Prologue: Waking Up is the Hardest Part
In the darkness, there was nothing but the loud ringing of distressed eardrums that shrieked within Leon's head. Nothing but a disoriented subconscious that fought for its bearings on reality as it slowly slipped into the chaos of the explosion. He couldn't see anything and when his vision didn't return within a number of seconds, he feared he would have to blindly fight for his survival against whatever caused the sabotage to main office of HQ. A condition not even he was equipped to handle.
Thankfully, the darkness began to fade into a blurry mess of a scene of a gray ash that fluttered down onto the dust-covered tiles that laid cold beneath him. He still couldn't make out the details of his surroundings, but at least he had one of his better senses working. Above him shined a luminous florescent light that he was surprised was still in tact from such an impact. But it was and it was glaring straight into his sensitive eyes. Slowly he sat up, his body protesting with the sting of pain in every fiber of his figure. He groaned and fought at the heaviness that continued to try and force him back down. Once he was up on his elbows he examined the large hole in the concrete wall as his eyes continued to focus.
The scene was disastrous with concrete debris scattered along the floor along with half burned papers and files tossed around the square office. There was even splatters of blood along the walls, and the body of a familiar blonde officer lying lifeless beside him with green eyes that stared vapidly up at him. He didn't move, not an inch could be motivated from him. His body froze upon seeing the officer so dormant on the floor. A subtly sting of pain arose in him as he stared down at her, wondering what caused her death and who was responsible for it.
Beat of his heart was skipped upon hearing the faint sound of heels clicking against the linoleum. His piercing blue eyes ventured towards the source of the sound that seemed to be hidden within the fog of the ash that coated the room heavily. Leon placed his hand on the pistol that he knew was always attached to his hip and quickly removed it from the holster. He inhaled deeply to slow his heart rate, knowing that his panic would only ruin his aim. Calmly, with a heaving chest he took the pistol off of it's safety and lifted his straightened arm up, just enough for him to see down the red labeled sights. The sound of heels grew louder, and figure dressed in all red seem to come into his view. Before long, Leon could make out the curvy body of the raven-haired mercenary that came striding into the room. Upon seeing the woman dressed in her long red gown with golden butterflies dancing across her thigh and around her torso, he lowered his gun to his side. It had been a long time since he had seen her dressed so formal in a situation such as this. Everything was the same as when it was when they were still young. There was a black lace wrapped snug around her throat and a long slit up the side of her dress that revealed her bare skin of her leg and a holstered gun strapped against her thigh. Her caramel eyes penetrated his with a cold glare that was strangely paired with a seductive grin that graced pallid features.
"Ada?" he managed to say breathlessly.
"What are you doing here?" he continued. The assassin didn't utter a single word, and simply continued towards him. He remained still despite the uneasiness from her presence, and once she towered over him she made her way down to the floor. Gracefully she swung her leg over him and gently placed herself against his hips. She straddled his figure and continued to stare down at him, her smile fading somewhere along the way. Leon shook his head in disbelief.
"Don't tell me, you did – "
Leon was silenced by her slender index finger that she swiftly placed against his lips. The scent of her jasmine perfume gracing his senses and riding the smell of burnt flesh and dry wall from his nostrils. He stared into her frigid eyes longingly, still bewildered by the whole situation.
It wasn't until his eyes broke from her stare that he realized he was no longer in a stark destroyed office building. But in a room painted navy blue, lying comfortably on his back on a king sized bed dressed in black cotton sheets placed conventionally in the center of the room. They were in his bedroom, a place he preferred over anywhere else. It held memories that he cherished in his adult life, but it also carried his pain. A bewildered expression over took his usually moderate features as he tried to place meaning on the two locations he had shifted through. Nothing about it made sense, and being the agent he was, he felt the need to ponder the situation.
"Leon," Ada beckoned for his attention quietly. His eyes returned to the woman only to find her bare-skinned upon him, with a peaceful expression. His curiosity melted away as he stared at her with soft lustful blue orbs. Her body was just as mysterious and beautiful unclothed. Her curves, the softness and tone of her skin, and how she always returned that sweet expression.
Her body was so gracefully created to fit with his tattered anatomy in a manner no one else could be so lucky to know . The curve of her hips, the way the smooth surface of her skin grazed over his, down to the seductive nature displayed in her countenance. It all sent a shivering sensation through his body. The indentions of her femininely sculpted muscles, her breasts, her legs, the movement of her hands along his body. He could admire her body forever in the peaceful silence of the room, he could imagine everything that made him fall for her, over and over again. Her hips moving against him and the sound of her pleading moans that made his skin crawl. Her laugh, her half-hearted smile, her morbid sense of humor, even her appearance when she let her walls come down. It all came back to these moments when he could be with her, no distractions, no bullets, no blood, no tragic situations. When he looked down at her with her short hair scattered messily across his bed and met those vivacious caramel colored eyes, it made hearing her gasp his name with her nails trailing down his back be the most rewarding thing. It was everything to him.
There was ecstasy arising in his body, simply from seeing her this way, so vulnerable and trusting. The warmth between her soft legs pressed against his hips arousing all of his senses, and he suddenly couldn't handle their distance. Gently, he placed his right knee against the center of her back to keep her in her place while simultaneously sitting up to meet face to face. Within their close vicinity he inhaled her scent with a deep breath savoring it longingly. In response to him, she leaned her head against his as if weakened by his presence. They both lingered there, teasing each other with the small distance of their lips. Leon leaned in closer, her rosy lips grazing across his subtly, just enough for his senses to burn with anticipation. Unable to handle their game, he gave in and pressed his lips into hers. It wasn't rough or hurried, but nurturing. A hunger grew within him and for a second he could feel that same urgency in the way she returned the kiss. His fingers tangled through the black strands of her hair and in return she allowed him to pull her in closer to consume the heat that radiated from them.
But it was all short lived. Ada was the first one to break their kiss and bow her head. Leon could only furrow his brows into a confused yet disappointed look. Without warning her entire solid form began to tremble in a violently noticeable way. She was trying to hold back from sobbing and all at once that wall broke down to release a whimper from her lips. Suddenly alarmed, Leon brought his hand down to her thigh and rubbed his calloused thumb across it.
"What's wrong?" he asked, expecting the worst. Had he done something wrong? Was she doubting herself? He could handle either of those if the answers were yes. Yet, like a fool in love he couldn't leave it alone.
"Do you love me, Leon?" she finally gasped her head remained bowed.
"More than anything," he answered in low quiet voice with more puzzlement drawing in his features. She was silent again as she brought her hand to her face to wipe away the tears. Instinctively he began to comb her hair out of her face, but she still managed to stay hidden. She shook her head, more trembling accompanying the gesture.
" You have to wake up," she blurted out.
"What?" Leon asked almost in disbelief.
" I can't do this to you anymore. You have to let go," she explained.
Leon's face went stone cold as he realized exactly what was going on. He couldn't believe it, the idea of forgetting about her. No part of him wanted to do that. But when he noticed the crimson roll down her neck and onto her collar bone, he recognized it all to well. Not this again, he thought to himself.
" Please Ada," he begged in a barely audible voice. " I can't let you go. Just let me be with you, I don't care how." Everything began to make sense now, and he was well aware that the next events couldn't be stopped. Even though he knew that all too well, he couldn't suppress the need to fight for her.
Finally, Ada lifted her head and to his horror it was ending the way it always had. From her eyes, flooded deep crimson tears that drained down her cheeks and further down her body. Despite the haunting image of her face covered in blood, he still couldn't let it go.
" You have to wake up," she repeated and as her words finally reached him, he became more determined.
" Please," he answered her, begging desperately now.
She shook her head and once it registered further in his mind, blood began to seep from the pores of the walls. Even though the two of them were silent, it felt like the room was growing louder and louder with unearthly sounds. Within seconds, her blood had pooled on the black sheets and if he waited any longer he would drown in it and the blood of the victims that were on his hands. He had lost again, he couldn't keep her now. Not even for a moment longer.
Leon's eyelids flew open into a wide-eyed expression as they stared up at the ceiling. He shuddered upon awareness of the trembling cold sweat he was enduring. He didn't bother to move, he just swallowed the knot in his throat and expectantly moving his hand across the bed sheets beside him, hoping desperately that she would be lying unconscious in a deep slumber beside him. But to his disappointment, the space beside him was cold and empty giving him no comfort.
He glanced over at the alarm clock, the digital green numbers displaying that it was four o'clock in the morning. The agent hadn't even been asleep for an hour when he tried so hard to fall asleep in the first place. After all, he really needed the sleep tonight. There was no point in fighting the exhaustion, but unfortunately it wasn't him that was fighting it. Lately, his mind had been a cruel place to be. Everything he ever thought, dreamt, and imagined revolved around something he no longer had in reality. So like a monster feeding off of his agony, it searched for his desires in his sleep only to force him awake to conclude that his reality was emptier than the world in his mind. He had many dreams that revolved around Ada and death, but that one was recurring. It never started the same way, but it always managed to come to the same end. He didn't even care, it was the moment just before he watched Ada bleed out in his arms that he hoped for. There was a demented desire in him to have her in that way if only for a moment. Yet, he no longer knew if those dreams would hold him any longer. Once he awoke, it was like a tragic finish to a potentially blissful dream. The disappointment was beginning to become unbearable.
Getting out of bed was more painstaking that Leon had expected. The sheets like weights, his muscles like stone. Though his motivation was shot down several days ago, he was more afraid of possibly lying awake until dawn and being left with his thoughts. All he wanted was sleep, a silent motionless sleep were all he had were his dreams. He didn't give a damn how haunting they were, he just needed a sense of refuge somewhere.
Gradually, He removed the sheets from him and slowly let his feet touch the bitter cold of the wooden floor. For a moment, it felt like he couldn't breathe as if he never caught his breath after waking up. He inhaled deeply the phantom scent of Jasmine still lingering. He couldn't tell what worried him more, the fact that her scent had been burned into his sense or that quite possibly everything in this room had absorbed her scent with contentment. Finally, he stood from his bed and stumbled tiredly out of the bedroom. Down the hall and to the right was the kitchen, which he entered just as lethargically. His feet could give out at any moment, and just before he reached the counter and placed his hands firmly against the surface he feared he would have. Leon inhaled deeply and bowed his head in frustration with himself. He had never felt this horrible, and the worst part was is that it was his mind that was letting him do it. You're pathetic, he chastised himself brutally.
A quiet whimper arose from the silence as a long nose gently nudged against Leon's thigh. He looked down and met icy blue eyes of a black and white husky staring up at him with concern. The dog must have been watching Leon painfully, wondering why his master was up already. He may be an animal, but he was just as observant as any human. His expression of worry even resembled a human being. Leon placed his hand on the dog's head, the animal's tail responding to the contact.
"I'm sorry that you have to watch this, Shia," he apologized to the husky, whom strangely stopped wagging his tail upon hearing his master's tone of voice. Leon reached up and opened up the cabinet revealing the half empty whiskey bottle and the many painkillers that he had received from doctor's over the years. He stared at all the little orange bottles contemplating their affects on him. How they made the pain go away, but only for a moment. An idea popped in his head. One that wasn't new to his mind, but stronger than ever now. It almost buzzed in his head and made his palms sweat. This feeling he had in him, the sudden determination in eyes as he stared at all of those medications, knowing the exact outcome if he were to take too many and down them with alcohol. Abruptly, and rather aggressively, Leon grabbed several orange bottles without looking at the labels. It wouldn't matter what he overdosed on as long as they worked. He made his way, steadily now, to the living room where he sat on the leather couch, Shia following his heels. He began to place the bottles up and once empty handed he leaned over the couch to the side table, opening the drawer and pulling out a loaded pistol that he stored there in case he couldn't get to his other guns. He sat that down in uniform with the medications and the bottle of Jack. Shia's ears perked up, his head cocked to the side in curiosity. Yet, Leon ignored the dog not wanting to let in any of the outside world into his narrowed mind.
His eyes examined all four bottles everyday prescribed painkillers, and half full a prescription bottle of Prozac. He stared at all of them taking in the idea that they might be the only things that could finally put him to rest. And if that didn't go fast enough, he had his pistol at hand if he got really desperate. His goal was not to make a mess of the apartment, he was planning out his death he didn't want Helena or Sherry to find his brains scattered across the floor. It would be hard enough for them to know that he was pathetic enough to take his own life. To know that neither of them were enough to keep him here on this earth. The idea was one of them mourning his death worried him, and before it would have stopped him. But he knew he was in a place of no return when he had a inkling of not caring. He had made the decision. Now the only step left was to decide which bottle to down first.
Well there's my prologue. I hope to continue actually writing this story ( if time allows), because I have a bunch of ideas. It's not my first AdaxLeon, but it is my second so I guess that's kind of monumental. . . .
Tell me what you think, good or bad. I'm not sensitive and criticism never hurt anybody, so if it's terrible I want to know so I can make it better. And not to sound like I'm only writing for reviews or anything, but I would really like to know I have readers that enjoy it. Let's be honest, I'm not writing this for my health. XD Though, it would be really nice if writing had health benefits.
Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed it. If not, I don't do refunds. R/R