I'm not sure how long it took for me to eventually calm down, but it must've been a while considering that it looked as though the area had been evacuated.

I drifted through the long hallways of the building, trying my best to ignore just how wrong everything felt. From the way sounds registered to my not-ears all the way to how my sense of touch felt muffled and dull, it felt as though the way I perceived the world around me had changed completely.

Which, well, made sense honestly. I very pointedly didn't glance down at my new and horrifying body while I tried to ignore the way my 'skin' quite literally writhed, and not in a metaphorical sense.

Instead, I chose to focus my mental faculties on what was going to happen next, and unfortunately for me, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't see myself ending anywhere but in jail, or worse, a dissection lab.

After all, where else would a monster like me- one who had already hurt people, go?

I pushed down my fear and revolution at the memory of seeing professor Noir lying on the ground, broken and bleeding from actions caused by my hands. Unwilling hands, perhaps, but I doubted the judges would care.

Damn it. Damn it all to hell. What was I supposed to do? What had happened to me? Why had it happened to me? What was I going to do?

Questions such as those swirled in my mind as I caught sight of one of the windows, and despite my better judgment, I quickly made my way over to it, legs crossing far vaster distances with each stride than I'd ever been able to manage before.

And soon enough, I found myself peering through the window, and what I saw sent a shock through my heart.

It wasn't caused by the hundreds of students streaming out from the nearby buildings, led and directed by the staff and older students as everyone made an orderly rush away from the campus. It wasn't even the safety officers and policemen gathering around the building I was in.

Instead, my attention had been instantly stolen by the burning building some distance away from the one I was in, the lone fire trucks wailing incessantly even as firemen and police officers rushed into the building, probably to rescue whoever was stuck inside.

Was this a coincidence? Maybe, but my gut response was to say that it probably wasn't.

Grimacing, I retreated away from the window, a plan forming in my mind. It was a stupid one, but at this point, I didn't know what else to do.

I knew how this went from all the books and movies about this kinda stuff. If I surrendered, I'd be taken away and would never see the light of day again as I would be spirited away into some unholy secret facility where they would experiment upon me day and night... Or they might just straight up kill me.

So, no. Surrendering wasn't in the cards.

I had to escape. It honestly didn't matter where, as long as it wasn't here. But first, I wanted, no, needed to make sure that fire was just a coincidence, or if there was some deeper connection to it.

With that thought in mind, I finally had a course planned. Turning on my heel, I started running, drifting through corners with ease and launching myself down the two sets of stairs without even bothering to slow down, only pausing for a moment to marvel at just how agile I'd become.

But only for a moment, as I quickly resumed my run.

Soon enough, I found myself standing in the entrance hall of the building, towering over the furniture that had once looked oh-so-imposing to my five-foot-three frame, but more importantly, towering over almost a dozen men and women clad in police gear and armed with guns, staring at me in shock.

I paused, coming to an instant halt that should have been honestly impossible.

What the hell were they doing he- Wait, no. Stupid thought. Of course they'd be here.

"HeLlO?" I spoke, my voice audible even over the multiple wailing sirens.

That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say, as one of the officers whipped their gun toward me, and before I could do so much as gape, pulled the trigger.

The boom of the gun overtook all other sounds for the split moment that it existed. Instinctual terror overtook me as I realized I'd just been shot, and before I even realized what I was doing, I let out a screech.

Stolen story; please report.

The officers yelped, several of them smashing their hands against their ears while others only flinched before aiming their own guns at me, shooting at me without hesitation.

However, as all of us quickly came to realize, the gunshots were doing absolutely nothing to me, as the bullets simply passed through me as though I was made of air, the disturbed smog simply flowing back into place a moment later.

For a split second, I just stared at the officers even as they yelled at each other, their words impossible to decipher.

I... I had just been shot. Several times.

They had tried to kill me... For saying hello.

Fury flooded whatever semblance of veins I had left, and almost without my say-so, I shot forward, an ear-shattering screech hundreds of times worse than this body's 'normal' voice tore itself out from my throat.

It is said that man's true nature is only revealed when you give them complete power over others. However, as I slammed into the panicking officers as they tried to scramble away, I'd like to think that my following actions weren't indicative of said nature, but were instead caused by the stress, pain, terror, fury, and all the other negative emotions that had been surging through me all day.

One of my clawed hands caught one of the officers by the leg, and the man screamed in pain as my bladed fingers dug deep into his flesh. Lifting him off the ground as one might do to a doll, I swung him toward a group of three other officers, launching the man like a baseball and watching with a grim gaze as they were bowled over.

Bullets kept on being shot into my 'flesh' to absolutely no effect, and I snarled like an insane madwoman. Thankfully, however, I still had enough presence of mind to hurl myself toward the exit instead of wasting more time here.

The doors shattered as I shoulder-slammed them, and I tumbled over into a sprawl as I fell over onto the grassy entrance. With scrambling fingers, I heaved myself back to my feet, whatever organ now passed for a heart thundering inside me as I ran like never before.

I was fucked, and as my mind cleared while I ran toward the burning building, I understood that I had probably just blown whatever chance I might have had.

The professor could be excused, sort of. I hadn't meant to do it, and I'd been in horrible pain. But this? Assaulting officers of the law and grievously injuring them? Intentionally?

I knew how the USA worked. The police would never let me live this down. Memories of all the videos and articles about the plentiful cases of police brutality flashed through my mind, and I flinched. Thank god it wasn't the army, at least. Small mercies and all that.

So, yeah. I was thoroughly fucked. At this point, all I could hope for was that my family didn't pay the price.

There were a few screams from the few remaining staff members and students still lingering around the place, and I even spotted one girl stupidly holding up her phone with its camera aimed at me. I snarled at her in particular, temper flaring for an instant.

Nonetheless, I pressed on. Faster than I'd ever thought possible, I was standing before the burning building, firemen and officers scattering like rats at my arrival, and I did my best to ignore the screams of 'Monster' and 'Demon'.

However, one scream in particular definitely caught my attention.

"There's another one!?"

My head whipped toward the one who had shouted that, staring at the somewhat old-looking fireman in surprise. Another one? There were others like me?

Relief and dread filled my chest at the thought. Relief, for if I wasn't alone, then perhaps I still had a chance at making it through this, and dread at the thought that I might be rejected anyways.

With newfound determination, I smashed my way into the building, knowing that the fire would not be able to harm me. I don't know exactly where I got that idea from, but as I sped through flames and smoke without any issue, I nonetheless thanked my lucky stars.

I didn't know the building all that well due to me having had no classes in it so far, which meant that between that and having to dodge the occasional fleeing student and fireman, I was more or less running blind, but like hell was I going to let that stop me at this point.

Fortunately for me, I was blessed with another lucky break as I heard a shout that caused me to come to a halt.

"-on't go there! That's where the demon girl is!" I heard one of the firemen scream at another. My head whirled in their direction, and I watched through a half-burnt wall as the first fireman dragged the other away. "Hurry, we need to leave! The building will collapse soon!"

I grimaced at his last comment, but nonetheless pushed on stubbornly. With a direction now in mind, I ran down the hallway the fireman had mentioned, flinching slightly when a support beam fell right on top and consequently through me while I ran by.

Gritting my teeth at the physical reminder of my newfound time limit, I kept going, driven by nothing but desperation and vain hope.

Thankfully, said hope didn't go unanswered as I rounded one final corner and then came to a sudden halt.

Because standing some distance away, walking unsteadily while looking around in a daze, was a stark-naked girl that looked to be slightly older than me, but more importantly, a girl who had fire for hair as well as skin that looked like smooth obsidian.

Around her, the flames burned brighter and more intensely than anywhere else, the floor literally melting and burning under her as she passed it by, while what little unburnt wood still remained immediately burst into flames from her mere proximity.

It was a scene from either hell or a horror movie. And yet...

"I'm NoT aLoNe..."

All I could feel was an immense sense of relief.

At my words, flame girl's gaze snapped toward me, her unfocused eyes abruptly sharpening into focus before going wide as she looked upon my own monstrous form, stumbling for a moment as she did.

"What the fuck!?" She spoke, her voice hoarse but otherwise distinctly human. For a moment, we simply stared at each other, burning red orbs peering into surprisingly blue ones outlined by a halo of burning red and obsidian black.

Suddenly, a realization struck me, and not a good one.

I'd planned on trying to team up with whoever or whatever was in this building so that we could both get out of here in one piece, but I hadn't considered one very simple and yet critical problem.

My complete lack of social skills.