By the next day, the wolf hadn’t woken up. Nell guessed the rock rattled the wolf’s brain enough that it never would. Ves now also had a lovely baby bump, or egg bump, as Nell corrected her. She was not having a good day. On the plus side, her new teeth finally came in. They were sharp and came with a wicked-feeling set of fangs. Add to that, her jaw was much stronger now. With a bite force befitting the monster she some days felt she was turning into. Her mouth could also now open uncomfortably wide, almost like a snake. She was pretty sure she could freak people out with that trick.

“Gah, what is wrong with your mouth!” Still, even if she accepted the changes, they apparently disturbed others. Noting this firsthand as she saw Yujiro looking at her unhinged jaw in horror. She could have sworn he was asleep just a moment ago.

Snapping her jaw back into place, she greeted him, “Morning,” followed by a toothy smile.

“Morning, my ass! You scared the shit out of me!”

“Sorry, I thought you were asleep.” Ves wanted just to laugh off the situation and move on, but the look on Yujiro’s face told her otherwise. She could even see his eyes go wide when he glanced down and seemed to finally notice her growing stomach.

“Ves? Are you really ok?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ves, even in the few days I’ve been here, Nell has made massive changes to your body. Didn’t you use to be a normal human only a short time ago? Are you really ok with this?” That caught Ves off guard. She had only known this man for a few days, but he seemed legitimately concerned.

‘Ves? Is he right? Am I bothering you?’

Ves paused for a moment, unsure of how to even answer, unfortunately, Yujiro took this as a sign to press further.

“By the sounds of it, Nell is some sort of parasite. You may think it can’t be removed, but you shouldn’t believe everything it tells you.”

It? It! How dare he.

“IT!? SHE has a name, Yujiro!”

Her anger seemed to have taken him aback for a moment; unfortunately, he wasn’t one to back down. “Fine, she! But haven’t you seen what she has done to you! Who knows what else she has or will do to your body! Just look at yourself.”

Ves’s voice grew cold, “Yujiro, it’s not my body. It’s our body.”

“Ves, do you even hear yourself? Is this really you speaking, or is it her?”

“You think Nell is controlling me!?”

“How could I not! Ves, you shouldn’t be ok with any of this! How do you know you’re not under her influence!”

“Even if I was, why would you care!”

“You saved my life! How could I not care!?”

‘Ves, you don’t think I’m controlling you, do you? I swear to you I’m not! At least I don’t think so. I mean, I am entangled with your brain. Could I be? Could I be subconsciously and not even know it? Ves, I’m so sorry! If I am, I’ll find a way to stop.’

Ves pulled at her hair, “Gah, dammit, Yujiro, you even have Nell questioning herself now! Fine, I’ll explain it so both of you understand. My life before meeting Nell was horrible. I was born a slave. My childhood was filled with horrors that make any of the shit happening here look cute by comparison.

Then, even if my life improved a little under my current bastard of a master, I still spent every day desperately trying to keep my head down so I didn’t get beaten. Being told every day that I’m not a person, that I’m property. Hells, I was even handed a belt ordered to whip myself until I bled while my master fucking watched!  Constantly reminded that I could be killed at any moment for any reason, and it would be perfectly fucking legal. On top of it all, knowing the only people who were kind to me had no power to save me, only served as a contrast to remind me how fucked my life was.  

So forgive me if I’m thankful to the very person who granted me my first taste of freedom and saved MY life. So what if she is changing me! I hated my life as a human! Maybe just maybe I can be happy as whatever she is turning me into.” Not giving Yujiro even a chance to respond, she stormed out of the alcove and into the forest below.

For the next several days, Ves refused to even talk to Yujiro. Choosing even to sleep outside on the forest floor. Instead, she took that time to comfort Nell. The idea that she might be unknowingly controlling Ves really shook her up. It took time to convince her that she was not. That she was, in fact, thankful to Nell.

Still, time rolled on, and finally, the day Ves had been dreading arrived. The egg was ready to pop. After a long and arduous morning—one which Ves, and admittedly Nell, wanted to purge from their collective memories—a creepy, glistening black fleshy egg lay before them. 

“Never again…”

‘never again’

With a collective sigh. ‘Well, should we give it a try? I doubt that wolf will hang on much longer.’

“Is it ready so soon? I figured it needed more time to develop.”

‘It is not a complete being. It is more just an extension of us. In turn, it developed considerably faster.’

Ves was finally starting to understand what Nell meant. She could feel the connection to the egg, or more accurately, the thing inside. It was odd as it really did feel like part of her body.

With the egg in hand, they climbed down to the near-dead beast. They found the wolf’s breathing ragged and weak. Even its pulse was hardly a whisper.

“So how do we do this?”

‘Hmm, let's see, place the egg by its ear. This may be a bit of trial and error.’

Ves did as instructed, setting the egg next to the wolf.

‘Let me try and reach out to it.’

After a moment, Ves could see the shadow of something squirming inside. Then, for a moment, she felt like she was the one squirming inside. 

“What was that?!”

‘Give me a moment. This is just as disorientating for me.’

Ves or Nell, maybe both felt nauseous. 

Then, slowly, something tore through the egg. From it, a multi-armed tentacled mess of limbs crawled out. Dragging itself into the wolf’s ear. Ves watched in horror as the creature dug deeper until the last of its limbs retreated from view. 

Yet at the same time, she could feel as if she was the thing crawling into the wolf’s ear. The bristles of fur. The crusted earwax and dirt. Until it opened an infinitesimally tiny hole to get at the brain, she felt a sense of warmth and comfort as she unraveled all her tentacles and enveloped the brain. Working their way across every fold and into every crevasse. Suddenly, her perspective was pulled back to her own body. Be it the jarring nature of switching perspectives or the knowledge that she was in the same boat as the wolf. She began to vomit. Not stopping until there was nothing left. 

In silence, she walked over to the stream, cleaning herself off before finally sitting down by the shore. 

“Is that what you did to me?”

‘yes…’

Silence

‘I’m sorry.’

Yes, she may have been freaked out, but now Ves felt bad. She just had to remind herself that, in some ways, Nell was just as much a victim here. It also wasn’t like her words from the night before were lies. She was truly thankful to Nell.

“Don’t be, it’s a lot to take in. But I don’t regret that I am alive. That I escaped my servitude. And… that I met you.”

After that, Ves cried, but she knew the tears were not her own. 

The rest of the day came and went. They mostly stayed quiet. Ves curled up next to the wolf, munching on meat, while Nell focused on her work. She could also hear Yujiro working away at something in the alcove. While she still refused to talk to him, she checked to see if he was ok. Even topping off his food and water.

The next day, Ves awoke thirsty and famished, which was odd. She was pretty sure she had eaten plenty the day before. Looking down, she could see her stomach nearly as bloated as it was when she went to bed. 

So why was she so hungry? 

‘I think I have this new body mostly under control, but I didn’t consider that it hasn’t had anything to eat or especially drink for a few days.’

“Explains that. I wondered why I felt so hungry. Does this mean we will share all its senses?”

‘Yes, as I said before, it’s now an extension of us. Given time, I think it will be able to take care of its own basic needs in the same way one doesn’t need to consciously think about breathing or keeping their heart beating.’

As Ves began to free the wolf? Herself? She could feel the edges of her mind slip now and then as her perspective shifted between the wolf's and her own. At one point, she even saw herself through the wolf’s eyes as Nell guided it over to the water to drink. Ves could feel the refreshing, cool water slide down her parched throat.

“Gods, this is disorienting.”

‘Sorry about that. For me, this is mostly instinctual. It may take some practice to keep your perspective through the correct body. Also, mind grabbing some meat?’

With a third mouth to feed, along with her own gluttonous nature, she figured she would need to find more meat soon. If only she weren’t terrible at hunting. She also tried to ignore the realization that having the new body eat leftover wolf meat was basically cannibalism.

‘I think we need to give this new body a day to recover and finish assimilating, but then it should be ready for a test run. Maybe together, we can actually catch something that wasn’t already trying to catch us.’

That evening, as Ves settled in to rest next to her new wolf body, she heard a stirring from the alcove.

“Here”, Ves could only look up in time as a wolf pelt dropped in front of her. Confused, she looked back up to see Yujiro sitting near the alcove’s edge.

“Don’t look at me like that, I promised you I’d make you some clothing, didn’t I? It’s not great, but it should be enough to cover you up and keep you warm.”

As Ves looked at the attire. Honestly, it was little more than a crude tunic, but still, it would help. She also couldn’t help but admit it would be nice to no longer be naked all day. Trying it on, she found it to be a loose fit, but it was enough and was easy enough to move, and hopefully fight in.

“Look, I’m sorry for what I said before. I won’t pretend to understand, but you’re right, it’s your life. Your choice.”

“Apology accepted.”

“Now, as much as I don’t want to stir the pot, I have to ask. What’s with the wolf?”

“Ohh, umm. I’m not sure how I should explain.”

“I won’t like the answer, will I?”

“Probably not, for simplicity's sake, for now let’s just say that’s Nell.”

“Wait, you split?”

“No, Nell is still physical inside me. The wolf attacked us the other night, and we hit it in the head with a rock. It never got back up. So before it died, we sorta made it into a puppet. One Nell is currently controlling.”

Yujiro just blinked at the two for a moment before massaging his forehead like he had a headache. “I have so many questions right now, but I don’t think I will like the answers, so I won’t ask. Save for one, you don’t plan on doing that to me or anyone else, do you?”

“Gods no! I’m a branded remember?! I couldn’t live with myself if I did that.”

“What about Nell?”

Nell glared at Yujiro from their wolf body, ‘Ves, I don’t think you even need to ask, but no. No, I never would. I know how much that would upset you.’

“I think she is offended that you would ask.”

Yujiro let out a sigh of relief. “Good, well, I’m going to go back to sleep. I think in another day or two I should be good enough to at least get up and walk around a little bit.”

“That soon? Your wounds looked pretty bad.”

“That’s a funny thing to ask coming from you. But remember, I’m a body cultivator, I heal faster than most. Add on that the injury itself wasn’t that bad.”

“Not that bad? You looked like you were about to meet the goddess.”

“Well, I did lose a lot of blood. Anyway, I’m off to bed. Have a good night Ves.” He paused for a moment before looking back, “You too, Nell.”