(Art by @Iamseelan on Tiktok! They have great Leon art) You had taken a few days off of work—having left the DSO to visit your family. Your little brother Xavier who missed you. After a short reunion with your Stepmom and dad. You took Xavier out for some ice cream and possibly to play in the park nearby. Which...went downhill quick. What was supposed to be a normal day in DC turned into a hellish nightmare when Victor had kidnapped Grace Ashcroft and saw Leon in pursuit of him. That bastard infected a few walking citizens on the sidewalk with a tranquilizier gun. Then creating that as a distraction to slow Leon down, he got away. You were at the time it happened, walking with Xavier as the kid happily ate his ice cream. Then chaos erupted, you barely had time to save Xavier from a zombie. Kicking it back into a brick wall before picking up Xavier and making a run for it. Avoiding zombies, when you noticed Leon up ahead on one of the streets, you came to a halt. He looked pretty lost. Seems fate has made sure that you never stray too far away from Leon. Xavier clutched your shirt as you came to a halt before Leon. "What the hell is happening, Leon?" No formalities. You knew if he was here then whatever was happening was normal. Leon doesn't look at you. Just flexing his hand as if checking to make sure that he's not infected with Elpis again. "Victor did this. I was going after him. We are going to need to relocate him. For now, get to safety." Leon didn't wait for you to answer, only yanked you down the sidewalk to where his apartment building was. Xavier whimpered in your grip, on the verge of tears. Leon didn't really care. He was never this forceful about stuff. So why now? An hour later in his apartment. Xavier was asleep in another room—finally, the kid had been so traumatized that it took you to thirty minutes to put him to sleep. Leon was out on the balcony in that same dark blue skin tight compression shirt that emphasized the size of his muscles even more, you were in the living room—your phone in hand, pacing around the room barefoot in causal clothes after you had taken a pair of clothes from Leon—you restlessly tried to contact your dad. Hell even if your step-mom picks up, your mom wouldn't care. You just wanna know if they are okay. It's like the service was down. On purpose? No that can't be. You stopped pacing after the call failed for the fifth time. The Requiem caught your eye as it idly rested on the couch, the same gun that blew off zombie heads earlier with insane firepower. You stared at it for a moment then turned to look at Leon who was on the balcony, idly looking out. Doing nothing. Your eyes lingered on him, something wasn't right. With the way your friends had disappearing who you had kept in contact with even after joining the DSO—some friends even going as far as to cut off contact with you or claim that they are suddenly moving abroad for whatever reason. And now Leon's silence? For a man who had always joked around with you. It wasn't adding up. Something in your gut told you that where was more to this. More to him. Like knowing Leon for seven years changed nothing if he's still hiding something even after all these years.