Chapter 35~

So, sup everyone? Meant to get this out yesterday, but by the time I got done with half of it, I was already supposed to be in bed (and I didn't want to submit something that was hardly complete). So! As promised, this is longer, like, super longer than the normal length of my chapters. FEEL SPOILED! I'm like, so tired right now, I really need to go to bed. It's almost 11, why is it I always update so late at night? I don't know -.-
Anywho, enjoy it! Love to hear from you all!

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING BESIDES MORGAN, RESIDENT EVIL AND LEON ARE NOT MINE

Well guys, ciao~

-Kit

"I'm scared." Morgan whispered with her lip quivering. She held tighter, afraid to let go. "Leon, I'm scared."

Leon squeezed her tighter as if that alone could hold her together; he might actually have been the only thing keeping her from falling apart. He could hear the heavy foot falls clambering down the short steps feet away. It was a pain for all the different reasons that this had to be cut short again. Leon took her face in his hands, cupping her cheeks as he pulled her face to face his. "Morgan, listen—you need to calm down, our mission is to protect Ashley. We have to protect her at all costs. Understand? I need you to stay calm right now, now isn't the time to show your weaknesses. We'll deal with it when we can, but not right now." They shared a look and slowly Morgan nodded, her lip still quivering with bottled up sobs.

They pulled apart and readied themselves for the dangers of the castle. It was clear Leon had the upper hand with his shotgun and Morgan no longer had the essence of surprise on her side to aide her. So, she ran back to Ashley hoping to lead some after herself.

"Is it safe yet?" A startled Ashley asked as the door swung open. Morgan shook her head, her eyes not really meeting Ashley's.

"Not yet, I want you to stand in the corner though, as far away from this door as you can okay?" Straight monotone.

"R-Right, okay, I can do that—where are you going? Back out there?!" Morgan reloaded her weapons with what she had, and finally took a good look around the room. It was bright for such a small room and there really wasn't much to it. Pictures on the wall, a small table against one wall, and nicely polished tiles…

Oh.

"Stand in that corner Ashley." She ordered already moving to the opposing one. Switches, not tiles, they both realized, and something clicked after both panels were stepped on. "Like I said, stay here away from the door." And the brunette left as quick as she came.

Whatever had activated from the switches would be left to figure out later, she could already hear the gun fire as Leon had led the priests away from the room. Morgan knew the bullets of her simple handgun wouldn't be very effective against shields, but the archers nearby she could deal with. The ones Leon hadn't already taken out with his rifle, of course.

She nicked one in the chest, her aim off, but still effectively made him drop his weapon. She fired again, and again, until he was down for good. Flames danced past her face as an arrow flew by and her next target appeared. This wasn't the hardest thing she had to do and Morgan was taking to a less urgent way of getting the job done.

Now Leon, on the other hand, was really busy.

"These things just don't give up!" He muttered under his breath, already done with his forth attacker. It was ridiculous and annoying. As more appeared, the more various weapons accompanied them. Chain maces, knives, arrows, hand scythes, etc. "There's got to be a quicker way to do this." As the floor plan had various ponds divided along the floor, it was at least easier to kill them off while they followed through a path, rather than from all around in general.

"Where did this come from?" He heard Morgan voice as the room finally cleared. Looking over, they both stared at a small crank that wasn't in the room earlier. Leon jogged over, not liking the fact the air still felt unsafe. But was there really any good feelings in a place such as this?

"What the hell's this for?" He muttered from staring at it. "Guess there's only one way to find out." Grunting, Leon began to turn the crank while Morgan stood guard. The tension in the room seemed to increase as Leon turned the handle even though there were no more priests around.

"I hate this place." Morgan muttered as she shifted around nervously. "I feel like someone is watching me at all times."

"You're just," Leon grunted, "being paranoid." The truth was he felt the same.

"Maybe so…"

Finally, something happened. A ramp dropped from the upper level above their heads providing means of escaping from the large open room. Morgan didn't want to spend another minute in this place and she knew that feeling was shared amongst the others.

"I'll grab Ashley, don't run off this time alright?" They shared a look and Morgan, bold and normally so lively, tore her gaze away and stared at the floor while offering a simple shy nod. She needed a moment alone anyway. "I mean it, don't run off." Sparing a lingering few seconds to make sure, Leon finally jogged off to retrieve Ashley.

Cue the wild emotions.

Morgan stared down at her injured arm with mixed feelings. What was going on with her body exactly? She certainly never heard of one's arm moving randomly after being violently injured. Not once, not ever. So then what? It was hard trying to mask what she was feeling inside.

"Is it the parasite? Are you coughing up blood? Are you not feeling well? What is it?

"Of course!" The horror that had filled her heart was intertwined with morbid interest. "If the parasites in our body are trying to take over the system, then the fight our body is putting up is wearing us out until we can't fight anymore…unless there was a part of us that couldn't fight it at all, say…a severe injury…" She stared at the now continuously twitching hand that had lost all movement to her. It was appalling but the fact of the matter was that this very arm was already in process of being taken over. Even more, she couldn't fight it one bit.

"Damn…"Enraged the young woman started to venture towards the new path, forgetting all about what Leon had to say on the matter as she steamed with rage. It wasn't like she was going to get into trouble right away anyway! "I swear I'm going to need a psychiatrist after all the mood swings I'm going through." For now Morgan would settle on being angry rather than depressed.

"Morgan." Came the low one worded snap from her fellow partner. "What did I just say about staying right here?"

"Hmm, you told me not to move, but Leon," He shot her an incredulous look mixed into his annoyed half-glare. "I'm having an internal crisis and standing in one spot does not do my thoughts any good." She defended over her shoulder. Morgan refused to face him fully like a child who knew they were guilty; she didn't need to see how he sounded anyways: Annoyed, a little ticked off probably, and she really did have intentions of listening that once.

"But with your luck you really could have gotten into trouble already." Sighed the worn out man. Ashley rolled her eyes at the normal start of a soon to be argument, which Morgan would end up winning with a cheeky smile.

"Hey I see a crank over there!" She called, throwing a finger out in the direction of the crank. She really had no time for their petty arguments at the moment anyway.

"Well look at that, let's get to it then!" Morgan nodded already venturing forth. Leon rubbed his face—particularly the bridge of his nose—before following after. Women. "Looks like she'll have to stand on your back or something because I don't see another way up there."

"Think you can do it while we stand down here?" He asked the blonde who looked oddly determined.

"Finally! I need to feel useful, I'm tired of standing in corners while you guys fight all the time!" She became giddy with eagerness even if it was a simple job like crank turning. There was no immediate threat anyway right?

So there they all stood, Leon crouched against a wall with Ashley stepping onto his shoulders and Morgan to the side watching with a calculating expression. Leon lifted Ashley up slowly and her fingers curled over the rim of the ledge above.

"C'mon Ash! Use those flabby arm muscles!" Ignoring her, Ashley struggled to pull her body up but managed to climb up all the way. "Atta girl!"

"Morgan you don't have to shout…" Said blonde sighed with a shake of her head. "Just watch out for me!" And she ran ahead to the crank.

Morgan watched Leon switch from his shotgun to her rifle that he had never given back to her. Not like she needed it, really. All along the ledge Ashley was up on were the same clone-like men sent to kill the two of them and recapture Ashley. She left the job to Leon seeing as there were only a few to be dealt with and her handgun wasn't that accurate. What a shame it would be if she had tried to help and just ended up accidentally shooting Ashley instead?

"Oh, hello…" Morgan blinked at the approaching duo that snuck up behind them. "Did you come all the way here just to see me? You shouldn't have!" The corners of her mouth turned upwards in a small smirk and Morgan busied herself with taking out whoever bothered to come their way while Leon cleared the path for Ashley.

It wasn't so hard at first, Ashley thought to herself, it wasn't so bad turning the crank. Yes, she watched the approaching men fall one after another as Leon took them out before they could reach her. Yes, she was aware just how close to the enemy she really was. And yes, she was probably crazy for finding a sense of thrill from this experience.

This place was certainly turning her insane.

"Just one more to go guys!" She called with a proud grin, already spinning around to dash over to the other ledge. The narrow walkway didn't provide to be too threatening seeing as she made it across just fine. "That raised a platform, I'm sure this one will do the same to make a bridge." She muttered thoughtfully to herself as she started to reach for the metal handle. But then there was a complication.

Cold boney hands yanked her up in the air before she could register what happened and she was flung over a boney man's shoulder; one of the many men they've had to face in the last hour. Fear caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand and she started to panic. "HEEEEELP!"

Leon struggled to react to the scream immediately; somehow the floor had just been swamped by dozens of these priests and even for the two agents it proved to be difficult to handle.

"Ashley—hold on!" Reeling back his fist, Leon connected his knuckles with someone's jaw and flung his elbow into someone else's throat. He lifted the rifle with ease and took out the knee of the man carrying Ashley. She scrambled to her feet, kneed him as hard as she could, and ran back to finish her job.

"Leggo!" Morgan shouted, shaking someone's boney fingers from her shoulder, taking it upon her to uppercut him especially hard in the gut. She shot one who started to get too close to Leon, and Leon took out another one who was getting too close to Ashley. "Ash hurry it up! No pressure though!"

"Right, it's done!" She called back, running to the ledge she could jump down from.

"Go on, I've got us covered." The brunette waved Leon back towards Ashley, firing from her handgun before switching to her TMP. It was slightly easier, but less accurate of course. Leon ran towards Ashley and stood below her, his guns slung over his back and his arms held out for her to jump into. She jumped down easily with little resistance, unlike a certain someone else, and they all proceeded towards the platforms Ashley had unlocked.

"Go go go go go go!" Morgan ushered her party on as more priests seemed to appear. "I really hope they can't jump…" And she followed after them leaving no time to find out if men in long black cloaks could actually jump. They could run, they could hold weapons and pick up blonde girls, but she was hoping they didn't know how to jump.

"Look a door! We can lock them out from in there!" Ashley shouted as the trio crossed the platforms and bounded up the carpeted stairs because priests clad in black cloaks especially know how to jump. And following they were.

After the door was slammed shut and sealed with the classic candle stick holder through the door handles, the group took it upon themselves the right to catch their breath. Ashley leaned over her knees while Morgan stretched with a big sigh and Leon remained collected as ever.

"Wow just look at this place, it's really pretty here." Ashley looked around in awe at the stain glass windows and high stylized ceilings, hanging candle chandeliers, and a set of stairs to the side of the room. Morgan joined her side and gazed up with her.

"Shame religious weirdos live here huh?" And killed the moment.

Leon rolled his eyes silently after already scanning the room for any threats or immediate danger. So far the coast was clear and he would prefer it to stay that way entirely. "Let's go ladies." So they ventured down the hall leaving the beautiful room behind them. The only danger in the area was the violent coughing attack that rocked through Ashley's body. Her hands flew to her mouth as she coughed repeatedly.

"You alright?!" Leon asked completely caught off guard; he touched her shoulder, trying to see what he could do for her when she shoved him aside.

"I'm fine, just leave me alone!" And ran off ahead. All those terrible thoughts that had coursed through her head shattered the resolve Ashley had built up.

She ran because she was scared.

"Ashley wait!" Morgan cried out getting ready to tackle the blonde before she and Leon were both stopped short by protruding silver spikes that shot up from the floor. The trio was now separated. It only made Ashley pause for a second before she started running, more spikes flying up to push her further and further away from the agents before her back was pressed against the wall at the end of the hall.

Thick bindings enclosed around Ashley's body and held her to the wall before anyone registered what was happening. "What's going on?!" She screamed as the wall started to rotate itself. Panic squeezed her heart tightly as it had constantly done for Morgan.

"Ashley!" Leon and Morgan cried out rendered helpless and only able to watch as Ashley disappeared completely. "Don't worry Ashley, we're coming for you!" Leon proceeded to shout as Morgan ran forward as the spikes sank back into the floor. She pressed her good shoulder into the wall, willing it to move as it had for Ashley.

"Give her back! Give her back to us!" Morgan screamed enraged, slamming her hand against the wall over and over and over, until Leon caught her wrist gently and shook his head.

"Don't worry, she'll be safe for now. They won't do anything to her yet, c'mon let's go find her." The grave expression on his face didn't make things any easier on Morgan but she complied. She cast one more look at the wall before heading back the way they came. They didn't get far before Leon's communicator went off. "Holy shit I forgot about Hunnigan!"

"Hunnigan what happened? The transmission got cut off." Leon spoke, ignoring Morgan as he usually did when his assistant called. An eerie laugh sounded before Salazar appeared on the screen looking pale and satisfied. "Salazar! How'd you—"

"We've jacked the line." He smirked victoriously. "We didn't want you telling everyone any unnecessary information."

"H-Hey where's Ashley?!" Morgan demanded fiercely before Leon shoved her away before she got too worked up. It only made Salazar grin.

"Aw…so she fell into one of our wonderful traps. We'll make sure we find her, don't you worry about her. Oh yes!" He seemed highly enthused now. "I let our miserable insects out for some exercise down in the sewer." The accent and calmness in his words sent shivers down Morgan's spine.

"Thanks, that should keep me company cuz boredom kills me." Leon bit out almost as fiercely as Morgan had.

"I look forward to our next encounter…in another life." And then the line ended. Leon sighed and put the communicator back in its place before turning to face Morgan…who was staring at him with big eyes and an open mouth.

"…What?"

"You told that chicken ass his pets would keep you company because boredom kills you?! Am I not worthy of having been mentioned as the best boredom solver ever and that we don't need his stupid pets?! Unless…no! Is it..is it because," She took a step back in disbelief, "Is it because you don't find me entertaining at all?"

And the sad thing was, she waited for him to answer.

"Morgan, this isn't that time for that." He rolled his eyes, trying to attempt a smile. In truth he couldn't find it in him to even provide that much for her. Too much was at stake now, they finally had Ashley with them and then she was taken again. "I'm going to look around and then we're moving on, take this as a chance to rest."

Morgan's smile had vanished completely; she sobered up and stood stock still as Leon addressed her in full out business mode, like she wasn't anything besides a partner to him, a partner that had nothing specially tied to him. She knew he was just stressing, and she knew she was just being completely unfair to even harbor any anger for his way of addressing her…but she still felt a little let down with his response. Wasn't she the one who was supposed to keep the smiles going so the weight of the world never came crashing down?

The mask she had put on almost crumbled to pieces. Almost revealed the unbalanced levels of emotions raging inside her. It would be completely unfair to lash out and dump even more stress onto his shoulders, so she added more layers to the mask before she became the normal expectation of what a highly trained agent was supposed to look like: unreadable and deadly.

"Miss Stranger, it's been awhile." Morgan turned just as the cloaked man had called out to her. It was one of her favorite people to ever have existed, but she didn't greet him as she normally would. She sealed off all pleasant feelings and smiles away.

"I would like to upgrade my weapons, I can pay with what I've collected on my own." She nodded slightly, pulling out the items she had gathered secretly aside from her partner. "Is this enough?" She held out a hefty amount of jewels and gold in one hand and instantly the Merchant recognized her off tone and manner of speaking. He felt bad for her, he really did.

"Of course Miss Stranger, that will upgrade your handgun quite nicely. One moment." And he busied himself with doing a fine job on her handgun she had recently taken a strong liking to. Secretly, he provided a little more to it than she could have possibly paid for, but that was a secret for her to be oblivious to. "Here ya are. Can I do anything else for ya lass?" When she shook her head, he closed the drapes of his garb back to his body, literally folding up shop. Leon was doing who knows what while this was taking place.

"Thank you." A curt nod was given to the helpful salesman and she started to turn away.

"Miss Stranger," His gruff voice called out, "Keep your head up lass." And he turned away. Morgan nodded, silently willing herself to keep that in mind before she spotted her partner. She glanced back once and found the Merchant no longer there. Never question a stranger's ways though. And she didn't.

"Are we ready to go find her?" She asked lightly deciding to keep quiet about her latest encounter. Wouldn't be fair to mention that she got her weapon upgraded while he didn't. Morgan vaguely questioned if the Merchant left simply not to sell anything to Leon for being the one for her mood switch (not that she was pushing that blame on him, but the Merchant's opinion remained his own and called it as he saw it).

"Let's go back that way." Leon nodded just as lightly and jogged down the hall they had already taken. In all the confusion from Ashley's part, they missed noticing the door on the right of the hall. In the pit of Morgan's stomach she had a feeling she knew what was soon to come their way. And she didn't fancy the feeling one bit.

"I guess we jump down there huh…" She sighed, gesturing to the sewer entrance. Leon was next to her staring down as well.

"Looks like it." He sighed, too. Jumping down first, he proceeded to hold his arms out for her to jump into. Morgan attempted to squat down so she was closer, but lost her balance and fell into his arms quicker than he planned on. "You alright there?"

"Fine," She nodded as he set her down, "Just stay on guard for anything that's down here with us." She dropped her voice as the quietness sank in. The sewer looked like lower level looked like a lower level dungeon from a game her brother had played once. Except, there weren't many dungeon cells as there were barred off passages. Water had filled some of the areas and measured up to where Morgan's ankles were.

The odor was musty and stuffy; well it was especially hard for Morgan to smell due to her bruised nose not working right. Maybe it was broken after all.

"Did you hear that…?" She whispered coming to a dead halt.

"Yea, it came from that way. Be ready." Leon nodded from her side. They couldn't place the sound exactly, but it sounded like a cicada screech; only that was far from likely the culprit. Just in case, he had his shotgun firmly in his grasp.

The water ahead splashed up as the sound came again and Leon was the one to take the cautious step forward.

"Jesus!" Morgan screamed as beady red eyes appeared in a flash—as well as a giant body of an oversized insect—and Leon was slammed into the wall before he registered what hit him. Morgan brought up her newly improved gun and shot off warning shots into its hard exterior. "Use your shotgun on his underbelly!" She ordered knowing that was where the soft spot had to be located. Leon grunted in slight pain but dropped to one knee and did as he was told to. Pumping the shells as fast as he could, the bug flew back and crumpled into a corpse.

"Invisible insects, that's just what we needed." The agent sighed shaking his head. Morgan put her gun in its holster and offered a hand to help Leon up. He took it and let her guide him back to his feet before they stared ahead with the same thought. They were in for all kinds of surprises lately.

Silently they moved forward and took a right that led them to a slightly bigger space. Morgan spotted a long ladder that dropped down to even more water and Leon watched as ripples splashed around down below the railing. He swapped guns and aimed his rifle down before sending a shot down, missing on purpose. The screech sounded as the invisible pet was alarmed of their presence.

"It's face is probably the most vulnerable spot on the top of its body," Leon announced as they both raised their weapons. Morgan nodded as they fired their rounds upon the creature that didn't even get to take three steps before it crumpled to the floor.

"It's not so bad once you know what you're fighting…" Morgan muttered to herself after she lowered her gun. Inside she was absolutely terrified of what could have been waiting down here for them, she almost peed her pants when it first appeared right in front of them moments ago. "Let's get out of here."

Leon nodded and climbed down the ladder first, held his arms out for Morgan, and caught her once she dropped down into them. They stared at the other ladder, Leon carrying Morgan as he approached it, and they both grimaced. "You go up first." He offered, so in case she fell he could just catch her. Morgan gritted her teeth but nodded and placed her foot on the first step. Now was her time to get it over and done with instead of complain. She had to stay as the professional agent instead of a worry-some, over reactive, twenty four year old woman with a younger brother to take care of and a dark past.

Stoic, reserved, and utterly professional in all ways possible; just like Leon.

Once she got to the top, Leon followed suit, and they left the room to walk into a much larger one with a higher ceiling and far apart walls.

The first thing that Leon noticed was the giant hole in the ceiling where light filtered through, giving a particular brightness to a set of bones in the middle of the room. His alertness shot up and he prepared for anything to jump out, or materialize before their eyes again.

"Move around slowly." He had to admit, Morgan's sudden change in character was not completely unwelcome; he adored her endlessly even if he couldn't out right say it, but he appreciated that she knew when it was best to really focus on the mission. Not that he had a problem with her before, just, it was making it easier to handle he figured.

Nothing his mind was telling him made sense.

"Look out!" Distracted by the words in his mind Leon had lost sight of what they were doing and where they were. An insect dropped from the hole, landed on the bone pile, and slowly started to crawl towards them. Leon and Morgan jumped out of the way, separated on opposite sides of the bug, and another one joined them from the same hole.

"I've got this one!" Morgan shouted using her TMP to enrage the creature by spamming its face with an array of bullets. Seeing as she had it occupied, Leon ran off to bring the other one's attention on him. If they kept them on different sides of the room it wouldn't be so difficult to handle.

"I need to ditch this gun next time I see Mr. Merchant…" As luck would have it, the last of the bullets for that particular gun ran out. "Or I can ditch it now!" She decided to chuck it at the creature's face, only making it that much more pissed off before she started to back up and fire from her handgun.

The damp brick wall touched her back rendering her out of any more space to retreat to and her new friend with six legs was still advancing towards her. It disappeared suddenly and Morgan ducked as her gut told her she should, twisting her body away as the insect swiped at the wall with sharp claws. She gulped, but didn't stop her assault on her invisible attacker.

Leon, on the opposite side of the room, had already taken out one of the legs on accident when his friend turned invisible; not that it was a bad thing, it kept fazing in an out of being unseen so it made it an easier target. Backing up, the zombie killing ex-cop found his back against a rusted cell door.

"Later bug brains." He huffed, getting ready to shove the last shell he'd need into his weapon. A tightness in his chest made him freeze completely, that is before he started coughing violently and was forced to cover his mouth.

Blood speckled across his palm and finger tips once it passed, and the action hadn't gone unnoticed by his favorite brunette.

"Leon!" She cried out, ferociously slamming her knife through her attacker's skull. The things that woman could do while worried—beady red eyes stared into Leon's dirt covered face as the insect stood just a few inches in front of him. There was no time to even react before a sudden sharp force struck his chest.

Morgan watch as Leon was sent flying through the cell door—crashing on top of it altogether—after she managed to kill off one of the trouble makers. Now, she stared anxiously as the dust drifted from the room Leon landed in waiting for him to get up.

However, with the last creature slowly advancing upon his cell,

"Leon?"

He had yet to stand, or move at all.

"Look out!"