Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Resident Evil characters, Capcom does. (this doesn't include the OC's that will be mentioned along the way.)
10 weeks since the incident with Claire, and he still can't go on with a day without thinking about it. He currently is in a nearby bar that has recently opened, and to his delight, it is just a walk away from the building where he works and where he is tasked for missions. With a glass of wine in hand, he sips a bit, it was past the afternoon and he finds himself ordering whatever could get his mind at ease, and what better gulp is it to have than a kind of liquor to fill his system, at this point in his life, alcohol is probably the only thing running through his veins now, not blood anymore, if that's possible.
He had looked almost everywhere just to find where the woman could have moved in, he had also seeked help from his coworkers who are "experts" in this type of tracking but to his despair, they all can't seem to find any trace of Claire. Some of the IT's had also now said that if they didn't know Leon personally, they would've found him creepy with his determination to find a woman who no longer wants to be found by him. With this, he had considered a number of times to just undergo through the easy route and just contact a mutual friend to ask to whom Claire might've mentioned her whereabouts, but he is too ashamed to do so, like what is he going to tell them?
At times, Leon also notices the duality of his attitude, like when the time Claire was there, he would sometimes unintentionally ignore her due to him daydreaming about Ada's whereabouts or whenever he flirts with other women in front of her, like when he did with Angela in 2005, now he wonders what she felt when he did that. But now that she's nowhere to be seen, she's all he thinks about, the memories they shared as buddies and where he would go next to find her. He basically took her for granted.
He takes his last sip of the drink in hand and pays off before taking a glance at his watch, "12:50 am", 10 minutes before lunch break ends and he still has to walk all the way there, so he stands up and leaves the place, pushing the door as he bumps into some fellow agents, the ones with the attitude. Leon sighs, these men have been testing his patience ever since they were transferred at his headquarters, there are about 5 of them in total and if he had to describe all of the men in general, they were those type of dudes who act tough but can't even finish a fight with them winning, those ignorant bastards who likes to bring down those who they think are a threat to their ego, he doesn't even know how they got into this line of work when they act like...that.
The man in front who had bumped into Leon started acting up, he was about an inch shorter than him- well the 5 of them are the almost the same height, and he was broading up his shoulders to appear larger when his frame isn't as half as good as Kennedy's, instead, he looked like an embarrassing school bully, so Leon giggles a bit. "What are you laughing at Kennedy?", the man asked, getting into his face, while the 4 behind him watched intently but didn't intervene.
"N-nothing, what are you talking about?", Leon denies, he doesn't have to deal with a bunch of "boys" who contribute absolutely nothing to his career, "I- just...let me go back to the headquarters will you.", the man then suddenly grabs the collar of his jacket, but this didn't phase the long term agent, "Come on, Edwards.", he mumbles to himself tired of the act. "What do you mean nothing? You obviously were."
He was not going to waste his energy to fight for some nonsense, but before Leon could defuse again, he was interrupted by someone and all of them looked at the tall man approaching Leon's back, but only he couldn't see who it was, but looking at the men's faces was enough for him to know, "Why don't the 5 of you leave him be and start acting like real men for once.", and there he recognized who spoke by voice, "If you don't, I will have all of you striped off of your positions immediately. In fact, Mr. Kennedy here can personally do that since his position is much higher than the 5 of you combined.", the man holding Leon got intimidated and lets go of his jacket, but still looking tough, they continued to walk pass the two men, intentionally bumping his shoulder with Leon's and went to wherever they were supposed to go 5 minutes ago.
Dusting off his jacket, Leon turns around to see the man he was expecting to see, "Redfield.", he says happily as he hadn't seen Chris in a while. But remembering, he was at the same time nervous that he already knows what happened, that Claire might've told him and he's there to confront him and beat him up for what he did. Although his expressions seemed neutral? As if he is neither happy nor sad, or even angry, he was pulled out of his thoughts when Chris tapped his shoulder, "It's nice to see you, brother.".
"I'm sorry but...brother?", Leon's eyes widened as he conversed with himself. Chris had never called him brother before, it was always just "My friend" or "Buddy". Maybe he does not know after all, besides...Claire did say that they should forget about what happened. "S-so, what brings you here Chris?", he asks with still a hint of anxiousness in his tone, putting both his hands in his pockets. A part of him wants to ask about his sister, but thinks that this is probably not the most perfect time to mention it.
Chris crosses his hands and puts on a confident stance, seemingly smiling all of a sudden, "Oh yeah, about that, I was drafted to a mission with you. In fact, I drafted myself since the B.S.A.A had been acting all suspicious from my last mission, and I had to go rogue and form my own team. This was also long delayed since the problem started back in February last year. I reckon that your organization will tell us all about it back at the headquarters. And my squad is already there waiting, I just came here to find you.", Leon nods, "Let's walk then.", and the bigger man agrees as he takes a step towards the direction he came from, followed by Leon, "I haven't been with a mission with you since forever.", the younger man comments.
Chris replies, "Well- it's nice to have you back as a partner.", they continue to walk in silence for a few minutes, and this irritated Leon to the core, he has been itching to ask Chris about he knows who, but he doesn't how to, thinking he should start small, he did, eventually, "So-a bit off topic but...", he says to catch the older man's attention and he could see that his ears perked up, hinting that he is listening despite not taking his eyes off the sidewalk in front of him, "How has your sister...Claire- how has she been doing?", he obviously sounded nervous, and he silently cursed to himself.
"Claire?- well she's been doing arguably fine to me, well I guess...better than when she came to my place about- 3 weeks ago?", Chris tried to act as normal as he can, to not look suspicious to his friend, as much as he wants to confront Leon, he can't, not when he promised his sister to not tell anything to him if ever they crossed paths, especially not about her pregnancy. Oh how he wished he had drafted with Jill instead, "But since when did you get so interested in my sister's life? Shouldn't you be talking about the one woman you've been obsessing on?", he teased him sarcastically, trying to kill him softly, in a way.
Now, with the way he is talking, Leon became suspicious that Chris might have known all along, but this doesn't let him stop him from asking, he ignored the man's sarcastic questions as his confidence slowly builds up, "I'm just curious, and she's my friend, like can't I ask about her anymore?", Chris stayed silent as if wishing for him to just shut up, "I've also heard that she moved out from her apartment, where is she now? I want to visit her."
"Look Leon, you've got her number, why don't you ask her yourself? It's not that hard to open your phone and text her, call her.", he suggests, although he knew Claire blocked his number. Running out of options to get any information from her brother, his last resort was to just ask him directly, he doesn't care if they fight right then and there, he just had to get his peace of mind back, whether he has an idea or not.
Leon stopped in his tracks as Chris continued on, "Do you know...Chris?", upon hearing this, the older man also halts, a few feet ahead of the younger agent, without turning to face him, he answered.
"If you're referring to the night you slept with my sister, then yes.", Leon felt his heart drop to his stomach upon hearing the confirmation, the nervousness when especially, the one who's talking is HER brother, "Apparently, I know more about what you did than you'll ever do.", he pauses, "And the way it has been affecting Claire lately."
The guilt he felt, when it sounded like she wasn't doing very well, "Just understand that she doesn't want to see you for now, but she will eventually...soon.", Chris turns around to see Leon's face, he is silent but kept a poker face displayed, he didn't want to seem weak in front of Redfield, not when he had the guts to fuck his sister.
"I promised Claire that I wouldn't tell you anything, but I broke that just for you to shut up and at least get a little peace of mind.", he states, "And I'm in no place to take away her privacy from her, even if we're siblings. So maybe- let's just focus on the professionalism for our job and temporarily erase the personal problems for now.", he suggests and Leon nods.
Chris once again walks to Leon and taps his shoulder as a sign that he wasn't on bad terms with him, "Don't get me wrong Leon, I'm just trying to do my best as her brother. And I don't want this to ruin our friendship either."
He could only nod, "I- understand.", the agent replies, Chris gently punches Leon's shoulder before continuing to walk to the headquarters, leaving him to recollect himself after that talk, but he knows that this won't stop his mind from thinking about Claire.
