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Leon felt the air shift beside his ear, a sharp sound as a whizzing object flew by. Time slowed down, yet everything happened within a second. The object made a sickening contact with the woman in red stood not two metres away from him.
Instantly, Leon could tell that this wasn’t going to be just a graze, or an injury that could be worked through. She keeled over slightly, hands clutching her stomach, and the sense of dread he’d been feeling got worse. From what he could see of where she was holding herself, he figured it unlikely that the bullet happened to luckily miss her organs. Shots were fired behind them, Helena to the rescue, he assumed. When the gunfire ceased, she started to talk to him, but he watched Ada’s knees began to fail her, and lunged, catching her before she could fall.
She groaned as he caught her, the impact rattling her body as she panted. Was she panicking? It was unlike her to act in such a way, but he couldn’t exactly blame her. She was bleeding profusely upon closer inspection, hands shaking. Helena kneeled beside them.
‘We need to get her out of here.’ She said softly, as if she was telling a difficult truth to a small child. His mind was fuzzy, ears ringing, hands hot with the blood of his lover. She was grunting in pain, completely distracted from the man holding her as she looked down at where she clutched her stomach. Eventually, she broke her silence.
‘Fuck.’ She said, voice hoarse and slightly trembling, and he realised he’d never seen her so vulnerable. Compared to usual, it seemed like her heart was bared on her sleeve. He’d known her for the better part of twenty years, he’d seen her hurt, he’d seen her writhing against his sheets, against him. He’d seen her on a few rare mornings, hair messy, makeup gone, skin littered with little lovebites, with a rare, true smile on her face.
Yet only now could he actually tell what she was feeling.
‘C’mon,’ he said, unsure as to how he was keeping his tone so level and calm, ‘you’re gonna be fine, just let me get you out of here.’
With that, he lifted her in a way he’d only dreamed of lifting her, one arm under her knees and the other bracing her back. The morbidity of it all made him want to laugh. When he carries her like this in his dreams, she’s in a beautiful white dress, laughing and threatening him in jest as he carries her into an extravagant hotel room. He puts her down on the bed, dips his head under her dress and pulls down her garter with his teeth as she laughs. They make love for the rest of the night, and it truly is making love, not just sex like they’re used to in the real world.
The real world.
Leon snaps out of it, holding her as carefully as he could and following Helena as she kills any B.O.W.’s she can see. It felt like just yesterday the roles were reversed, where he covered her as she carried her beloved sister to safety. He could only pray it ended better this time around.
Ada whined quietly as the building they were in shuddered and Leon temporarily lost balance. He wanted to stop, place her down and hold her and ask her if she was alright, but there was no time, so he softly asked her as he ran after Helena. She grunted in pain.
‘Focus on getting out of here.’ She said, although her tone wasn’t commanding. He anticipated it was a diversion, she didn’t want to talk about it, about the seeming inevitability of her death. He didn’t want to think about it, so he pushed the thought from his mind. She will make it through this.
They find the elevator, and Leon silently prayed that nothing would go horribly wrong, being reminded of the elevator ride from hell in La Shia g. He gently hoisted Ada further up into his arms, and she let out a pained sound.
‘Almost there, Ada.’ He said quietly, and he’s tempted to press his lips to her forehead. After all, Helena knew.
She’s more than just a friend, isn’t she?
You have feelings for her.
Ada’s bleeding was getting worse, and her skin was pasty, eyes blown wide. Her face was damp with sweat, and she became dangerously quiet.
‘Come on, Ada, you’re going to be okay.’ He said, although he wasn’t sure if it was more for his sake or hers.
The elevator pinged, the doors opening and revealing the ground floor. Somehow, it was completely devoid of any dead. Leon spied a first aid kit behind the reception counter, and he carried her to it, ignoring the fact that the building was falling apart. Helena followed, calling his name, but he ignored her. He sat behind the counter, shielding them from anything that may be searching for it’s next meal.
Helena grabbed the box while he sat with her in his arms, moving her hand and applying his own amount of pressure onto her wound. She cried out in agony, coughing, spitting up blood.
Fuck.
She won’t make it.
‘Ada…’ He whispered, feeling small dots of hot blood on his face. He gently traced her cheekbone with his fingertips, before tenderly stroking her cheek with his knuckles.
Helena slumped down across from them, first aid in hand, and Leon knew that she knew. It was futile.
Ada Wong was dying.
And she was dying here in his arms.
In the span of a few seconds, their entire history replayed through his mind. The first time they’d met, she an ‘FBI Agent’ and he a rookie cop. She had hardly aged since then. He remembered how shed manipulated him, and how he’d subconsciously let her. Their first kiss, based on lies and deceit. He remembered when he’d failed to save her, and the memory struck pain into his heart. Some things never change.
He remembered Spain, the confusing joy he’d felt when he saw her there in front of him, dressed pretty in red but more importantly alive and well. He felt the weight of the teddy-bear keychain in his pocket.
That night. That glorious night where she threw him down and showed him that she didn’t just dominate in the field. Between thrusts and kisses, she told him bits and pieces of her story, but never enough.
Eastern Slav. She looked so professional, and it sent butterflies down his spine. Granted, he had no idea how she fought in clothes like that, let alone heels. It just gave him more of an idea of how incredible she truly was.
Lanshiang. When he’d protected her from a madman who was dangerously obsessed with her, so much so he’d made a copy of her. When she’d told him that, bile had risen in his throat at the thought of what the psycho could have done with the woman. Even Ada herself had picked up on it, and he couldn’t help but notice the flare of anger in her voice as she suggested it. That night she came to him after the incident, he found any excuse to touch her, hold her, protect her from a threat that no longer was.
And here they were now, the woman he loved dying in his arms as his partner watched in sympathy and horror.
‘Leave.’ Ada said, her voice a rasp. Leon looked at her as if she had suggested the most absurd thing in the world.
‘Never.’ He replied, holding her closer, as tight as he could without hurting her. Opposite, he could see tears streaming down Helena’s cheeks. The pair quite liked each other, despite the circumstances of their first meeting. Occasionally, when Ada stayed with him, she’d go and see her. It warmed his heart.
‘I’m serious, Leon. Get yourselves out of here.’
‘No.’ He said insistently. ‘I won’t leave you.’
‘You’re going to get hur-‘
Leon leaned down and gently kissed the words from her mouth. It was an ugly kiss, the taste of copper haunting his mouth, her damp skin against his skin.
It may just be their last.
When he took his lips away from hers and opened his eyes, tears streamed down his face and fell off his jawline and onto the hand holding her stomach.
‘I love you.’ She whispered, tears shining in the corners of her eyes. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.’
Her voice was strained as she held back tears. He could hear Helena stifle a sob. Quite frankly, he couldn’t believe that she was the one to say it first. He stroked her cheek.
‘Don’t be sorry, you have nothing to be sorry for. It’s okay, I love you.’
‘The things I’ve done…’ tears began to fall, and Leon wiped them away with his thumb, ‘I’m not a good person. I wish I was a good person.’
‘Ada, don’t think about that, okay?’ He said softly, his heart breaking at the pain in her voice, at the seemingly never-ending streams of tears coming from her pretty brown eyes.
‘Whatever it is you think you’ve done,’ he went on, ‘I forgive you. I’ll always forgive you.’
A pained groan ripped from her throat, and more blood spilled from her mouth. The building shuddered.
‘You need to go.’ She said, only just above a whisper. Leon shook his head.
‘Do you remember when we went into the sewers in Raccoon?’
‘Leon, go.’
He ignored her. ‘You told me it wasn’t too late to turn back. Do you remember what I said back?’
Despite the amount of pain she was in, she looked as if she wanted to roll her eyes. ‘That I was stuck with you until the end.’
Leon smiled through his tears. ‘We’re almost there.’
He held her. Kissed her head. Stroked her pretty hair. It’s like they were the only two people in the world, and the chaos happening around them was gone. She was quiet, as if she was at peace at last, her blinking slow and breath even slower.
He could swear he felt the life slip out of her. He said her name softly, holding her head gently.
She didn’t respond.
Her eyes were open, unseeing, blood trickling from the sides of her mouth. It wouldn’t have been more than twenty minutes since she was shot, but it felt like a lifetime.
A broken sob ripped through his chest as he held her limp body in his arms. He heard Helena shift, and then her hand on his arm.
‘We should go.’
He knew she was right, and he knew from the moment the bullet hit Ada that it was going to be a difficult goodbye. He just didn’t quite expect it to be this difficult.
Gently, oh so gently, he shifted her body out of his arms and onto the floor, with her hands crossed over her heart. With one final sweeping glance of her body, he turned his back, pretending he’d never seen her here, that she was safe on the other side of the world somewhere. There were more pressing matters at hand.
They made their way onto the street, fire coating buildings like orange paint. It wasn’t far to go to extraction, and they ran as fast as they could. For Leon, the feeling of being unable to breathe properly as he ran brought him comfort.
When they lifted into the sky in the helicopter, he gazed out of the window. His heart was hers, there was no doubt about it, and he’d left it there with her. He held in his tears, cast the thought of her from his mind.
When he was home, he’d allow himself to feel. Drink himself into oblivion for a while, cry on the side of the bed that he kept for her, put her shirt on a pillow and hold it close. Anything to bring hi peace for just a little while.
But for now, he just stared at the stars in the night sky.