Children Playing

Resident Evil Code Veronica: Meet Steve

Wesker's left eyebrow arched above his sunglasses. Kyle (or as he was known in game, Krauser) and Leon had arrived late to the playground and the small boy's normally dirty blonde hair was now a deep red colour. It reminded Wesker of the cheap red ink he kept at home for writing letters. The boy's face also had a reddish tint as if he had been crying.

"Go on," Kyle said as he pushed his little brother forward. Leon hung his head and stared at his feet.

"My mom says Leon has to have the same hair colour as me from now on."

"Tell them why," Kyle prompted.

Leon looked up at his brother. The look of betrayal was clear. The boy looked down at his shoes again.

"Hey Mom," Leon asked as he peeked around the door frame. "Do we have any red ink?"

He had stuck his thumb in his mouth just in case but his mother barely glanced up from her mopping.

"It's in your father's writing desk. Are you writing a letter?"

"Sorta." Leon disappeared from the doorway and continued his mission. He knew he could have asked his brother to obtain the key to the desk but then the surprise would be ruined.

"Then Mom found me with the red ink and freaked out," Leon concluded.

With Leon's story now finished, the other children began to become restless.

Jill hopped down from the monkey bars and added, "I tried to dye my hair brown like Jill," she said, shaking her previously blonde locks. "But dad said I couldn't use ash from the fireplace."

The little girl neglected to mention that her father had purchase brown hair dye and helped his father colour her hair no doubt knowing that it wouldn't make Leon feel better.

Claire, however, walked up and hugged the small boy. "I like Leon with blonde hair more," she said. Normally, this would have resulted in a small smile from Leon but today Leon didn't even look up.

"She also said I can't play Leon until the ink washes out of my hair," he added in a small voice.

Wesker frowned. That threw a wrench in his plans to merge the characters in the first game with the characters from the second. Worse, Leon seemed devastated. Wesker glanced at Kyle. The older Kennedy was silent as he watched the drama unfold. Now all the little ones were screaming at this perceived injustice.

"So now what?" Barry asked as the children began trying to figure out ways around Leon's forced retirement.

"Do you want to get on Mrs. Kennedy's bad side?" Wesker asked.

Barry violently shook his head. "No but it will take months for the ink to wash out."

"Two months max," Kyle added. "Leon's got less blonde in his hair and if he thinks to use bleach, it will take even less."

"I hope your mother learned from your experience and has the bleach safely under lock and key," Wesker murmured.

"Sure she does. Just like how the ink is supposed to be." Kyle said as he pulled out and started chewing a stick of gum.

"If we leave him out, he will probably try something," Barry added as the three teens glanced over to the children. The raised voices easily carried over and Wesker uneasily noted that Chris was loudly suggesting that Leon use something else to recolour his hair.

"We really need to keep the Redfields and Leon separate. He's going to pick up on their habits," Kyle noted.

Wesker shook his head. He was sure the habits were going both ways. The Redfields had calmed down significantly since the Kennedys joined the game. (He didn't have to worry about being ambushed out of game anymore for one thing.) Besides, the issue wasn't the habits which were being shared. The issue was what Leon and the other children might do in an attempt to allow Leon to rejoin the game.

"What were Mrs. Kennedy's exact words?" he asked Kyle.

The other teen scrunched up his face. "She said 'Leon, the character, is now a dirty blonde and Leon, the boy," Kyle paused as he tried to recall the exact wording, "can only play a character who has the same hair colour, do you understand, Kyle?'"

"So no Leon?" Barry asked.

"So no Leon," Kyle confirmed.

"So no Leon," Wesker muttered. Sunlight glinted off his sunglasses as he turned to face the riot of children.

"Leon," Wesker said.

The small boy raised his head.

"I want you to meet a character named Steve," Wesker continued. "He's stuck in a prison on an island owned by Umbrella. He meets a young woman named Claire...