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Every step through Raccoon City felt like time travel, the city both a grave of destruction and a scene of chaos in the streets. The sun blazed high in the sky, but he still felt the rain soaking down to his bones.
Had he ever seen the RPD in the sunlight before?
Leon took deep breaths, preparing himself for the inevitable. The point on the map he knew led to where all roads seemed to lead. He thought he had more time to collect himself when he turned a corner, an old, overturned tanker truck staring back at him.
Everything in him froze; his muscles tensed, his heart ached, and his eyes watered at the sight of the old sheriff’s car.
“Wait, you’re a cop?”
“Yeah, Leon Kennedy. And you are?”
“Claire — Claire Redfield.”
“Live around here?”
“No, looking for my brother. He’s a cop, too.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we found each other. I don’t know what to expect anymore.”
Leon’s body kicked back into gear, drawn to the car, his fingers brushing the rusted metal before he realized he’d moved. Most people met the love of their life in a place they could go back to. A place they could visit on anniversaries and special occasions.
He’d never wanted to see the car in front of him again, the scrap of metal that brought them together, then drew them apart.
That night lived in his memory as a nightmare, the origin story to his pain, but it also gave him all the things he loved most.
“What if we’re the only ones? What if there’re no survivors?”
“No. There are survivors. It’s a big city…there has to be.”
He’d been right, but now they were all slowly dying of something sitting dormant inside them, Raccoon City reclaiming its losses, unwilling to let any of them go without a fight.
It was up to him to make sure the naive 21-year-old stayed right. To make sure they didn’t all die now after having fought so hard to keep going.
-
“How are you doing?”
“You know, just surviving.”
Leon’s finger gripped the wrought iron even though the gate was open, what was left barely holding onto the hinges. Flashes had hit him since he stepped through the halls of RPD, but none as strong as this one. He swore he saw the red of her jacket, the glint of her hair, the cool, easy swagger as she leaned against the gate.
Looking back, their flirting in the middle of an apocalypse seemed absurd; it was on brand for him, but she'd been just as invested.
Now the door was open, but she wasn’t there. He didn’t need to go this way, but still, he wasted his last precious moments, death on his doorstep, to remember this, one of his most cherished memories.
“Hey Sherry…”
“Yeah…?” she asked, her voice quiet, and he knew this must be hitting her hard, too.
“If I don’t make it out —”
“You’re making it out,” she said, her voice firm, an edge to it he knew was Claire’s doing. She taught her to be tough, to be kind, but to never let the world tell her what she could and couldn’t do.
“Just hear me out, kid,” he pleaded, continuing after a beat of silence. “If I don’t make it out, tell Claire…”
“Don’t you think she already knows anything you’d have to tell her? Make it home to tell her yourself.”
Leon huffed out a chuckle, stubborn freaking kid. “Not that. She knows that. Tell her that for all my fuck-ups, I wouldn’t change a thing about that night. That I would do it a thousand times over if it meant I got her.”
“Tell her —”
“Sherry, please…humor me.” His lungs filled with fire, and he bit back the urge to cough, pretending he wasn’t slowly dying as they spoke.
She was quiet for a moment, but finally acquiesced. “Fine.”
“Thank you,” Leon said, hacking against his will, blood splattering on the wrought iron. Still, it couldn’t tarnish the memory.
The one small bit of light in the night that cast his life into darkness.
“You okay?”
“I’m surviving,” he said, his lips tugging upwards. “And Sherry?”
“Yeah…?” she breathed.
“That all goes for you, too,” Leon said, knowing she needed to hear it, too. “I don’t regret the days after. I don’t regret joining the DSO. If I could change our options, I might, but given what they were, I’d choose you every time.”
Her breath hitched, and he gave her space to process, resting his head on the gate before forcing himself back to the task at hand.
He’d almost made it to the second floor when she spoke up. “Thank you, Leon. That means more than you know. It was always hard knowing how much you gave up for me.”
“You were worth it. You always were,” Leon said, hearing voices coming from within the room in front of him.
Fuck her parents, who treated her like she wasn’t worth the world, who placed her second to their work. Leon only regretted that he and Claire couldn’t have been more involved. Hated there wasn’t more they could’ve done.
“Love you, kid.”
“Love you too,” Sherry said, then a beat later. “And you better come back to tell Claire everything you said, but if you don’t…I’ll make sure she knows.”
“Thank you, that’s all I ask,” Leon said, relieved to have that off his shoulders. He pictured the three of them back then, exhausted and sore, but happy to be together, then imagined their reunion. The picture was murkier, not guaranteed, but he would do whatever he could to make it true.
“Let’s make it out of this, okay? Both of us.”