Are you here?
Summary: Leon Kennedy wakes in an abandoned Umbrella facility and finds that he is not alone or so he thinks. Post RE4.
Leon Kennedy groaned as a light flickered in his eyes. He started to reach up to swat it away with his left hand but a sharp pain stopped him. He hissed air thru his teeth as he draped his left arm across his chest. Leon tired to push himself up but felt a great weight on his chest. Leon took a deep breath and pushed himself into a sitting position. Leon looked around and found himself in a broken elevator. Leon rolled on his side and pushed himself to his feet. He groaned and leaned against the wall, he felt his bile rising up his throat. Leon breathed deeply, trying not to throw up. Leon noticed an access panel above him that was slightly ajar. He pushed it all the way open and sighed. The elevator shaft was destroyed. The maintenance ladder that ran up the side had been torn away in several sections and the cable that held the elevator snapped. "Not getting out that way." Leon muttered. "You can say that again." Said a voice from behind him. Leon spun around. "Hello?" He called. There was no one there. Leon looked around but couldn't find a weapon, he still had his sidearm: a Beretta PX4 Storm. Leon drew the handgun and did a one handed brass check. The elevator doors were open but broken. Leon slipped thru them and entered a hallway. He felt a searing pain run thru his left leg. He wasn't sure but his leg might be broken, he tried moving it and felt the pain again, it was broken. After determining there was no danger, Leon slid the handgun back into its holster. Leon tried moving his left arm again but the pain stopped him. He looked around and started down the left side of the hallway. He remembered there was an infirmary not too far away from where he was. But he wasn't trained in first aid very well. "Where's Becca when I need her?" He said to himself. "Probably upstairs." Said the same voice as before. Leon stopped moving. "Hello?" Silence. Leon shook his head and continued down the hall. "You're hearing things, Leon." He muttered as he turned down another hallway.
Leon swung the door to the infirmary open and stepped inside, thankfully the lights were still on. Leon limped over to the medicine cabinet and started searching for painkillers. "This goes against my better judgment: looking for painkillers deep in the top secret facility of an evil pharmaceutical company that makes bio weapons for a hobby. Then again, I really need those pills." "Try the top rack." That voice again. Leon stopped searching and stood there. "Ok, I'm going to turn around and there's going to be somebody there. Ok?" Leon slowly turned around but was disappointed for a third time. Leon turned back to the cabinet and searched the top rack. "Hey. Score." Leon picked up a bottle of pills that thankfully were still full. He popped the cap and swallowed two of them. His head started to feel better. "You're welcome." The voice said in an annoyed tone. Leon closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "It's all in your head, it's all in your head." "You're right about that." Said a different voice this time. Leon opened his eyes. "Who are you?" "You telling me you don't recognize this voice?!" The first voice said. "Maybe this will help. Turn around." Leon slowly turned on his heel and gaped at the sight before him. Claire Redfield stood before him, dressed in the same attire she wore in Raccoon city but her ponytail had been pulled free. She put her hands on her hips. "Now you recognize me?" Claire said with a smile. Leon moved towards her. "Claire. You're here!" He rushed towards her to hug her but failed to connect. He turned and saw that Claire was standing in the same spot. "Did I just?" Claire nodded. "Yep. Right thru me." "That was weird." Leon muttered. Claire scoffed. "You're telling me." Leon looked at her. "Are you a ghost?" "Am I dead?" Leon remembered that just before the cable snapped, he pushed the real Claire out of the elevator doors before the elevator car plunged. "So, not a ghost." Claire said, as if reading his mind. "You're not dead. But you're not here. So, what are you?" Claire smiled proudly. "I'm your one chance of getting out of here."
Leon walked as quickly as he could down a hallway, he wasn't sure where he was going but he had to go somewhere. Claire was walking behind him. "Leon! Are you okay?" Leon laughed nervously, not looking at Claire. "Yeah! For someone who has a potential concussion and is talking to a hallucination. I'm just dandy!" Claire tried to grab his arm but her hand went right thru. So instead, she ran ahead of him. "Look, Leon. You need help." Leon walked right thru her. "That's still weird." He muttered as he continued walking. Claire turned on her heel and chased after him. She got ahead of him again. "Ok. Stop." Leon stopped. Claire continued. "Thank you. As I was saying, you need my help to get out of here." Leon took a long look at her. "How?! You're a fucking hallucination!" Claire clapped her hands over her ears. "You don't have to shout! I'm right here!" "No you're not!" Leon shouted quickly. Claire groaned in irritation. "Maybe not here physically but I'm here in spirit." Leon gave her a sarcastic thumbs up. "That's so much better." Claire shrugged. "Better me than her." Leon frowned. "Who?" Fear appeared in his eyes. "Ashley's not here is she?" Claire snorted. "No, the other one." She pointed past him. Leon turned and groaned. "Oh, you." Ada Wong smiled as she leaned against a wall. She was clad in her red dress that she wore back in Spain. "Hello, Leon." "Get lost." Claire snapped at her. Ada shrugged. "Hey, he dreamed me up." Claire sneered. "He dreamed me up first!" "LADIES! As much as I enjoy two women fighting over me, can we focus on the issue at hand and I can't believe I just said that to two hallucinations." Leon turned to Claire. "Do you have any ideas?" Claire bit her lip, thinking. "You don't, do you?" Leon said flatly. "I'm thinking. Isn't there an escape train like last time?" Leon blinked. "That's the best you can come up with? Err, I can come up with?" Ada chuckled. "So, much for the Redfield way of thinking." Claire glared at her. "I don't hear anything from you that could help us." Ada smiled mischievously. "Who said I was here to help?" "Ah, so you're the little devil on my shoulder." Leon said as Claire snorted. "More like cun" "Ok!" Leon said as he clapped his hands together. "I'm going to look for a way out of here. When you're done with your cat fight, you can follow me."
Leon sighed as turned another corner but saw nothing but a featureless corridor stretched out infront of him. Ada suddenly poked her head thru a corridor wall. "You know, they've probably given up on you. That elevator fell a long way; they must think you're dead." Leon sighed. "So, what? You want me to lie down and die? You die with me if I do." Ada shrugged. "Hey, it's your brain. I'm just the vessel." Leon shook his head. "Where's Claire?" Claire poked her head thru the opposite wall. "I'm here." From Leon's perceptive, it looked like the two women's heads were mounted like a deer's head. "I'm going to need some psychological help after this." Leon muttered as he brought out the pill bottle again. Ada chuckled. "You know, if you take enough of those pills, you can overdose." While she was saying this, Claire was loudly singing, hoping to drown Ada out. "La, La, La, We're not listening! La, La, La, La!" Leon stuck his fingers in his ears, hoping to drown them both out but he could still hear them clearly in his head. Leon walked off again as the two disembodied heads began arguing again. An hour later, Leon found himself in the cafeteria and was busy making himself something to eat. As he set the sandwich on a plate, he turned to get a napkin then turned back and almost dropped the napkin. Ada's head was poking up thru the table right where his sandwich was. "Come on. Just sprinkle some rat poison in this sandwich and it'll be done." Leon grabbed the sandwich thru Ada's open mouth. "If I didn't listen to you before, what makes you think I'll listen to you now?!" Leon turned towards a refrigerator to get a beer, opened it and almost dropped the sandwich. Claire was standing in the fridge. Leon grabbed a bottle of beer. "I wouldn't if I were you." "I am and you are." Leon slammed the fridge shut and twisted the cap off the bottle.
After Leon took several slugs from the bottle, he took a bite out of the sandwich. He leaned against the counter, he spoke as he chewed. "So, I think we and by that I mean me, should try to find a way upstairs. I mean, there's got to be another way up. It couldn't have been just that elevator. Right?" Both women shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose." Claire muttered. Leon nodded as he took another bite. "So, what I have to do is, find another elevator and ride it up to the surface? Sound right?" Claire nodded. "Or, we could just wait." "Wait for what?" "For help. Help is coming, Leon. You just have to have faith. Why, I bet you, the real Claire is up there right now, trying to figure out how to get down here. Or she might be on her way." Leon blinked and shook his head. "Sorry?" Claire's brow furrowed. "Didn't you hear me?" "No, I got distracted." "By what?" Leon sighed. "Can't remember." Claire approached him. "Leon, I think you have a concussion."
Leon left the cafeteria followed by Claire. Leon took several turns but soon found himself lost in the maze of corridors. Leon leaned against a wall as Claire and Ada materialized infront of him. Claire was pacing nervously. Ada was relatively calm. "Ok, ok, ok,ok. We need to find a way out of here." Ada scoffed. "Face it. This is the end of the line. For all of us." Leon pushed away from the way and turned away from the women. "Maybe she's right." Leon muttered. "Maybe no one is coming." Claire shook her head. "You can't think that Leon." "Oh, leave him alone." Ada groaned as she shoved Claire. Claire shoved the older hallucination back. "Piss off!" Pretty soon, both hallucinations were in a shovng match. Leon groaned. He realized he only had one thing left to do. And he was going to do it. Leon turned to the two hallucinations. "Ladies. Can I have your attention?" Both women stopped fighting and looked over at him. "I just wanted to say, thanks for what has been the weirdest day of my life." With that, he smiled and drew his pistol. Both women's eyes turned to fear as he jammed the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Leon could feel the 9mm bullet leave the barrel of the gun and enter his mouth, it blast a hole out the back of his head but somehow by the grace of God didn't blow his brains out. Leon crumpled to his knees, the pistol clattered to the floor. He could feel the blood run down the back of his neck and out of his mouth. Leon groaned as he opened his mouth and a large plume of smoke escaped. More blood flowed from his mouth. "Ow." Leon moaned. He looked up at the two women who remained still. Suddenly Ada fell forward, first onto her knees then on her face. A large hole in the back of her head, smoke billowed from the hole. Claire looked at Ada then over at Leon. "Wow. That was lucky." She walked over to Leon, she wanted to hold him but instead he fell right thru her and onto the ground.
Leon groaned as he tried to weakly open his eyes but he felt completely drained. He felt his body being carried. Leon tried to speak but given the fact that he shot himself, he wasn't sure if words were coming out. Leon wasn't sure how much time had passed until he woke up again. He looked around and found himself on a bed in a medical center. He heard footsteps and someone leaned over him. Leon groaned. "Not you again." He slurred as Claire Redfield stood over him, pale as death. Claire's brow furrowed. "What? What are you talking about?" Another voice spoke from beside him. "He's probably hallucinating from the concussion and blood loss. Not sure how long it'll last." The second voice moved away and it was just the two of them. Claire leaned down and stroked the hair from his eyes. "Hey, you. I was really worried when I saw you down there. I thought you were dead." It was then Leon realized that this Claire was real. Leon struggled to speak. "Sorry if I scared you." Claire chuckled nervously. "Damn right you should be." Leon looked around. "How'd you find me?" Claire smiled. "We heard the gunshot, we were down there looking for you." "Thanks Claire." Claire smiled. "You're welcome." Leon sighed. "You're gonna think this is odd but I hit my head and I saw you. You weren't really there but you helped me. And even though it wasn't you, I'm glad it was." Claire smiled as she grasped his hand, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Well, I'm glad it was me." Claire bent down and kissed Leon on the forehead. "Get better soon. I'll see you tomorrow." Leon nodded and laid back. Claire left the room. As Leon started to close his eyes, he heard it. "Feeling better yet?" Leon leaned up and saw the Claire he dreamed up. He smirked. "I was til you showed up." Claire giggled as she approached the bed. "Well, I'll be leaving soon. Just thought I should pop in one last time to say goodbye." Leon smiled. "Thanks Claire. For helping me out." Claire smiled. "It was all you. Literally." Leon chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose it was. But thanks anyway. This is gonna sound weird but, will I see you again?" The hallucination of Claire cocked an eyebrow at him. "As much as I wish to torment you, no, you won't. You'll just have to settle for the real thing." "Don't take this the wrong way but that's what I was hoping for." Claire smiled again. "Well, it's time." Claire turned to the door. "See you around." Leon chuckled as he laid back. "I hope not." Claire smiled as she walked towards the door and disappeared.
Fin
I was inspired by the Stargate Atlantis episode Grace under Pressure when I wrote this. I'm sorry if this story was alittle rushed.
