nothing more than this - part 5
Title: nothing more than this
Part 5: Ada
Fandom: Resident Evil
Series: these ink-stained memories
Pairings: Ada/Leon
Warnings: angst, unrequited love, canon death
Word Count: 2303
Disclaimer: If I owned it, everyone would be in love with Leon.
Summary: 5 people who never told Leon Kennedy they loved him.
Part 1 - Claire
Part 2 - Krauser
Part 3 - Luis
Part 4 - Piers
Love is a weakness and the woman known as Ada Wong allows herself no weaknesses.
When she meets Leon on a job, her first thought is how to use him. He's practically a child, naive and far too trusting of perceived authority. A quick appeal to honor and some fluttering eyelashes has Leon wrapped around her finger; a few bullets a small price to pay to gain another tool. Ada knows that she'll survive this; she always completes her mission and survives because she uses everyone and everything.
So the woman comforts Leon with a false smile on her face. She dangles truth and punishment to soothe his need for justice, giving him a reason to kill and die for her. A few seductive glances, a careful stroke across his shoulders to lock in his admiration; the agent knows exactly how to steal his heart away.
This cop is not the first and he will not be the last. The woman known as Ada Wong has left a trail of names behind her, a hundred different marks that were false down to the core. Because love is a weakness and she has made a habit of exploiting weaknesses.
Indeed, the effort that she puts into seducing Leon pays off when she runs afoul of Umbrella’s trench-coat-wearing assassin and falls onto a piece of re-bar during her escape. Instead of leaving Ada to die as would be sensible, the rookie only grows more determined to get her out alive. He shoulders her weight without complaining and she rewards him with a kiss before sending him off to complete her mission on his own.
Ada doesn’t exactly trust him. But the agent trusts Leon to collect the sample or die trying and that’s good enough for now. The woman is running low on other options and this rookie’s sense of justice should work in her favor; he’ll collect the sample or die trying to see Umbrella pay.
So she gathers her strength as Leon runs around fighting monsters. She watches her proxy through the laboratory’s cameras and despite his inexperience, the rookie doesn’t disappoint. As much as Ada hates waiting, hates knowing that her success relies on other people, she thinks she’s glad it’s Leon. Despite his inexperience, the man has proved quite competent and this day could have gone much worse for her if she hadn’t saved his life.
However, when an alarm starts blaring and a voice announces that the self-destruct system has been activated, it’s time for her to go. Ada limps toward the central chamber, planning to meet Leon on the way to her escape.
But when she finds her rookie, blood-stained and determined, something in his face has changed. He asks her if she was lying about her mission - if she’s really just a mercenary - and the disappointment in his voice actually makes her feel a twinge.
Ada can tell by his expression that there’s no point in denying the accusation; Leon wouldn’t trust her anyway. Not when Annette Birkin probably told him everything he needed to put the clues together - and if that woman wasn’t bleeding out on the floor behind him, she would shoot the bitch again.
So the agent draws her weapon and orders Leon to hand the sample over. Give her what she came for or take a bullet between the eyes.
But somehow the rookie trusts her. He trusts Ada not to shoot him despite the secrets and the lies. Leon should hate her; he should be shouting curses instead of talking calmly and his absolute conviction makes the woman hesitate. She still plans to kill him if it proves necessary, but he was a useful tool and maybe she can talk him to her side.
The agent hesitates just long enough for Annette to decide that she’s not quite finished dying after all. Her bullet hits Ada in the shoulder, a searing pain throughout her arm, and she knew she should have double-tapped that woman after all.
Ada staggers back and when the floor drops out beneath her feet, she’s not expecting anyone to catch her. She doesn’t need anyone to catch her but Leon’s hand wraps around her wrist anyway. He must have thrown himself forward as soon as she started falling and now both of them are dangling over an abyss, the main shaft of Umbrella’s lab disappearing into darkness down below.
That was stupid of him. Stupid and inconvenient. The agent has an escape route, but she doesn’t know if her equipment would hold Leon’s weight as well and she won’t allow his sense of honor to jeopardize her life.
So the woman doesn’t. She gives the cop a spark of hope - the hint of gentleness that will embed her name upon his heart - and then she says goodbye. Ada watches Leon’s face until she falls out of sight and she knows he won’t forget her. Even as she swings to safety, she knows that tool may still prove useful and indeed, she has a feeling she might see the man again.
But first, her mission. The agent makes her escape with style, just like always, and because she’s Ada Wong…. because the world bends to her whims, she runs across one last survivor. She finds one of Umbrella’s mercenaries and takes his sample of the G-Virus, stepping over his twitching body to finish her escape. Ada reaches the edge of Raccoon City just as the city blows sky-high, a bullet in her shoulder and a vial in her pocket. The latter is more important. She trades it for a fortune and then takes a long vacation, her rookie nothing but a footnote in another job well done.
---
Six years later, Ada finds herself in Spain. Once again the woman is playing a double agent and once again, Leon Kennedy has been thrown into her plans.
She’s heard rumors about the man in the years since she last saw him. No one survives that many outbreaks without becoming known in certain circles and it sounds as though experience has only honed his skills.
So while Ada wasn’t expecting Leon to be involved, she’s actually glad he’ll be the agent sent to rescue Ashley Graham. She trusts him to cause chaos in Saddler’s operation and it’s not as though she wants that crackpot to control the president. Leon is sure to see this place destroyed - with her help, that fact is certain - and the distraction should let her catspaw do the deed. The hero will get the girl, Luis Sera will get the sample, and Ada will walk away triumphant in the shadows once again.
Wesker’s rabid dog shouldn’t be a problem. She did her research on Jack Krauser and she knows about South America; even if she didn’t, the woman recognizes the obsession in his eyes. For him this job is personal. He wants Leon to suffer as much as he wants power and that will keep his focus far from Ada. Not that the man takes her as a threat on their first meeting, but once Wesker mentions Leon, Krauser seems to forget she’s even there. So the woman waits and watches, wondering idly if the agent knew that his one-time partner loved him. Only love could twist a man so far.
Indeed, Krauser proves her right when the debriefing ends and he turns to her with a dark smile, “You think Wesker would care if I have some fun with Leon before he dies?”
The words tell Ada everything she needs to know about his love, hate, and desire. They’re hardly a surprise. But she’s not expecting the sudden surge of fire in her chest, the instinctual voice that snarls, I’ll see you buried first.
The woman doesn't show it. She's too professional for that. Ada gives a careless shrug and leaves to meet her contact in Saddler's organization, trying to ignore her sudden urge to shoot Krauser between the eyes.
She tells herself that she's just worried about a useful tool. Leon is already primed to see her as an ally instead of competition and he's well-placed to help her as long as he survives.
However, when Ada is fighting her way through a literal army of ganados to save the man from Krauser, she has to admit that she might care a little. The woman doesn't usually take on battleships for other people but their heavy artillery is still ringing in her ears when she shoots the knife from Krauser's hand.
Ada is relieved to know she made it. Somehow Leon managed to slip through her defenses and she doesn't want the man to die. But that doesn't mean she loves him. That doesn't change her plans. Helping Leon cure himself, fighting Saddler and killing Krauser; everything she chooses brings her closer to success.
Indeed, when the job is over - when Ashley has been rescued and Saddler's dead at Leon's hands - Ada comes out on top as always. She takes the Master Plaga and calls for her extraction before setting off the self-destruct system without a shred of guilt.
Maybe it's a test; maybe it isn't. But Leon has her jet-ski keys and if he's the man she thinks he is, she knows he'll make it out.
---
Three weeks after Spain, Ada knocks on Leon's door. She informs the agent that he's taking her to dinner and he responds to this declaration with a bemused, “All right.”
The restaurant is expensive, formal and high class, one she chose so Leon would be out of his depth. But the man covers his discomfort better than expected. By their entree, he's adapted to seem perfectly relaxed and Ada decides that this might prove satisfying after all. Indeed, their conversation is surprisingly entertaining despite the many topics they both choose to talk around. The woman likes his clever tongue if not his sense of humor and when the date is finished, she invites herself inside.
Leon is more than willing, though surprisingly unpracticed. Although he's clearly not some blushing virgin, she expected more seduction from a man who looks like that.
However, Ada's far from disappointed once their clothes come off. The agent takes well to instruction and he's damn good with his hands. When he isn't cracking jokes, that mouth is devastating and she loves the feel of all that strength between her thighs. Leon lets her tame that power, lets her ride him to the edge, and she wishes she could see him. She wishes she could watch him struggle for control.
But it's safer in the dark. Ada doesn’t want to know whose names he carries and she doesn’t want him hoping for something in return. This isn’t a relationship. This is two attractive people seeking stress relief and when they’ve finished, she doesn’t stay the night.
The woman never stays after one of their encounters and although he doesn’t always manage to hide his disappointment, Leon is smart enough not to ask. Ada finds him when she wishes and leaves on the same rhythm, no pattern to her visits except that they’re both single at the time.
She doesn’t want him to expect her. Considering both their occupations, it’s best not to get complacent or be too predictable. It’s not as though they’re dating after all.
The years slip by in moments, brief meetings during missions and a night of pleasure now and then. Leon is good company and they work well together when their lives are on the line. Ada may not love him - she may refuse to love him - but she trusts him and in her experience, that’s much more valuable.
Indeed, Leon proves his worth again when he takes her side in China, fighting against the BSAA to keep her safe from harm. Mass murder’s not her style and he knows that without asking; he has faith in a woman whose true name he’s never heard. And maybe it’s his faith that finally breaks through her denials.
It’s not the fact that Leon trusts her; it’s the fact that Leon’s right. Despite her past betrayals, she’s always saved him when it mattered. He’s the one person on this planet that she would risk her life for; the one person in the world that she doesn’t want to die.
Ada returns from China with Leon’s name upon her thigh. She sees it when she undresses, the letters a brilliant blue against her skin that’s impossible to miss. But even though it’s beautiful, the marking makes her sigh.
This changes nothing. Love is still a weakness and their romance has no future. Their goals are much too different, their jobs at cross purposes. Ada doesn’t do relationships - she lacks the interest and the time - and while she knows that Leon would take anything she gives him, she doesn’t want to break his heart. She’s done enough of that already if she’s truly being honest, but at least she’s never promised more than their strange acquaintanceship. Love would make him hope for more and just disappoint him in the end.
So she books an appointment at a discreet tattoo artist and when she’s finished her last session, Leon’s name has disappeared into a shining dragon’s skin.
The woman knows the status quo won’t last forever. Leon will fall in love again - she’s pretty sure he just can’t help it - and someday he’ll find a person who can give him what he needs. He’ll find someone who treats him right, someone who understands the gift that they’ve been given, and when that day comes, Ada won’t hold him back from happiness. Leon owes her nothing and this way he won’t feel guilty when it’s time for him to leave.
End
Part 5: Ada
Fandom: Resident Evil
Series: these ink-stained memories
Pairings: Ada/Leon
Warnings: angst, unrequited love, canon death
Word Count: 2303
Disclaimer: If I owned it, everyone would be in love with Leon.
Summary: 5 people who never told Leon Kennedy they loved him.
Part 1 - Claire
Part 2 - Krauser
Part 3 - Luis
Part 4 - Piers
Love is a weakness and the woman known as Ada Wong allows herself no weaknesses.
When she meets Leon on a job, her first thought is how to use him. He's practically a child, naive and far too trusting of perceived authority. A quick appeal to honor and some fluttering eyelashes has Leon wrapped around her finger; a few bullets a small price to pay to gain another tool. Ada knows that she'll survive this; she always completes her mission and survives because she uses everyone and everything.
So the woman comforts Leon with a false smile on her face. She dangles truth and punishment to soothe his need for justice, giving him a reason to kill and die for her. A few seductive glances, a careful stroke across his shoulders to lock in his admiration; the agent knows exactly how to steal his heart away.
This cop is not the first and he will not be the last. The woman known as Ada Wong has left a trail of names behind her, a hundred different marks that were false down to the core. Because love is a weakness and she has made a habit of exploiting weaknesses.
Indeed, the effort that she puts into seducing Leon pays off when she runs afoul of Umbrella’s trench-coat-wearing assassin and falls onto a piece of re-bar during her escape. Instead of leaving Ada to die as would be sensible, the rookie only grows more determined to get her out alive. He shoulders her weight without complaining and she rewards him with a kiss before sending him off to complete her mission on his own.
Ada doesn’t exactly trust him. But the agent trusts Leon to collect the sample or die trying and that’s good enough for now. The woman is running low on other options and this rookie’s sense of justice should work in her favor; he’ll collect the sample or die trying to see Umbrella pay.
So she gathers her strength as Leon runs around fighting monsters. She watches her proxy through the laboratory’s cameras and despite his inexperience, the rookie doesn’t disappoint. As much as Ada hates waiting, hates knowing that her success relies on other people, she thinks she’s glad it’s Leon. Despite his inexperience, the man has proved quite competent and this day could have gone much worse for her if she hadn’t saved his life.
However, when an alarm starts blaring and a voice announces that the self-destruct system has been activated, it’s time for her to go. Ada limps toward the central chamber, planning to meet Leon on the way to her escape.
But when she finds her rookie, blood-stained and determined, something in his face has changed. He asks her if she was lying about her mission - if she’s really just a mercenary - and the disappointment in his voice actually makes her feel a twinge.
Ada can tell by his expression that there’s no point in denying the accusation; Leon wouldn’t trust her anyway. Not when Annette Birkin probably told him everything he needed to put the clues together - and if that woman wasn’t bleeding out on the floor behind him, she would shoot the bitch again.
So the agent draws her weapon and orders Leon to hand the sample over. Give her what she came for or take a bullet between the eyes.
But somehow the rookie trusts her. He trusts Ada not to shoot him despite the secrets and the lies. Leon should hate her; he should be shouting curses instead of talking calmly and his absolute conviction makes the woman hesitate. She still plans to kill him if it proves necessary, but he was a useful tool and maybe she can talk him to her side.
The agent hesitates just long enough for Annette to decide that she’s not quite finished dying after all. Her bullet hits Ada in the shoulder, a searing pain throughout her arm, and she knew she should have double-tapped that woman after all.
Ada staggers back and when the floor drops out beneath her feet, she’s not expecting anyone to catch her. She doesn’t need anyone to catch her but Leon’s hand wraps around her wrist anyway. He must have thrown himself forward as soon as she started falling and now both of them are dangling over an abyss, the main shaft of Umbrella’s lab disappearing into darkness down below.
That was stupid of him. Stupid and inconvenient. The agent has an escape route, but she doesn’t know if her equipment would hold Leon’s weight as well and she won’t allow his sense of honor to jeopardize her life.
So the woman doesn’t. She gives the cop a spark of hope - the hint of gentleness that will embed her name upon his heart - and then she says goodbye. Ada watches Leon’s face until she falls out of sight and she knows he won’t forget her. Even as she swings to safety, she knows that tool may still prove useful and indeed, she has a feeling she might see the man again.
But first, her mission. The agent makes her escape with style, just like always, and because she’s Ada Wong…. because the world bends to her whims, she runs across one last survivor. She finds one of Umbrella’s mercenaries and takes his sample of the G-Virus, stepping over his twitching body to finish her escape. Ada reaches the edge of Raccoon City just as the city blows sky-high, a bullet in her shoulder and a vial in her pocket. The latter is more important. She trades it for a fortune and then takes a long vacation, her rookie nothing but a footnote in another job well done.
---
Six years later, Ada finds herself in Spain. Once again the woman is playing a double agent and once again, Leon Kennedy has been thrown into her plans.
She’s heard rumors about the man in the years since she last saw him. No one survives that many outbreaks without becoming known in certain circles and it sounds as though experience has only honed his skills.
So while Ada wasn’t expecting Leon to be involved, she’s actually glad he’ll be the agent sent to rescue Ashley Graham. She trusts him to cause chaos in Saddler’s operation and it’s not as though she wants that crackpot to control the president. Leon is sure to see this place destroyed - with her help, that fact is certain - and the distraction should let her catspaw do the deed. The hero will get the girl, Luis Sera will get the sample, and Ada will walk away triumphant in the shadows once again.
Wesker’s rabid dog shouldn’t be a problem. She did her research on Jack Krauser and she knows about South America; even if she didn’t, the woman recognizes the obsession in his eyes. For him this job is personal. He wants Leon to suffer as much as he wants power and that will keep his focus far from Ada. Not that the man takes her as a threat on their first meeting, but once Wesker mentions Leon, Krauser seems to forget she’s even there. So the woman waits and watches, wondering idly if the agent knew that his one-time partner loved him. Only love could twist a man so far.
Indeed, Krauser proves her right when the debriefing ends and he turns to her with a dark smile, “You think Wesker would care if I have some fun with Leon before he dies?”
The words tell Ada everything she needs to know about his love, hate, and desire. They’re hardly a surprise. But she’s not expecting the sudden surge of fire in her chest, the instinctual voice that snarls, I’ll see you buried first.
The woman doesn't show it. She's too professional for that. Ada gives a careless shrug and leaves to meet her contact in Saddler's organization, trying to ignore her sudden urge to shoot Krauser between the eyes.
She tells herself that she's just worried about a useful tool. Leon is already primed to see her as an ally instead of competition and he's well-placed to help her as long as he survives.
However, when Ada is fighting her way through a literal army of ganados to save the man from Krauser, she has to admit that she might care a little. The woman doesn't usually take on battleships for other people but their heavy artillery is still ringing in her ears when she shoots the knife from Krauser's hand.
Ada is relieved to know she made it. Somehow Leon managed to slip through her defenses and she doesn't want the man to die. But that doesn't mean she loves him. That doesn't change her plans. Helping Leon cure himself, fighting Saddler and killing Krauser; everything she chooses brings her closer to success.
Indeed, when the job is over - when Ashley has been rescued and Saddler's dead at Leon's hands - Ada comes out on top as always. She takes the Master Plaga and calls for her extraction before setting off the self-destruct system without a shred of guilt.
Maybe it's a test; maybe it isn't. But Leon has her jet-ski keys and if he's the man she thinks he is, she knows he'll make it out.
---
Three weeks after Spain, Ada knocks on Leon's door. She informs the agent that he's taking her to dinner and he responds to this declaration with a bemused, “All right.”
The restaurant is expensive, formal and high class, one she chose so Leon would be out of his depth. But the man covers his discomfort better than expected. By their entree, he's adapted to seem perfectly relaxed and Ada decides that this might prove satisfying after all. Indeed, their conversation is surprisingly entertaining despite the many topics they both choose to talk around. The woman likes his clever tongue if not his sense of humor and when the date is finished, she invites herself inside.
Leon is more than willing, though surprisingly unpracticed. Although he's clearly not some blushing virgin, she expected more seduction from a man who looks like that.
However, Ada's far from disappointed once their clothes come off. The agent takes well to instruction and he's damn good with his hands. When he isn't cracking jokes, that mouth is devastating and she loves the feel of all that strength between her thighs. Leon lets her tame that power, lets her ride him to the edge, and she wishes she could see him. She wishes she could watch him struggle for control.
But it's safer in the dark. Ada doesn’t want to know whose names he carries and she doesn’t want him hoping for something in return. This isn’t a relationship. This is two attractive people seeking stress relief and when they’ve finished, she doesn’t stay the night.
The woman never stays after one of their encounters and although he doesn’t always manage to hide his disappointment, Leon is smart enough not to ask. Ada finds him when she wishes and leaves on the same rhythm, no pattern to her visits except that they’re both single at the time.
She doesn’t want him to expect her. Considering both their occupations, it’s best not to get complacent or be too predictable. It’s not as though they’re dating after all.
The years slip by in moments, brief meetings during missions and a night of pleasure now and then. Leon is good company and they work well together when their lives are on the line. Ada may not love him - she may refuse to love him - but she trusts him and in her experience, that’s much more valuable.
Indeed, Leon proves his worth again when he takes her side in China, fighting against the BSAA to keep her safe from harm. Mass murder’s not her style and he knows that without asking; he has faith in a woman whose true name he’s never heard. And maybe it’s his faith that finally breaks through her denials.
It’s not the fact that Leon trusts her; it’s the fact that Leon’s right. Despite her past betrayals, she’s always saved him when it mattered. He’s the one person on this planet that she would risk her life for; the one person in the world that she doesn’t want to die.
Ada returns from China with Leon’s name upon her thigh. She sees it when she undresses, the letters a brilliant blue against her skin that’s impossible to miss. But even though it’s beautiful, the marking makes her sigh.
This changes nothing. Love is still a weakness and their romance has no future. Their goals are much too different, their jobs at cross purposes. Ada doesn’t do relationships - she lacks the interest and the time - and while she knows that Leon would take anything she gives him, she doesn’t want to break his heart. She’s done enough of that already if she’s truly being honest, but at least she’s never promised more than their strange acquaintanceship. Love would make him hope for more and just disappoint him in the end.
So she books an appointment at a discreet tattoo artist and when she’s finished her last session, Leon’s name has disappeared into a shining dragon’s skin.
The woman knows the status quo won’t last forever. Leon will fall in love again - she’s pretty sure he just can’t help it - and someday he’ll find a person who can give him what he needs. He’ll find someone who treats him right, someone who understands the gift that they’ve been given, and when that day comes, Ada won’t hold him back from happiness. Leon owes her nothing and this way he won’t feel guilty when it’s time for him to leave.
End