Young Writers Society

He slowly lowered his pillow.

"I never met a wolf-human before," he signed. Color began to return to the few bits of skin that showed, and he scooted a little closer to her. He wasn't really startled anymore; the fear had already gone away. He was curious now. He tilted his head ever so slightly to the side, trying to see how much of her he could recognize when she was a human instead of a wolf.

It was like with Thear, but Thear wasn't a Heartless-human. He was a human first and foremost, even though he never wanted to admit it.

Amy smiled a little. "That's okay. A lot of people haven't! Or didn't know they did. When we walk around as humans you can't always tell we're werewolves."

He nodded as she talked, listening carefully to everything that she said. He still didn't get why she was different than what he had read about, but that was okay. He was just glad she was alright, and he was happy that she had a human form, too - it made it easier to figure out what she was feeling, and she was pretty better at giving hugs, too!

"Your world is cool," he earnestly signed. "Werewolves are cool! I've been one before, when I want to Halloween Town. But I couldn't sign and scared Thear, so I'm not sure I really liked it - even though I liked the tail and ears!"

Amy's brows drew together again in confusion. There were a lot of things that he just said that were confusing, but she zeroed in on one.

"You keep uh... talking about Nye like it's one world of many?" she started, hesitantly. She didn't really want to consider that Kirux was actually telling the truth, but after the crazy magic and all of his reactions, she was really beginning to doubt what she thought she knew. Maybe Kirux wasn't some nice guy gone mad after all?

"Um..." she looked down into her lap, sitting criss-cross-applesauce. "Are we on a different world right now?"

He nodded.

"We're on my world!" he signed, grinning underneath his mask. He scooted closer to her, legs bouncing up and down as he copied the way she was sitting. "Not N-y-e - is that your world?"

Amy shrunk down a little bit.

She was on a different world? Like... really? How did that even work? How many world were there? How come she'd never heard of them until now? Were all of them different or were there more like Kirux's?

She started playing with the edge of her sleeve, twisting it around her finger.

"Yeah," she said with a nod. "What's yours called?"

"Rin!" he excitedly signed, pausing when he realized that she seemed a little scared. He shrunk down a little, too, and signed, "Are you okay?"

Amy was hugging herself.

"Uh, yeah? I mean, not really? I don't know... I've never been on another world before. It seems really scary."

He frowned behind his mask again, sad that she was feeling so worried because of the decision he had made. He had forgotten how terrifying it could be to go to another world - doing it had just become part of "normal" for him, and he couldn't really remember what it was like before he discovered the corridors.

After a moment of hesitation passed, he darted over to her side and enveloped her in a hug, resting his head on her shoulder. When Winnie and their mom did that, he always felt better. It had to make Miss Amy feel better, too!

Amy tensed for a second at the surprise hug from the newly-made acquaintance, Kirux, but as soon as it registered, she returned it. She held him firmly, and decided to throw restraint out the door and rested her head against his shoulder.

She did say he could go home in an hour. He wasn't going to keep her here. But she did find comfort in knowing he understood her fear.

"Thanks," she said softly.

He couldn't really sign with how they were hugging, so he just gave her a strong pat on the back instead. Then he remembered something else Winnie had done - the pat quickly evolved into a rub.

Amy was fine with the hug but the back-rub was... not expected. The wolf inside her though loved it, and it genuinely calmed her.

Mid-hug she shifted back into her wolf form, and Kirux's hand, formerly rubbing her back, was now in her fur. She started to wag her tail.

The change surprised him, but he quickly started grinning underneath his mask and burying his face in her fur. He didn't stop petting her - she seemed to really like it.

Amy leaned into it a little before she laughed awkwardly and pulled away.

"Uh, sorry," she said, bashfully dipping her head. "I like... pets."

His hands returned to his side, and he took his face out of her fur.

"It's okay," he signed. "I like giving them."

After an awkward silence fell, he realized they needed something else to do. Maybe whatever they did could take Amy's mind off of being on another world? He could give her a tour of the house - she'd get what he was signing. Really liking the idea, he hopped up to his feet.

"Can I show you my house?" he signed. "It's really empty right now, but I still love it!"