brain but it only serves to dull my vision, enhancing the artificial feeling of existing without being present.

Leon walks on ahead, his back facing me as he surveys the environment. I watch him carefully.

"There—we need to get to that lift."

My gaze flicks to the lights twinkling along a lift in the distance, waiting at the bottom of the mountainside to take us up, before landing back on him. His golden hair sits above the neckline of his t-shirt, muscles flexing beneath the leather straps of his gun holsters as he aims the shotgun ahead. The floodlights beyond highlight his figure, a glowing silhouette.

Real. This is real; I made it back to the surface alive. But how?

I remember nothing after jumping in the frigid water, hysterically fighting the waves and current as I was dragged away, attempting to escape Krauser and his brutish personality. Darkness greeted me below and I followed it down willingly. Water flooded my lungs—

I take a deep breath and focus on the air in my lungs as a nervous energy builds under my skin, pulling me taut. When I open my eyes after a long blink, Leon is glancing back at me, a question written on his face as I stand there, my feet too heavy to move.

"Are you feeling alright?"

I can only stare back at him.

No.

Everything feels wrong. I am split down the middle, half the girl I was before drowning, and half a reanimated corpse spawning new cells by the second, a stronger skeleton than before but somehow missing a few vital components; I am two opposing halves sewn together and made to function as one being.

I felt this way after Raccoon City, like real life was a dream, and everything in my life was made to seem unimportant in the immeasurable concept of crossing paths with death. Still, in this present, there lies an alien feeling gnawing at my soul, throwing off my focus.

I try to find the words to explain it all, to express how strange it feels to be walking, breathing, existing without a larger power behind my steps. Instead, I nod.

Leon looks me up and down with weary eyes as I catch up to him as if he knows the truth. "We'll have to find a way around."

I sigh, for once eager to keep moving. "What exactly is this place?" I say, shifting the focus to something physical I can wrap my head around.

Leon knows I'm not asking about the cargo depot we stand in now, muddy and littered with discarded metal bits, trash, and exposed wires. My inquiry comes from needing to know more about this island we were both brought to, this research base.

"Some sort of island base of operations," Leon says, keeping his hard gaze ahead, his steps meticulously placed to avoid debris. "Though this oil refinery looks more like a military base now." He steps over a pile of junk, holding his hand out for me to take as I follow his lead on unsteady feet. "Cleary meant to conceal what's really going on here—the research and development of new B.O.W.'s." He doesn't drop my hand as we continue, and I realize how much I need the contact to steady my nerves.