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It had been the most exhilarating experience of his life, escaping from Raccoon City with an Umbrella-made bioweapon. For someone uptight about the law and obeying it, Leon had certainly gone against it, stealing the Tyrant and making sure Umbrella would never get its grimy hands on it again.
As silly as Leon thought it was, he had fallen for the damn creature. Those oddball fairy tales of the woman falling in love at first sight had always seemed ridiculous to him, yet here he had gone ahead and done exactly that.
Rather than falling for looks, it was when Leon encountered the Tyrant in the sewers. Of course, he had been feeling "off" since meeting it in the police station, but it wasn't until the sewers that reality hit Leon like a ton of bricks.
The Tyrant had killed one of those mutated G-forms that was lurking underneath the murky water. It managed to get the upper hand on Leon, hitting him with the strangest poisonous rats and knocking him down.
But then, like his personal guardian, the Tyrant tore it to shreds, enraged that something would dare try to hurt Leon. Shocking, yes. Disturbing? Not in the slightest.
It took him to a small storage room that had an elevator inside, hidden behind a set of lockers. Leon didn't have the strength to free himself from its hold, thanks to the poison rattling his body.
And in the most shocking turn of events, it obtained a blue herb, grinding it to powder and helping Leon take it. Almost instantly, the poison started to dissipate, and he felt like he could breathe again.
That was when he realized what the "off" feeling he had was. And he knew, based on the way the Tyrant treated him and responded to him, that it felt the same.
Leon could hardly believe it at first. It seemed like something straight out of a science fiction novel! And yet, he still trusted it. He trusted that it wasn't a delusion he had made up.
When they finally escaped the underground lab, Leon wasn't sure what to do. If any other person saw the two of them, they'd panic, but he couldn't go back to Raccoon City now that it was destroyed.
Thankfully, Claire stepped in, forcing her brother to re-house the two somewhere they'd be safe from the pharmaceutical company hellbent on creating viruses.
And for the past two years, that's where they've been staying. Leon managed to find a job as a prison guard, and he'd been teaching the Tyrant how to use sign language to communicate.
It was a good idea since it was finally able to explain to Leon why it was drawn to him. He assumed it had been something primal since the Tyrant didn't act human in its entirety, but that was far from it.
Leon was on the same wavelength as it. Isolated, different, and wishing he could find someone to relate to. The Tyrant had felt the same way but was only unable to express it due to its limited speech patterns.
It was sad to see a creature yearn for a human connection after years of being trapped in a tube, restricted from living and being itself. Leon didn't pity the Tyrant, but he did feel sorrow at the ordeal.
Learning that and knowing about Umbrella's inhumane experimentation, Leon knew that escaping with the Tyrant had been the best idea. Who knew what would have happened to it if it remained in Raccoon City?
Leon couldn't think like that; he refused to think of his partner being killed and treated like a pawn. It wasn't right.
But he didn't have to think much about it. There had been so many trips, experiences, and things that the two of them did together that glued the shattered pieces of their hearts together. While other humans and corrupted scientists had tried to break them down in the years before, nothing would stand in their way now that they could work together.
Together. The idea of being a team kept Leon headstrong and determined; it kept the Tyrant alive and willing to push itself for Leon.
So, now that it had officially been two years, they sat in a snowy park, watching birds and geese gawk at the frozen ponds before them and wonder why they couldn't swim.
Leon leaned against the Tyrant, content to stay there and relax in its warmth and security. Nothing else in the world mattered-- not when he was spending time with the being that meant the most to him.
"So, I got us something. But I might have to explain it to you," he whispered, his cheeks burning at what he was hiding from his partner.
It adjusted itself so it could sign properly.
"What is it?"
Leon trembled, reaching into his coat and feeling two boxes brush against his fingers. Oh, gosh, this was it.
"W-well, you see...when two people love each other, they...they give each other special...things," Leon stuttered uncontrollably, watching as the Tyrant tilted its head.
"You mean marriage?"
Curse its intuitive thinking skills! Leon nodded, wanting to bury his face in the snow as he slowly took the two boxes out, presenting them to the nearly 9-foot monster sitting at his side.
"I...I was going to, uh, propose, but that's stupid; I'm sorry." Leon cringed at how pathetic he sounded, the humiliation sinking in further than it had before.
The Tyrant took one of the boxes, the one with the much larger ring, and examined it, making sure the winter sun was shining on it.
"I'm sorry I'll just…" Leon trailed off as it slipped the ring on its hand; its ungloved hand.
It took a closer look, lost in thought for the briefest of moments, before looking at Leon.
The Tyrant tried, despite the lack of facial muscles, to smile. It raised its hands, signing an unbelievable sentence.
"It’s not stupid. Here," It gently took his comparably tinier box, pulling the smaller ring out. The Tyrant grabbed Leon's hand, lifting it and sliding the ring onto his finger.
Leon held back a waterfall of tears, breathing quickly as it held his hand close.
"We can do this together. Like you always say, we're a team."
He nodded, wiping the few tears that managed to slip out. Leaning up, Leon gingerly placed his lips on the Tyrant's, holding its face with one hand and leaning into it.
For the few moments that they stayed like that, Leon felt a strange bliss wash over him. Like this was meant to be, like the entire world had frozen and left the two of them moving.
And Leon couldn't be happier.