Turning – Chapter 1 – Freedom

Nine months, nine months in hell and torture from his captors, and he was finally, finally free. But he wasn't sure if that would last long.

He coughed up blood. His body was covered in black and blue, and his vision swam. John Egbert, is broken, beaten and bruised, and will probably die in ten minutes, maybe less. He wanted to go home so badly, but this wasn't his hometown, he doesn't know the street names, he doubts that he'd be able to read a phone book, let along use a phone. He closed his eyes, praying, hell, wishing that death would just come and take him already.

"Hey kid, you okay?"

John flinches and looks up at the teen that had talked to him. Short blond hair, a red and white shirt with a split record in the center, black designer jeans with black shoes and… shades? Who the hell wears shades in the middle of the night?

"P-Please don't hurt me... I-I don't want to be hurt anymore" John whimpered, not looking up at the other. "I-I don't want to go back a-and people only want to hurt me. Leave me alone I-I'll leave o-or die here but it doesn't matter j-just please go away" He coughed into his hands afterward. Whimpering softly now he pressed his head against the brick, and something warm runs down his face. He's crying. After John gave a small rub to his eyes, he turned to the man; those big blue orbs stared up terrified at the aviators.

John heard the guy sigh, and he flinched when he spoke. "Don't worry little guy, I'm not going to hurt you," John flinched again as the guy got closer to him, only shaking harder when he'd taken a notice of the teeth this other male had. Those… yeah those weren't normal. His eyes widened in fear when he realized that he couldn't go anywhere. "I'm going to make sure that you keep living." Was all the stranger said before he bit into his shoulder, and John used those beaver teeth of his to bite down on his lip to stop himself from screaming.

The stranger pulled away after a few seconds, and John opened his to talk to him, only to have the stranger to kiss him the next second. And he froze, knowing that he was probably making a face at this kid. Who the hell comes up to someone and says 'hey let me help' then bites you, then to compensate for biting you, kisses you? John tried to move back when he tasted blood, but the stranger had put his hand behind his head so that he couldn't move.

"Look," The next thing he knew, the lips were gone and in its place was the man's hand. "This next part is really going to hurt and, if I'm honest, pretty sure you're going to scream. So, don't panic if you pass out, I'm going to take you to my place after that and make sure the dickheads who did this to you pay, alright?"

He nodded in response, trembling under the hand of the blonde. Alright day so far, run away from your captors, sit beaten in an alley for nine hours, get found by a kid and ask him to go away, get kissed, bit, and now he's going to make you cry... to save you..? Right, RIGHT. In all of that, John just kept nodding.

"No need to keep nodding kid, I'm pretty sure I got the message." He said, looking around the alley anxiously, almost expecting the people who did this to jump out of thin air, much like he did. He quickly removed his hand from John's mouth. "Okay, do you remember where you came from or how far away you were from here? I think I'd be able to find out easily but I just want some reassurance here."

John nodded once again. "I-I came f-from that direction" He pointed shakily, to the north of them. "I-I don't know h-how far b-but it was run-down a-apartment complex. I-I was hidden i-in the basement that's where I l-locked the-" John's eyes clamped shut as he grabbed his shoulder. "Wh-what the hell?" He asked whimpering at first. He squeezed the wound to try and stop the pain but that didn't work so well. He cried out in pain.

To describe the pain, it would be like someone decided to pour liquid led into his shoulder, and his heart didn't know better and just continued to pump it through his veins. He began to scream out again, and was immediately grateful for the fact that the teen covered his mouth again. The burning traveled throughout his body, and it left an arousing tingle behind, before it started in his head. The pain from the previous injuries, the pain from the heat traveling through his veins, and the feeling of his brain shutting down from pain became too much, and John Egbert passed out in the care of a complete stranger who caused this pain.

Fuck.

John felt like he was reliving hell. Images of his captors beating him, spitting on him and the mental image of the stranger flew through his head, along with the painful tingling in his body made his body throb in pain. His eyes flew open when a phone went off, falling off of the couch and taking the blanket on top of him along for the ride.

A sharp pain came from his spine, and John yelped out as he took in his surroundings. There was a couch to his left which he fell off of, a couple of chairs scattered around the room, two hallways leading off to who knows where, and to his right was a coffee table with a decently large glass of water and a pill with a post-it not right by it. Sitting up a little more, he squinted and tried to make out the letters in red pen.

hey man hopefully your awake before i get back. anyways, im gonna be dealing with the guys who did this shit to you, so dont worry your pretty little head off if im not there

this is probably a shitty way to welcome you to texas but theres a glass of water that I put ice in (probably will be gone by the time you wake up) and an asprin, go ahead and swallow it, youve probably got a bad headache or body ache by now, both are kinda bad

ps this is the guy who saved your ass in case you couldnt tell

John nodded and quickly grabbed the glass and pill, swallowing it on the first go. It was at this point, he realized that he had to pee very badly. He stood up, shaking a little bit because of not being used to getting up and walking around for a long time. After wandering around the hallways looking in the rooms, he eventually found the bathroom and quickly went over to the toilet and opening the lid before dropping his pants and releasing the urine that had been held up in his bladder.

By the toilet there was a window and, looking out, John could see the sun peaking over the horizon. He hissed out, now knowing that he had been out longer than he thought, since it had been the middle of the night when the teen found him. He also thought about the note. So he was in Texas? That was pretty far, considering that he was captured in Washington. The captors probably moved him around state to state to make sure that they weren't caught.

After John was certain that he didn't need to pee anymore, he bent down and grabbed his pants and pulled them up, only to be stopped by something on his backside. He stood there for a few seconds before turning his head and looking down…

What the fuck. What the almighty fuck. When did he have a fucking TAIL growing out of his back?! This tail wasn't like one that you'd see on a monkey either; it was like a snake tail! Deep blue scales with the occasional turquoise flicked-oh my god it fucking moved-back and forth, caused by his emotions of fear and bewilderment.

John stared at the new addition before turning to the full body mirror he had seen next to the sink by the entrance. He stared at his reflection a little before moving forwards. The tail was clearly attached to his backside, scales melting into the skin almost naturally. His hands, how had he not noticed it before, were slightly webbed and the nails seemed more like talons the more he looked at them.

But his face, hell, his head was extremely altered from its original state. His skin tone over all seemed pale, but this could just be from not being out in sunlight for who knows how long. His pupils, instead of being circles, were slit like a cat's, and the dull blue that he had grown up with was now a brilliant sky color. His ears were nearly as pointed as an elf's, and they seemed to curve upwards as well. The scariest thing though, was that on the top of his head were two horns. They were small and curved outwards, and while the initial appearance of them seemed to be nubby, they were sharpened to a point.

As John continued to panic, a breeze began to blow around his back, and the wisps of air slowly became visible; forming a shape the more John's panic lasted. He stared at his reflection in wonder as the wind seemed to solidify, and the end result was terrifying.

Wings, John had two wings, the same color as the tail, sprouting from his back. He jumped back and slammed into the wall, pain shooting up from where the wings met skin. John looked at the wings, which flapped downwards and lifted him a few inches off of the ground. That simply made John lose his balance, and he wound up sitting down again.

John curled himself into a ball and took deep breaths, trying to remain calm (even though this situation was anything but normal). The more he calmed down, the less he felt the wings presence or the sensation of seeming to have two more arms sprouting from his back. Eventually, after calming down enough, he looked back at the mirror. Not seeing the wings in his reflection, he shakily got to his feet and made his way back to the couch slowly, trying not to trip or fall over his own feet.

After making it back to the cloth surface, he laid down, quickly falling asleep, hoping that this part had all been a crazy nightmare, but that he was still free.

AN: I would, first off, like to thank anyone reading this. This will be my first 'real' attempt at a Demonstuck story, and I hope that I will be able to continue this. Normally, when I start a story, I tend to just leave it alone after the first chapter. I do not want that to happen for this story, and I will try my best to not do my traditional banning ways.

This entire story, however, was inspired through a roleplay on MSPARP. The person I was Roleplaying with suddenly left (and s/he was John), so after chapter 2, I believe, it will be done on what I want to do with the story.

Finally, thank you for reading the first chapter of Turning, and I hope that you will enjoy what is to come.