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You walk through the cove and it leads to yet another wooden platform that counts as an entrance for the new settlement. There's a ladder at the end of the wooden platform that you're on, and you walk toward it, holding Leon's arm tightly.
The entire place was set up so that the cove you came in was on a higher level, needing to hop down into the wet, and walk up a ramp to a lower wooden platform where homes were, so houses and shacks wouldn't get flooded. And there were even higher levels that acted as an outpost, using the cliff around it to support it, but luckily no one was on the outposts at this time.
"Oh, this looks like the perfect habitat for more vipers." Leon smirks, looking over the marshy land. Your grimacing at the thought that he's considerately placed in your head, blood pressure sky rocketing through the roof but proceeding anyways.
Apparently, the weight of the two of you is too heavy for the rotting wood (but you can blame it all on Leon's tremendous weight). You fall through the wood. Luckily, Leon's body cushioned your fall, leaving him to be soaked in the muddy water that was beneath. You get off and pull him up.
"Being wet isn't so fun anymore, huh?" You joke pitifully.
"Nothing I'm not used to, at least you're fine." He hears loud footsteps from the wooden platform above you, way heavier than any normal person should be. Leon grabs your waist and pulls you under the bridge, looking from the corner. A knock off minotaur had come down the ramps and into the marshy pit you were in, but he couldn't see you from around the corner. He had a beefy body with a ripped off cow's head wrapped onto his own with rope, and a sledge-hammer that was taller than him. The metal part of it could've probably fit 5 of your own head.
He leans back to you, mouth up against your ear.
"Can you get up to the top platforms? I'll keep him busy from down here. There will be less vipers there for you too." He whispered, hand still gripping tightly on your arm.
"What about you?"
"You've got the aim, I've got the hand to hand combat, that's why we're put together. Go."
"Don't do anything stupid."
"You can save my ass again, I'm not too worried." He taps your back, and you start running under the platforms, making sure to be undetected until you reach the ladder, quickly climbing up. Leon watches you as you go, he nods at you when you get into position and runs off into the open for the minotaur the second you fire your first shot at it's head.
It looks up at you, and Leon kicks it in the back, knocking it down for a second. He tries to kick his head but backs off when he realises his bone is too thick. Shooting multiple times, you've drawn the attention of all the Ganado in the settlement who start approaching your ladder, but it will take a while for them to reach you.
You think you've weakened his head down enough the third time he gets stunned as he takes an extra few seconds to recover.
"Stab him!" You shout, Leon quickly takes out his knife and digs it into his head. Successful.
He looks over at your ladder, shooting off the two Ganado that were already on it and running into the clearing of the middle of the village. Watching him kick, and parry all their attacks was satisfying, it felt more like a dance than a fight. One by one you would slowly pick each one off, finishing it on a collateral, going through someone's head then piercing the one behind it's leg, letting Leon push his combat knife into it's head.
You slide down the ladder, him running up to wait at the bottom.
"Alone, again." You say, starting to walk and check the homes.
"Mhm, that never ends well, does it?" He adds, his flirting had become so frequent and you were growing more accustomed to him that it didn't bother you anymore.
"Yeah, last time Milo got sliced to death."
"Not what I was thinking of exactly... I guess we can add getting pushed into a lake."
"And that too... There's matches here." You pick them up and shove them into a leg pouch, looking around a bit more to find scrap pieces of metal like the merchant mentioned. Leon looks down at your chest, finally paying attention to the pistol in your holster. "Eyes are on my face, not my chest."
"I wasn't looking at that, cute charms." He said, although he definitely was checking you out absent mindedly before he saw the glimmer of pink on your gun. Your outfit had a bunch of charms littered around on them, you had a little bunny charm on it, and a sticker on the side. You were surprised he had only noticed them now.
"Yeah, I've got them everywhere."
"Well it suits since you're pretty charm-ing." He's got a smug grin on his face from his own pun. "Maybe you could get me on some of those charms." You shrug and snag one off your belt, a cat head and toss it to him. He was joking... But he's not complaining. "How do I put it on my gun?"
You take it out his holster, as you're walking next to each other you tie it on the side and give it to him. He takes it back and turns it from side to side, curiously.
"Like it?"
"It's weird but... I'll get used to it."
You smile, finally entering a shack on the other side of the settlement and spotting the gas. You hear hissing in the room but Leon shoots it before you even get the chance to look.
"Chris is gonna make fun of you." You say as you pick the gas up, trying to ignore the snakes so you don't have an existential crisis.
"He's always making fun of me anyway. He's probably just jealous he doesn't have a sick cat. Gets no pussy." You cringe again at his stupid joke.
"And you do? Last time you got pussy was like 1998 or something stupid like that."
"Oh, I can get laid. I just chose not to."
"Like I'm meant to believe that?" You snicker. "Nice try."
"I mean I'm a pretty good flirt, right? Managed to pull the most prettiest girl in the office, who also happens to be the most stubborn."
You roll your eyes as you start climbing up the ladder to the exit. "You didn't pull anything. If anything you're pretty good at harassment and being more stubborn than I am."
Once you get to the top, he wraps his hand around your waist as you walk. Feeling his fingers touch you through the thin fabric of your shirt makes you feel yourself getting warmer. "Why do you always have to be so cruel all the time, sweetheart? Would it kill you to let something nice out of the pretty lips?"
"Remember last time I said something nice about you?"
"You mean when you called me hot? I don't remember, tell me what happened." His mischievous look is plastered all over his face, you swat his hand off your waist in response.
"Oh you're so lucky to have forgotten the most miserable moment of my life."
"I remember you liking it more than you care to admit."
You get back to the boat, Leon filling up the gas tank as you take back the spark plug, lighting the matches. You wished you could call your dad to that moment to make sure you weren't fucking up. When you had last seen him do this was 7 years ago, and you didn't want to break it which was a very real possibility with your miraculous luck.
You hold the flame up to the spark plug, waiting a few long seconds until it was hot enough that it would be dangerous to touch, but not red hot. Evaporating all it's dampness, if you could at least get the spark going, it would warm up the rest of the engine if that was damp too. You quickly put it back in the engine, filling with anticipation, Leon doing the grace of pulling the rope start.
"You really just do anything." Leon let out a breath of joy when the engine started to rumble, his eyes full of admiration. You let out a soft laugh as you step in.
"Thank my dad."
"That was fast, already inviting me to meet your parents."
"After giving you that charm? That's nothing to take lightly, Leon. That's as serious as it gets, right up there with marriage papers." Letting your guard down after seeing how comforting he could be, made it natural to go along with it. Imagining how much more awful this mission would've been without him made you let yourself bask in his presence, appreciating it now that he wasn't being an unrelenting asshat. But this is just friendly, right?
Leon was a bit speechless after what you said, not expecting you to go along with it. Regardless, your words made him start to deceive him with thoughts that maybe the joke held a bit of truth. Why else would you give him the charm?
"I'm driving?" He asks.
"If you want, I'll take over later." He starts driving out the boat to the middle of the lake so we could reach the small harbour on the other side. It's difficult to get a conversation going over the loud rumbling of the engine, so you just sit at the front of the boat, staring at him.
You figured he was too focused on driving the boat, you find your eyes drifting off to his arms. God. They're like the size of your thigh. The way they flexed when his hand was on the steer by the engine, how his veins popped out. You could literally see his muscle fibres through his compression top. Oh to all the lucky victims that have been held in a headlock by those things. And his tits are bigger than mine, how is that even possible?
"You're gonna make me crash if you keep looking at me like that."
"Looking at you like what?" You know he's enjoy the attention.
"Don't play dumb. Agents have fantastic peripheral vision, you know that. I though stealth was your thing, sweetheart."
"I was just admiring the scenery from my peripheral vision, since it's that good." The engine stops making noise, the motor stops turning and the boat slows to a stop right in the middle of the lake. You quickly sit up, looking around as you could've sworn you hear more water movement that wouldn't have been unnoticeable with the engine running.
You're both silent, looking around attentively. Until a pile of floating scrap on the distance starts to bob up and down, something is in the water. In the next few seconds, a huge creatures ruptures from the water right in front of the boats. The wave it makes almost knocks you off the boat but Leon grabs the back of your shirt with a firm grip on the edge. It flips right over the two of you, scraping the end of the boat, and catching itself on the anchor at the front as it did so.
With the split second you had to catch yourself, you lurch forward, falling straight into Leon. The boat is being dragged around by the monster you barely got to catch a look at. He helps you back on your feet, gripping for dear life on the edge of your boat. There are harpoons strapped to the bottom of your boat, almost spear like.
"Now would be a good time to put that aim to use." Yeah, aim on guns. Not spears. Not like I have much of a choice. He takes hold of one of them himself, you grab one too. It's body finally came up from the water as it dragged the two of you around the lake, Leon had one hand on the steer to make sure you didn't dump into any of the debris floating atop.
Leon was launching spears at it'a huge eel-like body, while you boldly shot for it's head. The thing must've been about 30 metres long.
"They have whale size snakes here too." Leon says, you don't laugh. Wondering how he can keep so calm when this rackety boat could crumble at one hit from the thing. You bit your lip anxiously as it went under the water again, completely silent. Your eyes darting around the place, praying in your head. You were starting to get nauseous, but you've never had boat sickness before in your life. Any feeling you're snapped out of when it comes from the water again, leaping in the air. It's huge mouth with layers of jagged teeth launching straight for your boat.
Simultaneously, you shoot your harpoon right at the back of its throat, Leon hitting his gums. It's head changes trajectory, turning to the side and letting out a animalistic screech, making the whole area rumble before dipping back into the lake.
Your heart pounds with each breath, beating like the flutter of a hummingbird's wings. As fast as your reactions were, it felt as if that was too close.
The boat stops for a second, trying to deceive you into false hope. But it doesn't stop you and Leon from looking around cautiously. You boat jolts forward again, his body peaks out from the lake as he's dragging you yet again.
It's the same process of tossing harpoons, but you're starting to notice that you're getting very nauseous. This fight would have to end soon before you pass out and get flung off the boat, without any means to support yourself.
Every shot now you try put as much force to end this as soon as possible. You can see it's body getting more aggressive, it's writhing around haphazardly is enough to give you the he dread you need to expect things might end in this lake.
"Are you okay?!" Leon shouts. "I don't think he has long left."
Another hit, right in it's eye. It feels like a nightmare as it dips it's head underneath the water again. You take two harpoons into your hand, ready for it's next appearance. The mouth rips from the water again, coming for you. You throw both into it's mouth, Leon following suit with only one. But that's enough, it falls deeper into the lake like it's body has just gone limp. A huge wave almost flipping the boat over came over you.
The waters flood with rich, red blood. Immediately, Leon leans over the boat, adding his own blood to the mixture as he coughs. You lean over weakly, placing a hand on his back.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."
"Coughing up blood is a normal occurrence for you then?"
He pushes himself back upright, you grab his arm and help him, he immediately falls over and slamming onto the base of the boat. You stumble over by his side, holding his shoulders and shaking him with the little strength you could muster up yourself. He's passed out.
"Leon? Leon...?" Your eyes are starting to go hazy and your hearing muffled. "Leon, wake up." You feel something rise up in your throat, catching the cough in your gloved hands. You can make out the blurred view of your blood, quickly wiping it on your jeans. It's not long before you blank out, body toppling on Leon's.
˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚