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TWO HEARTS who desired a fate they know they can't fulfill. Yet they still try desperately. That's all she was, a no good woman who was heading for her own tragic end. In Seraphina's silly little mind, she wanted to kiss Leon in their moment. Maybe that was decided from the day Leon rescued her—they were to be catastrophic.
Even as they passed through rickety houses, fighting multiple villagers, Seraphina was exceedingly embarrassed. So ashamed that she wanted to do something very immature and push Leon away. But what good does survival do if you use your personal feelings?
She's practically stuck with him for the entire mission.
The town and village was made up with odd structures and underground places built underneath. Laced with bear traps, which they luckily didn't miss and managed to disable. Bombs, bear traps, and bizzare puzzles...what next?
There was a tinge of poor work reconstructing these areas, suggesting the quick timing of this plague spreading over. The parasitic disease controlled them to create this wide tunnel of systems to follow the commands. These infected people did anything to follow their lord.
Water splashed against their legs, staining with bleeding red as they killed the remaining villagers standing guard around the area. An unpleasant smell, something particularly sticky stuck to the walls.
"I had enough of walking through sewers," Seraphina spoke, her voice echoing. Goddamn Raccoon City. Leon snickered and flicked a bit of the dirty water towards her in a playful manner. Some of it did splatter onto her pants, though.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
"Wasn't me."
She scoffed, easing her tension. "Haha, yeah right."
Times like this is where she forgets all about her grudges, guilt and shame. Very briefly, Seraphina smiled to herself and hoped Leon wouldn't see. Their tenderness could be spoken about another time...if it meant not breaking what was already there.
Climbing up from the underground sewer area, a wooden sign greeted them by a tiny, run down shed. Two boards nailed together to create an X and had skulls hanging off the sides. An ominous warning sign, meant to ward off brave visitors. Too late to turn back now. They're too far into this mess.
"Hey, I wanted to ask. What were you planning to do after meeting back up with Dean?"
Leon's question threw her off. Seraphina had totally forgotten about the smashed radio device and how Dean should be on his way to meet up. At that time, the danger seemed too imminent. Unsure about her decision, she had faith in him to know that they were in danger and can't meet up.
"Well, from my orders, Dean was supposed to assist you in combat. Not me. I only backed up with medical attention or to defend myself. Looks like the plans changed, until I see him again, I'm going to stick with you. When Dean comes back, I'll speak on what do to. I need his intel anyway."
Leon didn't seem to be satisfied with her answer.
"Sounds like a plan."
As the hauntingly empty house ahead opened a door with a jade dial in front, it revealed a secret room. Maybe every house in the village had some hidden secret inside, because it was showing a weird trend in the place. They both didn't question the oddity of it anymore, but the little secrets were still intriguing to see.
A framed picture hung on the wall, displaying the ghastly appearance of a man. The merchant's word came back to her. Lord Saddler. The lord. Even the deep, crackling voice of the cloaked man. So this was the almighty lord, the one they followed...
"That's the guy I saw," Seraphina pointed to the picture. "He's the one that infected me and most likely you as well. They called him Lord Saddler."
"Talk about some evil lord, that guy fits it perfectly." Leon retorted, shaking his head. Multiple framed pictures of the man (or monster, whatever god awful thing he is) were strung all over the village. An unsettling image.
A diary sat open on the desk, matched with drawn pictures. People with pitchforks, fire and weapons were drawn poorly as stickmen, pounding on a drawn door. It highly resembled a child's drawing. The only thing written was:
¡Los "ganados" vienen!!! ¡Ayúdeme!
The Ganados. So that was their name.
They were too intelligent to be zombies. Parasitic disease controlled them to weld weapons and various other things and they spoke with each other. Another note and clue sat on the bed, possibly belonging to the recipient who slept there had written:
Chief's note-
As instructed by Lord Saddler, I have the agent in confinement, alive. Why keep him alive? I do not fully understand what the Lord's intentions are.
There's a woman working with him also captured. It'd be best to kill her at least before they plan something. That would complicate matters. Something's strange with her, as the Lord seems keen on watching her, I quote, "watch her till she marches to her own death".
I would, however, think he'd keep them separate; not confine them together as has been ordered.
I don't expect Luis would trust a stranger but if by chance they did cooperate, the situation could get a bit more complicated.
If for some reason, an unknown third party is involved, I don't think they'd let a chance like this slip by.
But maybe it's all Lord Saddler's ploy—leaving us vulnerable so that this third party will surface, if they even exist that is...
It's an unlikely possibility, but if a prowler is already amongst us, then our plans could be ruined.
I guess the Lord thinks that it's worth the risk, if we're able to stop whatever conspiracy is at work.
At any rate, it's the Lord's call. We will trust his judgement as always.
The parts written about her and Luis is something she chose to omit—from the moment she stepped into the plane, Seraphina knew there was a pricey bounty on her head. There were many reasons why they would want her dead. Luis already is a suspicious figure, but what good does it if he's not even with them anymore?
Leon pressed his palm against the cold door, nodding his head to quietly signal to not make any noise. Opening the door into the hallway, it was met with emptiness and silence. Except for the sound of singing and whistling wind.
Their guard was left down too fast in misjudgment as Leon got swiftly kicked in the gut, the inhumanly large man overpowering the both of them. The Bitores Mendez eyes glowed, one red and the other blue. His face contorted to a horrifying frown, teeth snared in a grimace.
Frightened, she raised her gun to aim for Bitores Mendez's head, but he punched her hard enough for her body to land right next to Leon's. Seraphina coughed and hacked, keeling over to look back up.
Leon dragged himself in front to protect her as a last desperate attempt. Instead the chief grabbed his neck with one hand, gripped tightly to choke him. Leon struggled and gasped for air, while Seraphina searched the ground for her fallen gun.
"Let go of him, you overgrown bastard!"
Her curses fell on deaf ears. As soon as the pistol was in sight, Bitores Mendez let Leon fall to the ground. Leon coughed and wheezed, scrambling to regain his breath and stand back up.
"You two carry the same blood as us," His scraggly voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard, sounding inside their ears. "Nevertheless, you're an outsider. Just remember, if you become unpleasant to our eyes, you'll face severe consequences."
Walking away out of sight, the Bitores Mendez left them in confusion. Seraphina eyed Leon's nape and collarbone for any bad damage, but there were reddish marks with bruises left behind from the attack.
"What...? Same blood?" Leon rubbed his neck to soothe the pain, glancing over at Seraphina to share the same sentiment. A loud beep indicated his radio was calling in and he placed it to his ear.
"Leon, I've been able to get some new info that might help you," Hunnigan said, surprisingly Seraphina missed hearing her calm voice. It was a relief in the middle of this mess of an operation.
"Fill me in."
"Apparently, there's a religious cult group involved. They're called the Los Illuminados. I've informed Dean of this information as well, knowing he's cut off from Seraphina."
"Los Illuminados? Pff, that's a mouthful. Anyway, I had an unexpected run-in with the big cheese of the village." Leon was able to figure out Bitores Mendez (as mentioned by Luis) was the scary chief.
"But you two are okay, right?"
"Yeah. But he could have killed both of us and yet let us live...and he mentioned something about us carrying the same blood as them. Whatever that means." Leon said.
"Carrying the same blood...Hm...interesting."
"Anyway, there are more important things than solving riddles right now." Leon continued.
"You're right. Hurry and find that church."
Leon clicked off the radio. If they were infected, is that what the chief meant by same blood? His wording isn't exactly clear and is laced with riddles. It's petrifying to think that they would become one with the Ganados, but that's just a theory...a theory he prayed that wouldn't happen soon.
Still dazed from the hit to their bodies, the two regrouped to go into the next room. Much to their shock (yes, again) a bullet popped loudly from Leon's gun, but received a hard hit to the chest. He fell backwards onto the floor, leaving Seraphina to get a shot into Bitores Mendez, except it did nothing. His body seemed impenetrable.
Pushing her backwards to the floor, Bitores Mendez moved and lifted his boot to press onto Leon's chest. Pain cracked like lightning, spreading and blooming over as he tried again and again to breathe. Two shots rang outside the window, although it did little damage, it distracted the big chief.
I'm getting really sick of getting tossed around like this. Why couldn't I be stronger? Was the only thoughts Seraphina had as she dragged Leon's heavy dense body away from the towering man. Both of them hobbled over to the corner of the room, praying that the chief wouldn't relent.
I can't defend Leon at all. What good am I?
Bitores Mendez growled in anger, jumping out of the window as it broke into shards. A red shiny flash passed by, disappearing in a second. The chief supposedly left to investigate the mysterious person, but Seraphina had an inkling who it was.
If anyone could survive the end of the world, it was Ada Wong.
"Shit. I feel like when we're together, we get a curse of bad luck." Seraphina sighed, feeling an ache near her waist. Leon reloaded his gun, snapping it right into place.
"And what would I do if you weren't there?" Leon remarked, handing over a magazine to her. Maybe somewhere in the universe, someone is pulling strings to drag them apart. After all, their relationship is a calamity.
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GETTING PAST the crazy chainsaw men wasn't an easy feat, neither was running through crowds of angry villagers and Ganados. The chainsaw men were persistent and swung recklessly, threatening to saw off their limbs. Their deranged bloodshot eyes would never blink, focusing in into their prey.
Seraphina would glance at their eyes and get a horrible chill up her spine.
Getting their hands on the insignia key, they rushed to the strangely locked off building with the red symbol. Back where she first saw the policeman's body hung up in the middle of the village and been saved by Leon.
Nothing could get worse than a monster chief and lord, or masked men with chainsaws. Seraphina reminded herself to take that thought back, as her luck never was great. Danger seemed like it was attracted to the pair, occurring right after one another.
Inside the strange building with the symbol, a trapdoor lay open and led underground. Darkness enveloped the light, the dimness making it difficult to see anything that wasn't close to her eyes. The dark crawled over and threatening to seep over to the light, but Seraphina had choice to swallow her fears to jump down.
They traversed claustrophobic tunnels and extremely tight spaces. God, Seraphina hated close spaces and that was the last thing she wanted—to be buried underneath in a tunnel or even worse, being stuck under with Leon Kennedy himself.
All for a paycheck...
Climbing up the long ladder out of the intricate underground systems, they reached a dark, foggy forest. Even with the foggy mist settling over the skies, a graveyard with multiple tombs was spotted, along with the church in the back.
"We've reached the church," Leon looked back at her, but seemed to say it to himself as a way to reassure his sanity. "Keep on guard. How come we haven't run into your perky partner yet?"
"I shouldn't have told him to come back...he must still be searching. Hopefully Hunnigan can keep him updated and tell him we're fine."
Seraphina knew she made a grave mistake—Dean on the other hand, was involved in something else less to their knowledge. Being told to go back to the church and meet up, he found some peculiar traces left behind at the houses in the village...
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A/N: please bear with the notes and stuff, they're important for the story and I don't want to leave anything out. There will be a lot of chapters this time, unlike my re2 part one.