I don't own any characters of Resident evil 4.
Here we go, smoothly but surely. Next chapter is finally up. Night, stars, Ashley and Leon. I hope you like this!
Chapter 4. After midnight
The party lasted until midnight in the mansion. The guests were enjoying themselves with tons of food and good dancing. The musicians played their music very well and everyone was pleased. But the most pleased person of the night was Ashley, she received a great present: a cruise in the Caribbean, and as a part of the package: her own bodyguard, someone who saved her life one year ago.
She had a great time with Kiia too, as they were estimating every single good-looking young man in the party. Some of them could be worth to try but some of them were better to be left alone. Since Kiia was interested in one young man there, Ashley promised her she could try to ask if he wanted to meet Kiia later. Kiia was of course very happy about this and reminded her once more before she left back home after the party.
Ashley was sitting in a chair in her balcony and viewed the clear night sky with stars shining in there. She always wondered, if something had happened in Europe which one of those stars might be her. She remembered, her granny told her when she was just a little girl that dead people will turn into a star, rising up in the sky, then shine brightly for the people on earth. Even if her granny died about ten years ago, this star story tale she used to tell her, is the best gift she received from her. That was how she felt deep in her heart. And she believed her granny was in there, somewhere, along with the other stars shining, with a smile on her face, for her happiness tonight.
She sighed. The cruise was to be after a few weeks in the end of June, soon after she had finished with her school. How's she able to finish her school while knowing about the cruise?
"I've got to focus on my school." she said to herself, not realizing that someone might hear.
"That's good to hear."
Ashley became frightened, almost falling off from the chair too.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." he said, and tried to restrain the smile on his face.
"Of course you didn't! And who gave you the key in my room anyway?" Ashley complained, noticing he watched something. Ashley was about to ask as she remembered, then she blushed and turned her back on him. "Damn it". He smiled and kindly turned his back on her.
"I shouldn't have change my clothing"
The night was so warm. She had only her pink dressing gown as the only clothing on her. She closed it tighter while she had her back on Leon, and waited for his answer.
"Your father, he said that I may need it as I'm your bodyguard now." Leon replied, and like a gentleman he didn't look at her while she fought with her dressing gown.
"Actually I thought you would be sleeping already," he said then and rested on his arms, leaning on the balustrade.
Ashley didn't say a thing when she turned around to see Leon. She didn't want to fight with him. It had been so long and she had hoped to talk with him again about those days in Europe, because she felt he was the only one who really could understand her feelings she felt back there. Ashley walked to him and put her hands on the balustrade, then remained standing next to him.
"The sky is so beautiful, isn't it?" she said quietly and watched the stars.
"...yeah..." he said, watching into the sky as well.
"Are you alright? You seem sad, has something happened?" Ashley asked, that face of him made her worried.
"It's nothing, I'm just wondering." Leon said and smiled slightly to her.
Ashley nodded, but she couldn't believe there was 'nothing', there had to be 'something' why he was feeling so blue. She sighed and looked at the stars. The leaves in the trees near them were whistling in the soft and warm wind that blew on their faces. Ashley was getting sleepy; it had been so busy day with all that shopping and her party. She yawned while the wind blew on her face and made a tear to fell down on her cheek. She closed her eyes and then yawned again and dried that tear off from her cheek. Leon watched her doing these with a smile on his face.
"Are you sleepy?" he asked, looking at her as she glanced at him.
"No, I'm not, not that sleepy. I'd like to talk with you..." she said and turned a bit so Leon was in front of her now, even though he didn't turn to her.
"Talk about what?" he asked and looked at her, standing there on his left in her dressing gown, seemingly made of satin.
"About the things happened one year ago. I haven't really talked about it with anyone. I think no one here can understand how I really felt. But you were there, so you know how it felt to be there, surrounded by those creatures, humans or whatever they were. Right, Leon..?" Ashley asked carefully, she wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about it.
Leon just kept watching at the stars quietly. He knew what she meant and why she wanted to talk about it. Even though, he wasn't sure if he was the right person for her to talk with. He always had tried to forget all the worst things as soon as possible, this one too. But now that she mentioned it, the memories came back and he had to think twice, was he ready to talk about them with her.
He looked at Ashley. She seemed thoughtful and kind of unhappy. Something in her face told him, those things that happened there, were still eating her from deep inside. Even if she seemed happy and energetic, she had been carried by her memories back to hell in Europe, more often than anyone had noticed, probably even now. When he thought about it, he knew that sometimes he felt like that too, though he hadn't cared about it.
"...Okay..." he sighed and noticed the change in her mood; she was getting relaxed and seemed pleased.
"Thank you..." she said smiling on him.
--
Meanwhile, somewhere in the mansion's yard, a few dark figures were running from behind a tree to another. They were working for their Master and were spying the presidential family.
Their Master was sitting in a black car behind the fence around the mansion, and waited for his spies to return. He'd like to have a clue about where and when the best time to take revenge on his brother's killer was. "You can't run away from me" he thought satisfied, and quietly laughed an evil laughter of his.
--
"By the way, how old are you?" Ashley asked, then looked at Leon.
"Is that the thing you wanted to talk about, or Europe?" he asked and glanced at her.
"No but...please?" she asked entreating, watched him in his eyes, trying to look really sweet.
"No." Leon said shortly, then turned his face away.
"Please, I'll tell you mine," she tried.
"No..."
"Leon?" she asked changing her voice very soft and nice.
"Would you stop that, you're playing childish." Leon said frustrated, then looked at her.
Ashley was disappointed. She turned up her nose at him, now she really felt like being childish. Leon saw it in the way she was acting. He shook his head and laughed shortly.
"...28" he said then.
"Really!?" Ashley asked and smiled happily.
"Do you think I'm lying?" Leon asked, with a slightly amused smile on his face.
"No, I didn't say that. It's just the thing I believe in." she explained, then looked at Leon and slightly blushed.
He stared at her for a few seconds with a thoughtful expression on his face, then he shook his head with a short laugh and waved his finger as a sign for no.
"No, don't tell me you believe in that one," he said. He was amused by her.
"Why not? I'm 21 you know." she said, he was still smiling to her.
"You can't be serious! Seven years doesn't mean anything." Leon said.
"Maybe, maybe not, but I believe in it, and there's no way you or anyone else can change it." Ashley said certainly.
"Whatever..." Leon said, it sounded so ridiculous to him.
"How about you? Where do you believe in?" she asked thoughtfully.
"I won't tell you..." Leon said and straightened himself.
"You're boring, how did you even get this job?" Ashley complained.
"Your father might have a better answer for that one than I do," Leon said, and then lowering his head he glanced at the view from the balcony.
--
The dark figures found their way to mansion's backyard. Seeing the guards, the ones they were planning on following, thinking of how they should try to get past them. They received orders to go inside the mansion to find some clues for their Master. The moving figures were hiding behind bushes, as one of those suddenly saw something on the near by balcony. It gestured to its group to look at the balcony's direction, and so those did.
--
He looked at her. She was wordless. Smiling, he looked down over the balustrade, there were some guards walking. He was quite sure they were able to hear them talking above them, "what on earth they might be thinking?"
Ashley paced towards Leon and remained standing next to him. She looked down as well, wondering what he saw in there.
"They are just guards, silly!" she sighed, watching them walking there.
"I know." he said and looked at her. She stood there, right next to him. Leon smiled to himself. That sure wasn't the way to think when being a bodyguard for a lady.
"Why such a grin Leon..?" Ashley asked curiously, looking him to his face.
"Uh, nothing, forget it... So; you wanted to talk with me?" Leon said, quickly changing the subject.
Ashley stared at him, somehow she knew he was hiding something this time, but wasn't so sure if she really wanted to know. She moved a few steps away from him, then turned to face him, as he now stood there facing her, and carefully looked at him.
"...have you ever seen nightmares, about the parasite once inside you?" she asked quietly, looking in his eyes.
Leon was feeling helpless, while looking into her scared green eyes. He saw her being so scared because of those kinds of nightmares. Glancing down, he sighed and then took a couple of steps closer to her. Leon raised his hand and put it on top of her head. Ashley tried to hold back her tears, but feeling his hand slowly stroked her head; she burst in tears and pressed up to him. Leon was slightly surprised, but still he hugged her.
Ashley felt him hugging, felt his hands behind her back and neck, he was soothing her down, he really was. Ashley put her arms past his sides behind his back, getting a big bear hug from him, still crying; he didn't push her away.
"You've seen nightmares like that then?" he asked softly.
Ashley just nodded as an answer and hugged him tight while still crying.
--
Suddenly the guards stopped their walking under the balcony. They felt like there was something unusual. Then, before they were able to notice two black figures attacked on them. The first one gave a powerful kick to the other on his stomach. The other figure hit the second guard on his neck. Then, both guards fell on ground, losing their consciousness. The last two standing figures gestured to their friends, telling them that the way in was clear now. Opening the glass doors into the mansion, the newcomers quietly crept inside.
--
Her dressing gown's hemline swayed in the warm wind when Leon was holding her in his arms. He had no idea how long he had been holding her as she had been crying and drying her tears on his shoulder. He had been thinking her nightmares, the ones he never had. "It must be tough having dreams like that...huh?"
Leon came back to reality, and noticed she was now breathing smoothly. He relaxed his hold carefully so he could see her face.
"...are you sleeping..?" he whispered quietly, and softly swept her hair away to see her face.
Ashley felt his touch on her cheek and turned her face from her left to right. Leon smiled and watched her. She might not be asleep, but she was seemingly so tired she had no strength left to walk by herself.
"So, I guess we're done with this talk tonight..." he wondered quietly.
He moved her on his right, had his right arm behind her back. Then he bent to pick her legs on his left arm so he was able to carry her back inside. He felt she pressed against his chest when she was mumbling something away to herself.
He stepped inside her bedroom, and carried her to her own bed. He laid her down carefully, left her to sleep there when he went to close the door to her balcony and locked it. He walked back to Ashley and put some of the coverlet on her, then he put out a light on her bedside table before he left the room.
In the corridor Leon saw the president came up the stairs, he seemed pretty upset as he looked at Leon.
"Is everything alright?" Leon asked. The president shook his head.
"Some men got inside the mansion and stole Ashley's present." he replied. He was seemingly uncertain what to do and definitely worried about how to tell this to his daughter.
"What? You mean those tickets?" Leon asked. He was totally surprised that somebody wanted to steal the cruise tickets.
"Unfortunately..." the president said, stroking his chin. It seemed he was already started to calm down.
"But it's not that bad, she'll have her cruise anyway. I just have to call to the travel agency tomorrow and ask for new tickets, as the cruise is already paid," he thought. Then he sighed and looked at Leon.
"You should go to have some sleep too, you seem tired." the president said and smiled slightly.
"What about those thieves?" Leon asked.
"They've disappeared already, seemingly knew where to go and what to steal, it was all over after a few seconds," the president said and sighed again, then continued his way to the bedroom.
"You should go to sleep, may be I'll need you to calm down Ashley in the morning." he said and glanced at Leon, then winked at him.
"Sure..." Leon snorted, still wondering the news. "This doesn't make any sense, does it?"
He shook his head; he's had a long day too. He yawned. Then went down the stairs as his room was on the second floor. He looked around. And went the direction he wanted to go, but soon noticed there was nothing unusual there any longer. In his room, he fell on his bed, his mind full of alternatives to steal cruise tickets, though none of them was sensible enough. With these thoughts of his, he soon fell asleep.
--
Outside the mansion, there was a happy new owner in a black car. He was laughing his evil laughter and watching the cruise tickets in his hand.
"Good job." he said to the leader spy, as the others were around his car too. The Master seemed very pleased.
"So, in June then, I'll get him and I'll kill him." he said scarily with his deep voice.
When he noticed the spies were still there, he waved his hand, as a sign for them to move off. Then he asked his driver to close his car door's window and to drive back to Houston. Smiling smugly, he was having many great ideas how to have some fun in the next a few weeks.
The end of chapter 4.