(A/N) After 5 months, Chapter 7 is finally here! I apologise for the wait, and I thank you for your patience.

I started working on this chapter in December, and aimed to have it done in about January, or February; as you know, it's April now. Things got in the way like college, and I kinda struggled with how I wanted the chapter to be executed, if that makes sense. I knew exactly what I wanted to happen in the chapter, but didn't know how to word it, for some reason.

Also, as you can see, this chapter is longer than normal; the plan wasn't overly big... but it was long. Anyway, I hope this long chapter makes up for the wait.

No flames please, if you hate it, keep it to yourself. However, if you think it could be better, recommend improvements, as well as what was good and what was bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own these franchises, or their characters. Resident Evil belongs to CAPCOM, Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid belong to KONAMI and Final Fantasy belongs to SQUARE ENIX.

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Chapter 7: Fighting in the Depths of Hell

Hell was the only word Leon could think of to describe the room he had entered. The room itself was a blazing inferno that had almost been completely engulfed by the flames occupying it; leaving only a clear path, and before that path, items like rusted cranks, alongside wheels and vases, that looked surprisingly kempt were intact; nothing else could be seen due to the flames being too thick and tall, giving the impression of emptiness. The crimson flames looked to be tamed, and although that was a relief, it didn't quite sit well with the agent; considering one of the many characteristics of fire was to spread, and burn everything in its path to a pile of ash. It wasn't natural for fire to dance in place, given its destructive nature, though it still heated up the room significantly, and gave it a rich, orange glow.

Thinking about it more just increased the agent's unease, which was understandable.

Due to the intense heat, the room was already starting to take a toll on the American; his head was starting to feel much lighter than it usually did, accompanied by the feeling of nausea, and a burning sensation on his face. The two teens by his side weren't faring any better; Zidane, like Leon, gave the impression of being unfazed, however, it was evident that he was too warm for comfort; his face was a vivid pink and he kept rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand. Heather looked nauseous; her right hand resting on her stomach, and her left hand gripping her gun tightly, shaking slightly as it did so. Her breathing was also uneven, and looking at her facial expression, Leon could tell that not only was she feeling unwell, but also bewildered, as she glanced around the room in disbelief.

"How is this building still standing?" She asked breathlessly, removing her hand off her stomach to wipe a droplet of sweat off her forehead.

"I don't know," Zidane replied with a shrug of his shoulders, and a slight smirk. "Maybe it's magic."

"Magic?" Heather raised a sweaty eyebrow, emitting a dry giggle. "I don't think so, and anyway, I was mainly asking Leon." She then turned to the man mentioned. "So, what are we going to do here, 'Leader'?"

If the agent was going to be honest with himself, he wasn't sure. Firstly, there was a large possibility that the flames were not really as safe as they were making themselves out to be; the trio getting burnt to death as a result of them being careless. But, if they wanted to make progress, then something needed to be done; and no one would know what that would be, if they didn't look around first.

"Before we do anything here, we should have a look around," he stated, taking in his surroundings, warily. "We don't know what can be done here, unless we do."

"Okay," Heather responded, trying to fan herself with her free hand. "Should we split up to save time, or do you suppose we stay together?"

"I think we should stick together," Zidane quickly interrupted, stretching before combing a hand through his hair. "Splitting up in this heat seems like a dumb idea."

"I wasn't asking you."

"I was just stating my opinion on the idea."

"Well..." she sighed. "There's nothing wrong with that, but you should have given us time to think."

"But," Zidane started, his expression becoming slightly smug. "If we split up, there'd be no one to pick us up if the heat got too much. I say that it'd be best if we stick together and look out for one another, that way, no one passes out and burns to death. That makes sticking together the better option to begin with."

The agent actually thought of that 'what-if' scenario; fainting due to heat exhaustion, which, in that heat, would be very likely. The solution he came to was similar to what the kid had just said; sticking together, and picking each other up if they fall. That made sticking together the wiser option in his mind, and he didn't trust the teens to stay conscious for long; especially when they already looked like they were going to keel over and die at any moment. He didn't even trust himself to stay awake for long. So, they had to be quick.

"He's right," Leon spoke up. "This place looks like it's going to be a death-trap, so splitting up would be the last thing we want to do. Staying together sounds like the better option, but we need to be quick, if we want to live."

"Good point, actually," Heather placed her hand on her forehead. "Where should we start?"

"The only way we can; forward," the agent said, as he started to walk in that direction, the other two following behind him.

The path they walked on was much more linear than Leon had expected it to be; they were being lead by fire walls, similar to that of a hedge in a maze. A headache was starting to form in the American's head, and his muscles started to feel much weaker, making his movements feel heavier; most likely due to the temperature increasing. A part of him wondered if the other two were feeling the same, but mostly, his mind was thinking of ways to get whatever needed to be accomplished in this room over and done with, so they could leave. Behind him, he could hear muffled groans from Heather as she wiped more sweat from her face, and the three footsteps behind him becoming heavier.

'Three?!'

Leon sharply turned to face the two teens, and that was what he saw; no third person. Was he hallucinating due to heat exhaustion, or were they actually being followed? Heather and Zidane wore worried expressions, as they turned to look behind them as well. When they looked back at the agent, Heather spoke up.

"Are you okay, Leon?" She asked weakly, placing a hand on her red cheeks in a slight daze.

"Yeah, I just thought..." he wiped some sweat off his forehead, pushing his worries to the side. "Never mind."

"Leon, remember, we agreed to stick together," Zidane told him, concern apparent in his voice and facial expression. "So, don't leave us in the dark, okay. Tell us what's up."

"Yeah, Leon," Heather said. "What's wrong? We can't help you if you don't tell us."

The agent sighed. How could he have forgotten that conversation they had?

'We all agreed to help you, so that's what we're going to do. If a threat were to appear, we take it on together.'

Harry had said that, when Leon had offered to enter a sketchy looking room on his own. Everyone else also said roughly the same thing afterwards, albeit phrased differently. Despite that, they were all telling him to trust them, and think like one unit, a team.

However, the agent couldn't bring himself to do that; if these civilians were to get injured in anyway, especially the two teens he was with, then he'd be plagued with guilt, and not only that, but he assumed he'd be in serious trouble; especially with Harry. So, he had to do what he did best; protect these people like they were regular civilians, meaning keeping them in the dark, too. They were being followed, he knew that, however he had to lie to them, for their own good.

Clearing his throat, he answered. "I wanted to see if you were okay," he said on the spot. "Your footsteps were getting heavier, you know; are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah," they both said in unison, looks of concern still present on their faces.

"Good."

Leon didn't feel good lying to them about the likelihood of a stalker on their trail, but he felt it was best, so that everyone was thinking about the objective at hand for now; the quicker they were out of that room, the better. But didn't he say that he wouldn't leave anyone in the dark from now on; rely on his new allies, as well as himself?

'Is lying to them really a good idea?'

As they continued walking forward, the agent heard the third pair of footsteps again, followed by a loud crash and a feminine scream; prompting Leon to immediately turn to look behind him again. He saw that a large piece of rubble had fallen, and was mere inches away from crushing Heather and Zidane; the former had her free hand over her chest, and shook slightly, as she gasped for breath, not taking her eyes off the object while she took two small steps back; the latter stared at the object wide eyed, while his tail visibly twitched.

"Are you two okay?" The blonde agent asked in alarm, approaching them hastily.

"Yeah, thanks," Zidane replied, before turning to look at Heather, sympathetically. "I don't know about her, though."

"Heather, are you -"

"I'm fine," she said suddenly, straightening her hair out while taking a deep breath. "I'm fine, Leon, thanks for asking."

"Okay, if you're sure," Leon turned to the direction they were walking in initially, sighing whilst rubbing the back of his neck. "If something is wrong, tell me, okay?"

"Sure, and the same applies to you too, Leon," she sighed. "You are sure you're not hiding anything from us, right?"

"No... I'm - Let's just go, we're running out of time."

They really had to leave; the agent didn't like being followed by unwanted people with questionable motives, and not only that, but he was gradually feeling more faint the longer he stayed in that room. Luckily for them, it didn't take long to get to an open area, however they didn't escape the heat, or the potential pursuer.

Glancing around, the agent could see that there were quite a lot of vases scattered around, but that wasn't what caught his eye; a small stage could be seen, and on that stage was a large, dark green door. Without wasting time, he ran towards it and frantically pulled the handle. It was locked. Sighing, the blonde turned to the other two in the group, who had caught up quite quickly.

"I guess we're looking for a key," he stated, resting a hand on his head.

He didn't have time for this.

"That's just great," Heather commented, sarcastically. "I should have known that this wasn't going to be easy."

"Yeah," Zidane sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "But at least the key won't be too far; we're only in one room after all."

"You're probably right," Leon said, taking a quick glance at the door, before looking at the two blondes again. "We should start looking."

"But where should we start? This room isn't exactly small, and we could succumb to the heat at any moment," Heather reminded him. "What if it's on a flame proof string dangling over a flame? Thinking about how twisted that woman sounded, that could be where the key is."

"You do have quite an imagination," Zidane chuckled, walking to the edge of the stage to scan the surrounding area.

"Oh yeah, this is coming from the kid that said 'magic' was the reason why a fire infested room was still in good condition," the girl scoffed, folding her arms.

"Well, I guess you're right about that," he turned back to the door, placing his hands on his hips with a slight smirk. "I think the key could be in a chest somewhere, because it just makes sense; especially when compared to the flame proof string idea."

"Hey! It makes sense..."

"In another world, maybe."

"Oh, you -!"

"Heather, not now," the agent had cut the girl off with an irritated tone, before looking at the monkey boy. "You, too. The key could be anywhere in this room, so instead of standing here arguing like children, let's just -"

"Get on with it!" A voice growled harshly from seemingly nowhere, prompting Leon to ready his gun.

The agent noticed that his sudden action caused Heather to ready her own pistol, whilst for some reason darting a glare at him before focusing on what was in front of her. Did she figure out his white lie somehow? Is she mad? Of course she is, but that shouldn't be the main priority in the situation. Shaking it off, he focused on finding the source of the voice.

In his line of sight, he could see Zidane gripping his sheaths, as he took wary glances around the room. Behind him, Leon saw the flames that had always been there, the vases, the cloaked man in the distance, the - wait? Cloaked man?

A cloaked man could be seen; the cloak he wore was red, and he had his face covered with some sort of golden cat mask. The hood was also up, further hiding his identity.

'That has to be the pursuer!' He thought, as he pointed his gun to where the unfamiliar figure was, but before Leon could order him to put his hands were he could see them, and question him about his motives, he seemed to move away at an inhuman speed. Not long after, Zidane removed his daggers from their sheaths, and turned to look behind him to see nothing there, then turned back to look at Leon; his expression went from that of confusion to that of horror.

The agent didn't understand why he wore such an expression, but did when something caught the corner of his eye. Knitting his brows together, he turned to his left to see the cloaked man on Heather's left side, preparing to bring a spear down on her. Everything seemed to slow down, as he aimed his gun in that direction, putting his finger on the trigger as the teenage girl turned her head to look at him with wide eyes.

"Leon! What are you -!"

"Get down!"

He didn't have to tell her twice, she ducked, due to the urgency in his voice, allowing him to fire his gun in an attempt to incapacitate him; however, the agent should have known that it wasn't going to be easy. Lowering his weapon in confusion, a mumbled, "What?" escaped his mouth; he fired at nothing, the unknown man got away.

'How?'

"What's going on?" He heard Heather ask, which snapped him out of his thoughts. She stood up straight, and looked at him in mild frustration.

"I missed," he replied, as he shook his head slightly. "I haven't missed that bad since -"

"Missed what?"

She cut him off with a question. He sighed; he should have known that he wouldn't be able to keep it hidden forever, but he thought it would be the right thing to do, so they could focus on the primary objective: finding Ashley. Right, that was what he had to focus on, not getting into a potential argument with a teenager.

"Nothing, it doesn't -"

"There's a cloaked man, Leon; I saw him with my own eyes," Heather told him with a look of disappointment on her face. "You knew about him, didn't you?"

Okay, she knew; he guessed he had to tell her.

"I knew we were being followed, just not who was following us," he sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have -"

"Yeah, you shouldn't have," she ran a hand through her hair, as she turned away from the agent. "I should of started questioning you when I noticed you acting strange earlier. You said you wouldn't keep us in the dark, you said -"

"Guys," Zidane interrupted, approaching the two blondes. "I don't think now's the time to be fighting. There's someone out there, who has 'suspicious' written all over them, so we have to focus on that, not this."

"He is right," an unknown deep voice said, as the owner of the voice, the mysterious cloaked man, jumped down from the ceiling. "I believe the main priority should be me, not the liar with his pants on fire."

"Who are you?" Leon asked scornfully, as he readied his gun yet again.

"I am codenamed 'Sphinx,' for my mysterious nature," he chuckled, clearly pleased with himself.

"Why are you here?" Heather asked carefully, having her gun aimed at him also.

"Well, if you must know, I have the key to that door over there," he answered, pointing to the big door behind the trio. He then pointed to the rope wrapped around his waist, with a key dangling off of it. "Right here, if you need proof of my claims."

"Great," Zidane extended his hand out to him, with a grin on his face. "If you would so kindly hand it over -"

"No," he interrupted the boy, folding his arms.

"And why not? We have to save the daughter of the President!"

"Do I care? Are you aware of what a Sphinx is in Egyptian mythology, monkey boy?"

"They gave people puzzles to solve, right?" He replied, sheathing his daggers and folding his arms.

"You are not wrong," he chuckled. "However, unlike my namesake, I will not be doing that; I just want to have fun."

"Really?"

Leon was watching this exchange in mild confusion; why were they talking about the sphinx from mythology. Furthermore, where did the kid get that knowledge from? School? That was plausible actually. His thoughts were cut short when the cloaked man, Sphinx, spoke again.

"You know, child," he said, as he raised his hand, causing the path the trio had come from to be blocked by a wall. He then lowered his hand, which then made the flames in the room vanish from existence; they had nowhere to go now, and at least the room temperature was normalised. "I just noticed that you sheathed your daggers, you do not do that in front of your enemy."

"And do I care?" Zidane sighed, his smile not wavering.

Sphinx released a deep, menacing chuckle in response, before conjuring a ball of fire in his hand and throwing it at his opponents. Leon rolled out of the way effortlessly, but didn't land as gracefully as he thought he would; falling on his back due to unexpectedly losing his footing. He noticed that Zidane was able to flip out of the way, un-sheathing his daggers upon landing; and Heather was able to duck and strafe out of harms way, turning to aim at the man attacking them.

For kids inexperienced in this sort of thing, the agent was impressed with their dodging skills. Upon realising that he was just lying there, the agent leaned on his side with a grunt, and without thinking, brought his gun up in front of him and fired at the cloaked man calling himself 'Sphinx'. Much to the agent's frustration, he kept dodging every bullet with ease, and started to laugh when the agent's gun clicked, meaning he had to reload. The laugh was put to a stop, when the man turned to his left, to see Zidane running at him; daggers above his head, ready to strike. Sighing, Sphinx stepped to the side, making the monkey tailed teen stab thin air. The kid turned to make another attempt to strike the man, but promptly had both of his arms grabbed, and before the blonde could even blink, he was flung across the room, smacking a wall before landing on a vase, smashing it in the process.

"Shit!" The agent growled, as he managed to find an ammo clip, and tried to put it in his gun. "Zidane, are you okay?!"

As Zidane tried to stand, the cloaked man was slowly approaching him, conjuring a red katana in his hand. From what Leon could see, the boy looked dazed and not in a state to fight back; which made the task of getting the ammo clip in even more frustrating. His hands were shaking, he felt dizzy and couldn't stand, making what he found a simple task, difficult. Sphinx brought his katana up above his head, and was about to decapitate his opponent, when he rolled out of the way and glared at him, while down on his hands and knees.

Managing to get the ammo clip into his gun, Leon turned to look at Heather, who was aiming at Sphinx, a loss of what to do, her gun shaking.

"Heather! What are you doing?!" Leon yelled, getting her attention.

"Oh!" She pulled the trigger, which caused Sphinx to place his attention on her.

"So, you want see if you are worthy enough to fight me, eh?" He asked, as he pointed his katana at her. "You got one hit; let us see if you can get another."

Determination in her eyes, she fired at him again. Easily deflecting the bullet with his katana blade, he turned it into a spear, the same one he tried to get her with not too long ago, and threw it at her. With not even a second thought, Leon forced himself up and pushed her out of the way, the spear hitting the wall instead.

With Sphinx distracted, Zidane yanked the key from his belt, prompting the cloaked man to turn around and grab him by the throat. The kid's eyes widened, as he brought up his dagger and stabbed the man in the arm. Unfazed by this he removed the dagger from the blonde's grip and threw it away, while tightening his grip on Zidane's neck.

"You sure know how to push my buttons; what you did there was called cheating!" Sphinx yelled, tightening his grip further, making the blonde's cheeks turn purple. He then chuckled. "You also do not stab someone in the back, Mr. Scott Kennedy," he then turned to the agent, who was prepared to stab the other man in the back with Zidane's discarded weapon. "That is not a fair fight."

"Then let him go," Leon growled, harshly.

"Oh, what about I -"

"Sphinx?" a voice was heard on a radio that the cloaked man apparently had on his person; a voice that sounded suspiciously like the 'Saviour'. "Sphinx, do you read me?"

He promptly let Zidane go, and stood up to get his radio out; the agent took this opportunity to run to the kid's aid.

"Yes, my lady!" Sphinx was heard exclaiming into his radio. "What is it that you need?"

"I need you this instant," she replied coldly.

"Oh, yes, I will be on my way," putting his radio away, he turned to the agent, who had the tailed boy in his arms. "You got lucky this time," he stated, before disappearing in a flash.

Shaking his head, Leon turned to where Heather was standing, or kneeling, then back down to the boy who was almost asphyxiated. He had the key gripped tightly in his left hand, which was resting on his chest, as he frantically gasped for air. The purple faded from his cheeks, and his lids opened, revealing bloodshot eyes.

"Hey, are you okay?" The agent asked, as he sat him up.

Zidane responded with a nod, as he handed Leon the key. With a cough, and a couple more gasps, he pointed to the kneeling Heather. "She...okay...?"

"I'm going to check on her now," he said, as he placed the boy's dagger in his hand. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Another nod.

Turning in the direction Heather was in, the girl was already stood up and dusting herself off.

"Are you okay, Heather?" He asked, as he approached her.

"Yeah, just slightly shaken," she replied, running a hand through her hair. "It all happened so fast, I couldn't keep up; I just froze, I'm so sorry -"

"Calm down, it's -"

"Is he okay?"

She turned in Zidane's direction; said person was still catching his breath as he sheathed his second dagger; eyes half-lidded and still bloodshot. Leon sighed.

"He told me he's fine," the agent told her, looking at the door behind the pair.

"He almost suffocated, I'm surprised he didn't..."

"Yeah, I know; I guess it didn't bother him too much."

"I guess," she sighed. "Who do you think that asshole was anyway?"

"I don't know," getting out the key, he turned to Zidane. "C'mon, we're getting outta here."

"Okay..." he said, as he started to walk towards the pair. "Who do you think that joker was?"

"We'll talk about it later," Leon sighed, as he stuck the key into the lock.

"Promise?" Heather asked.

"I promise."

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And that was chapter 7. I hope that it was worth the wait; if it wasn't, sorry. Also, I had a fight scene in this one, so if that needs any improvement, let me know. I'm aware this chapter is far from perfect, and if you feel like that there are problems with it, please tell me, and if you think there aren't any, tell me.

Improvements are still appreciated, please tell me what I did right, wrong and how I can improve. If you would like, you could still favourite and follow this fic, as well as suggest ideas for future chapters. R&R and thanks for reading!