You exited the cage, Leon following behind. You wracked your brain for the quickest way back to the throne room. You kissed the idea of saving Luis goodbye, and moved to exit the area. You moved back towards the courtyard, before hesitating. You shook your head, and turned on your heel, grabbing Leon's bicep.
"Let's double check the rooms Ashley was going through."
Leon didn't argue, and you jogged back to the open door, and through the pathway Ashley had carved. She had done a pretty impressive job, you thought as you walked from room to room. You found an elevator, moving down a floor, and raising your gun when the door opened. You could sense danger.
At the end of the dark room, there were three knights, one with golden armor. When you got too close, the bitches started to move.
"All right, time to get medieval on your asses," Leon smirked.
It took a bit of work, but you knocked the fuckers down. You walked towards the elevator on the other side of the room, and slipped inside. This one led to a staircase, which led up to a library you had already passed through, and back to the main hall. All that shit was for nothing.
Oh well.
On the other side of the room were these heavy double doors, which Leon pushed open. You took the lead, rather desperate to find your missing companion before chasing after Ashley.
Whilst walking down the path, these huge ass bugs jumped at you from nowhere. It was terrifying at first, but just ended up being gross. The door at the end of the path was locked, so you hopped the barrier and walked along another. Two more bugs jumped at you, and you took these ones out rather quickly. You rushed up a set of stairs, which led to a door, which opened to a room with first aid spray — hallelujah!
At the end of the room was another door, and that led to ballroom, praise God.
Uno fucking problemo.
It was swarming with bugs.
"Ramón is really slacking on his pest control," Leon commented as you walked down a staircase, shooting down a few bugs.
As you walked around, bugs jumped at you from all angles. These things could just hide in plain sights, and it was super annoying. They ended up separating you and Leon, chasing him back up onto the top floor. After maybe a few minutes of shooting them, the gate behind you opened — because Leon had pulled a lever — and you waited for him to come back down before slipping through.
So much for saving Luis.
As soon as you exited the room, Ramón felt the need to give you an update.
"Oh, Mr. Kennedy. Not much of a knight, are you? Your princess is a spirited individual — no doubt she's learned from the Mistress."
You didn't respond, shooting at the weight that was supposed to let the drawbridge drop. It didn't. Of course. Perfect. Whatever! And then it did drop.
You turned to Leon, who had spotted the other weight and had shot it down. You gave him a smile, and he jogged over to join you as you crossed the drawbridge.
He pushed open the double doors at the end of the hall, and you groaned in annoyance when you saw what was inside.
"Look," you whispered to him as you shot Ganados. "Those big things? Cant see us, but they can hear us."
He nodded, and you two split up. He took the left, you took the right. It was a game of cat and mouse, avoiding the big boy while trying to kill the Ganados. At one point, the two blind things started attacking each other, which only made your job easier. They also had a tendency to kill Ganados, which again, made the hard part a lot less hard.
After shooting them in the back a few times, you were home free, and loaded up with pesetas. From each of the blind creatures, you got a unicorn horn — weird. You soon realized that they went into the unicorn statues at the end of the room. With the horns in place, the door opened, and you and Leon continued onward.
"Nooo! No!"
"Ashley?" You called, running forward.
You threw open the wooden doors, and what you saw definitely met your expectations. Ashley's face was painted with blood, and she was being held by two Ganados, right in front of Ramón's throne.
"Ashley!" Leon moved to run towards her.
"Leon! Stop! Don't come any closer!"
"Are you hurt?"
"Watch out!"
Your partner was sent to the ground by the same thing that had taken Ashley. It scooped you up, and rested a heavy foot on Leon's back. You writhed back and forth, swinging all your limbs, but was forced to watch as the 'fertility ritual' continued.
Of course. It was a trap. They needed you here to complete it.
They forced some sort of black liquid down Ashley's throat, and she screamed.
"Stop it!" You yelled, kicking back and forth. "Leave her alone!"
You could feel some sort of... maternal instinct kicking in as Ashley flung herself forward, screaming in terror as the black veins along her hands began to worsen.
But it wasn't enough to break you free to save her.
Ramón stood, and he smirked.
"This is farewell, Mr. Kennedy."
You watched in horror as Leon was kicked into the pit below, and whatever was taking root in the pit of your stomach, that was so much stronger than your maternal instinct.
You whipped around almost robotically, shooting the creature dead in the eye. It screeched in pain and dropped you as its arms flew to its face.
"You fool!" Ramón screamed as you fell into the pit, his voice echoing. "We cannot complete the ritual without her!"
Leon had grabbed hold of a huge ass chain, effectively slowing his fall as he dangled. He had not realized that you were seconds behind him, and grunted in pain when you latched onto his legs, making the chain swing back and forth.
"Hey," he called down to you.
"Hey," you replied, both arms wrapped around his boots, head pressed to his shins as he toes pressed into your chest.
"Hold on," he warned, beginning to swing back and forth.
You caught on, and after a few swings, let go. Leon followed shortly after, splashing you in the water. You sighed, shaking your head as you looked back up at the hole.
"We walked right into their trap," you facepalmed. "Ramón said they can't finish the ritual without me, so she's safe... for now."
Leon let out a deep sigh of relief, before pulling his flashlight from his belt. He hopped down from the ledge into deeper water, and you followed.
You had really lucked out — there were spikes protruding from the water, several of them adorning human remains. Leon led you through the water, shooting at creatures when they jumped out. You came up on a staircase, and hurried out of the water. Leon shook himself off as you walked up on the stone platform.
You found crevices in the wall, and kicked down the weak rock, before slipping through the little hole you had created, Leon following. The room it led to had a yellow herb, and a ladder. You quickly climbed up. As soon as you came to the platform, Leon bent over, letting out a grotesque cough. You rushed to his side, hand resting on his back.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," he nodded quickly.
Before you knew it, you were walking through sewers — of course. It always had to be sewers. You almost screamed with joy when you spotted a familiar purple torch, dashing to the Shopkeeper.
Your meeting with him was short and sweet, just selling off a few items you had found, before waving goodbye. At the end of the long hallway within the sewer, there was a door. Leon pushed it open. It led to a dimly lit platform area. And that led to a weird room filled with corpses and cells. The power was out, so you and Leon set out to find the circuit breaker.
You could hear thumping above you, and walked with care. There was definitely something following you. You located the circuit breaker and pulled the switch, before stepping back out onto the platform.
And then you heard a growl.
Something, some kind of tentacle, shot up from the ground, breaking the panel that was once there and slamming down. You and Leon narrowly dodged, and rushed back to the room. Cutting off your path was some kind of creature, no doubt the one that had been stalking you.
"You!" Leon spat. "You're Ramón's lapdog!"
The creature chased after you, and you hit a button before it could get too close. Liquid nitrogen rained down, and the creature shrieked. You took this as your chance to escape, running towards a locked door and a wheel, which Leon quickly got to work turning. You began to dash back to the main room, only for the beast's tail to swing down and stab at you. You narrowly dodged, and ran away. You were fed up with getting lost in the tunnels, seeing as though you were exhausted and hadn't eaten in days. When the beast was frozen from the liquid nitrogen, you shot at it as much as you could. Hand grenades had been a blessing in this battle, and the liquid nitrogen showers had been wonderful. But you just couldn't kill it.
A beeping caught your ear, and you turned to watch as an elevator opened. Leon practically shoved you in, before punching the button shut. And then a sudden rigging overtook his ears.
His veins darkened, and you grabbed his arm to help him steady himself, but he collapsed non the less.
"Pitiful little lamb. Your suffering can end. Just as it has for our newest daughter. Who has joined us in communion. And now she is of our flesh... of our blood. Come now, child. You can atone for your sins by —"
"Never!" Leon spat, and Saddler sighed, before turning to the darkness.
"Go now. Deliver to these vagrant children their salvation, and bring me my wife!"
"As you wish," a voice replied, and Leon only caught a glimpse of him, before he was shaken awake.
"Leon, god damn it!"
He was panting as he sat up, his whole body shaking.
"The plaga is taking root in your system," you nodded to Leon as he clutched his heart. "We have to find Luis."
"You already have."
His breath shook as he nodded, and you pulled him up. Luis smirked from his position, leaning against a metal pillar. He held up a little silver box, which was taped shut. He shook it gently, and a slight clinking came from it.
"I'll make it cheap for you," he winked, and you reached into your pocket, tossing him his pack of cigarettes.
"Fair trade?" You questioned, brow raised.
He smirked.
"How about a kiss?" He questioned.
"Enough!" Leon spat, and you whipped around to him.
"Fine," Luis handed the box to Leon, and the blonde eased himself down onto a box, studying the veins in his arm.
You approached your handsome Spanish companion, and began to whisper to him. He lit you a smoke as Leon pricked himself with the pin.
You joked back and forth, occasionally flirting with the Spaniard, and he had no shame as he did the same. Leon did his best to distract himself, opening and closing his hands and he watched the blackness fade, and the pain in his chest wash away.
"You know, princessa," Luis began, before taking a long drag of smoke. "We could get out of here, you and I."
He winked, and it took you a moment to catch on. You thought back to what Ada had said, 'take Luis up on his offer.'
You looked the man up and down, pressing your cigarette to your lips.
"I'll think about it," you chuckled.
Luis turned to look over your shoulder, and he spoke to Leon.
"Feeling better?" Luis asked.
"Yeah. Seems like it worked," Leon watched as Luis fiddled back and forth with his lighter.
"Bad news? All we've done is buy you some time," Luis took another drag. "The suppressant's effects will wear off all too soon."
Leon stared at the ground.
"You ready to go, bub?" You called to him, walking over.
"Don't worry about me," he said, shaking his head as he continued to stare dead ahead. "Ashley is the priority."
"Hmm," you let your cigarette drop, pressing your boot on the embers.
"In that case," Luis copied your motions. "We know what we have to do."
The Spaniard picked up a stray pipe, holding it in his hands like a weapon.
"Then come, Sancho Panza! Let us rescue the Princess Dulcinea!"
"You're gonna hurt yourself!" Leon grabbed the pipe, throwing it on the ground.
"Hey! That was my lance!" Luis whined. "Rayas! He took my lance!"
You laughed, waving him forward.
"Come, my knight!"
"OK, we hurry! I get it!" Luis rushed to meet you.