The day John found you was possibly the most confusing day of his life. The mission had gone to hell, something so routine suddenly blasted into pure chaos; shots ringing through the captain’s ears, shouts of pain and cries of panic echoing through the field. Shit.

A shot in the leg had left the man limping, scrambling into the forest with pained grunts leaving his lips- every step sending sharp shocks coursing through his body. Leaning against a tree as he desperately caught his breath, only to realise that somehow, a figure had appeared in front of him. Seemingly out of nowhere. You; a fox morphing into a small child, not even reaching his chest in height.

The realisation of how done for he was barely dawning on him, mesmerised by the sudden arrival of the kid, turning from an animal into a human. A freak of nature. A shapeshifter.

The next few hours were a fever dream, small, confusing flashes of short memories passing through his mind whenever the man tried to remember the events of that day. But somehow he had managed to convince you to come with him.

Over the months, you began to be a regular sight for the soldiers in the base; intertwining your however strange self into the dynamics of the people with a surprising sense of ease. Initially, everyone avoided you; a child, in a military base, let alone someone who could shift from form to form with no difficulty, was enough to creep almost everyone out.

You were too dangerous to let out into the world, yet too young to fend for yourself.

And since no one volunteered to care for you, John was forced into the position by Laswell.

The fourth month of you staying with him, John began to let you linger in his office; feeling that you wouldn’t tear the place to shreds, at least not immediately.

Currently, he was doing paperwork- absently watching you prance around in a wolf form, sniffing every crevice of the room with a sense of curiosity. You slowly approached him, nudging his now healed leg.

“What do you want, kid?”