Young Writers Society

Amy's ears slowly raised back up when she realized how quickly Kirux had gotten scared. When she looked around the room again - realizing it was his room - it almost seemed like... he was as kid. But he didn't look like one? Letting out a sigh, she awkwardly ducked her head and inched forward, gently nudging his knee with her snout.

"Hey. Hey, don't cry, it's okay, uh - I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm still really freaked out by your magic and I don't know what a corridor of darkness is, but you're not nobody. You're Kirux, and uh, that's pretty cool. Not that I uh, know... you very well."

Kirux sniffled in response, still upset about angering and scaring Amy. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but he had, anyways - why couldn’t he stop scaring people?

"A corridor of darkness is like a portal," he signed. "It's what people like me can do. I'm...I'm a Nobody. With a big n."

He patted his chest with his hand before returning to signing. "I don't have a heart. That's what Lea said people like me are called. It's not-not a bad thing. And I know who my heart is, so I'm looking for him..."

He slowly lowered his hand, tears still very much streaming down his face.

Amy was just getting more and more confused. She plopped down on her bum and stared out over Kirux's head.

"No... heart? Like... really? You don't have a heart? No heart pumping your blood?"

He shook his head. He did have a heart like that - he could feel it when he put his hand on his chest. "It's a different heart," he signed. "It's like being...a person. People become Nobodies when they fall into darkness. That's what happened with Riku. His heart was touched by darkness, so I was made. But because Riku has my heart, I don't have one. So I'm a Nobody."

His movements were frantic, and part of him knew that he probably wasn't making sense.

Amy wasn't catching all the words.

"What is... the darkness?" she asked, her words spaced out by confusion as she stared at Kirux.

He hesitated. He wasn't really sure. He had heard it mentioned countless times, but no one had ever sat down and explained just what it was to him. "I don't know," he signed. He made sure he was signing as slowly as he could, but it was hard keeping himself from going faster. "I just know that Riku fell into it, and that other people have, too. And that since Nobodies don't have hearts, we can use the darkness. That's how we make the corridors."

Amy cocked her head to the other side. "A corridor... like a door? A magic door?"

He eagerly nodded, glad that she was understanding what he was trying to explain. It was always hard explaining it to someone who didn't already know, especially when he couldn't make another one so soon after using it. "Like that!" he signed. He thought for a moment, then added, "If I think of a place, I can go there through a corridor. I just have to wait a little bit before I can do it again."

He gestured at her and then at his room.

"That's how I brought us here, away from the Grangor!"

Amy finally began to feel the realization begin to sink in. She looked around the room again, taking in the bed, the toys, all of the foreign smells. Her ears began to droop and her head lowered.

She was terrified of the Grangor, sure, but she didn't know what this place was.

"When do I get to go home?" she asked, her voice sounding more childish than she'd intended.

"I don't know," he signed. Then he realized just how scared she sounded, and realized just how unhelpful his reply was. It probably made her think that she'd never get back home - he knew he would have felt that way if he didn't have his corridors.

He leaned over and gave her a comforting pat on the head.

"An hour at most," he added, signing after he pulled his hand away. "I made a corridor to get to your world, and then made one to get back to mine really close to each other, so I think the darkness is a little tired."

He straightened.

"But I'll get you back home as soon as I can!" he reassured her. He held out his pinky out of habit, only to realize that she didn't have fingers and probably didn't know what a pinky promise was.

Amy felt a rush of relief. An hour was plenty of time for the Grangor to wander away but not too long that she would get worried either. She nodded her head and then her gaze dropped to his extended finger.

A pinky promise?

Well... she could do that with her pinky, she supposed. That was definitely a promise she wanted to make, since going home was important.

In an instant, she shifted from a wolf, to a human; taking the form of a tall, wiry girl with pixie-length golden-blonde hair, and tanned skin dotted with freckles. She gave him a small smile, revealing the gap between her two front teeth and slipped her pinky into his.

"Okay," she said.

For a moment, all he could do was stare at the girl who had just appeared in his bedroom.

And then he jerked his pinky out of hers and scrambled back from her, eyes wide as he hurried back to the safety of his bed. He promptly grabbed a pillow from behind him and held it before him as a makeshift shield, only to clutch it tightly against his chest as he scooted into the corner made by his nightstand and his bed.

He stared at her from behind it, the only part of his now pale face visible being his eyes.

Amy jolted upright as Kirux jumped back, staring back at him with a wide-eyed expression, but as soon as he grabbed the pillow she started laughing.

"Pfffff-h-have you not seen a werewolf shift before?" she asked, still laughing.

He frowned from behind the pillow. It was a very serious thing to be scared about, especially since Miss Amy disappeared and was replaced by-

Wait, she kind of looked like her! Her hair and Miss Amy's fur was the same color, and she was talking like she knew him.

...And Winnie had told him stories about werewolves, but he never realized they turned into actual wolves and not just people-wolves.

"Didn't know," he signed. "I thought you were a talking wolf."

Amy fluttered her eyelashes as it processed in her mind that him being chill with a talking wolf meant that he hadn't immediately assumed she was a werewolf. Did he think... wolves who talked existed? Like, just normal wolves? Huh.

"Oh," she said blankly. "Uh... well I mean, I am, but I'm also a human. I'm both."