(? POV)
Dark… Dark all around. Where was I? Pitch black, everywhere, left, right, up and down. I don't know where I am, why is this happening. I felt like I could move, but, it felt, unnatural, like, I wasn't used to moving.
Darkness surrounded me, but for some reason I felt warm, really warm. I wasn't uncomfortable either, it was soothing. I didn't really get it, but that's just how it felt. I tried to look down at myself, but, I couldn't see myself, was there really no light here?
I tried to move again, but just as before failed. What was wrong with me? As unnatural as I felt, this shouldn't stop me from getting up, what's going…
Suddenly, my senses lit up, I smelt something. It smelled good, whatever it was. I was surprised on how clear I could smell it… bacon? I think it was bacon, from what I could tell.
I felt my eyes open, slowly but surely, my vision was becoming more clear. It seemed I had been asleep, so that's what was happening. Looking forward, I saw a bed frame, and the pillow my head was laying on. I still felt tired, and my body felt really stiff, how long had I been asleep?
I tilted my chin up onto the pillow, I quickly picked up that smell I had in my first moments of waking. My eyes gazed over to a little counter next to the bed I was on, and a plate of bacon, and a few fruits sitting next to it. It smelled good, and I wanted to dig in to it, but something else came into my field of view.
There sitting in a chair next to my bed, was Xeta, undisguised, calmly and peacefully sleeping. He wasn't wearing his coat, in fact he wasn't wearing anything, something funny about that. I laughed it off, until my eyes gazed a bit more at the room I was in. This was… this was a cell?! Why was I in jail!? Why were we in jail!?
I kept thinking of what I had done that would have led to this, until I realized… I could see? Why could I see, I know I wasn't wearing my glasses. I didn't feel them on my face… come to think of it my head felt a bit weird. Like… was there bone sticking out of it?
I was about to look at myself until I heard a noise that caught my attention, Xeta seemed to be rustling. I looked over to him as I saw him open his eyes, look at me, then his face changing to one of pure shock.
"Elizabeth?!" He said, waiting for a response.
"Xeta?" I asked in a confused tone, "Xeta what-" I hadn't the time to finish speaking, before I knew it, he had jumped from the chair, and slightly onto the bed pulling me into an embrace.
"I'm… so glad, you're okay…" he was shaking, and his voice was shaky as well. I felt something wet drip down onto my… hair? Wait, why was there hair on my arm, and where are my clothes?
"It's so good t-to see you a-awake," he said through his sobbing.
"Xeta, what… what happened, what's going on-" I had attempted to lift my arm up to return the embrace, but as I lifted it, for one, it felt unnatural, and two, this wasn't my arm.
What I just lifted to my field of view, was a paw, three claws jutting from the joints at the end, white fur covering the rest of the arm… my arm. I moved a finger, and the paw moved a finger, I moved another, same result. I moved them all as Xeta had still had himself wrapped around me. My eyes started to grow wider, and my mouth slowly opened. My body convulsed, and shook, not understanding what I was feeling, or what was happening.
I felt my breathing stutter, my mind going into a frenzy at everything that was happening.
Xeta seemed to take notice of what I was looking at, "Elizabeth… listen I need you to-"
I didn't give him the chance, before his sentence ended I gave a scream at the top of my lungs, using all of my limbs to try and get away from the paw. It followed me, and I wound up slamming myself into the wall behind me. This was when I got a better look at myself. I had looked down to find not just the paw I had seen, but rather, more paws, and white fur. I was stunned, right then and there it felt like I had frozen solid.
Slowly but surely, I tried to move myself again. My legs, I needed to move my legs. I moved it, and sure enough, the fur covered leg moved as well. I moved a joint, and it followed as well.
Intrigue, confusion, fear, all emotions I was feeling right now. This didn't feel real, but deep down I knew it was. I started shaking my head.
"W-what… I don't… what…" I stuttered to speak, I really didn't understand what was happening.
"Elizabeth…" I looked up to the voice, Xeta was rubbing his eyes, trying to clear them, and he looked at me, concern plastered across his muzzle.
"Elizabeth, breathe…" I did as he asked of me, breathing still felt natural, that was a good thing.
"Now, just take a minute, okay?" he said, and I listened.
I did my best to keep calm, however it proved difficult, I did the best I could. My breathing was still very sporadic, and I was still shaking, but I did what was asked of me. I slowly but surely moved my han… paw to my face, and positioned my other paws to where they felt comfortable. I laid my paw up against my face, I felt the fur from my face and paw collide, rubbing against each other. That was a new discovery, I had fur on my face too. As I moved my paw, I felt the shape of my face, that too had changed, my face had extended outward, and I felt my nose… it was wet, like a dogs.
I moved past that and felt what I had felt just a minute ago, the bone in my head. My claws connected to something, and latched onto it a little. It was firmly attached to the right side of my skull, no matter how I pulled, it didn't budge, and it pulled my head along with it. On the other side, I had like a patch of fur that hung down like a large bang on the side of my head.
I lowered my paw down to my chest, where I was met, with a rather pleasant sight. I had, almost like a mane, large amounts of fur grew from around my neck, and wrapped around to the front of my chest… it was fluffy… After that I looked behind to see, I had a tail. After a second of figuring that out, I was able to make it move from side to side, it was stiff, but it still moved. It seemed to possibly be made of the same material as my horn.
After my inspection, I was still shaking, shock filling my entire body to my body. I tried to slow my breathing best I could, still having some difficulty doing so. I looked up at Xeta, who had stayed quiet, he must've wanted me to speak first.
He didn't have to wait long, "Xeta… what happened?"
"I uh… I'll tell you everything, but first, are you hungry?" he asked in a concerned tone.
I would have said no, being more worried about my body, until I realized that I was actually starving, to the point where I actually felt kinda sick. So without much hesitation, I nodded, readily waiting for the food. He got up and walked over to the little counter next to the bed. While he was doing that, I struggled for a second, trying to sit up. I realized my legs were canine like, so I need to figure out how to sit. After a bit of struggling I think I was able to find myself comfortable, front legs supported my front, while I sat back, my legs positioned to what I thought was correct, not too sure though.
After my struggles I looked over at Xeta, who was at the desk nearby the bed. There was the plate of food, and a glass of iced water. He brought over the plate and laid it down in front of me.
He got back up again and picked up the glass of ice water. While he did so I looked down at the plate. I looked at the food, then to my paws, then back to the food. I started to become really confused and annoyed. What was I supposed to do? Was I just supposed to eat with my mouth now? With my realization I turned to Xeta.
"Uh… Xeta… How do I eat with these?" I gestured to my paws.
"Oh uh…" He seemed in thought for a moment, "Try using your claws, stab what you want it eat with it, they left us some napkins so don't worry about getting them messy or anything."
I looked at my claws, and decided I'd go ahead and give it a try. I gently poked my claw into one of the grapes on my plate. Sure enough, as I lifted it back up, the grape stayed stabbed in. I won't deny the achievement of doing this actually made me kind of happy, even for how trivial it was. I went ahead and brought the grape up to my mouth, and pulled it off my claw using my teeth.
One thing is for certain, I didn't know how all of this worked yet, but that was the best tasting grape I've ever had in my life. I don't know what it was, maybe my senses were heightened or something, but it was so good! I smiled, and was about to dig in, but I stopped myself.
"Do… you want to eat too?" I asked Xeta.
"No, you haven't eaten in days, you eat, I can get them to get me something later," he explained. I wondered who "they" were, and I questioned what he meant by days, but dropped it due to my hunger.
I tried the bacon next, it took me a sec to get a grip on it, but once I eventually did, I was able to eat the piece in one go. I was surprised that it was actually pretty easy for me to tear through my food. I ate the rest of the grapes and bacon, and felt relieved afterwards. Xeta noticed my claws and handed me a napkin. I took it, and tried to wipe my claws my rubbing them together with my other. I noticed that I had trouble keeping myself balanced, but worked through it best I could.
Once I finished, he took the napkin, and gestured to the water cup he was holding.
"Thirsty?" he asked.
"Yeah, definitely," I replied.
"Do you want me to hold the cup?" he asked.
I felt a bit hurt by that question, I'm not that helpless, at least, I'm pretty sure I wasn't. I didn't want to just give up, I wanted to try and hold it.
"No, let's me try first, I might be able to do it like you," I said.
He nodded, and held the cup up to me, I reached out with both my paws and took hold of the cup, so far so good. But that soon turned to disaster, as I felt myself fall forward. Why couldn't I balance!? Thankfully I didn't go falling and spilling the drink, for Xeta caught me, and grabbed hold of the cup as I gripped it as well.
"You okay!?" He asked.
"Uh.. y-yeah! Why couldn't I balance?" I asked.
"Not sure, just sit back, I'll hold the cup for you okay?" he said.
He had a grip on the cup, and I sat back, sitting like before. He held the cup up to me, and I took hold of the cup with my teeth, and used my paw to push the cup where I needed it, and Xeta kept it supported. After having all I needed, I pushed back the cup, and while Xeta put it back on the desk I wiped my mouth with my arm.
"Better?" he asked.
"Yeah… Alright, now then… Xeta, what happened?" I asked, expecting an answer.
He sat back down, "Alright… tell me what you remember."
I thought back on it, "I remember… the school… and…! We were attacked, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, that's right, what else?" he said, waiting for me.
"I… I was, taken hostage, you fought off some of those creatures alongside the police, and the one that had me. I remember fighting it, and… falling through the roof?" I recalled. Thinking back, my memories started to come back from that day.
"I fell… and, I was trapped under rubble, you came over and…" My eyes widened, I just remembered what had happened. Xeta lifted the rubble, and I had been impaled… I grabbed hold of my chest. Remember the pain from then made me start to panic.
"Elizabeth!? What's wrong?!" he asked.
My breathing became heavier, "I was stabbed, Impaled, you had to rip me off… ha… ah… That pain was… Oh god…"
I increasingly became upset, I remembered the pain too vividly, and it began to make me tear up. The rebar scraping across my wounds as I was pulled off, the feeling of fire spreading throughout my body as the wound closed, and the terrible feeling of blood being forced from my throat… I started bawling, it was horrible, so horrible.
In my state, Xeta had come and sat on the bed next to me, bringing me into a much calmer embrace. I just sobbed in his arms this time, taking my time to get over my shock once again.
"It's okay, you're okay… you're okay…" he tried to sooth me. From his voice I could tell he was also not doing so well about all of this.
This made me realize something however, "Xeta… how am I… alive?"
I was given no response.
"Xeta! How am I alive!?" I asked again, expecting an answer.
"I don't know!" He said backing away from the hug.
"It's gotta be something, I didn't just survive that, and I didn't just turn into this, so what happened!?" I asked more firmly.
He shook his head, "I don't know!" he screamed that time.
I backed off that time.
"I don't know what happened, but something did, and I think I did it!" he said.
"You think? What do you mean you think?" I asked.
"I don't know what happened exactly, but I remember using… something, some kind of energy on you, I don't know what exactly my plan was there, but it was almost like my body just did it, and I went along with it… You were dying, I was desperate to save you, so I did it and… I think it might've…" he didn't want to finish it seemed.
"You changed me? You turned me into this?" I asked.
"Maybe… damn it I don't know!" he said again.
I looked down at my body again… From what he said, I was dying…
"Xeta… if I hadn't changed… would I have died?" I asked.
"You… you were in such a bad state, before I passed out you… You seemed dead already…" He said.
"I died…?" My eyes widened.
"I… either you had or you came really close, you were hurt too bad," I said.
So… I nearly died, yet again…
"Xeta…" I said.
"Yeah..?" He said back.
"Thank you… you saved me…" I looked up at him, smiling.
He looked up at me in surprise, "You aren't… angry or anything?"
"How could I be? It was either this or I die, and you saved me," I said, sad that he would even think I'd blame him for this.
He looked away from me and smiled, "I'm just… so glad you're alive…"
"I'm glad you're okay as well…" I said, "I thought, I didn't know what was gonna happen there."
He nodded, "Yeah…"
I decided I would try to get up now, I got up on my legs, and pushed my way up, standing on the bed. Yeah, this was not a good idea, because before I knew it I came crashing down as soon as I tried to walk. Xeta hadn't noticed, and I landed with a thud, and a slicing sound resonated in the room as I landed.
"ARGH! What the!?" I said, my mind trying to figure out why I just fell like that.
"Elizabeth you okay!?" I asked.
"Yeah… just lost my footing," I tried to pull myself up, but I was stuck it seemed. I realized that my horn just sliced into the bed. After a few second of struggling, I ripped it out, and bedding ripped out along with it.
"That thing is sharper than I expected," he said.
"No kidding," I said rubbing it.
"What did you try to do?" Xeta asked.
"I tried to stand up," I said, "I must still be stiff from how long I was asleep."
"Want to try again? I'll catch you if you fall," he said.
"Yeah, sure," I replied.
He stood up and waiting for me to make a move. I tried once more to stand up, but started losing balance as soon as I did. Xeta held me up, and I tried to walk on them. This wasn't just unbalanced, this felt unnatural, like moving on two legs just wasn't possible without someone holding me up, even then it didn't feel good.
I dropped back down, "What… I…"
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"This isn't working, trying to stand on two legs doesn't work!" I said.
"What?" he asked.
"It's unnatural, like, it kinda even hurts to try and do that, what's…" I was still confused, why wasn't this working.
"Oh no…" I heard Xeta say.
"What, what is it?!" I asked scared.
"You… you said you can't move on two legs right?" he said.
"Yeah! But you can, I should be able to as well!" I said.
"Try… try walking on all fours," I said.
"What!?" I asked.
"Just try… okay?" He said.
I gave a huff, giving it a try, standing on my front legs and back legs… It felt… natural?! In my shock, I decided to step forward, one foot at a time on the bed. I took my time with it, and sure enough, this felt right.
"How does it feel?" Xeta asked.
"It feels… fine, but why!?" I asked, still not fully understanding what was happening.
"It seems you're four legged…" he said.
"I.. what.. No…" I said starting to freak out.
"Elizabeth, it's okay," he tried to tell me but I wasn't listening.
"NO! No it's not, I can't hold anything, I can't even stand on my own two legs, and that's OKAY!?" I gave a huff. The rest so far wasn't all that bad, but this takes the cake. I feel humiliated…
"You're right… It's not…" I heard Xeta say.
I looked over to him.
"It's not okay… But, whatever it takes, I'll help you get used to it," He smiled.
I looked down, I was forgetting, while it's not the same, he's gone through this before. I should be thankful he's here, otherwise I might go crazy. Even then, if it wasn't for this, I'd be dead, that's the whole truth, he saved me. I took a minute to calm down.
"Sorry… I just-" I tried to say but was stopped.
"No, it's okay, it isn't like that for me, I don't know what you're feeling right now," he said.
"Well, outside of being stuck on well, four legs, it's very similar," I said back.
"I guess so, again though, I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll help you learn as best I can," he reassured.
"Thanks," I said, while I scratched my claws through my mane.
"Why are you doing that?" He asked.
"Oh uh… it's fluffy?" I said with a sort of embarrassed smile.
The face Xeta made, was sort of a mix of shock and bewilderment, and before I knew it, I saw a small smile form, then a snicker, and then he was laughing. He was laughing so calmly, and so genuinely. I don't know why, but it was kinda contagious, and I started laughing at my very simple gesture as well.
I don't think I'd seen him smile like that in a long time, it was worth seeing. I felt a lot of my worries melt away as I started to laugh as well, it helped a lot I think. Once we both started to settle down from our laughing fit, I wanted to learn some things about my body. Even though what I had learned wasn't all good, there were some positives I wanted to ask about.
"Say uh, Xeta?" I said trying to get his attention.
"Y-yeah? What's up?" He asked back.
"I… can see clearly, like, everything is just, so clear, it's insane," I said.
"Yeah, it's kinda nuts, you can see things from so much farther too, well I think at least, I don't know everything that is different between us," He said.
"Yeah.. hey, whatever happened to my glasses?" I asked.
"I don't think they ever found them, they might be broken," Xeta explained.
"I see… well, bright side is I don't think I need them anymore," I said.
"Hey, that's.. Actually pretty cool," he said.
"Haha, yeah," I said back, but this brought me up another question, "Say uh… I know your eyes changed color, what color are mine now?"
"Uh… oh, they're red, like mine," he said.
"Wow… that's, kinda cool haha," I said, "What color is the fur on my face?"
"Same color as your claws, that darkish grey or blue, whichever it is," he said.
"I see, that's weird, my claws definitely aren't fur, so that's confusing," I said.
"It is a little, but not bad you know?" he said.
"Yeah, I don't think it's bad either," I said, "Wait a second, I gotta try this again."
"Try what?" he asked.
I turned around and started wagging my tail, that really and truly just occurred to me, I HAVE A TAIL! This felt so unreal, I had always wondered what this felt like, and now I get to experience that. Now this was actually kinda neat!
"I can tell ya, my first time truly realizing that I had a tail as well, was just about the same as that," Xeta said.
"Seriously this is too cool!" I said.
"I'm… glad to see you can find some enjoyment in this," he said.
"I mean… this is still very strange, and losing the ability to walk normally sucks, but… I don't think this will be all that bad," I said.
"Yeah… Oh… uh…" Xeta stammered.
"What? What is it?" I asked.
"You're uh… well… Not wearing anything," He said, I noticed he had become flustered, he must have just realized it.
I looked down at myself, "Oh… Well, jokes on you, you aren't wearing anything either!"
"Uh well I mean-" he stammered.
"Come on, like it matters at this point, we have fur right?" I asked laughing a bit.
"Well uh… yeah but still," he said, but I tapped him with my paw.
"Come on, stop being so flustered, it's weird for both of us if anything, and yeah… trust me I find this pretty weird," I laughed to myself a bit.
Xeta gave a laugh as well, "Hahaha, yeah, it's not exactly the most comfortable of feelings, but, we'll get used to it, and on another not, at least we have fur."
"Yeah, at least that makes me feel… not so naked at the very least," I said.
A few minutes of us laughing for a minute, Xeta spoke up again.
"You're probably wondering why we're in jail still right?" he asked.
Yep, that had slipped my mind, "Oh.. yeah… why are we?" I asked, becoming a bit scared of the answer.
"Well, it's not what you think, news kinda got out about like, the creatures and stuff, and well, all of them are being held here, for our safety to an extent," Xeta explained.
"Oh… Well that sorta makes sense, but why a jail? WAIT, is that guy-" I started to say.
"No… we got him… he's not…" he stopped.
"I see… At least… we don't have to worry about him coming after us anymore," I said.
"Yeah, that's, over with, for now at least," he said.
"There's still a lot to think about, what comes after this?" I asked.
He shook his head, "I truly don't know, I've let the police know everything I do, so they might come to ask us more questions eventually, and maybe help out Bruce and that other creature."
"Wait, Bruce is here, I thought you killed him?!" I asked.
"He lived, he's that dragon creature you saw, him and that other girl who seems to be wrapped up in all of this are the others here," He said.
"Other girl? What's she look like?!" I asked expecting an answer.
"I uh well, looks pretty human, green hair or helmet, white dress, pink spike-" I heard all I needed.
"SUNNY!" I yelled out.
"WAIT WHAT?!" he yelled back.
"That's Sunny, I had met up with her before I got caught with everyone else, that's her, I'm sure of it!" I said.
"Wait is that true?! Is that really her?" He asked back.
"Unless I'm somehow wrong, that's her, I heard that bastard say it himself," I replied.
"How… how did they even… they must've done the same thing they did to Bruce, seeing as how he's back too," He said.
First Sunny, then Bruce, they both lived!? I don't get it… well no, I can, I survived too didn't I? What did those people do to them and Xeta, this is nuts. First healing all wounds, then reviving, then having the creatures somehow revive others. This was a lot to take in…
Wait… I just remember…
"My parents…" I said.
"What?!" He asked.
"My parents… oh no… do they know?!" I asked.
"I'm not sure, but they're probably worried sick," he said.
"Oh god… will they even accept me like this!? I thought things were getting just a bit better, but now… now this… They'll hate me…" I said, doubt filling my mind.
"They're still your parents, Elizabeth, I'm sure, they won't hate you, and if the worst does happen, I'm here for you all the way," he said.
I gave a breath, "Yeah… same to you, don't forget that okay?"
He nodded, "Of course… now then, just in case they do come to question us, or if we need to move, I think you need to learn how to walk," he said.
"Yeah… this is still pretty new, can you help me down?" I asked.
"Sure," he said.
He grabbed me best he could, and gently helped me get my way onto the ground. I stood on all my legs, trying to figure out exactly how I was gonna do this all time. I started practicing once again, one paw, then the next, and then my next, and then my last. I did that cycle once again, and again, and again. The pattern continued to get easier as I kept going. I walked from one wall, back to the gates of the cell, then back again.
"You seem to be doing okay," Xeta said.
"Yeah, but it's not easy, I have to focus all of my focus on walking, it's not a natural thing anymore, I'm afraid I'll trip myself at any moment here," I said.
"Well, it's a good start at least, you're able to walk," he said.
"Yeah, thankfully, say uh, do you know when an officer will come by to talk?" I asked.
"Uh… maybe around lunch?" He said.
"Okay, that's good, I want to at least have this down before then," I said.
"Alright, well you're making good progress so far," He said.
"Was it this hard for you as well, these legs don't bend like humans, your's don't either right?" I asked.
"Yeah, that's right, I have to use my tail to balance, which was annoying at first," he said.
"Do you have to do that all the time?" I asked.
"Yep, otherwise I'll fall," he said.
"I see… oh yeah, I can't speak to anyone can I?" I asked.
"Yeah… that's the rough part," Xeta said.
"Great… as if the explanation to my parents wasn't gonna be hard enough," I said.
"Well, at least I can try to be a translator," he said.
"Well, that's good at least, okay, so while we wait on an officer to bring lunch, I'mma keep practicing my walk, then I want to practice jumping," I said.
"Alright, let's just keep it going then, just tell me if you need help," he said.
"Yeah, no worries," I replied.
I continued my practice, going around the room best I can with my movement, I would practice this for a while longer, waiting for the officers so I can figure out what else is happening. This body, was gonna take some getting used to, but, at least I had the best person that could possibly help me here. I just hope I'm able to walk well enough before the officers get here.
Until then, gotta keep practicing.