Vacation from Hell
A Resident Evil 4 Remake fanfiction
Summary: After escaping Saddler's island during it's destruction on the jetski Ada left for them, things are looking up for Leon and Ashley when suddenly the jet ski runs out of fuel. Now stranded in the Mediterranean Sea, Leon and Ashley have to figure out what to do.
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Chapter 1: A Narrow Escape.
"You like thrill rides?" Leon semi-shouted to Ashley as they got aboard the jet ski Ada had left for them.
"I love them!" Ashley shouted in response as she sat behind Leon and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Leon gave a little grin at this as he started the engine. "Well, you're gonna love this!" he told her as the engine revved to life and the waterborne craft skimmed along the dark murky surface of the waters.
For those of you who may be wondering what is happening right now, Leon S. Kennedy was tasked with the mission of rescuing Ashley Graham, the daughter of the United States of America's President. Ashley had been kidnapped as part of a sinister cult's plans to assert dominance over the free world by injecting in her a parasitic organism known locally as Las Plagas to turn her into a sleeper agent to infect her father and then the world's leaders.
The cult, Los Illuminados, had not counted on a few variables that ultimately led to their downfall. One of those variables was Luis Serra, a former researcher of the defunct Umbrella Pharmaceuticals Corporation and a one time helper of Los Illuminados but had defected in hopes of stopping the cult's plans. Luis aided Leon and Ashley when it became apparent that they had both been infected with the Las Plagas parasite, offering them a means to remove the parasite via surgery in his laboratory on Osmund Saddler's Island complex. Sadly, Luis did not live to see this procedure through having been killed Major Krauser on Saddler's orders, but Luis' work saw to it that Leon and Ashley successfully removed the parasites freeing from Saddler's control.
Los Illuminados had also not taken into account Leon's sheer tenacity and stubbornness in rescuing Ashley from her predicament. All of Leon's training had been pushed to their limits and beyond as he fought and killed dozens, perhaps hundreds of cultists and BOWs (Bio Organic Weapons) that had been created by the nefarious order to carry out their plans. Leon had even received some assistance from the mysterious spy Ada Wong who'd had her own agenda to carry out, involving retrieving a sample of the Las Plagas parasite for whomever she was working for. Before leaving, Ada had gifted Leon and Ashley the means to escape via a jet ski which they were making use of at this very moment.
Surging across the waters of the caverns as the island exploded all around them perilously, Leon and Ashley raced through the caverns, narrowly avoiding falling debris as the explosives planted through the complex destroyed the island and the Los Illuminados cultists with it.
And as the morning sunlight shone in through the massive cavern opening, a massive boulder lurched down from the ceiling to cut off their escape. Going full throttle on the engine despite its scream of protest, Leon and Ashley raced out from the cavern, shooting off into the air for a brief moment before landing on the surface of the Mediterranean sea, skidding across the waters for a moment before Leon slowed the watercraft to a stop.
Panting for a moment, Leon looked at his charge. "Are you alright?" he asked her.
Ashley gave a chuckled that was mixed with relief, exhaustion and exhilaration. "I'm not sure. That was insane!" was all she could say in response to Leon's query.
Then massive explosions finally finished off the island and a shower of water like rain fell down over Ashley and her rescuer.
It was over, Ashley thought to herself as she looked out across the waters toward the morning sunrise. A gentle morning fog tinged with the suns rays never looked so beautiful before making Ashley smile in relief before she spoke. "Mission accomplished, right?" she asked Leon who looked over his shoulder at her.
"Mission accomplished," he seemingly agreed. "When you're home safe," he then said for emphasis.
Ashley looked at Leon with gratitude and fondness in her eyes. "Thank you for saving me," she said to him with all the sincerity in her. She truly was grateful to Leon for going above and beyond in saving her.
Leon's response was modest and even nonchalant. "Don't mention it," he said to her.
Ashley's voice was then tinged with hopefulness and even playfulness as she said to him, "You know, I can put in a word with my dad, have you assigned to my detail. If you're interested?" she offered to him.
Leon gave a chuckle at the undertone of Ashley's words and replied, "You don't need me. You proved you can handle yourself." Turning to face forward on the jet ski, Leon then said, "C'mon. Let's get you home!" Turning the throttle, Leon and Ashley made their way across the ocean to make their way back to safer waters.
A few minutes of riding across the waves, Leon heard the engine of the jet ski begin to sputter. "Oh, crap," he muttered under his breath. "Don't tell me," he despaired as the jet ski began to slow down.
"Leon?" Ashley asked him worriedly.
Leon then looked at the gauges of the jet ski and nodded in grim understanding. "You couldn't have topped off the tank after using it, Ada?" he asked bitterly.
The pair of them then floated on the water's surface for a moment. "What do we do?" Ashley asked as they were seemingly stranded on the ocean.
"I'm thinking," Leon said to her listlessly as he tried to wrack his brains for a solution.
Then the deep churning sound of a boat's engine was heard and a familiar voice called out to them. "Ahoy, Stranger!" And coming into view alongside Leon and Ashley was a tugboat and at the helm was the Merchant.
Both Leon and Ashley were dumbfounded by this frankly bizarre sight. Leon wasn't quite sure what to make of the Merchant. He didn't even know the man's actual name, and despite his seemingly shifty personality, the Merchant had been an invaluable source of aid for Leon and Ashley in their journey.
"When did you… How did you…?" Leon tried to find the words to the questions burning on the tip of his tongue.
The Merchant grinned under his mask and replied, "Never you mind the details, Stranger. I had an exit strategy in mind and I was looking for a change of scenery anyway. When I saw you and the lass out here, I thought I'd offer you a lift while I was at it. Climb aboard, Stranger!"
Ashley was the first to climb aboard the Merchant's vessel and Leon followed after her. "Why are you doing? What are you getting out of this?" Leon then asked the mysterious trader, scepticism in his words.
"It's all part of our first class customer service, as a friend of mine would put it," the Merchant said to the sceptical Leon. "And you seemed to have killed off my business, so time to move on as it were," he added.
"Erm, sorry about that," Leon said abashedly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand as he realised that he had indeed killed the Merchant's source of income.
Ther Merchant cackled at this and waved a hand dismissively. "No need to worry yourself, Stranger. Saddler and his loony cult had to go, world's better off without those numpty prats and I was looking for a change of scenery anyway as I said before," he explained.
"So, where are we going?" Ashley then asked the Merchant who grinned under his mask and replied, "We're setting sail for mainland Spain, the city of Madrid to be precise. Lovely place it is. Full of wonderful history and architecture, you'll love it there, lass!"
"Park yourself down in the hold below, there's some beds you can sleep on. God knows you could both do with a good night's rest," the Merchant then said to them.
The thought of a good sound and safe sleep was all too tempting to pass as Leon and Ashley made their way down into the hold of the boat where contrastingly to the ramshackle shops their host had set up the times they met him, the hold was almost lavishly furnished. It wasn't the decadent and opulent style that the Salazar castle was furnished, but a more comfortable and homey sort of abode. And laying against the hull of the boat were two comfortable looking beds that seemed to call out to them.
Ashley practically skipped over to the nearest bed and fell onto it, moaning in relief as she relished to soft cotton sheets and wool blankets. Chuckling to himself at Ashley's reaction, Leon trudged over to the other bed and lay down on it. He let out a sigh of relief and a soft subtle smell of flowers filled his nose as he buried is head in the pillow his head now rested on.
"Good night, Leon," Ashley called out to him sleepily. Leon didn't respond as he was already snoring. Suppressing a giggle at how quickly her rescuer fell asleep, Ashley finally let exhaustion claim her and fell asleep too.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! Thought I'd give this a try and see if it gets any traction. As you can tell this is a Resident Evil 4 Remake fic and I'd been thinking about this for a while of what would it be like if Leon and Ashley had a little vacation of sorts in Spain, far removed from the horrors of Los Illuminados and their sinister plans.
This story won't a full length feature, but I'm not certain of how many chapters it will be as my running plan for Leon and Ashley will be to spend about a week in Madrid waiting to be picked up Hunnigan, and they'll be enjoying the sights of Madrid from its history, the local cuisine and maybe even participating in a street party of sorts.
Now romance-wise, nothing really in the cards given Leon's attitude and history, but Ashley will make some playful advances on her rescuer which he'll appreciate. I'd often thought that when playing RE4Remake why Leon seemed so intent on Ada when Ashley was right in front of him waving a big flag saying "I'm right here! I am interested in you!" Given the whole joke and memes about the Redfield Bloodline and Leon following Ada like a lost puppy, I kinda think that Ashley (The Remake version of her, not the bratty OG version) would be a better option for Leon, romance-wise.
So, if you like this story idea and want to see it continue, leave a review and maybe leave some suggestions for what Leon and Ashley can do in Madrid while waiting for extraction. I'm not familiar with Madrid or Spain in general, so any suggestions on the layout of Madrid would be welcomed.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.