Kingdom Hearts, Leon/Cloud, xeno, learning to deal with (and enjoy) the inhuman
Cloud would like to say he doesn't freak out at the unexpected. That after steeping in the Dark long enough to come up with his own brand of taint he doesn't judge anyone who manages to claw their way back to the Light. He's a lying liar though when it comes down to it because the first thing he does when he sees the horns is pull out First Tsurugi.
"Put that thing away this *instant* Cloud Strife or I'll string you on my clothesline from your scrotum!" Aeris is between him and the thing, but he's more scared of her than any Heartless fiend, so he puts the blade aside. Reluctantly.
"Shhh. He didn't mean that, he's just a dumb boy, er, no offense Leon." Aeris scritches between the wicked curving blades of horn, getting a throaty rumbling purr from the creature. What Cloud can see is all mismatched, bits and pieces taken from everywhere and Hojo-ed together into something altogether inhuman. Five crimson horns form a bloody razor crown on a vaguely feline head, lionine mane trailing into a human shaped torso and hips covered in dark brown fur, with splinters of bone arching from every major joint like painful, bloody protrusions. The feet are padded like and shaped like a Nibel wolf, the foreclaws a stretched mocking mesh of human fingers and a griffon's claws. Which would explain the enormous wings spreading from the thing's back, eagle in shape but covered in black fur that shaded into white feathers, with three bone claws where a bat's finger might reside.
Then he saw the spiked tail, it's end tipped in serrated bone, and adjusted his first thought. It was a monster Hojo would have wet himself to create. Even the demons in Valentine hadn't been this complete.
Valentine.
"Aeris... what... is going on?"
"Leon's not feeling himself, that's all. It happens sometimes. We all have our bad days, don't we?" She dug her fingers into the heavy mane, headless of the sharp fangs a half an inch from her face.
Cloud tried to see his friend, his sometimes lover, under the fur. There was a black line, like a familiar scar crossing the creature's face, and pale silver eyes watching him with steady calm indifference. When Aeris hummed he noticed she'd dragged a familiar silver pendant from the coarse fur, the metal gleaming in a silent roar.
"Leon?"
"Well who else would be this handsome hm? Don't get your panties too tight, he always comes back at the end of the day. He just needs to relax first."
Cloud wasn't sure he liked the way Aeris purred that last bit, or the way she stepped away from... from Leon and grabbed his arm.