If I Lose Myself (Resident Evil 4)

Danger Lurking Around Every Corner

"What they hell are they doing?" Leon asked. A group of Ganados were huddled around an altar in the middle of the room.

"The Ganados, they are having some kind of ceremony," I observed.

"They're Ganados too?" Leon asked as he aimed his rifle.

"Technically they are called zealots," I countered my previous statement. He nodded as he steadied his rifle. He pulled the trigger and the leader, the one cloaked in red, fell down dead. The others in black scattered. Leon managed to kill two others before the rest of them disappered.

"Come on, it's safe to go down now," Leon said. I looked down. It was a ways down.

"Leon, you might make it down without breaking anything, but I will not," I said, "And I do not think you will be able to catch me without hurting yourself in some way." He looked around. Then he pointed to a chandelier.

"Can you make that jump?" he asked.

"Perhaps, if it was swung toward me," I said as I examined the gap. Leon jumped onto the chandelier, then across to the other side. He swung it back and feeling a bit confident, not too much however, jumped onto it. I swung back and forth on it until the courage to jump came. So I leapt and landed in front of Leon. He grasped my upper arms to make sure I would not fall. 

He held my arms longer than he needed to. I felt my cheeks grow warm. He smirked down at me. I blushed even more. I pushed him away. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a strange man in a trench coat by the door atop the staircase.

"Leon, who is that?" I asked.

"Someone who will help us. The red zealot...I'm just gonna call them Ganados, he dropped something. Go get what he dropped while I talk to that guy," Leon ordered. I nodded and ran down the staircase. The leader had dropped a pendant I discovered. Blood red in color with gold wrapped around it.

"An Illuminados pendant. Quite pretty actually," I said to myself. I brought it back to Leon, who was still talking to the stranger. I handed the pendant to Leon. He made some sort of transaction. He finished talking to the man and turned to me.

"Which way?" he asked.

"Through this door," I said as I pushed a red door to the left of us open. Leon went through first. I followed, glancing one more time at the odd man.

"Who was that? How did he get in here?" I asked.

"He's a Merchant. Don't ask me how he gets around," Leon said. I nodded a bit uncertainly. Then I led Leon up another set of stairs, into a small room.

"What's this?" he asked, picking paper up from a table. He read through it and handed it to me.

"Atone for a sin... give Los Illuminados back their power... release Las Plagas... the Lord?" I looked up at Leon, "He thinks he is doing this for the Lord, to atone for his family's sin?"

"He's mental, that's why he released it," Leon said. Those words stung a bit. Not that Leon noticed my discomfort.

"This way," I said as I opened yet another door.

"Amor! Down!"

*Leon POV*

I yelled at Amor to get down as an arrow was shot at her. She ducked down next to a railing, out of the line of fire. I shot down two Ganados that were on our level, while dodging flying arrows. I crouched down next to Amor.

"Where do we go?" I asked.

"That door, up there. The leader, the one in red, has the key though," she explained to me.

"Okay, wait here. I'll shout for you when it's clear," I said to her. I jumped through a glass window and ran through a door the door beyond it. I took out another Ganado that was waiting at the top of the stairs in the area behind the door. I quickly ran up the stairs and burst through another door, which led to the balcony Amor directed me to.

"The doors never end," I muttered. The leader left the balcony when he saw me. I shot two that were in black cloaks, only to turn around and see the leader operating a gattling gun. I dodged the flying bullets to find cover in the next room. Amor popped her head over the railing, only to have bullets shot at her. She ducked down again and cursed loudly.

"Shit," I cursed when the Ganado kept shooting at her. Loading rounds into my rifle, I took aim and sniped the Ganado. The bullets stopped flying as he fell dead. Amor poked her head over the railing once more.

"Amor, get the key!" I yelled to her. She carefully stepped over broken pots to the dead Ganado.

"Why is she barefoot?" I thought as I watched her grab the key and run to the staircase.

"At least she's not helpess, even in a dress," I muttered to myself.

*Back to Amor's POV*

I made my way back to Leon and handed him the key. I noticed blood coming from his shoulder.

"Leon, you are bleeding!" I exclaimed. He looked at his shoulder and touched it, coating his fingers red.

"It's nothing. I'm fine. Nice to know you're worried about me though," he said, winking when he said the last part.

"Through here then," I told him. He unlocked the door and I went in after him.

"Great, a puzzle," Leon complained.

"There must be six dead bodies. I suppose these switches change the painting's order," I guessed.

"Are you any good at puzzles?" Leon asked.

"I am absolutely horrible at them. You are probably much better than I," I admitted. He gave a slight groan which made me giggle. He started pressing switches at random. The paintings flipped back and forth and I counted the bodies as he switched them.

"Wait, there is six. You did it!" I congratulated him.

"Thank God," he said. I gave him a glare. "Sorry, didn't know you were super religious."

"Now what?" I asked when nothing happened. Leon pressed another switch and the wall slid over, revealing a door.

"Ramon, always so dramatic," I muttered.

"You make it sound like, from what I've heard, you two were close," Leon said.

"We were, once. But that's a story for another time. Let's go," I said, opening the door.

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A/N: It's been a long time since I've updated. This chapter seemed to really suck, but whatever. What about Leon's POV, did I do his character ok? Next chapter, I'm thinking about doing a Ramon/Amor backstory. We'll see how that plays out. If anybody is confused about locations, I've tried to explain it best I can. There are quite a few playthroughs of this game if anyone wants more details. BTW, the picture is the zealot in red. Until next time, my dear readers.