He was once again wandering these same twisted halls. A never-ending maze of stone and darkness, shadows that haunted his every step and never left him alone.

'Why?'

The one simple question breathed into the space around him and sucked away in to the shadows that twisted and turned; fed upon everything he was and would be.

'What have I done to deserve this?'

He dropped to his knees, the strength leaving him. He had survived this once, but he couldn't do it again! Not again. He had barely made it out the first time with his sanity intact. What would happen this time?

The sound of liquid hitting the floor made him look down and he saw a familiar sight. His own blood trailing out of the many wounds to pool on the floor, a trail that always led them to him.

He started shivering, wanting out, but afraid of just ending up here again.

'Or had my freedom been a dream? Another of their tests?'

That thought hurt and he huddled in upon himself, tail and body wrapped close together. Even his eyes could not pierce this darkness, the hatred that fed it.

But he wasn't alone.

His ears flicked forward and he heard a soft noise, like the chiming of bells, coming towards him. He raised his head cautiously and looked down the hall. The noise came closer and closer till it was within sight and Cas cried out loud and launched himself forward-

-To Arian. But he stopped before he touched the Companion. He stared at him, not daring to breathe, afraid of being left alone in here again.

: You're not alone anymore, I'm here. I won't leave you. :

Cas shook at the feel of Arian's warmth, the peace that flooded into him.

: This is in your mind, you're frightened. But you can leave now. :

"Can I? Will I ever be free of this place?" Cas laughed silently, a twisted bitter sound that tore at the heart of the Companion in front of him.

: What is this place, Chosen? :

"My hell. The place where I lived for most of my life." Deep violet eyes turned and stared into blue. "This is what humans have done to me when they found me."

: But we won't. You won't go through this, : the Companion shuddered as he looked around again and Cas knew the darkness was trying to feed on his light. : Again. I won't let you. But you have to be the one to get out of here right now. :

"How?" The question was nothing more than a whisper, but Arian still heard it.

: Let us help you, take down your shields. : Cas looked carefully at Arian for a long moment but finally nodded.

"For you I will." And he felt something inside him relax and then give way. The darkness around him shifted to shades of green, cleansing everything they touched including Cas.

***

When next he opened his eyes he was laying in a tiled room and sunlight was shining through a window behind him. He looked around in confusion, wondering where he was, but a tapping sound behind made him jump. He turned quickly and saw Arian tapping at the window behind him.

"Arian?" The Companion nodded and tossed his head, mane flying and reflecting in the light. He reached shaking fingers over and undid the latch holding the window closed and then cautiously reached for his Companion, needing to know this was real, but also fearing what would happen to him, if it wasn't.

He was stuck with his hand out stretched, scared of going on, and scared of not. Arian decided for him and nudged his hand and Cas gasped as he felt the smooth, soft hide of the Companion.

Trembling with relief he launched himself through the window and clutched onto Arian's neck, holding on for his life.

Or his sanity.

: It's all right. I'm here; I'll always be here for you. :

'I know, I just want to hold on to this moment.' He heard Arian chuckle.

: Well I can tell you that you're doing a wonderful job of hanging on. : Cas just smiled and nuzzled his head closer to Arian's neck, content to stay that way fro a while, but voices from inside the room he had just left disturbed him and he looked back.

Inside the room a girl in gray clothing was looking frantically around. Curious Cas walked up to the window and leaned in.

"What are you looking for?" the girl started at the sound of his voice and turned to him quickly. She seemed relieved to see him there, but then she looked confused.

"I was looking for you and what are you doing out there?" Arian walked up beside Cas at that moment and the girl smiled. "Well I guess that answers my question doesn't it?" Cas looked from Arian to the girl and was glad that they seemed to understand what was going on.

"So, why were you looking for me?" he asked while climbing back into the room. He watched her eyes widen as he saw his full form.

"Can I ask you a question first?" Cas hesitated a moment before nodding. "What exactly are you?" Cas blushed slightly.

"I'm not entirely sure. But what do I look like to you?" he had always been curious about what other's thought. The girl walked up to him and circled him, while Cas tried to follow her with his eyes. She was smiling when she ended back up in front of him. "Well, your hair and skin seem human, except no one around here has the same colouring. It's a nice deep tan and your hair is a deep red, almost like it's been dyed." She steeped closer, and reached out to gently touch an ear, smiling when it twitched. "You have the ears and tail of a cat and they're slightly darker than your hair, but you probably knew that." Cas shook his head.

"I've never seen myself except what I can see from looking down." She frowned.

"That's not right. Well when were done here, I'll take you to a mirror, do you want me to continue?" Cas nodded. "Okay then. Your too thin for a human, but it's all muscle from what I can see. Your legs are longer too, and your feet are cat-like in structure, which is probably why you can move so quickly and jump so high. Also you seem to have very pretty violet eyes." He blinked at that, and she laughed. Well it's time to get you a uniform and for you to get cleaned up." Cas nodded and then looked back at Arian.

: I'll see you later, I promise. : He nodded and followed the girl out of the room and out into the halls. She continued talking the whole time, but Cas didn't mind, it was nice to hear another's voice in conversation, rather than anger or fear.

"I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Tori and you are?"

"Casimir." She smiled.

"That's cool. Well here is where all the classes take place." She motioned down a long hall with doors lining either side. His eyes widened. That was a lot of classes. "Up the stairs is another hall way divided into two by a large room where we all eat together. On this side of the room is the boy's side and the other belongs to the girls." He nodded again and she led him to another room. This one she knocked on and then entered after a moment.

In the room was an elderly lady sitting behind a cluttered desk checking through some papers.

"Hi again, I have our new trainee." The lady looked up at Cas and smiled.

"So I finally get to meet you." She put aside her papers and stood up moving around the desk to where the two stood. Cas looked up at her and nodded his head. "My name is Milan and I act as Housekeeper around here." Tori spoke up.

"Basically she gives us our chores and makes sure we do them." Milan smiled.

"True, but I try to be fair."

"And you are, there is no doubt about that." Cas looked at both of them. Chores? What kind of chores?

"Well first lets get you a uniform." She went to a closet located in the side of the room and started pulling out a bunch of gray clothing. She looked over at Cas and frowned slightly. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable in the clothing, so lets see what we can do, shall we? I'll take your measurements so we can tailor something to fit better later." Cas nodded his thanks and then took the pile of clothes from her. "I gave you extra long pants and if you put them on backwards, you can probably fit your tail through the opening. Don't worry, no one will notice they're backwards and as for the shirt, well, you're a little too thin and long in torso, so just try wearing the vest for now, so it doesn't look like your swimming in your clothing. It's warm enough to get away with that today and by tonight I'll have some proper clothes for you to wear." She then handed him a pile of sheets and a sheet of paper. "The sheets are for your bed and this paper will tell you what chores you have, if you have any problems you come and tell me alright?" Cas smiled.

"Thank you." She smiled back and then Tori led him back out into the hall, taking half the sheets from him.

"Come on, we'll deposit these in your room and then I'll show you where to get washed up." She led him down the hall and into another one, stopping at one of the doors and placing a slip of paper into the holder on the door. He looked at it, and figured it was his name. She opened the door and he looked around.

'This is all mine?'

It was small room and fairly simple, but he had it all to himself. He smiled and dropped his load of sheets on the bed and grabbed a pair of the clothes he had been given. Tori showed him the way to the bathing room and then told him how to get to the Common Room to eat.

"I'll see you there okay?" Cas smiled and she left. He entered the room and grabbing a cloth started removing all the dirt and dust from traveling. It felt good to finally be clean and he even had a chance to wash his hair, but as he was turning to grab his clothes he saw someone move out of the corner of his eyes and turned, ready for an attack-

-only to see himself.

In front of him was a hug mirror and he was finally looking at his own reflection.

"This is what I look like?" he moved closer and placed a hand on the cool glass and stared at himself. Tori had described him exactly, except she had missed the scars that lined his body.

The scars they had given him and some he had given himself.

He shuddered and turned away from his reflection, putting on his clothes and walking out of the room. Following Tori's directions he nearly made it to the Common Room without incident, but not quite.

Turning a corner he heard it. A familiar growl, one that caused his blood to freeze and his heart to pound. He froze and turned very slowly, praying he was just imagining it.

But he wasn't and he stood staring into viscous yellow eyes.

'Thought you could run, Casimir?' Cas shook as he stared at the creature slowly advancing on him. It was created from the shadows all around and therefore had no form of it's own, but it could still kill and cause pain as Cas knew all too well.

He couldn't scream.

Couldn't call for help.

But he didn't have to.

Within seconds of the creature's arrival, help came and strong arms grabbed him around the waist and pulled him out of the way just as the creature struck. A voice spoke words Cas didn't understand and the thing backed away, hissing and snarling but finally disappearing. He held on to the arms that held him, shaking, but alive.

"Well, that was a close one, wasn't it?" Violet eyes looked up at his savior and he felt himself go numb in shock.

Violet eyes stared at the face above him.

The one that wasn't human.

One that looked just like him.

A/N: sorry about the review thing, I didn't realize I had it clicked, but it's fixed now ^^;;;