Leon was running out of time.

With the G-Virus securely in his pocket, he was running as his life depended on it. Mainly because it did. The self-destruction sequence has already started, the whole facility around him collapsing in on itself and falling apart, just like his mind.

And when he saw the Central Elevator standing there without another soul in sight, his heart stopped. Thea wasn't there.

Immediately, he knew something was wrong. Thea was a very punctual person, she was never late from anywhere. And she knew how important this was. She was the key to their survival – Leon had no idea how big this place really was, and he still had to get back to Ada.

But not before Thea. He had to find her. She could be in trouble.

Leon headed back towards the East wing, needing to slow down to a jog while he tried to force some air into his lungs. He'd been running around the place forever now, all his muscles ached and whenever he moved his arm, it shot a dull pulse of pain through the whole thing. He never wanted a warm shower so badly in his life.

The constant voice from the intercom started to chase him down on the road of insanity, continuously reminding him that the whole place was going to blow up in a matter of minutes. But even if that was the last thing he'd do, he had to find Thea.

Then a thought crossed his mind: what if she'd already left? Left without him, already on her way out?

He shook his head – she wouldn't do that. They may not be each other's favorite person, but she wouldn't leave him here just like that to die. She wasn't like that. Leon hoped that if the roles were reversed, she would come back to search for him as well. He liked to hope she would.

When the door to the Greenhouse finally came into view, he couldn't help but let out a breath of relief and picked up his pace. With his good shoulder, Leon pushed against the heavy door, wishing that the annoying voice through the intercom system would just shut up.

"Thea? You in here?" he called out, flicking his flashlight on with a fluid motion.

But the sight that welcomed him inside made the flashlight fall from his hands. The torch clattered to the ground with a heavy thud, rolling away on the dirty marble floor as he stood there rooted to his spot. His chest heaved painfully quickly, all the air getting sucked out from his lungs. Black spots danced before his eyes and as Leon lost his balance, he stumbled back against the wall behind him, slightly off to his right. And just like a sick, twisted joke from the universe, the flashlight stopped in just the right spot for it to shine upon the body lying on the floor.

Thea's bloodied, very pale body.

"T-Thea?" Leon stammered out, her name getting stuck in his throat and making the air get into his lungs more difficult.

His body took over his mind and forced him to stumble towards the girl, all thoughts left outside the door. Leon fell to his knees next to Thea, his wide, panicked eyes taking in the sight of her.

Her skin was painfully pale even under the low amount of light that lit up the room. But judging by the amount of blood pooled around her and soaking through her hoodie – his hoodie, the one he never got to wear – and turning the fabric a deep obsidian color. One of her hands was laid on her stomach like she tried to keep the blood from oozing out even in her last minutes, dark red blood coating her hand. Her head fell to the right side, her dark brown hair falling in her face and concealing her features. Her body was awfully still, but that didn't stop Leon from further trying.

"Thea?" his hand smoothed her hair back, tucking the silky pieces behind her ear as he leaned in closer. His other hand went to check her pulse on her neck, the shakiness of his fingers making the task incredibly difficult.

Even when he didn't feel anything, not a single pulse, he didn't want to give up,

"No. No, no, no..." the words left his mouth in a breath, distress making his lips numb. "Thea, please. Please, open your eyes. Thea!"

But there was no response from the girl. The only sound besides his labored breathing was the building falling apart around them, poetically mirroring the way Leon felt his world fall apart.

"Please, don't leave me," Leon choked on a sob, his thumb grazing over her blood-splattered cheek. A single tear rolled down his face, his whole body trembling as he clung to the girl.

He would give anything in the world for her to open those green eyes of hers, always burning with a layer of anger and the flames scaring away everyone who dared to come too close. He would do anything to hear his name roll off her sharp tongue soaked into years of hatred one more time, to spit curses his way.

Leon would do anything to bring Thea back. But he couldn't, and it shattered his soul.

As he stared at the girl in front of him motionless, unable to move, the laboratory continued its self-destruction sequence. The lights flickered above their heads, and the ground rumbled and shifted under them, the whole world falling apart right then and there. And Leon just couldn't give a shit about any of it.

For one last time, his thumb graced her smooth cheek, the cold feeling of her skin making another tear fall from his eyes. The female voice from the intercom system slowly faded back into his ears, the whole chaos around them urging him to get out.

Without hesitation, Leon slipped a hand around Thea's back and another under her knees and lifted her up. The white-hot burning of his gunshot wound made him let out a yell and fall back on the ground. He had to squeeze his eyes shut to gather himself, the throbbing in his arm reminding him of the exact thing he wished to hell.

Clenching his jaw so tight it almost hurt, Leon steeled himself and hauled Thea up in his arms, the pain making him stumble on his feet. He didn't care, though. There was no way he would leave her behind. Not even if he was missing a limb.

The journey to the elevator was painful and miserable. It felt like his whole left arm was going to fall off at any given second, the burning pain forcing him to pick his legs faster. Meanwhile, he tried not to look at Thea and the helpless way she just lay in his arms. Her head hung back, her hair swaying with every motion and one of her arms just left stretched out like she tried to reach for something.

Leon bit his lip so hard he drew blood, and no matter how badly his body ached and wanted to collapse in the middle of the hall, he adjusted his grip on the girl in his arms.

Stepping foot on the metal bridge leading to the Central Elevator, the building shook again and threw Leon off-balance. Shifting his body in the last second, he took the majority of the blow to his side, the metal guard rail digging into his ribs and making sure it left a nasty bruise on his side. The death grip he had on Thea guaranteed the girl was unharmed in the process.

However, the G-Virus wasn't. The vial shifted from his pocket and bounced back from the rail, plummetting down to the abyss that waited from them below. As Leon watched the vial with the deadly virus fall, his chest constricted and a gasp tore from it.

That thing was the reason they did all of this. That vial was the guarantee to make Umbrella pay for everything they did.

And now it was gone. So was the girl in his arms.

Everything that made sense so far was now gone and fell apart. He had no idea where Ada was, no clue what waited for him down at the bottom, and absolutely no idea how is he supposed to make it out alive from here.

So, Leon did what seemed to be the most sane thing to do: got into the elevator, pushed the bottom level button with his elbow, and sagged against the glass wall, clutching Thea to his chest.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

Following the directions of the intercom, Leon found himself in a small train station, the engine of the train already humming alive and the whole thing slowly set in motion. Without hesitation, Leon hauled Thea inside before climbing inside himself as well. His feet got pulled inside just as the train picked up speed. The young cop's back hit the floor of the train as the cold air from the tunnel caressed his skin and ruffled his hair, and for the first time in 24 hours, he let his eyes fall shut.

Just for a few seconds, Leon lay on the floor and let himself breathe. His whole arm was burning with fire and pulsated pain through his whole body, and he was sure the dressing Thea made was now soaked through with blood. The memory of the pissed-off look on her face when he moved his arm with less care than needed, made a pang echo through his chest, leaving pain in its wake.

"Leon?"

At the sound of his name, his eyes snapped open and instantly flew towards Thea. But she remained still with her eyes closed and pale and bloodied, and there was so much blood...

Feeling eyes burn into his skull, Leon forced his eyes to tear away from the bloodied girl and find a familiar face staring back at him from the back of the train. Leon pushed himself on his elbows as his eyes widened, not believing what he saw. Maybe he just hit his head a little too hard through the night.

But as the figure moved closer carefully, he was almost sure that this was real.

"Claire?" the name rolled off his tongue like a whisper, almost getting drowned out by the noises of the train.

A smile broke out on Claire Redfield's face, the brightness of it making the lights dimmer. Up until her eyes shifted from the rookie cop towards the motionless girl lying on the floor. Her smile fell and the color drained from her face, making her stop a few feet away from the pair.

"Please, help me," Leon choked out as he scooted over to Thea, brushing her hair away from her face. "M-maybe we could do CPR. I-I just n-need to take a minute, my arm is-"

"Leon..."

"S-she lost a lot of... lot of blood and-" his voice broke and the lump in his throat made it hard to speak. His thoughts were so scattered, that it felt impossible to piece a full sentence together. "Her b-blood type is O negative. D-do y-you-"

"Leon."

Claire's slightly firmer voice was finally able to snap him out of it. Claire's heart broke at the sight of the boy not being able to let go of what couldn't be saved. Tears stung her eyes and she wiped at them with her hand, trying to stay strong for them. She had no idea who this girl was but it was obvious how important she was to Leon.

"There's nothing we can do," Claire voices the fact both of them knew, Leon just wasn't ready to accept it.

For a few moments, he kept his hand on the side of Thea's face, smearing the little droplets of blood on her pale cheek. His eyes slid over her face, trying to remember every feature, even though he was sure the whole night would live a way too detailed life in his nightmares.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Leon fell back on the ground and scooted back till his back hit the wall of the train. He couldn't take his eyes off the brunette lying in front of him. All he could do was bring his knees to his chest and let a few silent tears flow down his cheek.

Leon completely lost track of time as all he did was stare at Thea and then stare at the wall. Claire gave up on trying to reach him by calling his name and went back to Sherry, the little girl she found in a nearby orphanage. It was a silent agreement between the two that it was best if Sherry didn't see Thea like this.

The stopping of the train was the only thing that could bring Leon back to the present. Slowly blinking, he raised his head to look out the window, soft rays of sunshine attacking his eyes. Rubbing at his face, Leon tried to get himself together but he was hurt, he was exhausted, and one of his friends was dead.

Even if they hated each other most of their time together, Leon wanted to think of her as a friend in the end. Thea was always there for him; mostly to be the first person to throw an insult in his face whenever he fucked something up, but she was still there. Not like his parents. Whenever his ego got the best of him, Thea was there to always humble him, not feeding into it as most of his friends did. No matter how good he thought he was at academics or workouts, Thea just stood there usually with her arms crossed in front of her chest and a raised eyebrow, asking 'Really? That's all you got?'.

They didn't like each other, but Leon wanted to think that her opinion changed in the last few hours as did his; that they didn't hate each other, either. Not really.

But it was too late to apologize for every insult he threw at her, for grabbing every chance to prove he was better than her. Because in the end, it didn't matter at all.

With a groan, Leon tried to pushed himself off the floor but it seemed to take more effort than he currently had. The blond sagged back on the ground and let his head fall back against the wall. He wanted nothing more than just sit there and ponder, but he had a job to do, and people to care of now. Claire and Sherry needed him.

Thea needed him too. He was just too late. And he would never forgive himself for that.

"Hey, Leon?" Claira stepped into the cart again, her voice soft and motherly, like she didn't want to startle him. The cop raised his tired gaze to meet hers, letting the younger Redfield see how broken his soul was.

"I want to bury her," he gave the answer to her silent question. For a second, the young girl just stared back at him before she nodded and started walking closer to him.

His eyebrows furrowed as he watched Claire stop before him and look at her offered hand like it was the weirdest abomination to ever exist. A soft, warm smile tugged at Claire's lips, the underlying sadness making her eyes shine a shade darker.

"Come. I'll help you."

At a loss of words, Leon just nodded and took Claire's hand. She helped him to his feet and the two of them carried Thea out of the train cart. Even with Claire's help, sweat broke out on Leon's forehead from the pain, but the cop just clenched his jaw and powered through the pain. He had to do this for her.

It took some time and a lot of effort, but Leon and Claire managed to dig a shallow grave for Thea Keller. The Sun had already risen above the horizon when the two of them were done and only one task remained.

The final goodbye.

Sensing that this wasn't her place to be and her job was done, Claire put a hand on Leon's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I'll be at the cart with Sherry," the girl offered, only receiving a small nod back. With a sad frown forming on her face, the girl left the blond to say his goodbyes.

Silence settled around them as Leon remained seated on his knees. His hands were covered in dry dirt from digging the grave with his own hands, the skin tore in some places, making his blood mix with the dirt that would fulfill the role of an eternal blanket to Thea. A breeze passed by, lifting a few strands of her dark hair.

"I'm sorry," Leon finally spoke up, his voice barely above a whisper. It didn't need to be louder, though. His words were only directed to the girl in front of him. "For everything. You deserved a better life than this. And I'm sorry for not getting to you in time."

A small, shiny thing distracted him from his speech. Leon's eyes narrowed as he leaned closer to Thea, trying to get a better look at whatever reflected the sunlight like that. But when his eyes found the source, his heart fell to his stomach.

It was the necklace that became Thea Keller's signature. The delicate silver chain with the emerald banded silver ring hanging from it. It was her most prized possession, she never took it off. It was usually tucked under her shirt and whatnot like she was afraid she might lose it otherwise. It was a miracle it didn't get torn from her neck during the night.

Leon reached over and picked the ring up, still connected to her. Carefully, he twisted the ring around between his fingers, watching as the rays of the Sun danced off from the emerald surface. The shine in them reminded him of her eyes; they shone the exact way whenever she smiled, which was a rare occurrence to begin with. He wanted to cling to that memory for a little while.

"I'm sorry," the boy stammered out again before he tore the necklace from her neck.

He half expected Thea to come back and slap him across the face for daring to touch her precious necklace. Or put him in a chokehold – that sounded more like her. But nothing happened. The sun continued to shine upon them, the air started to get warmer and Thea was still dead. Nothing changed.

Leon tightened his grip around her necklace, clutching it like his life depended on it. He'll continue her legacy by taking care of it for her. The silver necklace with the emerald ring will be his most prized possession from now on.

Then Leon buried Thea and buried his heart and soul right next to her.

Things weren't supposed to go like this. None of this felt real. He didn't feel real. The only thing that made sense in the world was the silver chain in his pocket and his building rage towards Umbrella.

As Leon, Claire, and little Sherry walked away from the nightmare that Raccoon City, a once lovely small town turned into, Leon swore his life to get revenge on everyone who lost something here.

When the trio left the city to its ruins, they left the only clue left by Thea in the NEST to its crumbles. The smudged letters of her killer's name written with her own blood are now forever gone with the remains of Umbrella's underground lab.

_______________________________

i finally posted a real update for this book, wow. and a pretty depressing one at that

so... thoughts?

this was so hurtful to write, i hate to see my boy suffer like that. but everything has a reason babes