He gasped, a sudden heat burning all over him, inside and out. What was this heat? Oh, it was the very air, the air was so warm, he couldn't stand it, and there were prickling little blades folded between his naked body and the ground. Oh no, he was naked, why was he naked, why was he naked and hot and uncomfortable and surrounded by noises, what happened, why couldn't he Blink away or fix his outfit or do anything?

Daud!

The memory rushed in all at once, filling his head, even more overstimulation. It was only two moments ago, that vicious fight, Daud with his wondrous powers turned against the very one who'd granted them, Daud the stupid bastard, oh it was such a mistake to ever Mark him-

Someone started jostling his shoulder, and he still couldn't Blink away, and the air was still so warm, and the blades were still itching his skin. He turned his head up and there was a bright light but a man's head was blocking it partially.

The man was talking to him, his voice soft but growing frantic. "-hear me? What happened?"

Squinting against the bright hot light, he recognized this man. "Corvo," he breathed out, feeling the name tangibly rise up through his throat and leave his lips on the strange hot air.

Upon hearing that voice, an ineffable look came over Corvo's face. "Oh- by the Void," he said, softer but more frantic. "Are you really- Outsider?"

"Do you- not rec- recognize me?" The sentence came out brokenly; he was relearning how to breathe.

Corvo knelt down as the Outsider sat up. "You- you look a bit different. Your clothes, your eyes, your... body. What happened?"

"It was Daud." The Outsider sounded choked up.

"Daud," Corvo said, with confusion and some venom.

"He-" The details of the conflict were fuzzy, unclear, a mess in his mind. "He attacked me. Ousted me from my domain." The blades under his body were grass; a short-clipped lawn; the grounds of Dunwall Tower. He combed his fingers through the green wet with dew.

"Ousted you? How- Never mind. Tell me all about it later." Corvo took off his outer jacket and put it around the shivering pale figure.

The Outsider pulled his attention away from the grass to look at Corvo again. "What's-"

"Please, we should get inside, before more people see you. Can you stand?"

"I believe so." Legs wobbling, he managed to rise, the long flaps of Corvo's jacket somewhat hiding his bare body.

Corvo put his arm around the Outsider's torso and started helping him walk, for it was something he hadn't done in the Void, hadn't needed to do, not in thousands of years. Close to where they'd started, the Outsider shuddered and fell once, onto hands and knees. He mutely accepted Corvo's hand to help him back up and back on their way.

"Will you be here long?" Corvo asked uncertainly.

"If I could return, I would have already done so," the Outsider said sourly.

The grass still itched his feet, and the air was still warm. Everything was warm here. It didn't feel like it had on his brief previous visits to the human world. Even the Outsider's body itself felt warm, pulsing- oh, he had blood now, blood in his veins and air in his chest and dirt on his knees- oh, he was... human.

"The guard patrol will be coming along soon," Corvo said. "I cannot simply hide you away. What should we tell them?"

"I'm human," the Outsider said, his words scarcely more than a breath.

"Well I wasn't about to tell them who you really are, but we need a more specific story than-"

He cut in, "No, I'm human," and punctuated it by squeezing onto one of Corvo's arms. "I- I am human." He was both frightened and intrigued.

Corvo turned his head and looked again at the slightly smaller man- if man he truly was now, not god. "Daud? Daud turned you human?" Even to Corvo who wasn't an Abbey follower by any means, it seemed almost sacrilege that the Master of the Void could be made mortal.

"He- he meant to kill me but-" The Outsider couldn't finish the sentence, couldn't put together any more words. Frightened and intrigued, and still overstimulated by his body's warmth and the sun's light and the grass' texture. He buried his face in Corvo's side, hiding in the familiar smell of him.

"Are you all right?" Corvo asked, stopping their walk for a moment.

"I don't know." He breathed in, purposely this time, fueling his fresh body with Corvo's scent. "Yes. I think so." He looked back up at the man. "What's different about my eyes?"

Corvo blinked, a little thrown by the ala carte question. "They're... not black anymore."

"Oh? Curious." The Outsider pulled Corvo to start walking again, on the cobblestone path now, away from the odious grass blades. "Come. I'd like to look in a mirror."

"Careful, you're... showing," Corvo said, nearly stumbling over the word. He rushed to stand in front of the Outsider, and did his best to more firmly close the long jacket over his front. "It will be hard enough to explain a sudden guest in the tower, let alone one who's hardly wearing anything."

The Outsider laughed a small small laugh. "I am glad the Void spat me out near to you and not anywhere else, dear Corvo."