Hello again, everyone! Boy so much has happened these past few months. And I have to be honest, not all of them were nice, which is partially the reason why this chapter has been delayed. Sorry to make you all wait, yet I thank each and every one of you for your patience. Yay for finally passing were HE was left off! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years.
Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Enjoy!
Haunting Evil
Chapter Eight
"Dammit!" Leon cursed.
He didn't like the idea of Fiona being alone. Not one bit. He still couldn't believe the Las Plagas was here in Italy. For how long? Were more of those things on loose in these ruins? The thought just made his fear for her safety increase. She seemed so vulnerable. Yet she had this fierce determination that kept her going, so he hoped she would manage on her own until he found her. He knew Hewie was worried as well. It took him a while to coax the young dog away from the rubble that separated them from her. He had to find a way to contact Hunnigan as soon as possible.
The cold was starting to creep on his bare arms. He was glad he gave her his jacket. Hewie's ears flopped down and he glanced up at Leon sadly. He smiled to assure him and rubbed the top of his head. Hewie appreciated it and licked his fingers. As they travelled side by side, Leon was thinking of the creature's behaviour. It appeared to be weak before it mutated. He was surprised he and Fiona were able to slow it down with only a few minor explosives. Maybe it was recently infected or had a low-grade Plaga type. What if there really were more? When he fought the Ganados, he was armed with a variety of guns. Would these antimonies and magnesias be enough for her to defend herself?
"C'mon, buddy..." he said to Hewie, urging him to keep up.
Leon surveyed the area, trying to remember the map when Hewie trotted ahead of him, finding something by the wall of a wrecked dwelling with streams of water pouring through its cracks, forming a puddle in a depression in the ground. He barked for Leon's attention. There was a metal box lying in the middle of it. Leon made his way over after Hewie barked for a second and third time. He crouched by it, noticing a wide puncture, as though it was damaged from the outside. He wasn't aware of it, but Hewie could detect the exact same as the creature's coming from inside of it. A bit of rust tarnished the metal. More of it coated the bottom half due to the water it sat in. It could not have been there for too long.
"How did this get down here?"
What he couldn't see at the back of the box under the water was the infamous red and white logo of Umbrella Inc.
Fiona wrapped her arms around her stomach. Everything was so quiet. Her flat boots tapping on the ground was all she could hear. She was shaken by the attack of the Homunculus. She had never seen any of the Homunculi change like that before. She didn't expect any to be down here. As far as she knew, the ruins was supposed to be deserted, according to a journal given to her by someone named Lorenzo. Was it just the Homunculi here that could mutate? And now she was separated from Hewie and Leon without any way of knowing. She felt like a terrible person for leading them into danger like this.
"What was I thinking? Did I seriously believe we could find an exit from here just like that?"
She must have been desperate the moment her eyes caught sight of the Mercury symbol on the key to think so. Yet she had ignored a note Lorenzo provided with the journal for so long. She never bothered to do anything the message said. Why now? She hadn't even heard from him since that note, the last she ever received from him.
Fiona wished she had the journal with her. To this day, it was still an amazement to her that it was her father's. There was no mistaking his handwriting. She only read Lorenzo's note once but went through the journal dozens of times. There were quite a number of pages missing from it but she had everything from it memorised. Mostly in particular, the torn page about her mother and a baby. Did he mean her? She lost count of how many times she read those few lines. All her life, she never knew her parents had any knowledge of this place. However, considering everything that occurred since she had been here, she couldn't blame them for not telling her.
More than anything, she was concerned about Hewie. She still didn't know Leon well enough, but she had to put her trust into his word that he would keep her dear friend safe. She told herself over and over again that everything would be fine. Hewie was a tough dog and he liked their new companion. Leon was nice to him, as well as her, and the two got along. He was also kind to lend her his jacket. She just wasn't sure if she should put her trust into a man she hardly knew. For now though, she had no choice.
Her hands folded over her nose and mouth and she sighed into them. She walked on, trying to collect her thoughts, when a feeling hit her in an instance, her pace gradually going still. Something she had been accustomed to for a long time. The feeling of being watched. There was definitely a presence lurking nearby. Her instincts indicated it wasn't Hewie or Leon. Afraid, she started to walk faster, turning her steps into a jog.
Brown eyes observed her run into a hole within a humongous rock formation and out of sight.
Fiona ran to get away from what, or whoever, was spying on her. She was not going to stand idle and wait to be pounced on. After dashing into shelter, she saw another hole, slowing to slide through it sideways. Squeezing herself out into open space, she continued to run but did not see a crack in the ground until it caught her foot. She tripped and fell before she could stop herself. When she landed, her hand scraped against a jagged rock and it cut her palm open. She cried out loud to the unbearable pain she felt and she sat on her knees, pressing her other hand on the wound. Blood seeped between her fingers, tiny droplets of it spilling on her thighs and Leon's jacket. She bit onto her lip to prevent herself from yelling again and her voice was reduced to sobbing and whimpering noises as she bent back and forth, waiting for the pain to subside.
When she calmed down, she peered at her palm briefly. It was a pretty deep gash and it wouldn't stop bleeding. She looked around to see what she could use to treat her injury. There was a small pool in the centre of a set of pillars, so she got up and went over to it. Rolling the jacket's sleeves up by raising her arms, so she would not further stain it, she knelt and proceeded to wash the blood away. It stung and she cringed when her hand made contact with the cold water. She knew it would, but a strange, tingling sensation surged through her wounded hand, flowing to her the tips of her fingers and straight up her arm.
Alarmed, she pulled her hands out of the pool and checked her hand. She gaped to what she was seeing. The wound was closing and sealed with only a mark, like a scar, left behind. Her palm was healed and the pain was gone.
Fiona stared at the water in front of her. There was more to this place than what meets the eye.
Leon and Hewie hadn't come across anything like the creature that chased them and Fiona, or any other living being. That was a good thing, but they still needed to find her.
He hoped they would run into her soon. Everything was all the same. Nothing but stone, pillars, and crystals. He found a plaque but paid no mind to it because Fiona was not there to translate it. Behind it were a bunch of little houses facing each other in two parallel lines. A bigger building was on the other side of the trail between them with many pillars holding its roof up. Inside was a statue of a woman wearing a hooded robe holding a wingless caduceus cane with both hands. There was also an inscription at the bottom of it that he couldn't understand. The words had eroded off anyway. The entire section they were in resembled a temple or shrine of sorts. Did people in the past worship whatever this statue was supposed to represent? It didn't look like anything he had seen related to the religion of the Los Illuminados occult.
On either side of the statue were four cubes with a sphere on top of them, surrounding it in a square. The spheres looked like globes and were in different colours of red, blue, green and yellow. Leon and Hewie past it down a single path to double arched doors, unlike the other ones here. Instead of knobs or handles, they had an imprint of a hand on each door. Leon pondered what would happen if he placed his own on them and so he did. The doors didn't budge open, no matter how hard he pushed, groaning during his efforts.
Two torches hung on both sides of the doors. One was blazing with blue fire yet the second was unlit. Below the torches were stands. On the one under the flame was a blue orb. Much like the blue globe, only it was the size of a tennis ball. The other stand had an unfilled semi-circular slot. Where was the other orb? Leon realised the blue one was loose, meaning it could be removed. He curled his fingers over it and lifted it up and at once, the fire went out.
"Soooo... we find the missing orb, both fires light up and maybe that'll get these doors open?"
He didn't know where to start. It could be anywhere. As he gazed at the one he held, he saw Hewie staring up at him and had a thought. Dogs were supposed to have excellent tracking skills, right? He crouched to Hewie's level and showed it to him.
"You think you can help me find something like this, buddy?"
Hewie brought his head forward and sniffed the object in his hand. He then gave a confident 'woof' and put his nose to the ground. He turned away from the doors and Leon followed him in his search, pocketing the orb into his attaché case. Hewie went back through the shrine to the rows of houses. Leon assumed he would go into one of them, yet he actually went between two of them, to a gap at the bottom of a wall of bars. It was too small and the bars were close together for Leon to fit with his broad shoulders. So he watched Hewie crawl under it and venture on at the opposite side where it was very dark. He was barely visible thanks to his white fur.
Hewie barked once more and opened his jaw to pick something up. He soon returned to Leon with a ball in his mouth identical to the blue orb. This one was green. That went a lot better than Leon thought it would.
"Good boy!" he praised, leaning to accept it as Hewie dropped it onto his palm.
He made a funny face for a second, realising the orb was covered with the canine's saliva. He shifted it to his other hand with light fingertips, shaking the warm drool off as they headed back to the double doors. Leon took out the blue orb and examined the two he carried.
"I better not be wrong about this."
Though unsure, he put the blue one in its stand, restoring its fire and next put the green one in its rightful place. It was a perfect fit as well. The torch above it became ablaze with a extraordinary emerald flame. Leon pressed his hands onto the imprints again and seconds later, the doors rumbled. Disturbed dust and tiny rocks fell after a period of inactivity and slowly, the doors opened for them to enter.
"Let's go, Hewie," Leon smiled down to him. "We don't want to keep Fiona waiting, do we?"
Hewie barked happily, as if in agreement, and the two advanced inside. Leon wondered if she had to go through a door like that.
It was darker inside with smaller crystals scattered here and there, but not hard to see. A few metres ahead was a sign carved into the stone over an opening leading to somewhere. He recalled it being one of the landmark symbols on the map. He and Hewie went through it and straight away, they found mining equipment.
They were all very old. The silver metal had rusted to the point of falling apart, so were the tracks going into pitch-black tunnels, half buried in the earth. What was odd to Leon were used explosives that were obviously what had blasted a large hole in the wall to their far left. They were modern, unlike the ancient tools around them. There were no glowing crystals, leaving the unknown in darkness, but he could make out a stairway going downward. On walls beside the stairs were peculiar shapes on the rocks at the furthest point the light could reach. They were similar to the fossils he saw during his previous mission.
Hewie wasn't comfortable with being there. He could smell the same scent again. Something about the place didn't feel right to Leon either. He was glad they didn't have to go in, nor any of the mine tunnels, and followed Leon walking away from it. The map stated they would have to go along a route circling all the way around to the right across the ruins in order to get back to the courtyard. And to the right of where they were was a light coming from the mouth of the next cavern.
The cavern was leading up to a vast canyon with a waterfall over a small lake. There was no other way to go from there apart from one track between the cliffs, so they headed towards it. Hewie did not settle for long. Already, another scent invaded his nose and made him freeze. He was near... and coming closer. His paws patted cautiously before his head shot up. Leon turned when he heard him growling out of nowhere. Quick to figure out what it meant, he gripped the handle of his knife and prepared for the upcoming threat. He scanned the environment for any possible openings. He then glanced at Hewie to see what direction he was looking at, which was the top of the waterfall.
Hewie's head tilted higher and then barked abruptly. From above, a silver glint shone in Leon's eyes and when he was stunned for that split-second, a figure leapt down to strike him. He dove out of the way and spun to face who it was once he was back on his feet. It was Jack Krauser. Hewie treated to his side and growled at their foe.
Krauser smirked as both men raised their weapons. "I gotta hand it to you, Leon... Less than half a day's worth and you're already here? I'm impressed."
Leon didn't say anything. He just glared back.
"I see Fiona's not with you," Krauser continued.
"You can thank your little parasite pals for that!"
"Ahh... he did say the infant Plaga Homunculi tend to go haywire once they get a whiff of Azoth."
"...? And HE would be...?"
"You'll find out soon enough... if you live that is. It's obvious she isn't dead. The real question is: which of us three will find her first?"
Before Leon could say anything else, Krauser lashed at him with his dagger to slice his throat. He jumped back and ducked. He then shoved his knife towards his opponent's abdomen yet Krauser saw this and grabbed his arm with his free hand. Twisting his dagger, he aimed its sharp tip at Leon's jaw and thrust it upward. Leon yanked his weight sideways, dodging the attack and threw his leg up and kicked Krauser hard.
Hewie yapped to the commotion as he fell and dropped the dagger. Something slipped out of his pocket, landing with a 'clinging' sound. An expression of desperateness appeared when he realised what had fallen, which Leon did not fail to notice. He spotted a glass vial lying there. Krauser rushed on all fours to grab it until Leon kicked it away, kicking dirt in his face as he did so. He snarled angrily and lunged at him. He was too close to be evaded this time. He stomped his foot into Leon's stomach, causing enough pain to make him drop his own knife with an 'oof'. Krauser took the advantage and clutched his neck. He pinned him against a large boulder and began to strangle Leon without mercy. Hewie yelped again in panic.
Leon struggled for air as Krauser continued to squeeze his neck tightly. He grunted whilst he tried to punch and kick the cruel mercenary off of him. Yet it was no use with Krauser arching his back over the rock, making it even more difficult for him to breathe. He was becoming light-headed as he choked and Krauser could see this, grinning from ear to ear. He was overjoyed watching him suffer. Leon went to swing his arm to knock Krauser's down, a method taught to him during his training, but in his current state, weakening by the minute, it was easy for Krauser to brush it away with his elbow.
He laughed coldly. "Ha, ha, ha... You're clearly not going to be the one to claim Fiona. You've had this coming a looong time, Kennedy."
"—Hewie!?" Leon mentally grimaced, wondering what the hell the dog was doing.
Hewie whined fearfully as he could only watch. His ears flattened, still wanting to help. But he knew he couldn't bite Krauser. He could sense the parasites thriving inside of him. He could see Leon was trying to reach into something behind his back. His ears then perked up to an idea and he ran over a short distance. The German Shepherd charged and jumped, head-butting Krauser's side. He stumbled when the dog hit him, his grip loosening and Leon gasped greatly when he felt his lungs were able to take in oxygen again. He took out a magnesia from the attaché and flung it at him.
Krauser screamed as it burst on his face. The magnesia exploded on his right eye and blood spilled over Leon before he kicked Krauser away from him. He slipped to sit down, wiping the blood off before holding onto his aching neck and coughed as he tried to catch his breath. Hewie ran over to him while Krauser bellowed and rolled along the ground in a little puddle of his own blood.
"...Thanks, buddy," Leon strained to say as he patted Hewie's head.
"I'LL KILL YOU, LEON!" Krauser shouted. "I SWEAR I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
The injury and excruciating pain had blinded him. He couldn't see anything. He used one hand to cover his bloody face and the other to frantically sway and locate Leon. When Leon recovered, he rested his hand on the boulder to help himself up as Krauser kept spewing out obscene insults and threats. He and Hewie made sure to stay away from his reach. He then stepped up to the vial and picked it up. There was a clear liquid inside. He couldn't contemplate why Krauser needed it. It simply looked like nothing but water.
He gazed to Krauser. He was defenceless. It may not be easy to deliver a fatal blow to someone infected with Las Plagas with the little he had, but he did have a chance to finish him right there.
"He mentioned Fiona. Twice. What the hell does this bastard want with her?"
Instead of seizing the opportunity, he tucked the vial into the attaché, called Hewie and marched off. There was someone else down here in these ruins... and was after Fiona. He decided to deal with Krauser later. He couldn't afford to waste time if she could be in trouble.
Krauser could hear him leaving. "Where the hell are you going!?"
Leon ignored him and kept walking.
"COWARD! YOU'RE A DEAD MAN, LEON! DEAD!"
He received no reply and soon Leon's footsteps could no longer be heard. Still covering his face with his blood-soaked hand, his left arm started to produce spikes, like it did before, as his body shook with fury. He forced himself to his knees and his hand swiped across the ground for the vial. He crawled forward pitifully, keeping his ears open for the sound of glass, wanting nothing more than to murder Leon slowly and painfully, until his hand found the water from the lake. Relieved, his spikes shrinking down, he pushed himself up and stumbled towards the waterfall.
He leaned his head into it and within seconds, he clenched when he could already feel its effects. It hurt immensely when his skin reacted and pulled itself together until it was sealed. A new scar had joined the collection he had. His eyelids opened. His right eye was fully restored... and so was his vision.
Leon and Hewie hiked through the canyon between tall cliffs. It was bright by the numerous amounts of crystals. He was worried about Fiona more than ever. He was determined to find her before this other man. What if there was more than just him and Krauser? The thought spurred him to move more rapidly.
He tried to think of who the third person could be. He knew it was a man because Krauser said 'he' but that was it. Could it be the big one that knocked him unconscious earlier? He didn't think so yet he couldn't think of anyone else. And there was still the chance of Fiona running into parasite-infected monsters. He also said 'Azoth', a word Fiona tried to avoid. What was Azoth anyway?
His thoughts were cut off when he heard something being kicked above him. He looked up and saw a bag falling over the edge of one of the cliffs and straight down to him. He caught it with perfect timing. It was a rough burlap bag, heavy from whatever was inside. Two rectangular plates were tied to it by its strings. He held them up, reading words that were printed on them. One said, 'THANK ME' and the second, 'NONEEDTO'. He swapped them around to make more sense of the message.
"No need to thank me..."
He suspiciously glanced up when he then heard footsteps walking away.
"Who's there?" he called.
The sound of high heeled shoes echoed in the air, becoming quieter until whoever was there was gone.
Hewie tilted his head. Confused, Leon peered into the bag warily. He knelt down, placing the bag on the ground, and used his knife to cut it open. What he found was unexpected. It was his handgun. Along with his radio, his combat knife in a spare sheath... All of his equipment was here. How did this person get them? He pulled out the gun and unclipped the magazine to see how much ammunition it had. Only four bullets. The bag did not carry extra ammo, despite the fact that he did bring some with him before starting his mission. He would have to use each bullet wisely. With that in mind, he secured the magazine clip back in and put the gun into his holster. Next, he took out the knife, switching it with the kitchen one he had been using, putting that one into the attaché in the spare sheath, keeping it just in case.
After equipping the rest of his arsenal, he lastly checked the radio. As he figured, being underground, he couldn't get a good signal. The screen only showed static and it screeched loudly. He would have to try again on higher ground. He put it in its pocket and tossed the now empty bag aside after standing up.
"Who was that...?" Leon said to himself when he stared up the cliff one last time.
Whoever it was, it couldn't have been the person Krauser was referring to. Either way, why would they want to return his belongings to him?
The pale blonde ran her fingers over the scar on her palm left from the water that somehow mended her wound. Fiona didn't understand how but the water in the Mercury Ruins had healing properties. Was this what Lorenzo meant by 'utmost secrets'?
Her eyes light up when she saw an engraving on a tablet of a sign representing the courtyard. She thought she was lost, wandering aimlessly through a canyon she recently entered. It had to be close by. The only thing that was different was strange double doors with two torches burning with a red and yellow fire, with matching red and yellow orbs underneath them. Eager to see Hewie, she rushed to get there but was startled when little pebbles fell from somewhere behind her. Fearing it could be one of those creatures coming, or the same thing from earlier, she began to run and didn't stop until she came to a corner. She hid there and panted, peeking around to see if anything was there. She couldn't tell for sure. It was silent. Perhaps she was being paranoid. Sighing to herself with her eyes closed, Fiona took a step back and turned around to go on.
When her eyelids opened... she saw a man storming up to her.
Her blood became as cold as ice and she gasped before shrieking in fright. He grabbed her arms and slammed her against the cavern wall.
"So THIS is where you've been," sneered Riccardo.
Uh-oh, this isn't good! o.o
Sorry for the slow start. I want Haunting Evil to feel like a game, like Haunting Ground and Resident Evil series, and thank includes the puzzles. Of course, if it was a game, the puzzles would be extended, but are shortened in this fanfic to make it easier.
Review Responses:
GlaringEyes - Sorry, it shall have to remain a mystery until more is revealed. At least Krauser gave you the name of one of them. Poor Fiona indeed! We'll have to wait and see. Just a little bit of trouble. There's sadly no options to edit chapters whenever after theyre uploaded. I wish it did like DeviantArt does.
Bellibuscus - Yay Im glad you liked the previous chapter. I hope you liked this one too. Leon truly is a gentleman in my eyes as well. Whoa! Months late to respond to this (sorry) but are you serious? That is truly flattering and Im so honoured that you think HE is worthy enough to be published as a book. Thank you so much for the kind words and offer alone x3
FrameofReality - Thank you very much! I still dont consider myself good at writing but it relieves me to hear so from you. Yeah sorry about those, I do try my best to avoid spelling typos on the computer. Its a bad habit of mine, and sadly I usually fail to correct all of them as I go over them since I always miss a good handful. Sorry again if there were any here. I dont have a beta reader, so thank you, I'd appreciate the help :3
evilinsanity - Im happy to hear (or read lol) you think so. I do like to try to keep everyone true to their roles and tend to avoid 'ooc' behaviour unless its called for or just for comical purposes. Thanks, gotta put more use to the Homunculi instead of them just wandering about, haha. Good point indeed, looks like a part of this chapter has giving a little piece to your question. Awww you think so? I know there arent many RE/HG fics out there (wish there were), yet that has really made me smile :D
LightBlueLightning - Very late reply, sort of, as we have discussed this in our messages, but thank you again. Your fic is still very intriguing by the way. Im curious to see what will happen next but of course, take your time c: lol sorry for the wait xD
Mr.A - In case if you didnt know, sorry if you already do, canon is a term for "official", meaning facts are facts in a story in the case of a plot. For Haunting Ground, there is secret canon information in the background of its story that is never revealed in the game. Sadly, I cannot speak of them here in a public part of .
One final note here everyone... I'll have to apologise once more, but I am going to disable anonymous reviews for this fic. I do not mind a little bit of chatting between reviews, but I cant keep putting up with "random reviews" about things that have got nothing to do with this fanfiction whatsoever. We all know what reviews are for, so can I ask we leave it at that? You will have to be a member if you wish to, you know, ACTUALLY review. If you wish to speak to me about something else, send me a private message here, and I will be more than happy to talk there.
Sorry to be firm folks but I gotta put my foot down with this.
