A/N: Thank you BerserkerRageX-Girl for your reviews! ^__^
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A small beam of moonlight flittered through the window casting shadows in every direction. Luke lay awake listening to the steady, even breathing coming from Nikki's sleeping form. He was becoming restless with each passing minute, each breath that echoed around the silent room.
Climbing to his feet he padded over to Nikki's bed and gently shook his shoulder.
"Hey," he whispered, "Wake up."
Nikki sat up and shot into the corner of the bed, curling himself up as much as he could and staring unseeingly at Luke with huge eyes, breathing hard.
He seemed to get his bearings and un-tensed slightly, although he was still shaking a bit from the adrenaline.
"WHAT?!" he snapped, annoyed at having been woken and at his own behavior.
"Shh!" Luke shushed him holding his hands up, "We're getting out of here."
Nikki blinked at him tiredly, pulling his sleep-unruly hair back from his face with a hand, whiles clutching a pillow with the other. He looked up at Luke skeptically.
"A-ha... and just HOW long have you not been taking your meds for?"
Luke glared down at the boy and folded his arms over his chest, "I don't take 'em at all," He scowled his eyes shifting to the door, "Hurry up and get what you want to take with you, we're leaving in five minutes." He said over his shoulder as he walked over to the door.
Nikki shrugged and hopped off the bed, rooting underneath for his shoes.
"Y'know, there's not much here I wanna take..." he said, grinning, "So what's your plan anyway?"
A feral grin passed over Luke's features, "Just wait right there..." Suddenly he fell to the ground on all fours a half choked scream escaping from his lips.
Nikki wasn't the most mentally stable of fifteen year olds. There was a reason he was in the asylum, and he had been getting worse, despite his recent apparent recovery. Seeing Luke's body changing in front of him was a bit much for his fragile mind. He yelped and dived under the bed, pressed against the wall and hiding his face with his hands.
Luke squeezed his eyes shut feeling his teeth grow larger and sharper, his hands and feet transform into paws, and thick black and gray fur coat his body. Snapping open his eyes again, the pain of transforming slowly dulling, he sat down and whimpered, now fully in his wolf form.
Nikki peeked out between his fingers as he watched the transformation, unable to believe what was happening despite it being in front of his very eyes.
He froze, totally still and silent, and tried to merge himself with the wall behind him.
Standing up, Luke sniffed the air then slowly approached the bed and lay down.
'It's alright Nikki, it's just me.' He sent telepathically.
Nikki heard the voice in his head and jumped, hitting his head on the slats of the bed above him. He rubbed it ruefully.
"Luke?"
'Yea, sorry if I scared you.' He whimpered and sat up.
Nikki stared at the wolf with huge eyes. "That's you?" He stretched his hand out, but drew it back again, shaking his head. "I've gone really mad this time."
Luke stood up and wagged his tail, 'It's me, really.'
Nikki, watching him warily all the while, crawled out from under the bed.
"Why are you a dog?" He asked
Luke shrugged the best he could in his wolf form, 'I don't know... I've always been able to do this, well since I was twelve.'
Nikki put a hand out.
"Can I ..." he asked hesitantly
Luke nodded sitting down, his tail wagging behind him.
Nikki gingerly touched just the tips of his fingers on Luke's fur, but stroked it more boldly, losing himself in the feeling. "It's soft," He murmured detachedly.
Luke's back leg began to twitch then stomp at the floor as Nikki's hand ran over an itch.
Nikki pulled his hand back fast, but laughed at Luke as his foot scratched an invisible itch. "What were we doing?" He asked, knowing something important was supposed to be happening at that point.
'Oh,' Luke's head jerked up, 'We're getting out of here,' He stood up and shook then walked over to the door and stopped, 'start screaming for help, then cover your eyes.'
Nikki looked puzzled, but didn't question Luke.
He took a deep breath and screamed, "HELP! FIRE! FLOODS! FAMINE!" he tried not to giggle as he caught his breath then screamed for help properly
Luke looked over his shoulder at Nikki and rolled his eyes then turned back to the door just as it was thrown open.
"What's going on in here!?" A big burly man, who was not only overweight but tall as well, came stomping into the room hearing the ruckus from Nikki.
Luke bared his teeth at the man and growled before lunging at him.
Nikki didn't bother to cover his eyes as Luke had asked him to, but stared in unabashed fascination as Luke-in wolf form- attacked the orderly.
It only took Luke a couple of minutes to wrestle the orderly into unconsciousness.
'Let's go.' He sent to Nikki.
Nikki ignored Luke, bending down and poking the unconscious man in the cheek with an exploratory finger. He tilted his head, lifting the mans hand by the wrist and giggling when he let go of it and it fell to the floor with a thud.
"He's very asleep." He said absently to his partner
'Come on Nikki,' Luke nudged Nikki with his head, 'we only have a couple of minutes before they figure out what's going on.'
Nikki frowned, but stood up and peeked out of their room, looking down the corridor, "Where are we going?"
'There's a door down the hall that leads outside,' Luke walked out into the hall and tilted his head, 'Coming?'
"Outside," Nikki's face dropped and he hung back inside the doorframe, "I don't wanna... I'm scared." He said, shaking his head.
Luke whimpered, 'I'll be with you, and it'll only be for a little while.' His tail twitched back and forth twice before hanging limply.
Nikki, distracted for a few seconds by the tail's movement, looked back up at the wolf and nodded. "Okay then, lets go."
'You'll need to open the door.' Luke ran down the hall and stood on his back legs as his front legs rested on the large metal door.
Nikki tried the door. "It's locked Luke," he said, chewing nervously on his lip, "We're trapped. Like rats. They'll soon send the dogs after us."
Luke raised an eyebrow then walked around the corner of the hall, 'There's an office over here, the door's usually kept unlocked,' He peeked his head around the corner, 'Maybe there'll be a key for this door inside.'
Nikki skipped over soundlessly on socked feet and entered the office, going and sitting in the chair. He spun it round, but soon found that it wasn't a pleasant sensation to be spinning so fast, and grabbed the desk to stop himself. He busied himself pulling drawers open and happily poured a bottle of corrective fluid into the first one once he had finished searching that one, all the while chanting 'key, key key' under his breath so that he wouldn't forget what he was looking for.
Luke sat patiently by the door then noticed something on the desktop, 'Uh, Nikki,' He stepped forward and jumped onto the desk, 'Isn' that the key?' He pointed with his nose to the key.
Nikki looked at the key, looked back at Luke and shrugged.
"I dunno. I don't work here," He said, but grabbed it, "Shall we see if it works?" He asked, almost nonchalantly pulling paper out of drawers and covering them with ink from a bottle on the desk.
Jumping off the desk, Luke followed Nikki back to the door.
Nikki used the key, and lifted the bolts with difficulty, as they were very large and heavy and he was so small and under built. He finally managed it and pushed the door open.
"Hey! What's going on here?!" Several orderlies came running down the hallway towards them.
Luke shoved Nikki out the door, 'Run!' He shouted mentally as he grabbed the key with his mouth and pushed the door closed.
Nikki suddenly found himself alone outside for the first time in a few years and was scared for a minute, especially once he realized that Luke wasn't with him. He turned, searching for his friend, and fear choked him when he figured that he was still inside, "LUKE!" He yelled, banging at the door, but it wouldn't open.
He scowled, and looked up, and suddenly found the perfect way back in...
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