Lost and Found || Leon Kennedy

Chapter 16

Leon watched as the sun began to rise above the mountains, feeling the warmth hit his skin as the breeze gently brushed his hair from his eyes. It was a peaceful morning. One that made everything happening out in the world seem so far away for just a few, quiet moments.

The events of Spain had been over six months ago, now. Leon had succeeded in his mission to rescue the president's daughter, Ashley home safe and sound with her family. Leon returned back home after being praised and congratulated by The President, all his words meaning nothing to him as he just wanted to be left to himself for a bit.

His mind drifted to Luis' lab, and of a file that had been on one of the tables that hadn't been there the first time he had gone to the room. It had a purple marking on it, which suggested it was from The Merchant, who was nowhere to be found as they escaped from the Island, Leon having the file securely in his possession.

Inside the file were research notes labeled "La Plaga Durmiente", as well as notes from Castro himself. The notes spoke of a parasite that had been engineered under Saddlers approval and Castro's direction. The parasite would remain dormant inside the host after being injected, undetectable and giving the host no symptoms as its hold grew stronger with each moment it was there.

However, engineering the plaga this way had it and Saddlers hold on it weakened, meaning it would take much longer for the parasite to gain enough control over the host to take over their mind and body, and Saddler's power over it was unpredictable and unreliable if the parasite wasn't fully connected. This made Saddler doubt its validity and halt its experimentation.

Researchers worked tirelessly to figure out a way to strengthen the plaga without its normal symptoms becoming present within the host, and after a while, they had. Taking a tiny piece of the section of the Amber the plaga had been inside, they determined the strong connection between the two to be the perfect way to give the parasite the strength it had lost, allowing it to take over the host's mind and body with Saddler's influence in seconds, provided the parasite had enough time to completely bond with the host.

The piece of Amber was then placed inside a red casing, which gave it an ethereal glow. To further hide the piece of the Amber for its protection, it was inlayed into a necklace, giving it the appearance of a gem and hiding its true nature. This engineered parasite was then put to the side, waiting for the perfect test subject to use it on.

Castro found that test subject in a female hiker, who was on a trip with her three friends to get away from the stress of the real world. He was intrigued by her strength of will when villagers kidnapped the group of four to sacrifice for the ritual, and it was then, as he watched her fight against her attackers and do everything she could to save her friends, that he knew she would be perfect.

Being overwhelmed by the numbers and the surprise of sudden attack, the girl was knocked unconscious after reaching for the others, and it was then that the plaga was injected into her body. Keeping up the guise of the ritual, the woman was taken with her three friends to the Altar, where Castro allowed her to escape after sacrificing the others, watching her run and disappear into the forest.

He watched over her for four days, and when news of an outsider who came to rescue the President's daughter reached his ears, he knew he had the ideal test to show Saddler that his idea- his creation- would be useful to them in ways they had not originally foreseen. Castro had been prepared to artificially set up a way for the outsider to stumble upon the girl, and take her with him on the journey, but there ended up being no need for him to do that.

The woman found the outsider all on her own, and without influence, offered her aid to him, refusing to sit idly by as a young girl was taken.

It had been perfect, in Castro's mind. The outsider would get attached to the woman, and little would he know, she would be the very thing that would destroy him and prove the Parasites usefulness to Lord Saddler.