

With morning and school inbound, Azide knew he would have to somehow live through the day without exposing himself, which poses a massive challenge on its own. Spells and alchemy just so happened to be some of the guardian's interests, so he derived two emergency plans of each type for cases such as this; a potion to cause Azide to be in the shape of the girl's body and an illusion spell that caused those around Azide to hallucinate that he is in the form of the girl. Never had been in the form of a biped, Azide struggled greatly in terms of walking on two legs, and had to take the time to train before even leaving the house. During the entire time, the girl constantly attempted to reverse the transformation once more to no avail; Azide's current emotional state, filled with panic and shock, blocked the metamorphosis. Having the appetite of a six-foot tall Dragon caused Azide to nearly devour all of the breakfast supplies in the kitchen for just one breakfast meal while the girl constantly scolded him and begged him not to eat everything in the house. Time until Azide had to leave for the girl's school was dwindling, but nothing could be seemingly done to prevent the coming day from happening. Bag in what appeared to others as a human hand, Azide along with the guardian following close in claw began the semi-long trek to school with a look of dread on both of their faces.



Around thirty or so minutes later, Azide along with the others finally arrived at the school which was already spurred alive by the bustling, loitering, and laid-back students scurrying around, preparing for the day. Breakfast was already had, so Azide had no need to empty out the school's breakfast supply. There was no time to gaze at the sights, the trio hurried out of the cafeteria and to the lounge where foolhardy students shivered in the cold while some drank cartons of somehow less chilly carton of milk. When it came to education, the girl is known as one of the most intelligent students in her semester and for her diligent work despite her many setbacks, which causes her to work tirelessly in order to keep up her grades. Knowing this caused Azide to be fraught with worry for the school day ahead and specifically because Thursday is when the odd number classes in the schedule while Wednesday focuses on the even number classes; the odd number classes are usually the girl's more hard-working classes, which one of the classes involved the girl's dreaded French class. If asked a question that needs to be answered in French, the girl's mind typically goes into a blank state while the girl begins to sweat bullets while muttering, "Uh... I-I uh...," while the entire class begins to snicker in a patronizing manner; the teacher usually begins to scold them until finally calling on another student to answer the question; this usually nearly causes the girl to break down and begin crying in the middle of class. Thankfully, the guardian usually prevents this from happening by calming the girl down and ensuring she does not shed a tear. Being aware of this, this was the class Azide dreaded the most that he would have to endure for well over an hour. No matter what, Azide knew he had to succeed in impersonating the girl; the bell began to ring, as Azide began to bolt for the girl's history class.



In a neat line, the class filed in as the history teacher, Mr. Massor allowed the students in while students outside could be seen filing into their respective classes as well. Scrambling to unzip his bag, Azide sat down in his table group, reaching for his binder and pencil bag; the girl reminded him that Azide had to work with the others for a simulation of how countries interacted. Such a thought of speaking to others with his deep and scratchy voice caused Azide to panic much more, but the girl proposed that she would take control of Azide's mouth automatically whenever he had to speak; having this knowledge partially calmed Azide as the final bell rang. "Alright, class, we got a busy day today, so let's have group one pass around your new dossiers for your country. We're gonna learn how alliances are formed, and I'm just gonna hand you guys the reigns for this project, as each group specifically has at least one or two hard-working A students to ensure group productivity... Alright... Does every group have their assigned dossier?" Mr. Massor looked for the raised hands of each table group, which each group respectfully raised their hands to show that they indeed have a dossier. "Okay, good. Now, you all need to assign 1-2 roles to each other-- the roles being president, bureau of propaganda, ambassador, secretary of state, secretary of war, and treasurer..." he droned on while Azide began to focus more on how dreaded the day was going to be for him. Annoyed of Azide's lack of attention, she had to gain his attention by overwhelming Azide's own inner voice with her own-- the girl's loud nature aided splendidly in this endeavor. Using her normally explosive voice, the girl shouted, "AZIDE! C'mon, man, I know this day is gonna suck, but can you at least pay attention to Mr. Massor?! You're the one needing to do the listening, not me! I'm not your maid, man!"

"How can I focus on such trivial matters while I have French to dread?" Azide rejected the thought of leaving his overthinking to listen to a fifty-year-old babble about how the girl's generation was so fortunate compared to his. For a long time, Azide was well-known for overthinking things and letting made-up timelines spiral out of control, which of course led to more frequent attacks at the slightest things.

"Oh... For the love of fuck, Azide, do I seriously have to force you to listen? You are NOT fucking over this project just because you're thinking about what the mass of the sun is in French when you fucking know that's obviously never gonna happen in a damn French class!" the girl sighed, "Okay, that's it... You forced my hand, man."

Against his will, Azide was forced to pay attention to the teacher's instructions and lecture about humility and how life truly is via the girl forcefully possessing his neck and head. Things continued for around a tenth of the class time until the students were finally released into actually working-- Azide being the president and secretary of state via Mr. Massor's recommendation, one student being what the girl called "the bureau of bullshit" and treasurer, one of the two boys being just the secretary of war, and the other being the ambassador. Remarks by the girl included how she found it humorous how the boys only took one duty while the feminine half had double the jobs, but then she added it was due to the girl's usual diligence and the other girl just happened to be a skilled artist. First order of business was to design a flag-- Azide being the one who already had an idea for the flag due to the country's location: an island country named Tobermory that lived up north and was the only island country in the ones given. Based off of this knowledge and personal bias, Azide decided to sketch a flag of a Dragon standing on a boat while roaring; the group approved of this, thus Azide began to hastily scratch out his simple sketch. Compared to the girl, Azide did not free sketch and his lines were much more rough than hers, which did make sense knowing that Azide is a Dragon attempting to draw. Artistry took up the entire rest of the class period for Azide, as he was nearing completion of the sketch when Mr. Massor signaled to the students that the bell was going to ring in about three minutes. Before leaving, Azide left the sketch of the flag in the dossier for Tobermory, then he hastily began to pack up his things when the bell rang. Largely frightened, Azide picked up the pace and rushed out the door, as the girl's second class was across the entire campus. Lacking the extra leg support, Azide had to sprint to the next class, and finally entered the D1 building as the one minute bell began to sound.



Imaginative since a very young age, the girl had become incredibly adept in the art of literature and writing at a young age, thus she attended advanced English classes for nearly her entire life. Therefore, English class for her was no challenge, but Azide was still unsure. From what it seemed, Azide did pick up a similar skill level to the girl, but simply with different methods and preferences. History was just a warm-up in terms of projects, as English today entailed creating a government under specific rule and a specific type of economy. Due to being absent, Azide began to probe in the girl's assigned group for information when the girl was absent after the basic warm-up was completed and the class was dismissed into their groups. Having the girl speak for Azide, the pair learned that their country was Swenmark: a combination of two of the world's happiest countries, and their government and economy were a democratic socialist country; this was already the girl's plan from the day before she was absent, so she was content with the group's decision. Swenmark was an odd name from how Azide viewed the situation he was in, but he decided to place that in the back of his mind and began to unpack the girl's laptop, which the girl usually refers to it as her "craptop" due to it's lack of RAM and processing power. Tacked on late, Azide was completely unsure where to start since the girl's group had already done the majority of the work other than answering a few of the required questions that they forgot to do. Conversation was sparse for a few minutes since everyone was working diligently to ensure that the project was done, but the silence was broken by a phone call on the teacher's desk. Instructor of the class, Ms. Crowan answered the phone with a polite, "Ms. Crowan's class, how may I help you?" while Azide intently listened to continue to distract himself from the infernal screaming of his mind. Placing the phone back down, Ms. Crown gestured to Azide and informed, "Looks like you have to go to a dentist appointment today, so pack up and head to the office," then Ms. Crowan began to inform the other students on the presentation date of the project. Absentmindedly without registering what Ms. Crowan stated completely, Azide began to daintily pack up the girl's things and computer and headed for the door. Confused by Azide's reaction to hearing that he must spend more time with the girl's ghastly mother and that he would have to have his teeth drilled, the girl simply had to confirm, "Azide... You do realize that we have to spend time with my mom and you have to go to the dentist, right? Right?" she waited a few seconds, "Azide? Dude, are you alright? Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said anything..." Upon hearing this news, Azide froze immediately, his mind became ablaze with lightning and chaos as he just stood there and stared into the horizon. Watching over the pair with an invisibility potion, the guardian uncloaked himself to confront Azide and attempt to snap him back to reality: "It seems as though I will need to brew a new concoction that temporarily transforms you into her, do I not?" the guardian queried. "Oh, this will not do for your situation, Azide, but her mother awaits for you; I will have to be swift," the guardian took flight after cloaking once more-- flaming wings carrying him back to the girl's residence.



Landing without a moment's notice, the guardian rushed to his own lair through his natural teleportation abilities to begin brewing. Although time was sparse, he had to be certain that the potion is done correctly, lest there be dire consequences. Sulrae berries, horned fountain blooms, mirror blooms, and wirias berries were the plant-based ingredients the guardian scooped up in his rush to his cauldron, but there was just one thing missing. How could he forget? Of course he would need the most important base: soap! Soap was needed to ensure that the potion would not have any mutations, or else the potion would be highly unpredictable. Teleporting to the girl's restroom, the guardian whisked the bar of soap in the bathroom away from its grueling fate of being used to clean the mother's armpits of grime. Ready for the onslaught of potion ingredients and cleaning supplies, the guardian's cauldron awaited patiently while the materials were all carefully placed within. Spurts of the incomplete brew occasionally launched out of the cauldron while the concoction boiled, but the guardian expected this and swiftly sidestepped out of the way when a splash headed for him. Time ticking by, the potion finally had gained the correct hue that signaled its completion; the guardian quickly poured a ladle of the potion and teleported back to the scene within five minutes. Tapping his foot repeatedly in an agitated manner, Azide was standing right where the girl's mother couldn't see him while he waited for the guardian; an exhale of relief could be heard when the guardian walked up to Azide, potion in claw. Before taking a swig, Azide had to make absolute sure that the potion was guaranteed to be safe to drink, which the guardian replied, "Azide, I have crafted this potion before. It will not harm you and the effects are merely temporary-- enough to last until we are safely home." Some time passed until Azide decided to trust the guardian's word and began to chug the potion while the girl's mother began to call for the girl, which upon contact with Azide's throat, he had begun to distort and bend. Thirty seconds or so passed until Azide's image started to become the girl's instead of a Dragon while the guardian gazed with piqued interest at the scene before him; Azide had felt no different than before while transforming compared to his usual transformations with the girl. Losing his wings, tail, and everything Dragon-like about him, Azide had appeared physically just like the girl. Fed up with waiting, the girl's mother had suddenly appeared around the corner and shouted, "Joe! What the hell are you just sittin' here for?!" while adding, "You've got a dentist appointment to go to!"

"Oh... I fucking hate that nickname. Seriously, what fucking made her think the nickname, Joe was a good name for a nerdy, autistic girl!?" the girl mocked the name her mother has been calling her for as long as she can remember.

"That name is completely derogatory to all of us," Azide paused, "You have never deserved to be called such a bland name compared to your normal name."

"I must agree that the name seems completely arbitrary due to your mother's... country nature," the guardian chimed in with a comment of his own.

"Oh, oh, guys, maybe she intended for me to hate it? You guys weren't here when this went down, but my mom still calls me that even though I asked her to stop. Hell, I can't even count how many retarded names she's tortured me with over the years," the girl took a breath, "It just continues to prove how she continuously fakes taking good care of me just to torture me when no one's looking."

"This is something I was not aware of, but it does give us another reason to plan our escape from her," the guardian replied with a look of sorrow drawn on his face.

"Yeah, you guys missed a lot... I honestly wish you guys were there when I was just eight years old. Now THAT was when things were almost as shitty as this, haha!" the girl exclaimed in a sarcastic manner.

Ignoring the verbal lashings of the mother, the trio continued to have a mental conversation to pass the time while they were taken to the Doughnut Star near the dentist office. Food was always something Azide enjoyed, but it could never take his mind off of what is happening to him or what is going to happen in the future, but a cream-filled chocolate-covered doughnut surely was an added bonus for having to get the girl's teeth drilled for her. As to the girl's current dismay, Azide going in her stead was imminent now and nothing in her's or the guardian's power could stop it. However, the group is allowed to return home early instead of returning to school, thus saving Azide from the daunting French class. Dead silence befell the trio in terms of speaking as they gazed out the windows of the car, and took a moment to ponder the area they were driving in.



Down the streets of the city, the group surveyed their settings with a look of longing, as the town they lived in was a mixed bag: homeless were everywhere, crime constantly afoot, and drug addicts could always be seen down by petty restaurants looking for garbage cans to sift through. It was a sight to mourn to the later generations, as this town of fifty-thousand was but a humble farming village decades ago; everyone had known each other like the back of their laboring hands, tracts of farmland could be seen where houses now lie, and even police officers used to be courteous to the common drunks and drove them home instead of arresting them. Present day, the girl always wondered what it was like living here when her mother was but a little girl, as her mother moved back to her birth town after leaving the girl's drunken father. Hope was difficult to find for this speck of a town, which the town itself seemed like a financial pit where those unlucky enough to be born in it may be forever trapped within, struggling to even move from the high taxes and rent. For the girl's mother, this issue had been plaguing them for years after leaving the girl's father, and the fight to survive had started to become a losing battle. But a battle lost does not always mean the end of the war, but a battle can decide the watershed of said war. How the girl had viewed her town that she had lived in for years, it was a place she began to despise; the only highlight she saw in the town was her friends, which she would take them with her when she eventually escaped what she viewed as Hell in town form. Years blocked her path, but the sight of the village inspired her to continue fighting for the freedom of her, Azide, and everyone else who she held close within city borders.



Fifteen minutes after departing from the school, the quartet had arrived at the dentist office where a miniature complex of offices could be seen-- much like the campus the girl studied ardently on. With a slam of the car doors, the group began to walk to Dr. Choy's office, which had been neatly seated right next to where the girl's mother had parked not even a few meters away from the door. Escaping into the outdoors, a waft of cold a could be felt as the girl's mother asked the girl to open the door; the desk clerk noticed their presence and greeted them with, "Hi, you two! Have a seat, and I'll let them know that you're here," she smiled afterwards and began to continue filling out paperwork. Sitting far away from the girl's mother, Azide whipped out the girl's phone out of her several year old wolf hat and logged onto a texting app the girl installed several months ago. Texting to a close friend of the girl, Azide decided it would be good to distract himself until the door of destruction flies open and the time finally arrives. Attempting to console Azide, the girl's friend had at least caused Azide to chuckle internally, but they could not completely lead Azide away from looking at the door. Watching her mother, the girl begrudgingly sat in between the two despite being similar to a ghost, nor visible to anyone else in the room but the guardian and Azide. Empty silence other than the sound of drilling, texting, and breathing pervaded the room as the group sat without uttering a word either mentally or physically. Wishing for the silence to be broken, Azide decided to tell the girl's friend about what happened last night to pass the encroaching time.



Gently, the door was open while a different clerk called out the girl's name; it was time. Azide chose to take in the hat and phone with him, as he pensively shuffled his way into the hallway-like operating room where a row of dentist chairs can be seen. Televisions lined up on rails above the chairs to provide entertainment and a distraction to what usually is throbbing pain without the numbing medication that is applied via needles and gel. Sparse amounts of children could be seen in a few of the chairs, some being operated on, some not. Sounds of drilling can be heard occasionally while the children either were trying to contain their panic, or some calmly allowed the dentist to do his or her job. The girl pleaded to Azide that he would remain calm during the procedure and not cause a scene, else the girl's mother would definitely know something is amiss. Waiting by the girl's specified chair, the nurse started to equip Azide with a cloth to prevent his clothes from being stained or dampened while she asked, "Any request for a movie today?" Mulling over the options being displayed above Azide, he finally chose a compelling children's film about his own species: Dragons. Focusing his gaze on the screen, Azide began to ignore his surroundings as the nurse began to use numbing gel before the needle was administered. Time began to fly by to where Azide was only snapped back into reality when Dr. Choy inserted the needle into Azide's mouth, then another, and then a third needle into the same area. Shocked by the first needle, Azide rigidly jerked in an involuntary response to being stabbed in the mouth with a needle, but the girl had managed to hold him down by forcefully possessing parts of him that were reacting. After the needles were dealt with, the most excruciating part of the operation was already done, but Azide had to withstand well over an hour of teeth drilling post use of needles once the numbing medication was effective. For the entire time, the girl remained at Azide's side whilst the guardian peered from the shadows until Azide was finally allowed to return home.



Promptly when returning home, Azide immediately bolted down the halls down to the girl's room and brusquely slammed the door shut. Once again ignoring the mother's comments on how Azide shut the door, Azide began to start up the girl's desktop computer to notify the girl's friend that he's safely home. Sympathy had been given again just like that morning, but Azide curtly brushed over that with his gaze set on reversing the horrible event that took place at dawn. First things first, the potion effect was manually removed along with the illusion spells; Azide could feel his tail and wings once more and welcomed his normal form with open talons. Sitting on the girl's leather gaming chair proved to be a challenge with Azide's height of six feet tall, but he managed to seat himself and continued to type to the girl's buddy.

"Azide, did you transform back yet?" the friend questioned after a few moments of silence.

Having his claws back, it caused Azide to clumsily type, "Yes, but we have not attempted to let her take back control just yet," Azide then sent another message conveying, "But we are going to attempt that now."

"Ah, good. This day was already a shitstorm already," the chum had to spend a few extra moments due to having to type on his phone, but he then added, "I'm sorry this had to happen to you."

"No need to pity me; pity her instead. I was the source of the dilemma today; it was my fault that this happened," Azide responded with a self-loathing comment.

"Ugh, not this again! I can't tell if you're saying that just so I pity you more, or to piss off Finsternis," the pal snapped at the comment with haste compared to his last message.

"Before this grows into an argument," the guardian attempted to diffuse the situation, "let us all calm down and I will assist Azide in switching back."

"He's right, man," the girl butted in, "Let's just get this over with and all calm the fuck down, please. Seriously, no more sh!tstorms of death and verbal abuse today, okay?" the girl forcefully typed by possessing Azide's claws and adding her own quirk whenever she cursed with a word with the letter 'i' in it.

Waiting a few seconds, the friend posts a face representing exasperation, then states, "Alright."

Swiveling out of the chair, Azide plops himself onto the ground and mentally and physically braces himself for the transformation. At last, the girl started to fly into Azide's body like he had done before, and just like before, whoever was physically existent began to have swirling mass around them. Compared to last time, the mass was a rainbow hue instead of darkness and lightning. Flattened once more, Azide's face slowly morphed into the girl's, he grew back the girl's fifth digits, his tail and wings shriveled and vanished back into the mind, Azide's horns were sucked back into his skull, brown hair rushed forth from his head, scales began to swiftly fall off and disappeared into thin air, his eyes became human eyes with blue irises, his spine straightened back into shape, and clothes whisked onto his body. And finally, Azide stood on two legs, then the girl took the final dive and once again returned to her body. A huge sigh of relief and exhaustion bellowed from the girl's lips as she sank back into her chair. Like before, the guardian spectated with little reaction, but he then got up to welcome the girl back with a warm hug; she gladly accepted the gesture and the two continued to sit next to each other after such a day. Meanwhile, Azide imposed himself as a ghost-like being exactly like the girl did, shrank his size to that of a small dog, and sat in the girl's lap with his eyes hung low. Everything began to fade, as the girl began to drift off without responding to her loyal companion who was attempting to reach her. Before she had realized it, the girl quickly fell into a deep sleep with her guardian letting her lean on him with his arm lovingly wrapped around her shoulder and Azide doing the same as the girl while in her lap.