(unedited sorry wrote this late night so it may be crappy)

Say something I’m giving up on you…

My mind blanked. Went down on shut-down mode. All operations going on in this skull of mine totally ceased fire. I did it? But I didn’t do it? Did I? Maybe I didn’t know what I did… maybe I’m the enemy…

It was like I was trying to make a strained phone call to my brain trying to get it to work again and all that was happening was this dumb old music. Or satirical.

I’ll be the one if you want me to…

Then that little voice, the voice that was probably the only thing that was going to keep me from losing it, came into my mind, clear as day. Justin. You didn’t do it.

I looked down to find Caedmon looking earnestly up at me, a paw pressed to my chest and his ears pulled back as those big purple eyes became glassy with emotion. I knew he could sense my distress and I could see by the way he was shaking that he was feeling it too.

I felt a wave of sorrow as I scooped him up in my arms. It wasn’t his fault… I wish that he didn’t have to be so scared so young. My little buddy nuzzled into my elbow, his paws wrapping around me in a hug.

“Justin!” A hard, meaty smack aroused me from my reflections as Landin smacked his hand on the wooden desk. “Are you listening to me?”

“N-no, s-sorry,” I said, looking up at his angry Wolverine face. “I-I don’t know who did it. B-but I swear it wasn’t me.”

Mardu walked over to stand in front of me and I blinked, feeling like I was seeing double when I looked at the two of them. A long, forked tongue emerged from between his slim lips and curled up like a question mark before flitting back into his mouth. “Either you’re a very good actor or you’re telling the truth,” he mumbled, his golden eyes burning into mine.

“I’m telling the truth,” I said, feeling like a deflated balloon as I leaned back in my chair and ran a hand through my jet black hair.

“He tellin’ troof!” Caedmon agreed, glaring at the two and stomping a paw on my knee. His back arched to make himself appear larger and his tiny fangs showed in a snarl.

“Then there’s only one other person it could have been..” General Landin drawled, side-glancing at Mardu with a knowing expression.

“What? I have an evil twin?” I blurted.

“No. Caedmon did it,” Mardu said grimly, his fangs flashing as he spoke.

I gawked at him for a full minute as if he suggested a llamacorn broke in with an army of ninja rainbow slugs. “Wut?” I said stupidly. That made zero sense. No sense. Caedmon was a little baby dragon, he wasn’t me and.. I wasn’t sure what to think right now.

Mardu cleared his throat. “It’s rare for dragons to shift at all, and even if they can, it takes much longer than a few months usually. But maybe you’re a special case. He knew that you wanted this, he got it.”

“B-but,” I managed before looking at Caedmon with bewilderment. He was with me the whole time how could he..?

Caedmon sat down and curled his tail around himself. What he said next made my jaw drop.

“I did it.”

I looked up at Mardu and General Landin with a completely shocked expression.

Landin actually seemed relieved and he exhaled as he slowly lowered into a crouch. “You realize you did something bad?” he asked as he reached out to stroke the dragon’s scaly head.

I could tell Caedmon was hiding a hiss by the way he slunk under his touch like Landin’s hand was nasty. But he said, “Yessir,” like a good little cadet. “J-just playin’.” He carefully enunciated.

“You won’t do it again, right?” Landin asked, waving a finger in front of his muzzle.

“N-never,” Caedmon puffed out his chest to emphasize his point.

Landin sighed in relief and ran a hand through his hair. “Whew. I’m glad this is case closed, Justin. I worked too hard to have to throw you to the wolves.” He said as he sat heavily in the leather chair behind his desk.

“Y-yeah.” I said, feeling numb as I dumbly stroked Caedmon’s tiny crest.

“Keep an eye on that dragon alright?” He chuckled. “Now that he can turn into you, you might want to worry about him runnin’ around naked or something.”

I nodded dumbly, amazed at how fast this turned around. I slowly got up, my knees knockin’ together like cymbals and I felt like I was going to fall over. I pulled Caedmon close to my chest.

“We’re just going to push this one under the rug, alright? Please make it easy for us,” Mardu told me. “We really don’t want to have to send you off.” He said earnestly.

I was too dumbfounded to wonder where they would have sent me off to. All I was thinking of was Caedmon shifting into me to steal the files. That was just.. crazy… They spoke a few more words before I dimly realized that I was dismissed and I shuffled out, stopping once the door was shut.

Where to now? What time even was it? I looked at my watch, ignoring Caedmon’s earnest gaze. I felt a bit light headed. Maybe I needed a drink? I stumbled to the nearest fountain and started glugging down the water, the cold liquid dripping down my face. Caedmon hopped from my shoulder to the water fountain, his little claws skittering on the cold metal. “Juzzin,” he said, trying to get my attention. Before I could look up, he had tried to walk closer and his paws slipped from under him until he flopped on his back in the shallow dip where the water collected, the water spraying on his black belly.

“Caedmon!” I sighed and picked him up, realizing how heavy he had become as I did so. He squeaked and nuzzled into my shirt. I sighed and rubbed his back as I felt the water seep through my clothes. Drat him. “Caedmon, why did you do that?” I asked finally, feeling more than a little betrayed. “You knew that would get me in trouble. Why?”

“Didn’t.” Caedmon whispered. “Bad shadow did. I said I did so that he wouldn’t make wolfes eat us.” He said, holding onto my shirt with a death grip.

“Wait-what?” I sputtered. “What do you mean, bad shadow?” I was amazed. Caedmon lied? And here I was thinking that the little dragon was incapable of doing stuff like that. Clever little bugger. I looked around, making sure that Mardu hadn’t followed me, before I dashed into the nearest hiding place, the men’s bathroom.

Once inside, I got into a stall and shut it behind me, closing the toilet lid to sit on it. “Tell me buddy, what’s this bad shadow?” I asked as he  shivered and rubbed his face against my shirt, whining. I pulled him away from my chest and held him out. “What’s the bad shadow?”

“Bad shadow tell me not to tell!” Caedmon squeaked, curling up in a ball. “Bad shadow mean!” He quivered and his tail shook like a scared Chihuahua.

I felt a chill race down my spine and the hairs of my neck stood up. I looked around the bathroom at all the shadows all around me. I could almost imagine my own shadow, cast against the navy blue graffiti-covered stall, to be staring right back at me, and my blood chilled when I realized that’s what had been happening. I turned back to Caedmon with huge eyes, Caedmon looking up at me with fear. “Caedmon, you talked to this bad shadow?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

“I pway wif bad shadow, he fun,” Caedmon said, his ears lowered because he knew he had done bad.

“How long?”  I demanded in a hoarse whisper. “How long have you been playing with bad shadow?!” I demanded, shaking the little dragon.

Caedmon started to cry a little. “Long time! Didn’t know he wus bad! Just wanned to pway.” He said, wiping his muzzle on my thumbs in an apologetic way.

“He.. he’s a boy?” I continued, my heart hammering in my chest.

He went silent suddenly, his ears perking forwards towards under the stall. I looked also. My heart almost stopped.

The shadows started to piece together between the bathroom stalls, stretching to create a sort of web across the tile. The darkness crawled onwards in defiance to the light, spreading across the floor like oil. The light overhead began to flicker, and with each pause, grew dimmer.

I’m not going to lie, I felt like I could scream like a blond girl in a horror movie at that moment, but all that came out was a crackly squeak as I shot off the toilet cover and scrambled to the door, my butter fingers fighting to unlock it as Caedmon hissed at the shadow from my shoulder, his ears pinned back. Was this jammed? I couldn’t get it open! About crying in frustration, I pummelled the door with all my weight, grunting when it didn’t move.

The flickering lights went dead.

There was no other way out of this. Something in the back of my head told me that this was a bad idea. Whatever this was probably wanted me to do this! But I couldn’t find any other way out of it! I slunk into the shadows.

And for the first time, me and Caed weren’t alone.

I could feel his presence.. if he was a he. It was something I realized had been in the corner of my mind for… almost every time I shadow walked. Especially when I was zipping around the cosmos with no idea where I’d end up.

I was just about to make a dash for the opposite direction, but instead I held my ground. I had enough of running away. Being beat down by General Landin. Being beat down by other kids. This guy had been creepin’ on me and I needed answers. “Listen here!” I yelled into the darkness, flat as Flat Stanley against the wall as I crept over the top of the stalls. “Who are you and why are you messing with me like this!”

I couldn’t hear anything, not even my heart beating or the sound of my frantic breaths because in shadow form, neither existed. The silence was stifling. I ‘looked’ around, trying to sense his whereabouts but.. he was moving too fast. I couldn’t get a lock on him. I could sense Caedmon’s uneasiness. He wasn’t happy.

“Who are you!” I yelled, a bit louder, inching towards the opposite wall.

Nothing.

I waited for a minute longer, for once longing for my own frantic heart to fill this deadly silence. I even wished Mardu was here. I was that desperate. My next words were fast paced. “Please tell me! Who are you! What am I to you!” I yelled.

Caedmon stayed close by my side, I could feel his presence nudging me towards the door, ready to do some fast paced shadow travel.

But I wasn’t budging. Even if I probably had already peed my pants.

“Stop.. creeping on me me!” I yelled and lunged to where I thought he was, my shadow fingers elongated like claws and slicing through the darkness.

And to my surprise, it met something solid.

I gasped as I felt my fingers puncture something, heard a low  groan.

Then. “You’re on the wrong side, Justin.”

The pain tinged voice rang in my head before he was gone.

The lights flickered back on in the bathroom, forcing me to shrink back into the cover of the shadow of the sink, before reforming, curled up in the shade, my arms around my legs and Caedmon at my side.

And he was gone.