Chapter 6: Leone

Her last words hit so hard my eyes widen from shock, my body tenses up before screaming from pain causing a sensory overload. Groaning in pain I grit my teeth as my head feels like it's about to burst, my body convulses as I throw up, yet nothing comes out.

"Shh, calm down" She softly grabs my shoulders and pushes me back down "Hey.. relax, try to ease your muscles while focusing on your breathing. Make sure to deeply inhale and then slowly exhale."

Following her advice I feel myself calm down and moan softly while my eyelids close.

"You okay?"

"Mn"

Relieved she sighs deeply and once again grabs my hand while sitting down "Don't worry, it's just a legend, pure speculation."

With some effort I manage to once again open my eyes causing her to smile "And in case you're still wondering what happened to you, we've awakened your Animus. Well.. they did, I was still in college at the time."

[Huh?]

Just as she's about to elaborate, the doctor's voice sounds. "Test subject 003, initiating full body analysis"

The girl pushes herself from the table rolling away while smiling kindly. "Don't worry, it's just a harmless scan"

No longer having any energy nor focus for what's happening, I simply gaze at the radiator of the climate control hanging on the ceiling. Eventually a rather thin plastic covered ring passes over my head scanning my entire body.

As time passes I slowly begin to doze off from exhaustion when an excited screech pulls me back into the present.

[Huh what?!]

The doctor's maniacal laughing and screeching eventually stops "It's magnificent! Such a perf-"

With the girl running towards me, I lose my focus to listen to the doctor and try to follow her movement, yet she's so fast I'm unable to see how far away she is until she stops next to me.

"May I?" Gently she reaches for my chin and seeing she exudes a comforting aura, I can't muster the energy to protest as she gently opens my mouth and feels my teeth. "Oh my god! She really has fangs! So cute! Wait she kind of resembles Leone."

[Fangs? Leone? Where have I...]

Interrupting my stream of thought, a memory suddenly resurfaces. It's showing the events of the first day I began working as a caretaker in the cat shelter where my eyes fell on a statue of a woman with cat like features. The owner then told me it resembled the Warrior Goddess Leone.

Before I get a chance to process the memory, the girl squeals.

[Why is she so excited?]

Bowing towards me and wearing a beaming smile she gazes into my eyes "Still there?"

Slowly blinking from overwhelming confusion I manage to reply "Uh.. hu.."

Chuckling softly, she gently places her hand on my forehead "So far everything is fine, in a moment we'll bring you to a room to rest"

Too exhausted to reply, I barely manage to register her words, but as soon as I realize everything is fine I fall asleep.

--

Gentle shaking slowly wakes me up and once I groan softly a kind voice follows. "Hey, I need you to wake up for a bit"

Feeling incredibly weak and drowsy I slowly manage to open my eyes seeing the girl from yesterday in much more detail. Her smoothly tanned, slightly powered face shows a warm smile causing her apple green eyes to sparkle. "Morning, can you sit?"

Suppressing a yawn, I nod and try to sit up only to scream out from pain when I feel a sharp sting traveling through my spine while it feels as if the skin on my back is tearing.

"Oh! Careful, here let me help" She reaches behind my back and I feel her grab the part of my body where the pain originates.

[Huh..?]

Chuckling softly she helps me sit up. "I guess you were too tired to notice it yesterday"

Confused I gaze her way while frowning "Notice what?"

Turning around towards a nearby dresser, she grabs a hand mirror and holds it up so I can see myself. At first glance, my eyes widen as my skin has turned a milkish white while my hair has turned pitch black.

"My hairrr!" Baffled I slowly touch my cheeks and gaze at the reflection in disbelief only for her to giggle.

"That's all you notice?" She turns the mirror causing what little color remained in my face to completely disappear.

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"WHAT THE FUCK?!" In shock and disbelief I reach towards the top of my head only to feel two relatively soft things fold underneath my hands. "I-I-I have cat earrrrs?! WHAT THE HELL?!"

The girl clearly has trouble keeping a straight face and a chuckle escapes her lips. "That's not all, you have a tail too." She once again reaches behind my back and grabs the strange body part. "See?"

Frozen in shock I begin to tremble.

[Ears?! Tail?! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO ME! THIS ISN'T ME! Oh god what do I do?! This can't be real! Get this shit away from me!]

"Hey.. calm down, it's okay"

Without registering her words, I leap off the bed landing much farther than I should have adding to the shock turning into panic within my mind. "W-What did you do to m-me?! What a-am I?!"

In disbelief, I twist my upper body to look at my back only to see there's indeed a pitch black tail with the fur standing on end. "GET IT AWAY FROM ME!"

In blind panic I begin to run, but seeing the tail is attached to me it simply follows causing me to completely lose myself.

"Naomi calm down."

Unable to register the girl's words, the fear and panic simply keep growing and when my hands suddenly turn into claws, my mind goes blank.

"LEONE CALM DOWN!"

Hearing the girl, I suddenly snap out of it. Still full of fright, I slowly turn my head and look towards her. "Finally I got your attention.. Please calm down."

Gazing down at my now blood soaked arms and claws, I feel all blood draining from my face and I fall backwards. "H-How can I b-be calm..?"

With a sympathetic expression she shakes her head. "I understand that you're scared and that your mind is full of questions, but please.. Try and stay calm while we find the answers."

With the adrenaline gone, I can barely manage to nod. "O-Okay.."

Sighing from relief a kind smile once again forms on her face. "Seeing you didn't respond to me calling or yelling your name at all, I guess I'll just call you Leone from now on"

Feeling drowsy I yawn before giving her a clueless look "My name?"

Concerned and slightly irked she frowns "Forgotten already?"

After looking down and thinking for a moment, I look back up "You said it was Naomi?"

With relief shown on her face she nods "Yes it was"

Having calmed down, I take a better look at the girl and realize she must be younger than twenty, her youthful clothes combined with her medium curves and height of about 1.65 meters make her stand out quite a bit.

[And to think she has a nice voice and personality too.]

With a silly chuckle I look back up "You have a nice voice"

Together with a mild blush a cute smile appears on her face "Thank you"

A cold shiver runs down my spine shattering the faint feeling of comfort. Looking down at my blood soaked dress I notice my claws are back to being normal hands, yet my arms, chest and even my legs are covered in cuts some deeper than others while a thin crust has already formed over them. Oddly I don't feel painful nor weakened causing me to look up. "So.. why am I half cat now? And isn't Leone a goddess?"

Hunching down she offers her hand "Come, can you walk?"

Taking her hand and trying to get up is rather troublesome and once I finally stand I can barely keep my balance. "I-I think I can, just harrd to keep my balance"

Smiling she holds my lower arm "I'll help you, it's a short walk"

After helping me out of the room and through a composite sliding door, we enter a short hall with soft gray painted walls and black epoxy flooring.

Having walked about fifty meters, we reach a small resting area with a matte dark-purple upholstered couch attached to the wall forming what looks to be a rather comfortable corner. Two plain tables in the same color as the wall stand between it and rather simple but comfortable looking black metal and purple upholstered chairs. There she motions towards the couch "Take a seat, I'll grab some bandages and get you something to eat"

The thought of food makes my stomach rumble and a feeling of happiness washes over me. Then I suddenly hear an odd sound and frown before looking around me.

[Purring? There's a cat here?]

[Wait… It's me?!]

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