Chapter 3: Haunted

When Claire opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was a dull flickering light off to her right. She was blinking to try and to clear her vision, but her eyes continued to lack proper focus. She reached up and touched her head where a blow had been delivered. Wincing as the pain flared anew, she was surprised she wasn't dead; It didn't take much force to kill someone that way.

She sucked in a breath as she remembered Leon and snapped her eyes open again. Currently, she was laying on what felt like a stone floor. Pushing herself up to a sitting position, she listened carefully. Someone else was in the room with her. She blinked her eyes furiously and slowly looked around her. She was in a cell.

"This is becoming a theme in my life." Claire had the stray thought as she stood slowly.

She picked up the sound of steady and heavy breathing somewhere outside of the cell. With a shake in her legs, she took a tentative step forward to grasp the bars.

Someone was sitting in front of the cell.

Leon sat on a crate, staring at her with blood red eyes as a grin graced his features. Slowly her vision was returning and the more she stared, the more she realized that it really was not her friend that sat before her.

"Le-" She began again

"Shhhh," Leon called in a taunting whisper.

He pointed toward his right, and it was then she realized that it was not Leon's breathing she was hearing. There was someone else in the cell to her left.

Leon stood up, and slowly walked over to the far-right side of the room. Claire's eyes were drawn to the wall with a large bell that sat in an alcove. Next to the bell was a set of stone stairs that led toward a door she could barely make out.

Leon hadn't taken his eyes from Claire's, and he grinned wider when her eyes returned to his. He was pulling a knife out and proceeded to hit the bell with the hilt in three quick strikes. The sound of the bell was almost deafening in the small room.

"Nnnngh!" She heard the person in the cell next to her scream.

A loud crash followed and a man over eight feet tall ran out grunting as he began to swing his bladed arms wildly. Claire backed up from the cell door and looked over to where Leon had stood but found him missing. The door at the top of the stairs boomed shut and Claire felt her stomach drop.

Her eyes flicked back toward the tall man as he grunted at the sound and began walking slowly around the room. The man was slightly facing her now, his head up but something seemed off. At first glance, the helmet on his head looked like something between what a football player would wear and the head of an iron maiden cabinet.

On his hands, were iron braces that held three long blades that rested above his knuckles. Claire dared not to make a sound as she tried to look at his face. Something was wrong with his eyes. She took a quiet, slow step forward. His eyes seemed to be sewed shut, or possibly taken out altogether.

"He's blind." Claire thought as she looked back toward the bell. "Hunts by sound. Just like the worm at Rockfort and the Lickers in Raccoon."

Claire seriously doubted that the door at the top of the stairs would be open, but she couldn't wait for the man to begin to explore the open space. She watched as he turned again and began walking across the room away from her. There was something moving on its back.

"Parasite." Claire concluded in her head. "Alright, fine. What do we have to work with?"

Claire found all her holsters empty, no surprise there. Her jacket was also missing. She felt around in her pockets and found everything else gone as well. Leon had forgotten to take her belt, and with that realization, Claire began to slowly undo the buckle.

Careful to keep the garment from jingling, she held the metal pieces of the buckle carefully before pulling it from the pant loops. With the belt undone, she held it out in front of her and quietly stepped closer to her cell door. Placing one hand on the door, she moved the other hand with the belt in between the bars. With an underhanded toss, she flung the belt out to the far left. The belt dropped and clanked to the floor.

"Nnnngh!"

Claire pushed the cell door open with one smooth thrust.

The man was swinging wildly over her belt.

Claire took the moment to move toward the stairs slowly and carefully.

A shot fired and struck the bell beside her; the hum of the vibration had Claire reaching up to cover her ears. Claire's head snapped up and she saw Leon lowering a gun as he leaned in from what appeared to be a window above.

"Nnnngh!"

Claire felt the man running at her before she could turn to see him. She dropped to the ground and shoulder rolled toward the stairs with a quick, terrified breath caught in her throat. She whipped her head around to see the tall man had the blades of one hand stuck into the wall.

Gritting her teeth, Claire got to her feet and took the stairs two at a time. The door at the top slid open.

"Nnnngh!" The sound of blades sliding out of the stone reached her ears.

"Fuck." Claire uttered; her silence broken.

She pumped her arms as she ran, the gaining steps of the man echoing behind her. The hall led to a T-junction, and she rounded the corner to the right. The booming steps of the tall man were now right on her heels. She saw the door ahead and exploded through it before slamming it closed.

The sound of clapping met her ears as she turned to see Leon applauding her.

"Not so stupid after all." Leon stated as he started to slowly walk toward her.

"Leon!" Claire ground out, temper flaring as she looked into the sickly eyes of her friend. "Listen to me, damn it. It's Claire!"

"Not bad, if I have to say so myself." He continued while ignoring her words. His eyes swept her from head to toe. "I could use something new to look at. You wouldn't believe the options in this village."

"You're not yourself. We need to find Ashley, and get out of here… I-I came here for you." Claire said as she raised her hands up by her waist, slowly backing up to the door. She had the sudden realization that she may have stood better odds against the tall man in the cells.

Shadows on the road behind, shadows on the road ahead.

"I'm so glad you did. It was getting awfully boring with just Ashley. She gave up on the first day; I gave her to the Ganados after a while. They still manage to get a reaction out of her." Leon said, continuing to close the distance.

"Leon, we can get out of here, but I need you to focus. Look at me!" Claire pleaded.

Her mind began to work overtime as she wrecked her brain for something. Her hippocampus snagged on a quick memory of a lecture hall she had on the cognitive functions of the human brain near death or in a dysfunctional state; strong cues for memory could help in regaining lucidity.

"Oh, I see you, sweetheart." Leon breathed.

"You're a cop, right?" Claire forced her voice to tone in the sarcastic way it had when she first met him.

Leon slowed his steps; a look of confusion crossed his face.

"Claire. Claire Redfield. I came here to find my brother, Chris."

"Claire?" Leon said, shaking his head before gasping and clutching his chest. His movements became erratic as he seemed to spasm left and right. With a grunt, he fell to one knee before her.

"Leon?" Claire stepped forward and crouched in front of him. He raised his head to her, and she could see the outline of his blue eyes. The vessels in his eyes were blown, but he was still in there, somewhere.

"Leon, I'm here." She uttered with the past echoing in her ears. She was grasping his face with her breath trickling out in small bursts. Her thumb was running over his cheek where a fresh scar had formed.

"I know," Leon blinked at her before breathing out, "You shouldn't have come here, Claire."

"I'll always come for you, Leon." Claire responded honestly.

Leon winced again and within moments Leon had her wrists in a binding hold. His body began to convulse, and Claire gasped, tugging at his grasp as blood started to run from his nostrils.

"Run, Claire."

"I-" Claire began.

"Leave!" He shouted as one hand released her wrist and wrapped itself around her throat. With a burst of force, he threw her back toward the door.

Claire bounced off the door behind her, shoulder jarring with pain. She looked up to see Leon standing again, his eyes as red as the blood on his face. He snarled as he drew a combat knife and lunged for her again.

A shot rang out from the right and blood bloomed like a flower on Leon's chest.

"Move it, Red!" Sebastian's voice called out as he ran toward her from the shadows of the room, throwing a shoulder into Leon's staggered form.

The result knocked Leon off his feet, and he crashed to the ground.

Wasting no time, Sebastian grabbed Claire's wrist and pulled her back toward the door she had previously come through. She heard Sebastian pull the pin of a flash grenade and watched him toss it over his shoulder. The flash of the grenade went off, and Leon cried out. The bright light flickered on the walls around the duo as they both ran through the door.

"Wait!" Claire uttered as Sebastian slammed the door, locking it with a key he held in his hand.

"Nnnngh!" She heard the grunt far off down the hall to the left.

"Wha—" Sebastian began before Claire slapped her hand to his mouth. She made a motion with her hand to show something very tall, before she covered her eyes, and then pointed to her ears.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes in concentration at her and then nodded slowly.

Claire released his mouth and made the signal to be quiet with a finger to her lips. She grabbed his hand and slowly began to lead him forward. She stopped as the tall man emerged from the hallway she had run out from before. Stepping back, Claire put up her free hand to signal Sebastian to wait. As the tall man continued to walk forward and around to a square area that looped forward, she pulled Sebastian forward with slow measured steps across the carpeted floor.

The area around the corner was clear as they both made it to a set of double doors. Claire released Sebastian's hand and looked back at him. He was staring at her intently. Was that guilt she saw? She heard the carpeted footsteps of the tall man and quickly opened the double doors, Sebastian was close behind.

The large room was eerily quiet as Claire looked around. Nothing moved except for the flickering of the torches around them.

"Are you ok, Claire?" Sebastian asked, stepping up beside her. "I lost you earlier, I thought…" He trailed off, the look of guilt remaining in his eyes.

"I'm fine. Leon caught me. I tried—" Her voice cracked, and everything suddenly seemed hopeless. "I tried to talk to him, and I saw him, Sebastian. He's still in there."

Sebastian touched her shoulder and pulled her closer. "I saw, Claire. I had my scope on him the entire time. I wanted to see it too, but despite that moment, it's clear that he's not in control. Not even for you." He said softly.

"He can regain lucidity. I sparked it with a strong memory he has of me. If I can do it again with something stronger, maybe we could put him back in control long enough to remove that parasite." Claire said desperately.

"No, Claire. I don't think so. I found some papers in one of the rooms I went through. Leon has the Recessive Plaga. He's a puppet with a master living in his nervous system. His parasite is fully grown by now, and frankly I'm surprised he could even recall memories of you. It's too dangerous to engage him like that anymore." Sebastian explained as he let go of her shoulder and ran a hand through his dark hair.

"I can't leave him here like this." Claire stated hotly while touching the area of her neck where Leon had thrown her from.

"I agree, but…" Sebastian paused and looked steadily at her. "The last option is to put him down. That's how we're going to save him now. We still need to find the president's daughter too."

"I can't do that. I can't kill Leon." Claire said harshly as she took a step away from him.

"You could if it meant your life, or at least I hope you would. Either way, that's why I'm here." Sebastian retorted before turning toward the open room. "Come on, I know where your things are."

Sebastian began to jog toward the far end of the room.

Claire stared after him for a moment before glancing back at the double doors. Had this mission really been about killing Leon after all? Was there really no hope to somehow bring the man back? Claire felt something frost over in her soul as she began to follow Sebastian. She would give it one last try, with or without Sebastian's help.

Claire stared with her eyebrows raised as Sebastian spoke to the Ganado in merchant robes. Sebastian's Spanish was delivered in quick and angry breaths as he haggled. The merchant seemed nonplussed before he laughed and stepped aside, waving a hand toward the supplies on the table.

Claire stepped forward and began to take her equipment back. The only things missing were her jacket and the Magnum. She said so to Sebastian.

Again, Sebastian barked at the merchant, his gun raised. The merchant sighed before opening his coat and revealing the Magnum strapped to a section within. Sebastian snatched her Magnum and pushed the merchant backwards, causing him to crash back into his table.

"Hey, that's enough! Let's just be thankful he's not trying to kill us, and he gave me my things back." Claire huffed, scolding Sebastian with a firm glare.

Sebastian turned his hard eyes from the merchant over to her and gave a simple shrug.

"Heh heh, thank ya!" The merchant called as they began to walk away. Claire had to reach out and grab Sebastian by the arm as he turned back with violence in his eyes.

"Not worth it, Seb!" Claire warned as he turned back to her with a grunt.

Claire fiddled with her holsters and made sure that her equipment was back in place. She frowned and sighed when she remembered her belt with the utility packs laying on the floor of the cell room.

"What?" Sebastian asked, stopping beside her.

"Nothing, I just had to get creative earlier." She said before explaining how she escaped the tall man.

Sebastian let out a soft laugh. "You know Claire, for a woman with no formal training, you sure do have a knack for survival." He declared as he handed her his flask of water.

"Looking to recruit me, Sebastian?" Claire quipped with a small smile she didn't quite feel. She took a long drag of the water before handing it back.

He continued to stare at her for a few beats as he slid the flask back into his pack. That look he had in the plane returning to his eyes. Claire held his stare this time.

"I know plenty of agents who couldn't have survived the things you have." He said softly. "More than that, I can't see how you've managed to stay so sweet along the way. You're a breath of fresh air, Claire Redfield."

"Do you flirt with all of the people you escort?" She asked, tilting her head up to him as she felt her chest give a thump at the tender way he seemed to be looking at her.

"No," He answered with a slow smile. The moment was interrupted by a beeping sound at his hip. Sebastian broke her stare and reached down for his communication device.

With a flip of his hand, Claire was looking down at the face of Ingrid Hunnigan on a screen.

"Claire!" Hunnigan breathed in visible relief. "Agent Smith said he had lost sight of you earlier. I'm glad to see you in one piece. What's your status?"

Claire shared a look with Sebastian.

"We found Leon," Sebastian stated cautiously. "We'll have no choice but to terminate him. Engaging him is no longer an option."

"He regained himself, Hunnigan." Claire added forcefully. She didn't miss the look Sebastian gave her. "I think with a different tactic, I could get through to him."

Hunnigan looked torn, her eyes flickering between the two of them on screen. "If Agent Smith thinks we need to move on from our original plan, then I'm afraid that's what we need to do. We need to see if we can locate Ashley." Hunnigan responded softly.

Claire swallowed and looked away from the screen. She could feel Sebastian's eyes on her, but she was determined not to cry in front of either of them. She wasn't going to give up yet.

"Now that we know Leon has the recessive species, we're going to have a lot more company now. No doubt that Saddler knows we're here too." Sebastian said, turning his eyes back to the screen. "We'll keep you updated and contact you first."

Sebastian had been correct about his earlier assessment; the whole castle seemed to be breaking through the doors in the next area. Ganados with shields, flails, and torches poured out in droves. Sebastian was slightly ahead of her, using hand to hand combat against the majority of the remaining enemies.

Claire was a little intimidated to watch him repeat an attack where he would quickly snap the neck of an enemy that was momentarily stunned. He had a particular move where he would kick a downed Ganado with a punt and Claire was shocked at the strength behind it. Sebastian was a powerhouse all on his own, but he had run out of ammo an hour ago. When more Ganados with shields stepped up in groups, he would move out of the way to allow Claire to blast the shields with her Magnum.

Whatever Orski had done to modify the Magnum, Claire saw it as a godsend. The clip now held more bullets, and the recoil was less than it was before. Gore rained down with each shot she took.

Suspiciously, Leon nor Saddler had made an appearance for the first few hours they had been fighting through the castle. Sebastian had collected a map prior to meeting back up with Claire and had pointed to an area he believed they may be holding Ashley in.

Currently, they had made it into a garden maze and were looking for a second piece of a moon crest.

"Got it!" Sebastian called out as he jogged down the stone steps that had led to a chest on a dais.

A flaming arrow crossed Claire's vision and struck Sebastian in the shoulder. Claire whipped around with her arms raised and returned fire with two quick shots. The Ganado went down with a grunt. She turned back toward Sebastian to see him rip the arrow out without care to his shoulder.

"Wait!" She hissed as she slammed her palm over the wound.

Sebastian was looking down at her with a tired looking expression. "It's just a flesh wound, Claire. The padding stopped most of it."

Claire kept her hand over the hole and snagged the bandages out of his belt. Blood was slightly leaking through her fingers.

"Didn't they teach you not to just rip things out of your body? It could have been an artery." She kept pressure on it for a little longer.

Sebastian chuckled and ran a hand down his face. "The perks continue." He toned softly.

"What perks? I don't particularly see any appeal in this situation." Claire muttered as she lifted her hand to inspect the wound. He had been right; it thankfully wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"You should see it from my end." Was his soft reply.

Claire looked up at him and found him looking at her with a kind expression.

"I'm beginning to think that whomever you usually work with isn't very nice to you." Claire said as she felt her face heat up.

"No, they sure aren't." He agreed and lifted the hand with the half-crest up. "Let's get up there and see if we can find anything useful."

As the pair shoved the crest in the door, the door slid open, and Sebastian let out a whistle as he glanced around the apartment. It appeared to be someone's personal quarters, as there was jewelry and gadgets littered all over the room. Sebastian even found bullets for his gun in the bathroom.

They each took a break to use the bathroom, wash up, and ate sitting side by side on the bed. Sebastian passed the water flask over to her as she crumpled up the protein bar wrapper.

"Sorry I got captured and lost my stuff. I know I'm kind of depleting what's supposed to be yours." Claire apologized quietly.

"You do have quite the history for being captured." Sebastian obliged with a knowing look. "Don't worry about it, I'd rather be hungry and thirsty than have you dead."

"Lucky me." Claire was returning his smile before standing up to stretch.

They both collected their weapons and started toward a far door at the other side of the apartment. Pushing open the door, Sebastian saw the Ganado in merchant robes posted up with his table of supplies. The merchant had his hands over the flames of a large fire basin for warmth.

Sebastian tilted his head and grinned.

"No," Claire said firmly beside him. "We're not doing that."

"You don't even know—" Sebastian started.

"Pushing him into the fire, taking his stuff, and then fucking on his ashes. That's what that look just implied."

Sebastian let out a startled sound and looked at her with his eyebrows up. The merchant looked over in their direction.

"Yeah, I see you." Claire was looking at him slyly. "C'mere and help me grab some of this stuff. We're going to pay for our supplies, but it's on Saddler's dime." She turned back into the apartment and started grabbing jewelry.

"Heh heh, thank ya!" The merchant called as Claire and Sebastian moved toward the next area. They had replenished most of their stock except for Claire's arrows; she only had so many left as they hadn't had time for her to retrieve the spent ones earlier.

The device on Sebastian's hip beeped and he frowned down at it. Flipping it open, they both looked down to see a very serious looking Hunnigan.

"What is it, Hunnigan?" Sebastian asked.

"We're going to need you to move toward the city of Lugo." Hunnigan stated as she began typing on her keyboard.

"Turn back? We haven't found Ashley." Claire answered with worry cresting her features. She was stepping closer to the device to watch Hunnigan's expression.

"She's not there. She's in Lugo with Leon and Saddler." Hunnigan replied as Sebastian's device beeped again.

He pulled up the image that Hunnigan sent and Claire covered her mouth in horror. The city was partly aflame with a large group of people surrounding what appeared to be a courtyard in front of a grandiose looking church. Ashley stood in front of Saddler as he was addressing the crowd. Leon stood off to the side, rigid as he viewed the people before them.

"Interestingly enough, we didn't take this picture. We've confirmed that Lugo is currently under attack, but this came from a private sender. A sender that also claimed that there's a lab that Luis Sera utilized a few times. We need to get in there." Hunnigan stated.

"Looks like you're going to see the Roman Walls of Lugo after all." Sebastian murmured softly as he looked over at Claire.

Recalling the wall's history, Claire had the thought that instead of keeping out local tribesmen and Germanic invaders, the walls would stand to watch its own citizens fall to a cage within.