The Secret (Resident Evil)

Prologue

We stare at the outcome of Javier's monstrous and mutated battle, where his body lays next to the gates of his beautiful and exotic white alabaster mansion. The acrid smell of burning flesh had waned the farther from it we flew, we were escaping this nightmare for good.

Though it's not entirely comparable to the hell Raccoon was, nothing can top that city and the nightmares I was plagued with at times. Four years later and I was still seeing a therapist for my trauma endured after the kidnapping and fighting for my life in that city.

As I watch the remnants of the body char and burn I peek up at Krauser, who was also watching the place begin to burn down. The military would come in soon and do a massive cover up of today's events, they'd have to at least. A sight like this seen by the rest of the world would cause a panic at the thought of bio-warfare becoming a real thing.

One that everyone thought ended the night Umbrella's, stocks plummeted so hard it cracked their foundation and made recuperation implausible.

Krauser's attention falls a moment later to the gash he was holding on his arm, it was too deep to have been healed by the first aid spray. He presses on the bandages woven tightly around it to keep the pressure consistent enough until we can stop for fuel and take him in to be checked on.

"I should've died. With my father..."

I look over at Leon, who was kneeling next to Manuela, she sat on her backside with her legs out towards Krauser and I. Subsequently, Leon was hovering over her slightly, like she was a frail doll... She saved our lives today though. Not just her though...

Staring at Leon, I realize that there was one good thing that came out of that night. One person that I would never take for granted with everything he's done for me over the years that we've spent side-by-side.

I watch Leon as he shakes his head in denial and puts a hand on Manuela's shoulder, "No, no one should have died down there. Besides you've got an obligation to live. For the sake of the girls living inside you," Manuela looks up at Leon at his words with a mournful expression. She nods to him then stares out the side of the helicopter at the fireflies appearing in the sky with the oncoming sunset.

You should've said something nice to her, Leon. She's had a rough day.

The orchid colored sky blends so well with it's subtle pinks, contrasting against the dark green of the trees in the jungle below us.

My eyes drop away from the sunset to Manuela's right arm and the scar tissue resulting from the mutation in the virus. In the fight the white bandage she'd wrapped around her forearm fell away to full reveal the appendage's damaged skin, green and sickly pale.

Leon removes his hand from Manuela's shoulder and stares out with her for a moment like he himself has become lost in the Amazon's beauty, our short time trekking through it was breathtaking. My gaze drops to my arms, where the wounds I'd obtained during the fight sat until they were both healed; Leon finally looks over at Krauser.

Krauser gives Leon a small smile in return to Leon's. It was one that I'd caught myself and Leon doing to each other at different points when one of us said something to piss the other one of to reassure that we were still okay.

That happened quite a lot over the last four years of us being partners.

But the second Leon turns away Krauser's smile is a firm and thin line, becoming a frown while he continues to glare at Leon in a sinister and bone-chilling way. He was angry with him about something, for what though I wasn't sure. I lean back in my chair and decide to keep the thought to myself though, people being pissed off with each other was my least concern.

Eventually Leon's eyes fall on me, raking over my disheveled form; what he was thinking in that moment I'll never know. His eyes linger on my left arm and then my right arm before they lift up to meet my eyes, they soften at the sight of my uncertain smile. It's hard to believe that four years have passed and the affect the sight of his intense blue eyes have on me still hasn't changed.

I was still in love with a man who I was sure didn't even return a fraction of my attraction. For a moment I think back on the cold day in November when he'd brought me outside to watch a snowfall for the first time in my life. It was only days after fighting Alexia alongside Chris and Claire, the second I walked in the door to my apartment his arms were wrapped around me. It turns out he was terrified by my disappearing in the night, thinking I'd never come back home.

Manuela looks back with Leon at me and suddenly Krauser was doing the same. At that exact moment all eyes were on me, the feeling was kinda eerie.

Leon stands and lifts his head so I know he's speaking to me, "Madeleine... we need to talk."

I knew it was coming, it was only a matter of time before somebody would have to talk to me about my wounds. I thread my fingers through my short hair, I still keep it in my preferred bob to this day, "I'll be okay, Leon." He hadn't really spoken to me since the passing of Manuela's mother, the fight leading to that...

He sighs then shakes his head again at the floor, "Madeleine..."

I stand, "No. The only thing I have to say is... this is never to be spoken of. To anyone."

He closes the distance, sliding the pads of his fingertips over my cheeks, "Madeleine-"

"No!" I cry, the salt in my tears absorbed by the skin of his thumbs as he caresses my face tenderly. "This can't be spoken of ever again, Leon," I demand, but it also becomes a plea as I tilt my head in his hands. I lift my hands to remove his from my face before turning around to stare outside at the twists and turns of the Amazon. Glimpsing over my shoulder one last time, I nail my words into everyone's head on the helicopter.

I notice Krauser is watching me as closely as Leon for some reason. 

"Nobody speaks of what happened to me on this mission."