Aaand I'm back! Told you guys I wouldn't be long. Anyways, here's chapter 22. The rest is on the way. Enjoy!

We were standing in the area before the entrance to the castle, and there were trees beside a little shack with a blue torch in front of it, and stairs on the left of the wall in front of us.

We all walked into the shack and the Merchant politely greeted us with his famous 'Welcome!'. But I, however, was too exhausted to haggle with the man.

Ashley and I sat on the dirt floor while Leon sold weapons and bought new ones for twice as much as they should be. I closed my eyes and fought to stay awake until I heard Leon ask, "What's this?"

I turned my head to him and the Merchant and saw a shiny, silver, very familiar looking gun in his hands.

"Ah…" The Merchant said. "That's one of the finest pistols I have in stock. It's name's the Blacktail and-"

He didn't need to say anymore. "What?!" I quickly jumped up from my spot on the ground, shocking everyone, and snatched the Blacktail out of Leon's hands.

"Woah! Easy! Be careful with that thing!" Leon shouted, afraid that I would be careless enough to shoot the gun in my surprising outburst. How rude.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just that this is the Blacktail! I've wanted one of these since I was like twelve!"

Leon, still confused (which was surprisingly cute, mind you), began to say, "Wait, wh-"

"How much do you want for this? I'll pay anything!"

The kind man chuckled and said, "That there is twenty-four thousand."

I gaped at him. All I had was about eighteen. I turned to Leon; I hadn't used my puppy dog eyes in a while…

I put on my best sad face (Well, I didn't really have to, I was already upset.) and looked up at the agent through batting eyelashes. "Leon…?"

He looked at me and sighed. "Nope. Nuh-uh. I'm sorry, but I'm putting my foot down on this one."

My eyes grew wide and my voice sounded devastated. "W-what?" It's not like I was used to getting what I wanted or anything, because it was the complete opposite, I just really wanted that gun- more than anything! How could he just say no?

"You heard me." He said. "If you want this gun, you're going to have to save up yourself."

"But Leon, if I did that, I would feel like I was stealing from you. You're the one who always finds all the Spinels and everything! How am I supposed to save up?"

"Loot off all the people you kill."

"I-…" Did he really just say that? "Leon, that's stealing."

He laughed. "What, and you think taking everything else isn't?"

"Yeah but that's different! And who would even want to touch those things after they're dead, anyways?"

Apparently, Ashley had been listening in on our little conversation. "You don't have to touch them; they just disintegrate into the ground." She stated.

"See? There you go. Problem solved."

"But, Leon-" I whined.

"No. You can't just keep cheating your way through life by using your looks and your little puppy-dog face forever."

"M-My looks?"

He ignored me. "Come on, let's go."

My looks? I thought. I had never really thought I was ugly, but I sure as hell didn't think someone as hot as Leon would pay any attention to how I looked.

I turned to Ashley with wide eyes and mouthed the words 'My looks?!' to her. She gave me a huge grin and two thumbs up. While I was trying to re-gather myself, Leon turned around, waiting for us expectantly. "You girls coming or what?"

The blush on my face was obvious as I walked passed him.

We walked through a door and were surrounded by stone. Everything around us was a depressing, gray color. We took a few steps forward and then-

"Morir es vivir… Morir es vivir…"

I froze in my tracks, turning deathly pale, my eyes wide.

"Hey, what is it?" "What's wrong?" Ashley and Leon asked me in unison.

To them, those words meant nothing, but after taking 4 years of Spanish…

"Muere… Muere... Muere…"

My breath grew faster and my brows furrowed.

"Emily, what are they saying?" Leon asked me, in a stern, yet comforting voice.

I took a deep breath, inhaling the dirty air around us. "T-to die is to live…"

"Muere… Muere… Muere…" Came more chanting.

"Die… Die… Die…" I translated in a shaky voice.

"It's okay…" Leon whispered. "I won't let them hurt us."

I nodded and took another deep breath, regaining my courage.

"Wait here." Leon said, as he rounded a corner up ahead.

I turned to the blonde beside me. "You must think I'm the biggest baby on the planet, huh? I can't even hear a few words coming from those people without freaking out." I attempted a laugh.

"No… Actually, I think you're really brave. I wouldn't even be able to live if…" She trailed off, thankfully. I didn't want to think about… you-know-who at the time… And it wasn't Voldemort.

"Yeah…"

Two loud gun-shots were heard (judging by the sound, it was probably the rifle), and Leon came trotting back around the corner.

"There were two of those things up there." Leon explained. "You girls stay close, just in case there's more."

We both nodded and followed Leon as we rounded a corner and walked up short, winding, stone stairs. The agent held up his hand, signaling us to wait, and I leaned up against the wall beside us and waited for him to come back from doing his thing. Leon took two steps out into the open area when suddenly-

"Aii esta… Mátelo!"

There were the sounds of explosion and fire was visible from around the corner.