Chapter Two

Luis approached to where the clerk was at the counter with Leon walking at his side. When the clerk looked at the Spaniard, a chill ran up to his spine as the memory of Ashley rewound in his mind. With chin-length blond hair and with such an innocence written across her face, she looked so much like her. Her eyes were chilly blue too. Damn why did this have to happen, especially when Leon was there?

"One room, please."

"Single or double?" she asked, picking up a pen to write down on the chart. She parted glances between the raven and the lemon. Having read her dirty mind, Spaniard shook his head, "Single."

Leon sighed, "Come on, it's cheaper to share one room with double than two single rooms."

Luis glared at his 'partner', half-believing what he just had said.

"Put the rest of the money in better use. Like... food." Leon suggested, his voice soft. He was trying to be reasonable. Luis would give him that. After a few seconds of silence, he nodded, giving Leon his judgement. Leon smiled, clearly happy with his choice, and picked up the tab.

"One double room it is," she said, writing down before grabbing the money up front and turned her back to do her thing.

"She kind of looks like her," Luis said, leaning over the counter thoughtfully. He could feel Leon's confused eyes on him. He had been feeling a lot things around him even without using his eyes. It was creepy. "Don't give me that look, amigo. You know who I'm talking about."

"I don't care," Leon said, looking away. He really didn't want to think about the mission again, Luis guessed, especially when Ashley was the issue. The Ashley-lookalike finally faced the two men and gave them the keys for their room.

"Thanks.""Gracias"

They said in unison. They looked at each other.

"Hnn," Luis said, shaking his head.

And they began to walk outside of the office in search of number 13. They didn't say much as they walked together. The tension was advancing between them. Luis wouldn't doubt that. In fact, the dark-haired man was surprised when the ex-agent of US shit government did not even ask how he wasn't just a piece of an imagination to Leon. That he was right there, all alive and moving.

"You owe me a huge explanation," Leon said, as if he read his mind casually as he took his gloves off.

"They'll pay for your death... I promise."

Luis stopped in his track as the hazy voice was saying shit in his head.

"They'll pay for your death... I promise.""They'll pay for your death... I promise.""They'llpayforyourdeath... Ipromise."

"What?" Leon asked at his still state.

"Nothing," Luis murmured, his long hair covering his face as he lowered his head slightly to put in the key. Then he twisted the knob of a door labeled as 13. He heard the descending footsteps and with curiosity, he looked up to see what Leon was doing.

Leon was at his motorcycle, grabbing some bag from its carrier. From that moment, the ugly bag wasn't what caught the Spaniard's attention. It was the scene before him.

A beautiful, faded blue sky depicting soft early morning light, solitary trees and distant mountains set the scene perfectly for this inn's settlement. It was already morning by the time they got there. The uprising sun was reflecting itself on the parking lot which was glossed with previous night rain. The area of the grounds gave a distinctly Camelot feel.

"Pretty," Luis said, sighing. He leaned against the door's frame. Life seemed too good at the moment and he was so afraid to let it go from his grasp. How could things got so much better after all the shit they had been through? It almost felt ironically the end of the world.

Leon finished putting things in the bag so things wouldn't be stolen on the bike and put his keys in his front pocket. His sexy hips started to swing when he walked down Luis's way.

"Was getting some things," Leon said quietly. However, before Luis would let him in the room, he had one favor to ask. "Touch me."

"What?"

"Touch me. Poke me." Need to know I'm alive. Alive.

"Why?"

Giving up, he went into the room, followed by curious Leon. Dumb ass blond, he could be sometimes. In the dim darkness, both men threw their bags, marking which bed was theirs. After taking his coat and sweater off, Luis threw himself on the bed, not wanting to deal with talking. But his slackness seemed futile as Leon dragged the window curtains open, letting beams of light cover the room. He, too, took his dark-brown bomber jacket off.

"So... what the fuck?" Leon said, raising his voice, "I thought you're dead."

"I think I'm still dead anyway, amigo."

"My name's Leon," he gritted out. His anger was on the edge.

"Whatever, amigo." Luis still had his head in his arms as he lay there on his chest, facing away from the window.

"Look... I went back to that goddamn church, looking for your body–"

"Why?" Luis's head shot up, glaring at the blond. He was obviously moved by that outrageous idea. Why on earth would you--

"So I could give you a proper burial!" Leon shot back. "I-I-I held your hand when you died... I ran to your body, damnit! It means I cared about you, Luis... Is that... just– wrong?"

The Spaniard gave out a forceful breath as his heart was stricken with that pain. The pain of realizing that the ex cop truly cared for him. He felt guilty not knowing that for a fact. He closed his eyes, trying to remember everything. He did owe him an explanation, then. He sat up, slowly on the bed, looking down the floor.

"Then, you know, the next thing I was thinking every night was- Is Luis Sera alive? These people were talking about you, even these zombies. It... gave me hope," Leon paused, "hope of you being alive."

"They came back for me," Luis began. He couldn't guarantee one hundred percent true story because honestly, he couldn't remember all. Not as crystal anyway. All he could remember was the cold blood draining out of his body in such a torturous slow motion. His dying was slow and strangely, the scene before him with Leon was a fast forward motion. Before he knew it, he was all alone in the pool of blood.

He remembered the sounds of ascending, slow scrapping footsteps. He knew they weren't of humans. He prayed hard by the grace of St. Jude three times, hoping to die peacefully and with rest. Curious, ragged faces looked down on him. They shared primitive grunts and growls before dragging his body.

"My body wasn't in pain. Just numbness. Like I was trapped in my own body. Like I couldn't find the 'light.'" He said, wondering, "Maybe I wasn't allowed to go, just yet. Not ready." Luis continued as Leon sat on the bed across from him. "I woke up from my unconsciousness and all I could see was white. Within a few minutes, limbs of my body ached, mostly at the joints, as if I just woke up from a long, deep sleep. I was in this... a butchery room for scientists except the blood on the ceramic walls would be chemical compounds..."

Luis' fogged green eyes looked to meet his stormy gray eyes to see if Leon was still listening. He was gazing at him, nodding slightly.

"The subordinates... thought Saddler needed me but the connection with him and the Plagas was broken. They didn't know Saddler didn't need me anymore."

The blond nodded firmly as he remembered during their fighting encounter, Saddler tried to do that control trick on him and failed. Some things were finally making sense.

"When I was walking down that damned white hallway, I was looking for some soul. There were nothing but white walls. Not even a frame up, any instruction, or fire extinguisher. I wanted to puke blood all over the walls if I could just at least to decorate it."

Leon smiled softly at that.

"Then suddenly... I felt pain. I felt punching, kicking in my body and a shotgun blast through my whole body."

Leon frowned slightly at that. Could he possibly felt Saddler when he was trying to kill him with that rocket launcher? He got off his bed and sat next to Luis. Without any need for words, he wanted to show him affection- somehow. He placed his hand on the Spaniard's shoulder, rubbing it.

"–Fell down and just writhed in pain. Nothing but pain." Luis continued, looking into the nothingness. "Then a few moment later, everything went still... Pain went away like vacuum and there was calmness. Like the blood was only floating in my body but then I noticed that my heart was beating within my chest. It pounded harder and harder each second in the stillest moment... cold sweats broke out. And I've had them ever since."

Luis didn't notice that the whole time he was talking, the blond was staring at him intensely. He didn't mind him rubbing his shoulder but when Leon brought his face closer to him, things got too far. Into his personal space.

"Leon?"

"Yeah?"

"What–" the dark-haired man swallowed hard, not wanting to mention anything about the touches and closeness. Confusion ran though him as he felt as if he never wanted to leave under Leon's hand and eyes. "They actually asked me if I was Lord Saddler. Offered me purple robe and all."

"No way!" Leon remarked, "Wow, they're shit-for-brains."

"Yeah, but I'm grateful that across of Europe kind of... calmed down," Luis then moved his arm, twisting his torso to take out his pistol from his back. Finally, Leon let go of his hand and because of that, Luis was somewhat relieved at that. There was too many questions at the moment. Luis showed him the Beretta that was way out of dated.

"Where's your favorite thing- Red nine?" Leon asked, looking at it with partial disgust. He took his palm out. "Give me that crap. I'll give you a good one."

"No, then I would have harder time to find and buy the better bullets. This is just typical, handy thing, alright?" Luis threw the gun onto the coat that was on the bed, but remembered that he had a medicine bottle in the pocket. So he reached for his coat's pocket. In this second, Leon was looking up and down on his friend's body, admiring his build. He was wearing dark, gray shirt and typical baggy jeans. They looked old and ripped enough to be replaced. At the same time, Leon felt pity and was eager to know what were under these clothes.

While Luis was having a hard time finding the bottle, fumbling around the pockets, Leon placed his arm behind the figure and buried his hand in Luis' inner thigh, caressing it. Leon decided to play innocent.

Luis sat up quickly and gasped as the electrifying touch ran through his body and that incredible sensation hovered right under the touch.

"What are you doing?"

"You asked me to touch you." Leon whispered, leaning over.

Silence broke out. Luis stared at the blond somewhat desperately, looking for some sort of matching emotions but looked away immediately when he thought he saw something beyond the now-blue orbs. Blushing madly, he now regretted asking that question. He felt somewhat stupid.

"It was just a stupid question. This medicine..." Luis said, not even battering away the hand that lingered his thigh. He didn't understand why he didn't. He just looked at his own medicine bottle. "Last one. It has helped me a lot with the pain. I don't really know I'm infected again with the Plagas."

"Well, then you have to go with me. I'll take you to get tested, okay? Besides, it wasn't a stupid question... In fact, we should do that now," Leon remarked, standing up to take out his M9 pro out of the holster and pressed the button to let go of its cartridge. Leon checked how many bullets were in it and hit it back in with his palm. He threw the holster on the bed, took off his dagger sheath, and then peeled off his black shirt. Bewildered, Luis looked up.

"Wait, what? Leon– do what?"

"I'm going to make you feel alive," Leon said this in a matter-of-fact attitude and threw down his shirt. Unsure about this, Luis just pointed his hand at the windows which would give somebody who dared to walk by a show. "Window!"

As Leon went over to close the curtains, Luis stood up, putting away the bottle quickly. He was given an opportunity to study the flawless, twitching muscles of Leon's back. Shoulder blades stood out under the smooth skin. Everything was perfect about him. He swallowed hard. "Um..." Out of nowhere, he just gave out a dry laugh at this situation's awkwardness. "This is fucking weird."

"I know," Leon smiled, walking back to where Luis was. "But I really want to touch you."

"Why's that?" he asked, lowering his voice as Leon was merely inches from his body. He could feel his breath on his face. There he was, standing at about the same height. The reason why he remembered Leon being shorter than him because he always crouched his knees in hunting for the living dead. Luis didn't like to have the semi-auto pistol in both hands. It was gay to be stuck with the training bullshit. He'd like to have two playthings and blast away with a rash attitude.

"I don't know," the blond agent said with all due honesty. He placed a palm against Luis' biceps and moved it upward to his neck. Chill running up Luis' body could be seen easily. That damned blond just smirked and continued his soft caressing with his thumb, "I still can't believe you're still here. I feel your heat."

"I get cold sweats a lot," Luis said. For some reason, he wasn't ready to lean over to his touches.

"I wonder why?"

"Nightmares."

"It's okay," Leon said, almost sweetly. It made Luis sick. He wasn't that weak but he let him do his thing, anyway. He pulled slightly at his neck, bringing their bodies closer. "Your hair is so long..."

"Yo no quiero este..." The raven-haired murmured as Leon took some strands of his shoulder-length hair.

"So black... like pure obsidian."

"That's because I didn't shower for days! My hair is greasy. Filthy!" Luis said, chuckling at Leon's ministrations. A shower sounded really, really nice at the moment but alas- trapped!

"So what," he rebutted in the same teasing voice. Now he had two hands on the Spaniard. Both hands moved downward Luis's chest to the base of his shirt. Leon was hoping to see the wound scar that was supposedly be in the middle of the chest. Luis didn't seem to mind as he helped to remove the shirt. As expected, the scar was there.

Suddenly, under Leon's studying gaze, he felt so, so naked. Even worse when Leon trailed his finger around the circular wound that looked like a shotgun blast. He wasn't sure if he wanted to do this, but at the same time, he wanted nothing more in the whole wide world. Fuck, Luis needed to stop thinking like they were going to have sex. They were not. Just touching. Just Leon. That thought both scared and excited Luis.

Cliffhanger. MUAHAHHAAH. I'm evil! REVIEW DAMNIT!
Plus, No one is too sure about Luis' eyes color. I'll stick with green. Also, I know his hair is actually brown. It's just greasy.