Thea Keller was ready to kill someone.

It was the fourth time that her boot got caught up in God knows what because it was impossible to tell what things were in this mudbath of a village. She hated everything this place stood for and the scowl on her face just depended with every hour.

With a grunt, Thea kicked the mud off her boots, the wet piece of dirt landing at the side of the road with a wet thud. Somehow she had this idea that Spain was a warm and relatively dry country, but it was the exact opposite so far. It was humid, everything was wet, there was practically no sign of the sun and the people here were all weird.

"Remind me to never come to Spain again," Thea seethed as she pushed a big leaf out of her way, the thing snapping back with momentum and spraying water on her face. The woman grimaced at the feeling, the urge to tear the thing out from the ground growing.

She didn't really like the outside that much, mostly because the outside didn't like her.

"What?"

Leon's voice snapped her out of her tantrum fit. She shook the water off her hand and adjusted her little black leather jacket. It was mostly for fashion purposes because it didn't provide much heat, but she thought that in Spain, she wouldn't need any.

Wrong. The weather was awful and so was her mood. Usually, Thea was cold. No matter how warm it was outside, back in her little Seattle apartment she was always cold. She already dreaded the night here.

"Nothing," Thea called back louder this time, not really having the energy to give a speech about bad weather conditions.

The two of them continued their way on the outskirts of the village, trying to steer clear of houses and farms as much as possible. Neither of them wanted to waste their bullets and trudging through this damn village proved to be hard enough already.

"Where are we going, anyway?" the brunette grumbled, waving off some mosquitos away from her face. God knows how many diseases these little fuckers carried with themselves.

"I have a mission," came the brief answer from the man, being ahead of her by a few feet. As she looked ahead at him, it seemed like he was the only thing bearable here.

"What kind?" she quirked, eager to have a conversation finally.

"Classified."

Thea's eyes narrowed at him, imagining how good it would feel to throw something at his head. This wasn't the time to hide secrets from each other, yet here he was, being a pain in the ass.

"Anything else?" Thea tried again, hoping to gain a little more information.

It would've been great to know why even she had to come here. She was looking for Leon, she needed answers, that's all. She hoped to chat through things besides some breakfast or something, not sink ankle-deep in mud and get chased by a weird cult.

"What part of 'classified' did you not understand?" Leon cast a look above his shoulder, earning an eye-roll from the brunette.

"I'm trying to help, asshole," Thea sneered at him, her anger pushing her legs faster. Her eyes got caught on a cow in the distance, eating grass behind a little fence. It looked almost cute. "I'd like to get out of this shithole sooner than later, but I need you for that. My vehicle is kind of out of the picture now."

Leon stopped in his tracks abruptly, almost causing Thea to stumble into him. Only by a few inches but she managed to twist herself to the side, avoiding headbutting his shoulder. She didn't plan on getting her nose broken any time soon. Tilting her head back a little, she stared up at the blond man, trying to figure out what caused him to finally stop. This man walked like he had a mission (apparently, he actually did) and not even the people of the village were able to slow him down.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he stared at her, the gears turning in his head a little slower than usual. Then it finally clicked in his brain.

"Wait," Leon put a hand on his hip, the other pointing in her face. Thea suppressed a smile because he reminded her of a teacher ready to scold her. "Was that you who crashed a helicopter into a house?"

Thea pursed her lips, a little embarrassed by the fact that he knew about it. The woman's gaze flickered towards the ground, finding interest in her boots to hide the slight blush on her cheeks.

"Maybe," Thea shrugged her shoulder carelessly. "Maybe not. You'll never know."

"Jesus..." Leon sighed and shook his head, not having the energy for this. The clear annoyance showing through his voice caused a small smile to tug at the corner of her lips.

Not even casting another glance in her way, Leon turned back around and continued down the slightly downhill path, leading straight to what seemed like a compound area. Even from far away, Thea could see clearly how miserable that place looked with houses piled on top of each other made from metal sheets and planks. Mountains closed in around the place, giving it a secluded look and it was impossible to see the bottom houses from where she was standing.

If she needed to paint a picture of what Hell would look like, she would just take a picture right now. With Leon Kennedy in the middle of it.

Whoever the fuck he was now, it's who she had to live with from now on. Clearly, things changed in the past years and she had no idea how long would it take for him to speak to her in more than one sentence without snide remarks or glares. In the few memories she had of him, he seemed like such a sweet guy; maybe not to her directly that much, but he seemed great.

Now, he was moody and bringing a sassy man apocalypse in his wake. Thea was never great at dealing with people, she usually didn't have time or energy to deal with them. But fuck did she wish she were great with people now. She was out of words and had no idea how to get back the old Leon.

Until she managed to figure it out, she would just have to stick around. Even if that meant that walking through Hell by his side.

"For fuck's sake," Thea huffed out a breath and slowly, she started walking down the muddy path after Leon.

As she trudged down the hill, cursing under her breath with every wobbly step, mud caking onto her boots, she was too busy huffing and puffing around to notice the small little smirk playing on Leon's lips.

**

The duo stood on the roof of one of the buildings, the metal sheet under their feet threatening to give under their weight at any given second. Yet, with their chests heaving and sweat mixing with the fresh raindrops on their skin, they couldn't give a fuck about that.

Thea's fingers wrapped around her trusty Glock loosely, her emerald green eyes looking through swiftly over the district they just wiped out. Her heart still pumped hard, adrenaline slowly leaving her system as the rain fell on them.

Turning her head slightly, she glanced at Leon. He was in a much better shape than she was. He was barely out of breath, his hands weren't shaking from exhaustion like hers were and it was clear by just looking at them who took the brunt of the attack.

She did. Because she had no super-agent training like he did by the looks of it. Her previous cop training proved to be dog-shit compared to whatever he had, and she didn't like it one bit. She didn't like when people were better than her in things she knew as well. You were a master in knitting? Good for you, because she had no fucking idea what to do with some yarn and two chopsticks. But if someone was better than her at target practice, that ruined her whole day.

Leon Kennedy just ruined her day. And the fact that he looked great doing it just pissed her off more.

"Why did I bother to find you?" Thea murmured under her breath, still trying to calm down her racing heart.

Leon blinked a few times before turning his attention towards her, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion like he didn't catch her words. With a tired hand, the brunette just waved him off, not having the energy to explain. She had no idea how out of shape she really was up until this point and it made her feel miserable.

She even looked miserable. One of the local women attacked her with a pitchfork and it was just dumb luck how it managed to only pierce her leather jacket. It tore and now lay in the mud somewhere down below, she had no idea where. Specs of blood tinted her dark forest green T-shirt at the bottom, making her frown. And to top things off, she was pretty sure there was a rip somewhere on her pants. She could feel a small twinge of pain on her left calf, something cutting through her pants and skin.

After what only felt like a few seconds of rest, Leon started walking towards the ledge of the roof and jumped off in a swift motion. Thea hung her eyes on the grey sky, trying to find the will to live while he was here doing parkour for the fun of it. But if she wanted to get out of here, she had to pull the big girl pants on.

"Thanks for waiting for me!" Thea called after him, sarcasm dripping from her voice as she dragged herself to the ledge. She was pretty sure she pulled a muscle in her right leg. "Asshole."

"It's not my fault you're slow," he retorted, her green eyes snapping towards him.

As he stood at the base of the one-level house she was on top of, with his hands on his hips and giving her one of those looks of his, she was very tempted to chuck something at his head. For a mass murderer, he sure looked like someone ready for a runway and it pissed her off.

"Excuse me for not jumping and kicking around like an idiot," Thea shot back, cringing at the way the edge of the roof pressed against her palm as she lowered herself, sitting on the edge. She let her legs dangle for a second before jumping off, the hard impact shooting through her body.

There was not one pleasant moment in this god-forsaken village since she arrived. She doubted it would change.

The image of Leon sending flying a man who came running at her with a roundhouse kick played on repeat in her mind. It was weirdly attractive and she hated the world for it. She just wanted answers, not develop feelings.

Her eyes scanned his figure, now having a better understanding of how was he in such good shape. To kick guys off the rooftops and snap their necks, he needed muscles. And those muscles made him so much better at his job than her, and she didn't like that. The prominent frown on her face spoke louder than any words, causing the blond to glare at her.

"You look like an idiot already. Who goes on a mission in leather pants?" his steel blue eyes skimmed her legs before looking into her eyes.

Thea felt personally attacked with that question, her gaze ablaze as she walked towards him. The grip on her pistol tightened, her dark hair flowing down her back as she tried not to bare her teeth at him. She didn't know what it was, but something in him could boil her blood in a second.

She just helped him kill around 25 people but it only took a few words for him to bring back her blood-thirst. It was a form of art on its own.

"It makes my ass look good. Got a problem with that, Kennedy?" Thea raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, walking past him without a second glance. She could feel his eyes following her as she shouted over her shoulder. "Are you coming or what? We don't have all day, Mr. Roundhouse kick."

"That's the wrong way."

His words caused her steps to halt, her head whipping around to shoot him a sharp glare. There was a glint of amusement in his eyes as he looked at her, fury making her cheeks flush slightly. But with only one blink, it was gone already before she could appreciate it, his back turning towards her as Leon walked the opposite way.

If only he would tell her what the mission was or where he was headed, she could help him. Maybe she wasn't the best muscle man (more like woman, but whatever) and her sense of direction was worth fuck all here, but she would try her best. She gave her best already, killing people who seemed to be driven by something unnatural – feeling no pain and hellbent on stopping them. But she did it, she killed men and women left and right to help him in his classified mission.

But he was so cold towards her, it hurt. There were some moments when he actually replied without sarcasm before going back to ignoring her and just going about his ways like she wasn't there. He was like an ocean breeze, he would just come and go as he pleased without giving a fuck. Thea admired and hated him for that at the same time.

"I just want to help!" Thea went after him, getting sick of the sight of his broad back. It was wide enough for her to land a kick on it if she tried hard enough.

"I don't need your help," came his cool answer, not even slowing down. Thea switched to a slight jog to catch up with his long strides. The urge to kick his long legs out of under him grew by the second.

"You can't just get rid of me!" the girl threw her hands in the air, her fingers twitching with the need to wrap around his throat and shake some sense into him.

"I would like to drop you like a bad habit, but you're stuck like a curse," Leon raised his voice only slightly, annoyance giving an edge to his voice. "We're done."

He was obviously beyond done with her. It was clear her mere presence annoyed him and she was probably a liability in his books, but Thea didn't care. She was a Keller, and Kellers didn't give a fuck about people's discomfort. So, naturally, she decided to ignore every sign he dropped and fastened her pace.

"Every curse has its bright sides, Kennedy. Cheer up," she said, but even she couldn't cheer up. But the sharp, dark glare she received from him put a small smile on her face.

At least he looked at her.

"I'll shoot you if you don't shut up."

Thea snorted at his remark, it being the funniest shit she heard that day. The noise caused the man to stop in his tracks, surprise lighting up his face as he looked at her like she had just grown a second head.

The brunette opened her mouth to say something, just as Leon tilted his head to the side and his eyes shifted away from her like something else captured his attention. Confusion pulled her eyebrows together as she stepped closer, his hand coming to touch his head.

Thea's eyes widened in horror, her eyes scanning his body to search for a wound or something that could make him react like this. But then she noticed how two of his fingers pressed against his right ear, a small piece of wire hanging around his ear.

It was just a fucking earpiece. No lethal wounds or anything.

She wanted to kick him in the shins for making her worry even for a second.

"Roost, this is Condor One. Got intel on Baby Eagle," Leon said in a neutral tone, something he didn't use with her. She only got the cold or the agitated one.

"Huh?" the question slipped from her mouth, his other hand raising in the air to silence her. The woman's mouth hung open at his audacity. "Don't you dare-"

Leon turned away as he continued to chat through his earpiece, giving little to no mind to the Keller girl. Naturally, she followed him around because she wasn't done and she was going to make him listen to her. But the only thing she managed to catch was when he was already signing off, meaning that he took away the only opportunity she could gain some information as to why they were even here in the first place.

Thea wanted to scream out of rage.

"Stop fucking walking away from me!" her hand shot out and clamped around his forearm, yanking him back. The sheer amount of strength she used surprised both of them as she twisted him around, her eyes ablaze with fury as she stepped closer. "You're making it really hard for me to try to help."

"I-"

"Shut up!" Thea cut him off, having enough of this. "I'm really just trying to help. I need answers about me, about us. And I'm willing to turn this whole shithole upside down if that's your mission. I don't fucking care. But stop being an asshole and let me help. Please."

For moments, the two of them just stared at each other, too stunned to utter another word. Suddenly aware of her tight grip on his arm, Thea slowly pulled her hand away, the warmth of this skin burning her fingertips. For once, he actually seemed at a loss of words.

"Please, Leon..." Thea pleaded, her voice getting desperate.

His eyes flickered between hers, a low sigh leaving his lips. His jaw clenched like he had an internal battle going on.

But how could he resist her when she was looking at him like that?

After what felt like an eternity, he gave a small nod to her, eyes shifting towards the ground. Her heart started beating stronger, her pulse quickening and she waited for an answer.

"Okay," Leon's voice was quiet, almost timid, even. She couldn't even hide the way her eyes lit up, even if she wanted to. "Fine. But I still don't trust you and we need to talk."

"Fine," Thea replied, eager to have some development in their relationship finally.

"And," Leon continued, getting a look from the girl. "You do as I say, when I say it."

"I don't take orders," the girl huffed out, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I barely even take suggestions."

"Now you will, or the deal is off."

She could tell he wasn't fucking around this time. Leon was serious about this and she had to be as well. It took part of her soul and the majority of her ego to agree to this, but she needed him. He probably didn't really need her that much, but he was willing to let her tag along.

"Okay," Thea nodded, her temper drifting off with a slight breeze. Pieces of her hair danced around her face lightly, grazing her pale skin with an angelic touch.

Leon took a second to just take her in, still not believing that she was standing before him. A part of him still struggled to comprehend how this was possible, not really accepting that this was his Thea. He had seen and experienced things nobody could explain, things that didn't make a single sense. Her wouldn't be the first, and probably not the last.

"Okay," Leon repeated lowly, exhaling through his nose. "We're going to the church. My target is there."

And for the first time, a genuine smile appeared on Thea's face. It was small and not obnoxious, but it still managed to light up her whole face. Even if the sun was nowhere to be seen, Leon thought that her smile could light up the whole village.

_________________________________

i know things seem slow but this is a slow burn. and our boy here is pretty traumatized so it'll take him more than a few hours to comprehend our girl is not dead. so just bare with me here <3