Ms. Bustier's voice was soothing and constant, perfectly professional as she slowly paced the room's perimeter. She was temporarily away from the board to allow her students to take notes without her obstructing them, which was good because from the front of the class it was pretty much impossible to see if she was standing there.

As she continued to talk Nino couldn't say that he was exactly grasping... well, anything, but he could say his note taking was diligent. He had everything that was written on the board down in the more familiar looking notebook he had been given, saving the weightier parchment paper for some other use. He didn't understand anything, but he wrote it down anyways. So many of the words were long and completely unfamiliar that the whole thing came off as if it was written in a different language entirely, only reassuring small words like 'the' reminding him that he still had the ability to read. It was frustrating but not unexpected, and for the time being nobody seemed like they were going to bother him for just staring at the floor.

Nino was rolling his pen between his fingers as he very deliberately thought of nothing at all when he felt something solid and furred nudge at his thigh, Carter for the first time in a while having something to say.

'I am thirsty. Can we leave yet?'

The Shepherd wasn't whining audibly but from the way he settled his head in Nino's lap it was clear the poor dude was bored out of his mind. He had forced himself to stay on guard for the first hour, facing the wall but completely alert of his surroundings. However, at the dawn of the second hour it was pretty clear that nothing interesting was going to happen at any pace he couldn't beat, so eventually he just went to sleep. Now, though, he was awake and restless, and admittedly so was everybody. Three hours of straight lecture was rough, especially if you had no idea what was going on and were mostly focusing on doing nothing.

Being bored as heck was so far pretty normalizing, it made him feel like he was actually in a school, but all it took was for him to clue in again for a handful of seconds to catch some line about the initial formations of 'church gates' and he'd be on edge again. Or a glance to the side at the mummy using white-out or a look back at the ghost sharing the necromancer's notes since she couldn't actually take any herself. Anything that reminded him that things weren't as normal as they came off.

The cervitaur teaching class was also a pretty constant reminder, but weirdly enough Nino could find himself forgetting it. Like yeah clearly she was still a deer lady, but she'd stand there and ask a question and wait for hands to be raised and she was also a teacher. Sometimes, if he actually just tried to listen, she was just a teacher, and the other bit was easier to ignore.

After a second to check where said deer lady was Nino leaned to the side slightly, ruffling Carter's fur and whispering a response.

"I know man, I'm sorry. We've got to be letting out soon though, I'll find you some water and a place to run around before things pick up again."

'Okay... you need to eat too. You must be hungry. I'll find food.'

"The school has food dude," Nino reminded him, glad that was true. He didn't really know what the system was for lunches here... he didn't have an I.D card or anything but, Adrien said he'd show him around and stuff so he could probably ask him.

Thinking of the boy sitting next to him Nino straightened up, looking over to see that Adrien was pretty spaced out and leaning his face into one hand, staring at nothing in particular but probably still listening. After a moment of deliberation Nino reached over and tapped his shoulder, startling him a little as he was snapped from his thoughts.

"Sorry," Nino apologized quickly, leaning forward so he could whisper but still carefully keeping space between them. "Um, I was wondering if we get a break soon or something? Cause I might need to step out to feed Carter if not and I don't really know what the rules are for that."

"Oh, you usually can just go so long as you catch Ms. Bustier's eye first," Adrien quickly explained, also leaning in to keep things quiet and not shying away from him like he kept expecting him to. "But don't worry," he continued, "we're about to let out. Lunch is in a second and we get two hours."

"Okay, cool." Nino hesitated for a moment, looking away a bit before saying, "Uh, so do we have to pay for school lunches or-..." he trailed off, hating that 'new kid' feeling but glad that Adrien was staying on top of it.

"Nope! It's supplied by the school, don't worry about it. I'll show you how to get food too, it's a little weird." He made a small gesture towards the rest of the class, as if the next thing was pretty self-explanatory. "Pretty much everybody who goes here has different things they need to eat, so ordering is kind of specific. I got you though, you just eat human stuff right?"

"Uh, yeah," Nino answered quietly, returning Adrien's smile when he gave it but a little unsettled as he faced forward again. He went back to fidgeting with his pen, thoughts suddenly occupied with what else Adrien had suspected he might be eating at lunch. And also what he could expect to be on Adrien's tray too, since the clear intention was for them to sit together.

He liked to think he wouldn't be crazy grossed out if he just started eating mice or whatever but like... ugh. And what else? What the heck did a mummy order for lunch, if anything? Did she even need to eat? What about the other dead ones? He had kind of offhandedly figured that there would be normal food and a few unidentifiable things, it hadn't actually occurred to him that some of them might eat... maggots or something.

His stomach churned uncomfortably and that same, unnamable anxious feeling crawled in his gut. He shook his head in an effort to shift his train of thought but it didn't work, so he elected to stop thinking all together, laying his head down and just holding out for class to end.

He laid his face down onto his arms which were currently folded over his still open Creature Guide textbook. He was covering it partly because it was just in the way, and partly because he didn't want his desk mate to notice the page it was open to now that he had sort of established conversation.

He had been skimming the subsection of Cat Sidhes off and on throughout their lecture, a little dismayed that he was still decently confused about the pretty normal yet cat smelling individual sat next to him. It was in the Fae chapter, short for or at least alternative for fairy which was an entire complicated mess of things that lived in the NeverNever, apparently. Anything wacky and spirit oriented lived there or at least came from there according to Ms. Bustier, and there were a lot of different types of Fae in general. From what he could read Cat Sidhes were one of those things, kind of.

They were apparently sort of similar to magic users, like a witch or wizard, except instead of their magic being generated internally it was tied to the NeverNever, just like Faeries (according to the book, not that it meant much to him). Nino had been forced to bounce back and forth between some of the sections a few times, but from what he could basically understand, straight up witches and wizards had a constantly regenerating source of magic that came from inside them, their souls or something. Apparently every kind of soul had magic in it somehow, and it was how the creature's body was capable of processing it that it could be used if at all. Humans don't have the capacity to process it normally, so they can't use magic. It's a biological limitation, not that they don't have it at all like Nino had assumed. So any humans capable of actually using it weren't technically humans because their biology differed, so this became the sub-race of magic users.

Anyways.

Cat Sidhes' magic doesn't constantly regenerate like that, at least not nearly as quickly. Because it's tied to the NeverNever that's where their power is, and if they ventured outside of that realm they would only have so much before they ran out altogether, and then even if they went back it would regenerate very slowly. And all of this kind of relates to also being a cat somehow...

Whatever.

Nino glared at the door leading out of class, kind of done with being completely and wildly confused about everything around him, but he knew even if he just ran out the door there was no getting away from it... He could run as far as he wanted and it still wouldn't make sense.

He was tired...

Ms. Bustier's voice kept talking about things he didn't get, a constant thrum that had been calming to him before but was now slowly agitating him, because he knew that if he let himself listen he wouldn't understand.

Thankfully, it wasn't too much longer before a long, singing chime sounded in the room, and Ms. Bustier suddenly stopped short.

"Oh, well it's time for lunch, alright everyone-," she was saying, starting to spout the classic teacher dismissal but she was promptly drowned out by everyone getting up and starting to fill their bags. Chatter broke out across the classroom and Nino was quick to mimic the others, though he had expected them to leave their things on the desks like they had been when they all came in.

Nino was still stuffing his last book into his bag when he was suddenly aware of Adrien stepping out around their desk, standing near his end and waiting for him to finish so they could go together. Alya and Marinette hesitated as well, lingering near the doorway and shooting them a look before ultimately deciding to move on ahead, probably figuring that leaving him with just the one guide was probably better.

Adrien waited until he was clearly ready before turning towards the door, smiling kindly and only sparing Carter one, nervous look before seemingly steeling himself and focusing only on Nino. It was kind of hilarious actually, enough so to slightly pull him from his growing unease. Both Carter and Adrien seemed intent on pretending the other didn't exist.

"So that's those classes," Adrien started simply, opening the door and gesturing for them to leave, Nino obliging but trading a somewhat weak smile with Ms. Bustier before doing so. She nodded and smiled too, but by the sadness in her eyes it was clear she understood that this had been taxing for him. Still though he moved forward, trying to give Adrien his full attention now seeing as he was still talking.

"-pretty much always like that," he had been saying, the trio stepping into the jarringly normal school hallway that he had sort of forgotten existed. "It's a lot of lecture, worksheets, activities and projects through those classes. It kind of all blends together because we have the same teacher for them all, but we have Ms. Mendeleiev after lunch so that's different at least."

"Oh, right," Nino muttered, trying to participate but also a little nervous remembering the harpy he had met what seemed like days ago at this point. It had only just been this morning. "I met her."

Adrien's expression was kind of funny, pretty much confirming that he had about the same opinion of her as he shrugged, trying to find something encouraging to say as they made it to a flight of stairs and started working their way down.

"She's uh... strict, but a good teacher. You'll learn something whether you want to or not, but we only have her for so long. As long as you don't goof off she won't bother you too much."

Conversation dropped after that, Nino trying to focus on Adrien but hyper aware of the fact that they were moving into the main body of the school where everyone was being released for lunch hour. He had been somewhat spoiled up to this point to have all human-ish classmates, and the one who probably wasn't seemed intent on keeping a glamor on even on school grounds. As they turned into a wide yet still slightly crowded hallway however, he realized that most creatures didn't seem inclined to do that.

His knuckles were white around Carter's leash, the dog on high alert and walking in front of him with a blocking posture as they moved forward, still following Adrien. Nobody looked hostile, they were all just students chatting and putting books in lockers and getting ready for lunch. No one was doing anything wrong, and he was still extremely unsettled.

A pretty girl with long braided hair and a pokemon t-shirt was fiddling with the strap of her bag, the length of it having caught uncomfortably around the bulk of her right wing that sprouted from a custom space in the back of her shirt. It was massive and knobby with a thin, translucent membrane exactly like a bats. Nino jumped and quickly looked away when she turned to face him, noticing abruptly that she had four eyes.

Adrien was talking again but he wasn't listening, just trying to focus on getting through lunch so he could get through classes and get through the day to get through the next.

But he knew that was no way to live...

As they kept moving forward Nino stood up straight, forcing himself to look ahead and not at the ground. He forced himself to acknowledge everything that passed him, every fairy and every Naga and everything he didn't have a name for and wasn't sure he ever would. He solemnly reminded himself that he belonged in that hallway just as much as they did.

He wasn't human either.

Nino was swallowing back that uncomfortable churn in his stomach again when they arrived, Adrien opening one of the large doors and allowing a flood of sound to reach them. Again he was struck by how completely average the school was apart from the active classrooms themselves, because as they entered and Carter took a delicate sniff at the air Nino looked around an absolutely normal school cafeteria.

It was a large open room broken up every once in a while by tall columns, long rectangular tables spanning the space in orderly lines. There were a few without chairs, probably for those with particular seating needs, but for the most part there were normal uncomfortable looking school chairs scratching lines into the plain white tile. On the far side of the room there seemed to be a branch off to where the kitchens were and a place where students could line up and ask for whatever they needed, a fair few already in line but it didn't look like it would be long of a wait. Actually that was the next thing he noticed.

There weren't that many people here at all.

"Hey, uh," Nino spoke up, cutting off whatever it was Adrien had been saying but he didn't seem to mind, just glad he was actually talking to him. He felt a little bad about that. "Um, I just sort of noticed. There were people in the halls and stuff but I was expecting it to be more crowded than this in here, it's not even half full. Do people go home to eat or-...?" He trailed off again, suddenly realizing that maybe going to a whole other realm just to eat wasn't very practical, but then he was even more confused.

"Some people do, a few live nearby or in the city but for the most part everybody eats here. It's just that, since the school is only a few years old, there aren't actually that many students. This is pretty much everybody." Adrien said it nonchalantly, shrugging a bit as he looked over the cafeteria himself. There was maybe a little less than three hundred people at the school, but since the cafeteria was designed to hold a lot more than that when it was a human public school it did seem a little sparse. It wasn't deserted, but there was a lot of empty tables and everyone could spread out.

"Oh... wow," Nino replied, turning with Adrien as they headed towards the food line. He couldn't actually see any lunch ladies, just people milling around waiting for food.

"Were you expecting more people?" Adrien tried conversationally, watching as Nino shrugged in response.

"I guess. I went to kind of a bigger public school before this so uh... it's a lot less crowded. Makes sense though, I just hadn't thought about it."

"What was your public school like?" Adrien asked, surprising the young werewolf with the genuine interest behind the question. "I never went to school before coming here, to be honest not many schools exist in the NeverNever. Um," he hesitated, his look blank for a second before he quickly explained. "That's where I'm from. I live there with my guardian but left to start going to school here. This is my first year."

"Oh, that's cool, I kind of read about that place a little...," Nino added vaguely, pulling Carter to a stop as they reached the line. He recognized Kim and Max as the two in front of them but they were wrapped up in their own conversation.

It took seeing Adrien shift awkwardly in place for him to realize that he had failed to answer his question, but even once he saw what he had done he didn't move to fix it. He didn't really get the point of answering; he wasn't sure what he would even say that wouldn't come off as offensive. The only thing he could think to say was, 'It's normal.'

He couldn't say that... it wouldn't mean anything to him. This was Adrien's normal. This was his normal now.

Thinking about how things were before... what would it get him. He could tell Adrien about the people and the subjects and the homework and the neighborhoods, but there wasn't any point in doing that now.

What was focusing on normal going to get him...

He was quiet for the rest of the wait.

When they sat they did so in silence, Adrien having taken the lead and ordered their food when it seemed obvious that even acknowledging the creatures working in the kitchen would have been too much to ask of him. Adrien had ordered him the most standard human fair he could think of, and Nino spent his silence staring at the waxy, unappealing surface of his cafeteria-grade pizza. He appreciated on some level even through his growing numbness the fact that cafeteria pizza remained about as awful no matter where you went.

They started eating without saying anything and Nino chewed without tasting, flinching when he felt sharp canines cut through the bread. He cursed under his breath, dropping the food back to the tray roughly and ignoring Adrien's concerned stare. He saw the Sidhe's eyes flash to the food, probably wondering if it had been of offense somehow but... when Adrien looked at him again it seemed clear that the boy was intuitive enough to get that that wasn't the problem.

He also seemed smart enough not to comment.

The cafeteria around them was alive in muted conversation, but they did nothing to add to the din as Nino tried to focus on evening his breathing, willing the slight change to subside. As over ten minutes passed he shifted nervously in his seat, grinding his still too-sharp teeth together and fighting a small spark of panic.

This had happened a few times, it upset him every time and it reminded him vividly in that horrible feeling he had experienced in the forest when he first woke up.

It was like he was unraveling... it seemed like such a small thing, but what unsettled him is that he knew, he knew it was just the first thing. He never even felt it when it happened, his teeth shifting somehow to be longer, sharper. He only knew of it when he felt them catch, and then suddenly he was fighting it, forcing it to go back. He had figured it came about when he was the most agitated, but he hadn't had this much trouble getting it to go away.

Abruptly the silence between himself and Adrien felt involuntary, too afraid to speak now for fear of him seeing. It wasn't getting any worse, not now that he was fighting it, but I wasn't going away either. Some part of him knew that Adrien wouldn't judge him, the boy had been doing his absolute best to make him at ease and talk to him normally. Still though, he hesitated to break the silence like he had intended to eventually, when he had calmed down again. He intended to apologize for being rude or quiet. He wanted to tell Adrien he was just having a hard time right now. It made him sort of wish that the witch was there, since she always seemed to know. Maybe she could have passed it along, but he and Adrien were alone at their table.

Save, of course, for Carter.

The German Shepherd whined audibly, drawing the boys' attention towards the anxiously fidgeting animal that was crowded between the table supports and his owner's knees. When Nino looked down at him the Shepherd jammed his head between Nino's lap and the table top, whining again.

'You're not okay! We should leave, we can leave. Let's just go!'

Nino stiffened slightly, something like shame heating his arms and curling his hands into fists on the table. He wanted to defend himself, scold his dog and tell him he was fine, that he had it under control... but he hesitated to open his mouth.

'Nino,' Carter whined again, pushing his head further so he could look up at him, 'let's just leave. We can go to the room. We'll calm down, you can be okay. Then we can go back to class, let's leave now.'

Nino stared down at him, focusing on the grounding feeling of his dog pushing up from beneath the table to be as near to him as he could, his leash caught around his own legs and making his movements awkward but urgent. Carter's dark eyes stared up at him and his enduring whines rattled in his throat... until Nino gave in.

"That might be a good idea..." he allowed, feeling weak for it but he had to be realistic. He kept his head angled low as he said it, hiding most of his face from Adrien who was watching him intently now.

He was desperately trying to brainstorm an excuse when Adrien spoke for the first time in ages, Nino looking up in surprise as he did.

"You said Carter was thirsty earlier, right? If you're done eating, I can clean up here. You can go and take care of him."

Nino was stunned, Adrien's expression concerned but open, like he was trying to convey something he didn't want to admit, for Nino's sake. But his intention was clear, and Nino bowed his head again in a mix of shame and gratitude.

He was giving him an out, plain and simple.

"... thanks."

"Any time."

Adrien smiled slightly, doing his best to be readable and open without Nino misinterpreting his concern as fear. He was surprised when Nino didn't move right away, picking up Carter's leash but not moving to stand just yet, mulling something over.

"I'm sorry-," he said sort of suddenly, like he was forcing himself to do it before he left. He lifted his head as he spoke, unable to look him in the eye but at least not hiding his face. "I really appreciate what you've been doing, and I keep stiffing you but-..." he hesitated before adding quietly, still looking away, "Today's just kind of been hard. It's nothing personal."

Adrien caught the flash of Nino's teeth again as he spoke, the boy bravely facing towards him and letting him see in a show of faith somehow. Nino only looked at him once to gauge his reaction, but Adrien barely seemed to notice, just offering a small smile.

"I get it; you don't have to explain it." Adrien answered quickly, wanting to give him the freedom to leave as quickly as he felt he needed to. He didn't move from his seat as Nino stood up, unable to keep from noticing that Nino's shoulders were shaking now as he quickly guided Carter out from under the table, the Shepherd pulling ahead and heading straight for the door.

Even though Carter didn't spare him a glance Nino looked back, nodding his head again in thanks before heading out, moving quickly but trying his best not to draw attention to himself.

Nino could feel people looking at him, his dog pulling at the leash drawing their eyes but they stayed focused on him as he left, Carter pushing at the doors until Nino could open them for him. He wondered what it looked like to them, or if this was something they had been expecting. Maybe they stared because no one was surprised, they were all waiting for him to lose it or panic and run.

Maybe everybody was waiting for him to fall apart just like he was.

He shook his head sharply as they stepped out into the hallway, trying to push away those thoughts as Carter started pulling them towards where he knew their room was. He let his dog lead the way through the mostly empty hallway, walking quickly past what few loiterers were still around switching things from their lockers or talking amongst themselves. His footsteps sounded so loud to him and the scrabble of Carter's feet were grating at his eardrums, even the sound of people chattering innocently or closing their lockers was agitating. He just needed some space, a few seconds alone to pretend like everything was normal.

He clenched his jaw and shivered at the points of his teeth, walking faster still. He had been doing so well, he just didn't have the endurance yet to make it through a day, that was okay, more than fair. He just needed a few minutes to relax, then he could go back to class. He could apologize to Adrien again and keep taking notes and make it through the day. So much of it had been alright, it had already been so much better than he had any right to expect it to be. He just needed a break.

Carter clattered clumsily up the steps towards the second floor, looking over his shoulder whenever he could and trying to stay calm, taking in Nino's shell-shocked expression and moving even faster.

He remembered in enough time that he wasn't allowed to run to keep from bolting the moment he landed on the second floor, still tugging Nino forward and pulling him as his steps seemingly lost momentum. His boy was unnervingly close to a breaking point, but if Carter could just get him to the room they could sit together until things got better.

All the odd smelling, unnervingly intense people around them had ground down his tolerance, so he just needed to recharge before they went back to class. Carter was convinced that the odd company was to blame, which means he was frustrated instantly to see one of the foul smelling children from class further down the hall, leaning against the railing across from the turn they needed to get to their room. He understood that picking a fight and running her off would be bad, Nino would be very upset with him and she hadn't technically done anything wrong... she was just very much so in Carter's way.

Nino was barely looking ahead as Carter tugged him forward again, their pace comparatively slower than before but he wasn't in a place to notice, focusing desperately on pushing the avalanche of sounds away from him and keeping the shaking from his shoulders. He didn't see the girl until they were about to pass her, looking at her dully even before she managed to hear them coming.

Sabrina the teenage mummy was flipping through her notes not far outside the classroom they had spent the morning in, her binder set against the railing as she flipped between her own page of notes and a half filled one, copying the lines quickly. It might have been her diligence that kept her from noticing him until he was nearly next to her, or maybe the gauzy wrappings over her ears muffled his footsteps, but regardless of why when she turned to look up she clearly wasn't expecting him to be so close. And she certainly wasn't expecting it to be him.

She gasped fearfully, nearly dropping her binder of the edge but scrambling back quickly, pulling it towards her and against her chest in a flurry of displaced papers. Nino froze in place, jerking Carter to a stop as the girl backed up, breathing heavily from her fright and staring at him through the parted wrappings with bright, youthful eyes wide in fear.

Nino felt something sharp and uncomfortable shoot through his body, shame and guilt compelling him to do something even though his mind demanded he did nothing. He just surprised her, he hadn't meant to, but saying something was a mistake, he only made it worse.

"I'm sorry!" he blurted out, his hands raised even as he clutched the leash in an attempt to placate her. "I didn't mean to scare y-,"

He had been watching her eyes through the gaps in the wrapping, for a moment forgetting that she was any kind of monster at all and only hyper aware of himself and how he might look to her. So when her eyes flickered down when he opened his mouth to speak panic choked the words in his throat, watching as she flinched and pulled away.

"I-it's fine! It's fine, I just- I wasn't watching, I-I...-," her voice was pleasant and girlish but broken in a panicked stutter as she started to back away, one wrapped hand gesturing towards the far staircase as she quickly made an exit. She said a few things more, but the words never reached him, Nino watching with his mouth shut tight as she left in a hurry, nearly running away from him as he stood with his hands frozen helplessly in the air.

"I-... I didn't mean to...," he couldn't help but utter aloud, the words thick as it felt like his throat closed in on itself. He felt Carter tug but he didn't move, watching the whole time as she left as quick as she could, standing still until she was completely out of sight... and for a while more.

So far a lot of his fears and guilt had been stuck in his head, trying to convince him he was so much worse then everyone around him with barely any evidence to work with. He got a few stares, a few wide berths, maybe two cruel comments. But he had had acceptance too, a handful of kind people and reassurance that people weren't afraid of him. That he was more afraid of himself then anybody.

He fixated on the empty space Sabrina had left behind, only a lost piece of paper marking the place she had been.

He had probably just scared her, caught her off guard... but she lived in this world. This was her normal, and s-she still...

Flinched.

He couldn't move, something akin to disgust settling in his throat and keeping him from answering his dog or even looking down at him as he numbly dropped the leash. He didn't want to open his mouth again; he didn't want to feel it or anyone else to see. Even Carter might cower, or run. And as his shoulders started to shake and he felt that same unsettling shifting in his spine, he started to move.

He stumbled slightly, abruptly off balance as the over sensory pounding of noise subsided into a distant, muddled murmur like he had been plunged underwater.

Nino was aware of that feeling in his stomach again, the feeling he had kept attributing as dread or anxiety or panic, settling in his chest and constricting his breathing the more he focused on it. It creeped up and through him, gagging him as he broke into a run, desperate to get inside.

By the time he had turned the last corner into the abandoned, dim hallway and was fumbling for the lock on his door, he was starting to hyperventilate.

'Nino! Nino it's okay!' Carter was barking, whining urgently in panic as he only just managed to dart inside in time and Nino slammed the door behind them, catching part of the leash with it as it rattled in the doorframe. Nino didn't notice though, and nor did Carter at first until Nino stumbled away, nearly falling as he headed towards his bed. Carter sprinted after him when he was abruptly choked, his momentum so strong that it threw his body out ahead of him and he was dazed for a second. The Shepherd looked up at the taunt leash binding him to the door and looked back in time to see his boy gasping, his whole body shaking as he wrapped his arms around himself.

'Nino!' Carter barked again, thrashing against the leash and digging his claws into the slick tile, twisting his head and choking himself in the process in an attempt to pull free of his collar. In that moment he couldn't speak, but he hoped that even in his panic Nino could tell what he was shouting. 'I'm trying! I'm coming!'

He recalled dimly, distantly, a comparison he had made before. Something he had thought when he first woke up and read the letter. Something he had felt when he first realized he wasn't human anymore.

It was like unraveling.

He was holding himself, keeping himself together as he tried to stay standing, abandoning the hope of movement and just trying to stand up straight. He could feel it pulling him down, trying to make him right, trying to teach him what he was. He couldn't hide from it, it was in everything around him, it was in everyone's face when they saw him, it was in Sabrina's frightened eyes. Every 'other' he met or passed by and every second he was asked to just be brave pulled at him, corrected him every time he tried to lie.

'I'm a person. I'm just a person.'

No he wasn't... he wasn't.

Not anymore.

He cried out when he was forced to his knees, starting to beg to nothing as his spine shifted and his teeth ached, like they were abruptly too crowded, like they needed more space. It moved so easily, like all the pathways had already been made, like they had been forged in that nightmare he remembered in pieces. It would be so easy, it would happen so fast, he knew it would if he just... let go.

If he just gave up.

"I don't want to," he begged to no one, his voice shaking as his body bent and he pulled against it desperately. "I don't want to, I don't want this. I-I don't want to see. Please," he pleaded wretchedly, but his voice was cut off by sudden pain and it warped into a gasp as he felt something displace.

He was huddled to the ground now, trying to beg but having no strength to, every scrape of his consciousness pulled together to prolong what he couldn't stop, not when it was already this far. He had stopped it before, by convincing himself he was human, by remembering what that was... but he couldn't find those thoughts now. He couldn't ignore what he knew was true.

He couldn't hear Carter, or even himself as he panted and sobbed. He didn't want to, he didn't want any of this. But some part of him knew that it wouldn't hurt if he just stopped.

It wouldn't hurt anymore if he just gave in. Let it be true, admit it there was no escaping it anyways. It didn't matter what he told himself, it wouldn't even matter if he kept it all together, because how long could he last? Until the next moon came, then he wouldn't even have that much. He wasn't human... he never would be again.

This school, these people, their lives and their worlds and his scar a-and everything...

It didn't matter what he said or did.

He wasn't human.

Why should he pretend...

He stopped... his will to fight it draining out as it swept over him, unnervingly... instantaneous. It seemed so unfair that who he was could just be erased, overwritten by something else the second he stopped trying to prevent it. It was like being what he had been before was what had taken so much effort... and maybe that was true. He was so overwhelmed and frightened by everything that made him feel inhuman that holding himself together became a burden, or else he'd go back. And feeling it now... it was so quick...

It was so easy...

'... Nino?'

Carter had stopped pulling, turning in time to see as Nino's huddled form... folded, even further to the ground now as his body relaxed. He was still breathing heavily, his side rising and falling erratically but slowly starting to balance out. The sound was so different now, the panting or even just the breathing. And the form was all wrong, it was all wrong.

Carter took another step forward, as far as he could and pulled against the leash in an attempt to see him clearly ten feet ahead of him but it was a mess, a heap of strained clothing. It was all pulled against him or loose in places it shouldn't, most of it tugged out of place and working mostly to restrain him... not that he was moving enough to tell.

He was just breathing, crumpled on the floor.

'Nino?' Carter tried again, his name a long, drawn out whine. He didn't have the courage to bark anymore, the roof deafeningly quiet now that Nino had fallen silent.

Just the breath in, and out. And the silence of their empty classroom wing.

Carter paced in his radius, testing the leash again and again but unable to slip away from it without hurting himself. That was a last option... and though he wanted to go to him things seemed to have settled. He was so confused.

'I'm stuck,' Carter whined after a moment, trying to be audible so Nino could understand him, even if he couldn't look at him. 'But I'm right here. I'm right next to you here, I-I'll stay right here. It's okay now, see? It's quiet now. I'll stay with you.'

Carter waited, one paw raised as if he could take another step towards him as he leaned against the leash. He waited for Nino to reply but he didn't. So after a little while, Carter sat down, but he kept watching the pile. Waiting for it to move... waiting for anything.

Carter tried to be patient, he tried to be a good boy. He had already barked so much more than he was allowed to but he had been scared, and Nino had been in pain. But now Nino was quiet... he was breathing, he was alive but he wasn't moving. Carter would feel so much better if he could just get to him, check him, keep him warm.

But the best he could do was lie down, his head held up by the tightness of the leash.

He waited, and he waited and he waited, never looking away, never barking. He waited... until finally, something stirred.

Carter was on his feet instantly, staring intently at the tight, misfitting pile of clothing as it started to move. It was facing away from him now but Carter could see movement, something dark against the plain light tiles. It swiveled, large and upright and covered in dark fur, until it seemed to abruptly become aware of itself and it flattened fearfully against its head. As soon as it did the whole mound shifted, and suddenly a shaking, frightened whine sounded.

It was the kind of sound that had no translation but didn't need one, sounding again as the mound moved more dramatically, clothing straining and slipping loose as a clawed paw caught in the fabric of the shorts. It became more desperate, pleading and weak. Like the endless murmur of 'no' when nothing makes sense... When somethings unfair.

The creature couldn't stand, entangled in the clothes or just too weak to support itself, or too unwilling. The more it moved the more distressed it became, as if every action and sensation confirmed something so terrifying it couldn't bare it. Its whine sounded again and it was sharp and broken, the sound of it so desperate that Carter immediately reacted, pulling forward only to be held back once again.

'It's okay!' he sounded, hoping the animal would face him so he could say it more clearly. 'Hey! Don't be scared, it's okay! I'm right here, don't be- don't...' his words fell short and he stopped, listening to the constant, terrified sounds.

It was so different, and he looked so different, but the distant memory of the mismatched tracks in the forest that helped him find his boy held off his doubt. And even with that all he had to do was sniff for him again and he would be sure. It was that different part of his smell, the part that changed ever since that woman had tried to hurt him, the part that got so much stronger after he ran away and tried to leave Carter behind. But it was still him. It might be hard to understand, but that was okay. As long as Nino was okay then this was okay...

But he was so scared.

'Nino,' Carter tried again, saying his name confidently. When he didn't get a response he abandoned his conviction and barked again, watching as Nino reacted against his will to turn his ears towards the sound, his wordless pleading faltering for a second.

'Everything's okay, you don't have to be scared!' Carter assured him, standing on his hind legs and pulling against the leash even as he continued to face him. 'It's okay, I promise its okay! You aren't hurting anymore, and I'm right here. And we are can sit here and I'll wait with you the whole time until things go back. And if they don't then that's okay too, and I'll be right here. I told you that I'm not leaving and I'm not.'

Carter stepped back a little, waiting until he saw the mass of dark fur turn enough to show intense, terrified golden eyes watching him in something almost like disbelief. And that was no good, so he laid down to prove it, settling in to show him he wasn't going to go anywhere.

Again he wished he could be closer, but asking Nino to move might be too much. So he just stayed.

Carter kept watching, aware the second the eyes moved away from him just by the sheer intensity of their color against such dark fur. It was difficult to see, all slumped together as he was, but the difference in color between where his light colored clothes slid away and the dark fur that coated his mismatched body was clear even in the heap.

Carter could see the head more clearly as it raised up awkwardly, the long angled muzzle turning heavily until the creature could see itself. When it did it jerked sharply, whining and stumbling as its legs instinctively tried to find purchase but wobbled and caved, crashing it back to the ground.

'I can't...' Carter finally heard, the Shepherds ears perking up in response to the voice that was... different, but still familiar to him. It was the same sort of way that Carter spoke whereas Nino usually used words and sounds, but now he was talking Carter's way, an audible cry accompanying it weakly. 'I can't, I can't...'

'The clothes are catching your legs,' Carter offered, misunderstanding but trying to help. 'If you kick them off you can stand.'

'Carter... I- what do I do, I don't know what to do-,' Nino's head turned back to look at him, the motion heavy, his eyes exactly the same even if everything was so different. The wolf's head was huge compared to Carter's, even when his ears were laid flat as they were.

'You've just got to kick them off, so then you can stand. And you can walk over here, and we can wait together.'

'That's not what I mean!' Nino suddenly growled, the sound so powerful that both of them jolted, Carter ducking his head slightly. Seeing this the wolf tried to move again, loosely kicking at the shorts with a hard scrape of its claws against the tile. 'I'm sorry! Don't be scared, please don't be scared...'

Carter paused, tilting his head a little as he stared at the brown furred face of his friend. 'I'm not scared, not anymore. I thought you were in pain, but you're better now. So I'm not scared.'

Nino pulled back, his body language infinitely readable to him even if his face was not. Nino was terrified, uncertain and confused... and he kept staring at him like he couldn't understand at all.

'Why aren't you scared of me?'

Carter couldn't help but huff a little, confused himself now that he had to reiterate this. 'Why would I be scared of you?'

'Look at me!' Nino barked at him, moving again as he finally managed to kick his shorts to the ground. A long dark tail unfurled and tucked beneath him as he tried to stand again, struggling still but managing to be upright even if it was unsteady. Four long legs stretched beneath him, the size and scale of him much more real to Carter now that he could see him standing. The remains of his shirt were tight against his chest and forced the shaggy brown fur out around it awkwardly in wild tufts, the whole creature shaking on its massive, clawed paws. Freed from the formlessness of the crumpled heap Carter could see him clearly, a huge and powerful darkly furred animal twice Carter's size. Illuminated by the dusty filter of the long unused windows... Carter could admit that if he ever crossed this creature on his own he would be scared...

But not if it was Nino. Not even for a moment.

'You look like me,' Carter commented unhelpfully, his tail brushing the floor behind him.

Nino hesitated to respond, choking on his words in this foreign body. He had tried for so long not to move at all, not to feel anything as he prayed and prayed things would go back. But he was too panicked, too horrified... no matter how much he prayed he didn't change back... he couldn't ignore the bend of his legs, the low animalistic panting, the heaviness of his face. As he stood there shaking he could feel his tail beneath him, his ears huge but flattened against his skull. Every time he parted his muzzle to bark some inhuman sound he could feel the weight and length of his teeth slide past each other, he could feel the difference of everything and he was screaming in his head-

But Carter just laid there, dutifully close, tail sweeping the floor slowly to tell him everything was okay. And he didn't understand.

He knew if he was human he'd be crying... but wolves didn't have tears for moments like this. So the emotion overflowed inside of him as he quaked in hurt and fear... overwhelming him as he felt completely lost inside himself.

This was what he was now... this is what he had been ever since he blacked out. And he couldn't get away from it, no matter what he-

'Nino...' Carter whined, his ears sliding back as he stared helplessly at his shaking friend. 'Please come here. I don't understand, I don't know what's wrong.'

The wolf didn't raise its head right away... the two creatures standing in the barren silence of their borrowed room. Everything about this moment was borrowed, mismatched... or broken. And everything was so much different than it had ever been before they both ran away from home, but Carter still stayed as close as he could.

Nino raised his head, watching his dog as it carefully watched him. And he asked again.

'Why aren't you afraid of this?'

Nino watched over the length of his heavy muzzle as Carter looked at him without any kind of fear besides concern... until finally Carter said simply,

'Because you're my boy.'

There wasn't much to say, when things were so confusing. One was untethered, the other was anchored... and Nino was struck again by the sensation that in another moment he might have cried if he was capable. He was disgusted and angry, scared and desperate. But Carter was patient, showing resolutely that he wasn't going to leave.

Nino took a step forward, nearly falling from the unfamiliar movement and cringing away from the feeling of thick, calloused pads spreading on the tile. He thought to move again but hesitated, unsure of how and frustrated by it. After a moment he looked to Carter, the Shepherd saying nothing but gesturing with his head, encouraging him to continue. So Nino took a step with his hind leg and struggled to breathe evenly. Awkwardly and heavily, constricted by his mostly ruined shirt, he hobbled his way towards his dog, noting distantly the leash that was practically choking him.

As he approached Carter waited for him, standing to back up when Nino looked again at the leash and ducked his long face to nudge his chest, pushing him back until the leash went slack. Even standing Nino towered over the Shepherd, looking away with his ears still flat and his tail still shaking beneath him.

'Sit,' Carter told him simply, one paw raising to gesture awkwardly similar to how Nino might have done it. If the wolf noted it as familiar he didn't say, sitting back on his haunches just as uncomfortably as he did everything while he was like this. Carter wasn't sure if this was forever, or just for now or somewhere in between, but it was clearly upsetting for him and he was trying to find some way to make it better. But there was only so much he could think to do, and there was so many things about all of this that he didn't, and couldn't understand. So he did what he could.

He stayed with him.

Carter put his chin on Nino's shoulder, craning his neck a bit and scooting forward to make it work, and after a short while of pushing and moving he got him to lay down with a huff.

He was stiff and clumsy and his legs too long and his chest too narrow, but Carter was persistent in gently pushing him down, until they were both laying down with Carter pressing warmth into his side. Nino was used to feeling the soft brush of his fur when he touched him but he couldn't feel that now, not through his own... h-his-

Nino started shaking again, his head ducking and a whine creeping through his throat when suddenly Carter was there, his head and muzzle turning to press into his neck, keeping his head up. The feeling was... weird, his dog curling into his throat and rubbing his head there. It wasn't because it was uncomfortable or too sudden, but because without saying anything it had this undeniably positive intention. Like someone clapping a hand on your shoulder or holding you abruptly. He could feel Carter's tail wagging slowly behind them, thumping softly on his back legs.

'It's okay,' he was saying, without real words in the way that dogs do. 'You're scared and that's fine, you can be scared if you want to, but I'm right here. And when you're done being scared I'm here too. We can just wait.'

Nino was frozen, overwhelmed still by unraveling and what felt so potently like being rewritten... but by Carter too. By such calm, steady acceptance.

'You don't hate me?' Nino asked him, pulling away just enough so that Carter would look up at him again. He knew what the answer would be, and it was something steady when he felt so unattached. 'You don't think this is... bad?'

Carter gave him a look that he had seen once before, when he first found him and tackled him to the ground on the side of the road after searching for him endlessly. It was a look that could only be baffled, even though he had understood the words perfectly.

'Why would this make me hate you?'

Nino felt a rumbled sound of distress escape him as he was faced with Carter's question, trying to find some way to make him understand how bad this was, how dangerous. But he was struggling, fumbling to convey it in this weird, confusing language.

'Because this is WRONG, because I'm a monster...,'

'You're not a monster,' Carter corrected instantly, his posture relaxing as he realized Nino was just confused again. He repeated himself, patiently, 'You're Nino.'

Nino didn't respond... he wasn't sure he could. Carter said it easily, in the simple kind of understanding that only a dog could have of something so complex and awful. But even as Nino was faced with how utterly inhuman he was Carter laid next to him, leaning his weight into his side and curling into him to wait with him until things got better.

After a handful more impossibly long moments, Carter pushed his head beneath Nino's again, and was surprised but pleased to have the gesture hesitantly reciprocated. It was clear his boy wasn't entirely sure how, but after a few stiff moments the movement became more natural, an instinctive response that he allowed to play out.

The wolf bent its head, turning into his companion as well before laying down, his head across the Shepherd's back. In return the dog turned and laid his head down on the wolf's feet, comfortably curled together in a way that kept Nino from shaking anymore.

The cold tile in the silent, room warmed beneath them slowly. Whereas everything about the pushed, stacked desks and the dusty clinical bed felt borrowed in this space so far away from home, Carter was something from before. The only thing that had stayed.

He couldn't keep Nino from thinking, or doubting or really from being afraid... but he could do this.

They could wait together until things got better.