If Leon survived this, he would hear Ashley's screams in his nightmares.

Animated solely by the sound of her fear and violation, he charged into the throne room, all caution forgotten.

What he found relieved his worst fears of violence without lessening any of his urgency to free her: still clothed and on her feet, Ashley struggled in the grip of a priest, her face marked in blood.

In the midst of her terror and defiance, Ashley's attention locked on him. "Leon, no! Don't come any closer," she shouted, as if more frightened for his safety than her own. Didn't she know he couldn't stand by and watch them hurt her? It went against Leon's entire being: the need to protect that had once sent a rookie cop to Raccoon City because he wanted to help people, his mission assignment to bring the president's daughter home, the undeniable attraction that made his connection to Ashley Graham wholly personal.

Leon stepped forward, and something fell on him, a monstrous form that pinned him to the stone floor. But even the crushing weight at his back was nothing to the helpless rage that burned him as they forced Ashley to complete their awful ritual. He was her protector, and he couldn't help her . . .

Splayed on hands and knees, Ashley choked on poison as the monster hefted Leon over the gaping pit in the floor.

"Aquí nos despedimos," the mad castellan pronounced, but there was only one parting that concerned Leon.

As he plummeted to some unknown hell, he heard Ashley scream his name.

The machine spit out the rewritten keycard with a surly whir. Leon jammed the card into a pocket and turned to see one of those bloated abominations outside the broken window of this small side room. A shotgun blast threw the monster back far enough for Leon to dodge past. He wove around two more of the things in the incubation lab, their hideous arms whistling past his head.

He hurdled the last broken window to the hall, and then he sprinted, monsters behind him already forgotten. He ran, not for his own life, but for hers, the fear that had nagged him through every battle since their separation now the only thought in his mind: what if he was too late?

Thank God, her prison room wasn't far. Leon slid the card through the reader and was inside as soon as the gate was wide enough for him to pass.

"Ashley!"

She didn't move—hadn't moved since he'd last seen her. Leon's heart seemed to lurch into his throat. Don't let her be gone.

He slashed the plastic zip tie at Ashley's wrists and gently turned her on the dirty mattress. Beneath the blood still smeared on her face, he could see the darkness about her eyes, sockets shadowed black as if she'd been bruised. The same black poison ran down her arm, pooled in her palm.

"Shit."

It was hard to tell if she was worse than he had been before taking the suppressant, but they had made her drink the black water, which seemed to be some kind of catalyst of transformation. She'd likely been infected longer than he had, as well.

He looked away. If she couldn't be saved—if he'd failed her, too—there was only one thing left to do. She'd even implicitly asked it of him.

Leon flicked out the injection pen, shaking off nightmare images of Ashley's dead body in his arms. She whimpered softly then, a sad little sound that was nonetheless the first good sign he'd had: it seemed that some part of her was still in there, resisting.

"Shh, I've got you." Leon tilted her head, then poised the needle beside her neck.

Ashley made a pained sound as he injected her, but otherwise she didn't stir. Leon stared at the darkness on her skin, measuring time by frantic heartbeats as he waited for it to fade. Had the medicine taken so long to work for him?

Shadows ebbed at last, and Leon was released from a vise grip.

He touched her golden head. "You're gonna be okay," he said, reassuring himself as much as her. He needed her to live—she deserved to live—and he would burn this whole God-damned island to the ground for her if he had to.

Bruises smudged her upper arms where she'd been held. One knee was skinned, and her wrist had been cut by the zip tie. "I'm sorry, Ashley," he sighed. Please let that be all they'd done to her. He couldn't live with himself if she'd suffered anything worse.

Beneath the hole in her tights, her knee was already scabbed over, so he left it, but he cleaned and bandaged the cut on her wrist. She didn't wake at his touch, though her breath hitched a little at the sting of the disinfectant.

With his canteen, he wet the corner of a blanket and wiped the blood from Ashley's cheeks and brow. He hated seeing that foul symbol desecrating her beautiful face. The Illuminados had marked their sacrificial victims in the same way, and while the cult didn't mean to kill Ashley so immediately or directly, what they had planned for her was a death all the same.

There; she looked better now, almost peaceful with her full, soft lashes pressed against clean cheeks. He recalled those eyes open—she had stood so close, fingertips sweeping back his hair so that her hazel eyes could gaze directly into his. Even in memory, Ashley's soft, earnest expression made his heartbeat falter. She had looked at him like she had found something beautiful. You're not just a living weapon. Not to me, she'd said, and her words had stitched some wound inside him even as they laid him bare. She desperately needed him—she knew that—but even so she refused to use him. She'd never actually asked anything from him beyond Please, be careful. Even her kiss had been a gift, the proof of her words, not an attempt to gain something.

He brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek. She was so sweet. She deserved innocence, happiness, not this living hell complete with a demon inside her own body. There was no question he would give everything to save her from that if he could.

Pain spasmed through his chest, and Leon flinched. If he could. God, what was that parasite doing inside him? It felt as though some monstrous hand had reached past his ribs and gripped vital organs. Black was tracing through his veins again. How much time did he have left? Luis said the suppressant was only temporary. Leon knew he had less time than Ashley did now.

Heart pounding again, he lowered himself to sit beside the bed. How much farther could he take her? If he couldn't get her parasite removed and find a way to send her off this island, it wouldn't matter how much he was willing to give for her.

He checked the chamber on his pistol, a reflexive precaution that suddenly felt so futile in the face of all the things he couldn't control.

The truth was, he couldn't even die for her. What kind of savior did that make him? Oh, he didn't think himself anything near divine, but surely even human, he should be allowed that sacrifice. To save her life and redeem his own past, he could accept such an end. Even if he could never protect anyone else beyond this one girl, at least he'd have proven that he hadn't held anything back. But now it was clear to him that if he died for her, it would break Ashley's heart. It wouldn't be a redemption, just one more failure to add to his list. If he wanted to save her—to fully, truly protect all that she was—he had to get them both home.

Yet for all of his promises and apparent confidence, he didn't know if he could do that.

He drew a deep breath and blew it out, fighting off a sudden sense of panic.

"Leon?"

Ashley's voice and her hand on his shoulder drew him back from some abyss.

He turned on his knee. "Sorry I'm late."

"I thought you were dead," Ashley gasped, and threw her arms around him. Her fingers slid up his nape and fisted in his hair as she nuzzled against his neck; Leon could feel her lips on his skin. "I didn't care about anything after that."

She didn't just mean losing her only hope of escape; even without her earlier declaration, the way she was holding him now said exactly how she felt about him.

Leaning into her, Leon rubbed her back, a gesture that felt both innocent and intimate. "These bastards have to try harder if they want to get rid of me," he said.

Ashley made a sound that was almost a laugh. "They dropped you down a pit. Knowing these guys, there were spikes at the bottom and a bunch of monsters, too."

He shrugged against her. "Typical day at the gym."

Ashley snorted. "Oh my goodness, Leon, you need a different gym." But evidently his bad joke had cheered her. She drew back to look at him, her hands resting on his shoulders.

"You're okay?" she said.

Of course she would ask after him before she thought of what had happened to her. Her kindness was like a knife that sheared through his defenses and opened old scars so that, maybe, they could heal.

"Yeah." It was the truth, mostly. He hadn't taken any serious injuries since he'd last seen her.

She scanned his body, yet even after she had verified that he was in one piece, her eyes remained tense. Perhaps it was obvious that his infection was progressing.

Leon asked, "Did they hurt you?"

Ashley shook her head. "No. Not really." Her hands slid off his shoulders, and she looked down, inspecting palms no longer tainted. She touched the bandage he had put on her wrist, then met his eyes again. "Thank you, Leon. You brought the medicine just in time."

Her words touched him with unexpected warmth. She wasn't disappointed in him. Leon had cursed himself for every second that she'd been in the clutches of those madmen, but in her eyes, their separation wasn't a failure: Ashley saw that he was doing everything he could, and it was enough.

He laid a hand over hers. "I'm really glad you're okay."

She beamed at him, clearly recognizing the understated feeling in his words. Here she was, fighting for her life in a terrifying situation, and still she could be so happy just to know that he cared about her. Leon couldn't help the flush that burned across his face: to be valued—wanted—by someone like her was a feeling as pleasant as it was unfamiliar.

"Can you stand?" he asked, rising.

"I think so." As Ashley pushed up to her feet, her gaze shifted to the room behind him. "Where's Luis?"

Leon glanced aside for a moment, hating to say what would hurt her. "He was worried about you . . . until the end."

Ashley's expression shattered, and she sank back on the edge of the bed. "I wish I could have thanked him," she said softly, tears trembling at her lashes.

"Me, too." Leon remembered Ashley's concern, even when their unexpected ally had been obnoxiously cryptic and demanding: He's in trouble. We can't just leave him, right? Her kindness, like a knife . . .

"Luis gave us the key to his lab so we can get rid of these things," Leon told her.

Ashley looked up, hope and grief mingled on her face.

"C'mon, we don't have much time." It felt unkind to rush her, but what choice did they have? He held out his palm.

She gripped his hand, then shook it gently. "For Luis."

"Right." Leon pulled her to her feet. For a moment, she leaned against him, her body pressed to his side—whether because she needed the support or only because she wanted to be near him, he couldn't say. He put a hand to her elbow and waited for her to draw herself straight before he led the way from the room.

As they passed through the doors, Ashley said, "So, did you find anything cool without me?" By the third syllable, the sadness in her voice gave way to the bright tone that had become so familiar.

"Huh." Leon cast through memories of the past few hours, wondering what he could share that wouldn't be more disturbing than interesting. "I found the mine under the castle where these lunatics have been digging up the Plagas. Would you believe they've been getting those things out of amber they found down there?"

"No way." Ashley giggled. "You suppose we're gonna run into a T. rex or some velociraptors next?"

"A T. rex, maybe." Leon shrugged. "But I'd say you're the only clever girl on this island."

"Hey, that was a compliment this time."

Leon grinned at her. "Whatever. Now, I do need help with another door." He gestured to the gap at the top of the wall, just big enough for her to climb through. "Think you can handle that?"

She return his smile, pleased to be needed. "You got it."

Author's note:

The scene when Leon finds Ashley on the island is one of my favorite cutscenes in the game. The acting through a CGI medium is so impressive. There's not much dialogue, but Leon's facial expressions and body language say a lot about his fears that he's running out of time.

I wouldn't normally choose to retell an entire scene from canon, but in this case, it felt like the right spot to explore Leon's response to the fact that Ashley is the first person in a long time to treat him as more than just a tool. Plus, have I mentioned I just wanted more hugs? In the original game, Ashley knows Leon survived falling down that pit, but in the remake she surely imagines he's dead, so I wanted to show those emotions in their reunion.

I hope you enjoy it!